Thanks Amazo for pointing that out about Edwards, that is so true. Is public success the same as personal success. I think not, if you have to step down to taking advantage of others to get there.

John, thanks but you make me feel guilty about mentioning PK silverware in a post I just made

As to the pet psychic, I think the funniest one I saw, was when a cat was digging her claws into the pet psychic. It was hilarious. OR what about the classic episode of the Ozbournes where the psychic was brought in due to the dog doing his buiness all over the house, and just as she leaves to go out the door, yep, you guessed it the dog left her a present.

Ha, Ha... sorry about that, I hadn't read your post on PK silver... you've lost your style, and I renig my comment. Just kidding of course. There is an obvious distiction between the way you have used subtleties in commenting on some of your material, and the way others have always seemed to always bring up comments based on their effects. Sorry, my posting should have been put just above yours, not after, thus possibly influencing your next comment.

As for the pet psychic, if that had been my house... I would have left her my own present by the door.

Personally, I think the Pet Psychic is amazing. No, not the psychic per se. The premise. I mean, it's one thing to contact the dead and get "hits" that way; that requires a little digging around, so to speak. But if you're the Pet Psychic, who's going to contradict anything you say about the pet in question? Certainly not the pet. Brilliant.

Now that I think about it, perhaps I should see if the Home & Garden channel needs a Furniture Psychic. It could be a big career move for me.

Possibly a Rock psychic would make a comeback if we can start them back as good pets again...I like the furniture idea a lot too though. On those channels that price anitique items, it would be great to sit back and tell everyone the chair is just not satisfied with that bid and feel utterly insulted!...

John Eddington

Sorry Neil, you're too late -- furniture psychics are already out there. They're called Feng Shui experts.

Now a Computer Psychic, that would be something... "Your Pentium III is telling me it keeps crashing because it's feeling jealous of all the time you've been spending with that sexy new Pentium IV at work. It would feel better if you bought it a nice new top-of-the-line DVD burner. Luckily I have a special on them this week..."

Quinn

This is going to make me sound like a guest from Ricki Lake...

A friend of mine is really into the whole Edwards spiritualism thing and other similar stuff, and firmly believes it.
And for some reason I actually find it quite irritating/annoying... only because I think of them as an intelligent person.

Now am I in the wrong for trying to convince them that it's not real?... (or should I not even try?)

Do other people get annoyed by some people's gullability, especially concerning psychics? (or even concerning the supposed 'power' of NLP/psychology to read people's minds?)

controversy, don't you just love it?...

I would suggest you point her in the direction of printed or other material where she can make a decision for herself or at least not feel as threatened by you telling her straight out that Edwards is a fraud. My web site has such an article and there are plenty of other places that give an alternative explanation for what Edwards is doing. I would hate to see you lose a friendship over Edwards, if you did, it would mean he won once again.

As for intelligent people being fooled. Sometimes they are the easiest, simply because they have to have an explanation albeit "psychic or trickery" for what they do not understand. And they certainly do not understand or will even be able to come close to understand the skill and subtleties and continued application one has to use to get as good as Edwards is. If they can't understand that, then certainly one can't expect them to completely drop a belief that has taken time for them to build.

I say it is better to educate than to attack. This way people can come to a conclusion himself or herself and people tend to stand up for and fight for conclusions they have come to.

Good luck, I know it is very frustrating. But remember, it is her life to live, as she will, even if it is a misguided one. All you can do is OFFER guidance. (Actually that is not all you can do, as I just said a bit ago, you can subtly nudge her in the right direction by giving her the tools to come to her own conclusion.)

All right, I think I am repeating myself. Sorry, I had no sleep last night at all..

Funny you mention that, Gambit!

I have a close friend who is very involved with animals. She does pet rescue work, studies pet nutrition, and is working on an advanced degree in animal behavior. It grates on her to be fooled by a magic trick, so if I show her a bit of magic she wants to examine all the props and try to work everything out. You know the type, yes?

This same woman swears by her "animal communicator," as pet psychics like to call themselves. She consults the psychic about all sorts of things, despite knowing a bit about the existence of cold reading and what it can do. This animal communicator, BTW, has never even met her pets -- it's all done over the phone at a distance of several states.

I've expressed my skepticism but don't push it. She has a need to believe this stuff and there's nothing to be gained by arguing. It will accomplish as much as an Atheist will accomplish arguing with a devout Catholic.

My small consolation is that most of the time, these pet psychics do no terrible harm, other than take in a good hourly fee under false pretenses. But every so often, they do stop being amusing and give me the chills. Especially when asked if a pet should be put to sleep.

As my friend Ray Hymann has said in regards when people believe false claims, often when we "tell people the truth about false claims we are taking something away".

Yes we are giving them truth, but at that moment it is not their truth.

So we need to find ways to enlighten but on their terms so they gain something.

Sharp point as usual, Banachek. I had a really tough experience related to this issue about ten years ago, when I was living in Prague (a VERY magical place). I did twenty minutes of close up at a party for friends, then was out in the hall with a cute young (17) girl chatting about magic (REAL magic).

I did "Out of this World" very straight, and she was so blown away she pretty much broke down -- began weeping and saying "It can't be true..."

What to do under this circumstance? She was young and silly, no doubt, (I had just done 20 minutes of straight close-up, after all), but her belief was so powerful that I would have felt cruel to smack her down with,
"Jeez, darling, it's just a trick! I'm a MAGICIAN, for *&%^$$@)^%!"

On the other hand, I had no desire to start a new religion with her as my only follower (although many a more unscrupulous magi would surely have been tempted).

I ended up "talking her down," pointing out that I'm a magician, and that miracles can happen, and that maybe they can be a message about truth and beauty in the world, etc. Anything to get her out of her head space.

We became friends, at any rate, and we hung out quite a bit until I moved away. She saw me perform magic on many other occasions.

I saw her again a couple of years ago, a young woman now, and I was surprised when she said, "Remember that time we met, when all the cards came out red and black? That was weird, huh?" "Oh yeah," I replied.
"Weird miracles happen sometimes."

--------

I do believe such experiences can be transforming for spectators, whether you intend them to be or not. All good art *should* be transforming, after all. The consciencious performer must never underestimate his own power.

Any thoughts on what to do with well-meaning but naive spectators who latch on to you a bit TOO strongly would be appreciated. How can you be compassionate without leading them on further? And how do you redirect their energy in healthy ways.

PeaceLove, Jonathan

I have no real answers for that one, each situation has it's own answer. Some people are "weird" crazy and some are just spiritual.

The "weird" crazy just try to get away from as quick as possible. I have had some scary occasions happen with such people. The Spiritual we have to handle in such a way as to not insult their beliefs yet let them understand that what we are doing is not part of that belief. I think that is probably the best way.

Separation of what we are doing from their own beliefs.

Then there are other groups as well that all have fine line between them.

Again, I cannot give you a definite answer because I do not have one. Each situation has its own unique problems and has to be handled accordingly. And we will make mistakes, we are only human. But as I have always said, If we are true to our heart we have nothing to feel guilty about.