Yeah, um....that guy has an agenda though. It would be like reading "facts" about the Clinton's on Ken Star's site, or the "facts" about any Democrat on Karl Rove's site, you know?  Gotta take it with a grain of salt.

 

I'm not sure why she should apologize to them for anything. ?? (I know I wouldn't, lol)

 

Shows like Montel's are done on a tight schedule, there would be very little to be edited cuz that can be too costly. Those commercial breaks are built in to the entire hour she's there (which is why when they're going to a commercial or coming back from a break, you'll catch just a bit of a Q&A thing). And many times, I've seen a puzzled look on someone's face, or I'll just barely hear them say the opposite of what she's telling them. She doesn't hear it and they're not loud enough or whatever to get their point across. So she does make mistakes, they just don't make an issue out of it. I tape the shows (I'm not home from work when they come on), so I'm always going back over stuff, and I see a number of what I consider to be errors on her part. Her accuracy rate is still very high though, so mistakes don't faze me. And if the info she's receiving is what she said (whether she simply misunderstood the message or the other side is just yanking her chain, lol), there's really nothing to apologize for.

 

I read what Montel said in that phone call, that totally sounds like him. He's a goof, he says a lot of weird shit and I've also heard him say things "wrong" on MANY occasions. Montel is totally that guy who says whatever he needs to say in that moment, to that person, in front of that audience, to be 'popular' (is why I pretty much only watch him now on Sylvia Wednesdays). I doubt he meant it the way it sounded, but even if he did, I just didn't get a sense of "oh yeah, psychics are totally phoney, they don't exist, Sylvia's a sham, and we're just raking in the bucks off this" - you know?  Either way, I don't care, lol. I'm not a big fan of his and I don't pay much mind to anything he says, lol. I just watch for Syl.

 

I'm sure if she approached him and asked for an apology for whatever reason, he would do it. Privately of course, they're friends. My point being we don't know what has transpired privately, and I for one am not big on public displays of maudlin butt licking, lol.

 

Really, I don't feel that I'm necessarily defending Sylvia per se, more the process itself. The psychic debunkers just flat out don't believe it's possible and think all of 'em are charletans (and yes, there are plenty out there - and who knows, maybe she's really THAT good a charletan, maybe all those people who validated what she's told them were all plants; anything's possible!). The psychic I used to go see down in San Diego was amazing, for the most part. She knew shit she couldn't possibly know and there's no way she could've found out. I also went to a psychic once that my friend and I met at the Renaissance Faire and he wasn't legit, lol. But it was funny to see....

 

This is slightly off-topic, but it reminds me of the various Tarot readers I've been to. They don't know wtf they're doing, lol. I've never had a Tarot reading that I've given fall short yet, and it's because I don't use them to "predict the future". I also don't make assumptions about the person asking the question. Dede recently helped me interpret a couple of readings, and it totally helped me. The cards were legitimate cards, but being close to the situation, I wasn't able to see it clearly. She was more objective and totally cleared it up for me. Again, it was merely a reflection of what's in my own heart anyway, so it had nothing to do with predicting the future.

 

Never mind - that really is a different topic, lol.

 

But yes, I really would love to get a reading from Sylvia. A couple years back (maybe 4? LMAO @ my sense of time...), I was saving up for it, but finances being what they are (I don't earn much and I spend way too much, lol), that took a big back seat in priorities. Maybe someday...

 

I'd love to ask her about Fishy and Suzie. I talked to them ALL the time from when I was about 2 - I remember vividly. They were real, but invisible. I've concluded in the interim years that Fishy was my animal totem and Suzie is my spirit guide. She's still around (yeah, I do hear from her every time I address her. Shhh, don't tell, people think I'm odd enough as it is, lol) - I don't see her, just 'hear' her (but only when I call on her). And Fishy....he's long gone. It finally occurred to me after reading that animal totems shift as we develop, because what they stand for is different animal to animal, that my totems have changed. For many years, I was obssessed with bears. Must've been my totem at the time. And since I was in my 30s, it has been wolves - it just gets stronger and stronger as time passes. So obviously that's my current totem. Or so I conclude, lol. I would like to verify all this with her.

 

It's hard for me to pass judgement about the whole authorship thing, I guess because it's so common in the book industry. I mean, it's kinda annoying when people claim to have done something they didn't actually do....but when it's harmless, like these books, I don't really care. (When a co-worker claims you did something you didn't, THAT'S something that should be addressed, lol)

 

 

On a lighter note, I do hope you can make the zoo thing work for you. Actually, wouldn't it be awesome to work out some sort of hypnosis therapy for animals who are in pain, either physical or emotional? I wonder why no one is doing that! (I did hear something many, many years ago about using something like hypnosis to help animals, but I don't remember much at all about that)

 

You could really pioneer that!!   

 

 

LOL  hmmm...  that's an idea...   I just saw a guy who talks to babies and toddlers under 2, and reads their minds, so why not hypnosis for animals? 

 

I'm wondering if you're talking about the Tellington Touch.  A lady developed a way of "touching" cats, dogs, and horses, which improves their sense of well-being, can remove pain, and helps realign them, too, depending on what's being touched... (kind of like a mini-massage.)  I bought her tapes decades almost ago... and ever since have rubbed the tips of my cats and dogs' ears when they're in pain to help relieve them of the pain... 

 

The apology that I was hoping Sylvia would give was for telling the parents that their child was dead when he really wasn't.  Personally, I would say that I was sorry about being wrong, had I told them that... 

 

Thanks for your good wishes... I go tomorrow and am hoping that everything falls into place.    I'd make a kick-ass hypnotherapist, so that'll be added in at some point. lol

 

 

 

 

I remember hearing about that (although had NO idea what it was called until you said something, lol), but I'm not sure if it's the same thing. Could be. My brain will put things together in odd ways in order to remember them.  It's even likely that I took that, incorporated it with something from a movie where someone just looked into an animal's eyes and it was "hypnotized", and made it real, lol. (j/k - I hope, lol)

 

Certainly the whole 'healing' thing is a valuable skill though!

 

 

Chicky, I get what you're saying. I've read the same sort of thing elsewhere about this, that she seemed to backpedal and all that (about the miners). I would like to think that no matter what sort of ridicule I had dealt with for 50 years, I would still have the eggs to just say, "Oh well, I made a mistake" lol. Or even blame Francine lol, but at least in some way acknowledge instead of blow it off. But it's hard to tell what I'd do in such a situation, really. As much ridicule as I've experienced (lol), she has had much more.

 

I still believe that it's a difficult 'job', that when you receive info, you have to interpret it and it doesn't always pan out right. I think the other side can give you a wrong symbol and you could really get lost in that. I also think they can be playful and totally mess with you, lol. Not to say that when you make an error you shouldn't cop to it (as I said, I'd like to think that I would), but I still think that for someone her age - specifically from her generation - it totally makes sense to me why she would avoid those sorts of admissions. Credibility in that biz is hard coming, especially back in the day. And even knowing the whole 75% accuracy rate (really, you can go lower than that, but that's about the minimum for very gifted psychics - keep in mind that a .350 RBI record is phenomenal in baseball, and that's hitting only about a third of the time), I still think it's hard for someone her age to believe people would still give her the credibility were she to admit to an error. (We also don't know for sure if she apologized to that family privately, do we?)

 

Then again, I've found that people seldom do apologize for making mistakes, especially for egregious errors. Sometimes they lose their jobs, their status, whatever. But often they don't. I guess it's hard for me to treat psychics much differently than other jobs when it comes to that, lol.

 

And I can't believe I used a baseball reference, lol.  

 

Shocker - this post isn't a tome!!

 

 

 

 

I watched that today myself (well, I recorded it and watched it later - I actually slept through it, lol) - now I'm trying to remember that part. Hmmm....probably shouldn't have deleted it.

 

 

Ok, that's what really gets me the most. I've thought about this since I was a kid - if I had that sort of God-given gift, the type of thing that not everybody can have, there's no way I would charge people to give a reading. I would do it voluntarily on like a part-time basis and make my income in some other way - or even charge for my services with things like the Police dept. or other government agencies to make an income, but never charge people like myself, like you guys - it just blows my mind how greedy gifted people can be! How anyone can say "only people with money deserve this", is beyond me - because that's what they're saying by charging anything (especially if they don't use a sliding scale --- lol, at least some therapists will do that much).

 

That's the one, huge issue I have with Sylvia, John Edward, even Donna (for she does charge, even if it is less than those other 2). Even my old psychic in San Diego charged like $65 or something around that (it's been like 10 years now).

 

Ok, I can see charging to do someone's astral chart, like $25 or so - totally! I can see charging a nominal fee for a Tarot reading, maybe $15. Cuz these are things anyone can learn to do on their own, they'd just rather pay someone else to do it for them.

 

But you can't teach yourself to channel info from the other freakin' side, not like those people do!

 

Pisses me off.

 

LOL, that's all.

 

I went to see John Edward, and there was a huge with with about 300 to 400 people in it. I think our tickets were 50 bucks a piece. I've heard alot of his venues are even larger than this one.  He did about 6 or 7  'readings'.  One person that he insisted some information to on a loved one, could not place any of the information at all...nothing.  After seeing him in person, I'm not quite sure how I feel about him at all.  This was like four years ago or so.

LOL, glad to know I'm not the only one who feels that way, Chicky.

 

Ya know, when I was a little girl, psychics went on a "donation" basis - I think legally they had to do it that way. They weren't allowed to literally charge for services (I think it was a legal thing anyway), but they were allowed to ask for a donation, so they'd have like a jar or a can or something in the front area of their shop that said something to that effect. "We do not charge for our services, but appreciate any donation you would like to make. Most patrons donate about $25" (or whatever the amount)

 

It was treated more like a church kind of thing than an enterprise.

 

At least it proves that psychics are mere humans after all, and can fall victim to the whole greed thing like anyone else.

 

I wish I had chosen that route for this life - to be a psychic who actually cares about the non-rich.

 

I wonder what the hell I chose actually? LOL, I have NO idea what I'm doing here or what I'm supposed to do. Hell, I still don't even know what I want to be when I grow up and my life is coming to a close already.

 

hahahaha

 

LOL, well, they could use their gifts to just find free food, couldn't they?

 

(j/k - had to go for the joke)

 

 

I know what you mean, Avi. I don't disagree that they have to survive - food, shelter, etc. But mediumship isn't something that 'anyone' can do. Quite the contrary. It's not a thing that can be learned, no matter how hard you try, no matter how much people may say you can learn it - it's a God-given gift and only a handful of people have it.

 

Almost everything else, however, can be learned by anyone, imo. Anyone can learn to type correspondence and answer phones, for example. Anyone can learn to be a doctor, fly a plane, write programming code, play an instrument, edit film (lol) - and that's not a dis on anyone who does those things exceptionally well. It's just that anyone can learn a "trade" or occupation and make a living - some make more than others within the same field, but the point is, these things can be learned. But one can not "learn" to be psychic - it's something you're born with (you can learn to be more intuitive, but that's a whole different thing). So to me, it's a gift that should be shared. And it shouldn't be shared only with people who have that kind of disposable income. (You know me, lol, I'm a socialist)

 

But that's my philosophy. If I could do it, I'd give it away. That doesn't mean I'd have my doors open 24/7, lol. Obviously I'd have to earn an income - I would use that gift to help police find missing people or solve crimes and I would charge for that. That's taxpayer money, it's part of the crime-solving budget, lol. I would also (or instead) likely do something else, such as the administrative work I currently do, or teach, or flip burgers, or whatever - probably on a part-time basis. And I would set aside time to give free readings to people who are interested in the process, who are seeking answers that only a medium might provide, or who just want to be blown away by contacting someone that's long gone, lol.

 

However - I also understand that psychics may not feel they can do something else for a living. Perhaps those spirits are constantly pestering them (lol) and they would be unable to concentrate on typing letters or whatever. For whatever reason, they may not want to do anything else (wow, would it be nice to have an option like that!).

 

In a worst-case scenario, they could use a sort of sliding scale thing. So one person might pay $50, another might only pay $5 - but both would get the same amount of time, same treatment.

 

I don't know what Donna charges, so this may not even apply to her, but I'm talking about the ones who typically charge $80, $100.....and most especially people like Sylvia who charge almost $800!! It's obscene! And it's elitist.

 

But you know what I'm saying? Hell, I couldn't imagine charging anyone that kind of money for one lousy hour of my time, no matter what I'm doing (and I wouldn't even have to go to them, they'd be coming to me!). But especially if what I'm doing is a thing that the overwhelming majority of people could never in their wildest imagination learn to do themselves. When I used to sing, there's no way I felt comfortable with the idea of charging anyone for it. And that's hardly "helpful" to anyone, like a medium's work would be. I could never charge for giving a Tarot reading (although that is something anyone can learn to do on their own).

 

I dunno, it's like.... It's a gift from God! It's like charging to connect with God. Hence my problem with organized religion, I s'pose, lol.

 

With Donna, I don't know, maybe it's a different thing. I would actually charge something to go to someone's home to 'fumigate' (lol) for ghosts - at least to compensate for gas and wear and tear on my car. But to have someone come in to my home/office for an hour and give them a reading - health, romance, career, whatever's on their minds, whatever's coming up "in the cards" as it were - that's something I couldn't charge for.

 

Anyway, it's not like I protest it by simply not going (ok, well, it's been a long time, but that's only because I'm poor now, lol, not that I'm unwilling to shell it out), because it's not like I have a choice if I want a reading.

 

I'm very confused about the human condition apparently, lol. The greater the gift from God, it seems the greater the greed. And I can't reconcile that. My brain just doesn't "get it", lol.

 

Haha, I need to find a Buddhist medium I guess.

Ya, I don't doubt it can be quite taxing - on both the mind and the body. It's not something I'd do "full time" either way if I had such a gift, that's for sure. (Heh, look at what happened to Mozart, lol)

 

I know this is a capitalistic world, lol. I just have issues with that fact. And I probably get a little pissy when I'm reminded of my socioeconomic status (not that it's not a choice I've made....but still....I long for a world of bartering). 

 

(You should see me when the topic is food and water, lol)