Hi,
I am not sure where to post this but I am so greatly distressed. I’ve read threads here about recovery from New Age bs and I sadly admit I am one of them. I am not sure if I should even start a new topic or add to one of those threads but there are so many pages to the others, plus I do have one specific concern.

I don’t even know where to begin. I got into the new age thing in 2007. Over the years I began to believe all of it – the manifestation, meditation, chakras…I won’t list everything, but I basically was (but didn’t know it) looking for a new identity. If I could develop my “psychic abillty” maybe I could become someone – I could be a medium!! How special! How un-ordinary! I could be a psychic, a tarot reader and be really good…I now realize that it was a need to feel special.

Fast forward again to about a year ago when I decided to follow a local medium (very New Age). This is not meant as a personal attack, and I am withholding the identity. I only wish to repeat my experience because I am very upset by it and well, basically I just need somewhere to vent my frustrations.

As I kept listening to his radio shows, he started having more guests on. They (the guest and the medium) would go back and forth praising each other. But I overlooked it all. Energy healers, dream specialists, emotion specialists, past lifers, you name it. I was sucked in to most of it. Then the medium’s shows got more riddled with self-promotion, advertising of all the “specialists” on his website, then he’s into the social media and constantly asking all his listeners, who “loves each and every one of you,” to “make sure to LIKE me on Facebook..” Then the peddling of his workshops and seminars, guests who compliment him on his amazing abilities and then he compliments them back…ugg.OK, it’s a business for him and he is advertising. But I still ignored the red flag in my gut.

But I kept listening. I ignored all of the non-specific general advice he gave and focused on the hits. I will say that I do believe he has definitely honed a gift as a medium. HOWEVER. He has also honed his business acumen, his cold reading skills, his on-air lovey dovey persona, and promotional skills and contacts, and especially his “abundance manifesting skills” because his prices are hefty.

One day, a year ago, I wanted to call in to his show and ask about my spiritual path (probably because the New Age bs was confusing me so much). He did have a few hits on exactly what’s going on with me that were in detail. The rest of the reading was all filler and just general advice about how I’m a healer and I should look for “local classes and workshops” to take (LIKE HIS!) And he suggested different healing avenues like Reiki. Of course he was hoping I would respond to one of them and dummy me, I blurted out that I had already tried Reiki one. He then said “you’re definitely gonna end up being a Reiki master, probably.” ??? Probably? That clued me in that he was feeding off the answer I gave him. He did not pick up that I was very skeptical of Reiki even then and had no interest in Reiki anymore, ha ha!

He told me I have 3 Native American Indian spirit guides, one is a shaman, that I was a shaman healer in a past life and that is my path. The thing is, I did not feel that was right. I took my time in looking up shamanism and eventually I found that New Age Fraud/Plastic Shaman website and that set me straight. Native American Indians would NEVER sell their spirituality nor would they call themselves shamans. The self-proclaimed “shamans” out there advertising workshops and classes to become shamans are complete frauds are at least just New Age opportunists who are stealing from the Native American culture. And this medium (who has a main shaman healer listed on his website and who he promotes) says for me to look into shamanic healing. I am not a Native American Indian. I would never do that. He has no idea what he’s talking about and if I really had a N. A. guide, that guide would NEVER advise him to tell me to pursue shamanic healing. I guess perhaps he made it up? Suggest something to make me feel like I have such a more “special” calling than being an ordinary person not on a spiritual path.

This most recent show I listened to right after I started my New Age detox, literally a week ago. I listened only because I had a feeling I would be much better able to detect the complete scam going on. Well the show proved me so right it’s ridiculous. He raved about how he’s suddenly experiencing shamanic journeys and after years of not saying a thing about it, except for here and there, he’s suddenly telling everyone that we have, in addition to our many guides, angels and deceased ones, we have our “allies, totem animals and ancestors” to call upon. I figured, oh, he must have spent time with the “shamanic healer” he’s been promoting.

Sure enough, the next thing he says is that he just took a trip with the shamanic healer!! And get this: THEN he proceeds to tell us how, while on the trip, he was walking in the woods after a “shamanic journey” and noticed huge footprints of a bear. On an “instinct” he decided to place his feet in those “bear prints” and OMG! They matched! He then said, “I have since come to believe that I have a connection with the bear and that the bear is my totem animal.” Seriously. Oh lord.

Then he goes on about how he’s suddenly seeing “an old woman, looks Native American, indigenous” in his meditations. The whole show was about his new-found ability to shamanically journey. Even his readings to everyone were “I see an old woman around you, she looks wrinkly, indigenous, maybe an ancestor..native American…” OMG. The bs that came out was unbelievable!!

This is basically word for word, I downloaded this onto my phone as a podcast. This caller, a girl, said she was lost in a lot of ways and that talking to her guides wasn’t working. He told her basic stuff about his opinion of guides. Each time she said something or asked a question, he would answer it with a question, to fish for answers! He’d tell her to take meditation classes (of course he offers them). There is LOTS of silence from this girl because she can’t relate to what he’s trying to push on her.

Suddenly! He gets the h*ll away from all he just said, and the silence, and blurts out, “Do you work with kids?” And she says NO, that she’s a full time student, she’s not satisfied, she is lost on a lot of levels.

He counters, “What do you mean? What stands in your way?” He’s fishing. She replies it’s money. She is sounding really down at this point.

He says, “Well, don’t LET it stand in your way.” WHAT? What is she supposed to say to that? He continues, “Money is just energy and everything is energy and that’s why people have money problems is because they don’t go with the flow of the energy. They worry about not having it instead of seeing themselves with it, knowing that you deserve to have it. You gotta tell yourself that nothing is standing in your way, that you deserve it, that you have the ability to reach these goals and dreams. You keep telling yourself NO and you need to tell yourself YES. Change your no’s to yeses.” This poor girl is still silent. He plods on, “It’s important to change your no’s to a yes.” You know, people have serious money problems and a lot of people are totally struggling and this poor dear heart is so upset. He has the nerve to casually dismiss her serious worry and just say, no, don’t let that darn money get in your way, blink up some money, honey! Easy as pie!

She takes a deep breath and asks if he feels her career path that she’s working towards is the right one. He then ASKS HER, “WHAT ARE YOU WORKING TOWARDS?” !!! I listened to this “psychic medium” answer a question with a question and my mouth just dropped. The amount of fishing is unbelievable. She stammers and says she’s looking into Social Work. He affirms it will be beneficial.

He tries to tie in his earlier miss about working with kids by saying he keeps seeing her with kids. Then, because he heard her say “social work,” he adds, “like kids in broken homes and things, so that would make sense to Social Work. That would totally make sense to social work. Ummm, so, yeah, definitely a direction to get you started…” and she is silent the whole time.

My heart broke for her and I could tell she was not relating to anything he said. He throws something else out there to cover for his blunder and to make her feel better and more empowered – he now sees her “somewhere” where she can be “totally your own boss, like you’re the one running the joint. Like you’re in Social Work in town and you’re running the joint, overseeing lots of people. And I’m not talking soon, I’m talking ten (!!!) years out.” She is merely peeping in the background and I am just shocked. Yeah, ten years out, so there’s no way that she will ever remember this horrible, misleading reading in ten years. And saying TEN years is not helping her now. At least it wouldn’t help me.
He tries to save the reading by saying that as long as she does all this with love and in helping people, it will “be rewarding in a very abundant and financial way.” Then she just meekly said, “ …(pause)…ok..” and my heart broke again.

He tries one more futile time to resurrect the reading by giving some important advice – that she apparently had been manifesting whatever she wanted a while ago and has since stopped. A very long pause and now her spirit is so depressed (and probably also because she realized he is completely bs’ing her) and she mumbles “hm” so quietly you can barely hear her. He says she has to get back to doing whatever she was doing a while ago to manifest. Long pause. When she asks if there is anyone looking after her (probably because she has no faith in anything after that reading, lol), he says yes there always is and that she is trying too hard, don’t expect anything too quickly, put the impatience aside. (Just be patient, many years, and hopefully by that time you will forget this horrible cold reading!!!)

You know, I lost sleep over this. I could not stop thinking about those people on that show who were utterly confused. I thought about how his readings changed over the years and became like a crab cake, advertised as a real crab cake, but only to find out that it’s overpriced and has 1/8 real crab and the rest all filler.

I am sorry for the length of this post. This is now an issue that has become very quickly dear to my heart and I wish I could do more to make others aware. But what can you do for people who don’t want to hear it? I wish sooo bad that I could contact that poor girl and just listen to her story, her sadness, give her a hug and a shoulder to cry on. I could give her better advice than that guy. I am so sad that this greed and deception goes on in this materialistic society. I hope I get a better night’s sleep tonight. Thanks for hanging in and reading all this. This forum has helped me greatly already.

What "Cold Reading" is is simply a sophisticated system of guessing using body language. This is how it works--try it, I guarantee it.

First, usually the person that is going in for a reading is going in because he or she is facing some issues in his or her life. People who are happy, well-adjusted, and don't seem to have a lot of trouble in their lives are generally not going to go to someone who claims these abilities.

So if you were to come to me, I would make some tentative guesses as to what your trouble might be. For most people this can be pretty predictable. Health problems. Financial problems. Relationship problems. I would study how you are dressed and whether or not you have a wedding/engagement ring. Believe me, you can tell a lot from just that and you don't need psychic abilities. You of course would not realize that I am on a fishing expedition.

So I run though the big three and as I am doing so I am carefully monitoring your facial expressions. Bingo! I have a hit. So I start probing more and more. I ask questions, like does this make sense? Pretty soon YOU are volunteering the information to me without even realizing it. All the while you are thinking, boy, this person really does have a gift.

I have gone to cold readings a few times in my life just out of curiosity. Because I know how they work. And it is really amusing to see how these psychics flounder when you don't give them any clues. When you sit there with a poker face. Or when you flat-out say, "no, that does not make sense." Believe me, they do not like to hear that. I once got into an argument with a psychic over her interpretation of my past. I told her that whatever she was reading in my palms, it did not match up with my past, and I was there, I ought to know what happened and what didn't. She got very angry at me!

Another time, some friends and I went to see a spirituralist minister that they all thought very highly of. Right away I could tell he was fishing for information, which I refused to give him. He was asking questions. "I sense that there is someone in your past who liked flowers." Well, LOTS of people like flowers. What I was waiting to hear--and what I did not hear--is things like "Your great-grandfather was the town blacksmith in Crystal Falls, Michigan. He had the reputation of having the fastest horse in Iron County and if anyone's horse passed him on the road, he would make negotiations to buy that horse." That's not guessing. That's specific detail. The kind that would make me sit up and take notice if it came from someone who I'd never met before, who had no idea I might be coming and therefore no way to research it. My friends were upset with me because I said I was not impressed by this minister. Yes, he got some small details right but he had the major picture wrong. I lost track of how many times I kept telling him no, that does not make sense. No, that does not match anyone in my family. I think I was actually beginning to upset the guy because he terminated the reading.

These people operate like the Wizard of Oz and just like Oz they don't want you to look behind the curtain.

[bList of Articles on Cold Reading Posted on RR.com Message Board[/b]

(Note: This information has been assembled and published for the edification and emancipation of all members of the human family.

Anyone who abuses this information for selfish, impatient purposes will become a slave of the techniques one has abused. )

Liberty of Gaze. In most situations, except when one is an authority figure, it is considered impolite to fix another person with a prolonged gaze. If a person is in a social role that gives them the right to do so, they are already empowered. (Police officers, doctors, teachers, therapists, and yes, designated ‘healers’ have this privilege. So, even before one begins a conversion, one has license to stare. Very powerful.

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“In case people have had dream interpretations or mind readings from Serge or some other "adept" and are convinced that person "read their minds" there is a more mundane explanation.”

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“Other Examples of Cold Reading

It is especially effective if the subject already has worries or guilt about something”Other examples of Cold Reading – a séance done in the 1830s in Cairo

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“another person tells us one can learn to do cold reading without any awareness one has learned to do it.

This person did it herself. Karla McLaren


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A man who, without awareness of doing so, learned cold reading. And was rebuked by another man who used the guilty conscience trick.

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Creation of social settings that ensure fixed and focused attention

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OutofTransition, thank you for your reply!!

Corboy, I'm sorry, did I miss something? Why the long post about autism, if I may ask?

The autism post was misclassified and taken care of through moderation.

You are right to ask about cold reading. Karla Maclaren wrote in her article that she would have benefitted tremendously had she understood that she'd learned the technique without even intending to do so.

All the other items sum up that what is now termed cold reading has been done under various names for centuries, and across many cultures.

The episode described by Alan Lew, the one in which he felt troubled by what he was doing with readings, and how the guy named Rudi seemingly intuited how Lew was troubled -- this is another technique.

Assume that someone in an audience, any audience, has a guilty conscience about something.

Years ago, there was an anecdote about a highly placed French politician who was constantly beseiged by people who wanted him to advocate for them so they would be awarded the Legion of Honor, a much coveted decoration.

This politician became increasingly tired of the requests. So he resorted to trickery.

He would react by storming at the applicant, "How dare you ask for Legion of Honor after what you've done!"

Everyone backed off. Guilty consciences. They assumed the guy had the goods on them.

In the episode described by Alan Lew, he tells us this.

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exhausted. He seemed to be giving eerily accurate readings. One day someone made fun of him during the readings and Lew reacted by giving a vengeful reading.

Alan Lew's brother had become a disciple of another guru Rudrananda, aka Rudi. Because of the connection with his brother, Lew decided to go to a talk given by Rudi.

"In the middle of Rudi's talk, I foudn myself wanting to ask him about the Ouija board. ...As I sat there listening to Rudi now, a question formed inside my head. I desperately wanted to ask him all of this, but I was afraid to.

"All of a sudden, Rudi stopped in the middle of his talk and said, "Go ahead, ask the question."

No one said anything.

He said, "Go ahead. I feel someone needs to ask a question."

(Note Rudi's use of the word "I feel" This suggests he was psychic. But had Rudi said, "I see that someone wants to ask a question" that would have suggested the very much more mundane likelihood that he was observing body language, seeing that Lew or others were tense about something. Or just done this as a tactical manuver.

Lew continued.

"I didnt say anything. I was too afraid. Rudi said

"We're not going to go on until you ask the question. So ask the goddamn question."

(Corboy "You is collective, as well as personal. Its a high likelihood that someone in the group would have had a question. And...Rudi was holding the group hostage, refusing to go on with the talk until someone asked a question of some sort. Its a power move, folks. )

"I knew then that he was talking to me" Lew wrote. (No Lew didnt know. He was already burdened by a guilty conscience. Lots of us are burdened by guilty consciences. Corboy)

"There is this thing I've been doing and people have been coming to me, and Ive been asnwering their questions and--"

Rudi replied. "If you continue doing what you're doing, you'll be dead in a year."

Lew commented "I immediately saw the truth in what he was saying. I had been becoming more and more exhausted and depleted. I was putting out energy that I didnt know how to replace. It was like losing blood."

Lew assumed Rudi had read his mind.

As Edward Lane wrote in the pre-Freudian 1860s:



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Food for thought. These might be used by cold readers.

Get people to do most of the talking.

This is used to assist our readers to become and remain autonomous. Anyone misusing this information will become a slave of the trickery themselves.

Victor Lustig was one of the big con artists of all time. Here is a list of his supposed ten commandments.

It appears he must have known how to frequent venues full of persons already troubled and eager to talk.

Note that in some situtations one can get away with being untidy or unkempt, or even be someone who does most of the talking. In situations where unconventional behavior is accepted, this can be successful. (eg university towns in the midst of the hippie era and much of the 1970s)

Today, people crave to be listened to.


A con artist might send out recruiters who do behave with the care and discretion described here.

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The Ten Commandments of Con Artists

Aka
Victor Lustig's Rules

Crew
One - Victor Lustig

Victims
Anyone

The Scam
Victor "The Count" Lustig is one of the greatest con artist's of all time. In 1925 he sold the Eiffel Tower to scrap metal dealers. In 1929, after the original victim's failed to go to the police, he returned to Paris and committed the same fraud for a second time. He even managed to convince one of his victim's to give him a bribe.

He also created a fake money duplicating machine that produced counterfeit notes. The machine didn't actually work but that didn't stop him selling them for $25,000 a pop!

His ten commandments for con men are still used today by con artists around the world.


Be a good listener - the myth of the fast talking, silver tongued con man should be ignored.

Never appear bored - show nothing but interest in your victim

Agree with the victim's politics. Wait for the other person to reveal any political opinions, then agree with them

Agree with the victim's religion.

Hint at sex talk without being explicit

Never discuss illness unless they bring up the subject

Never ask about personal circumstances.

Never talk yourself up. Your brilliance should be obvious

Never be messy or untidy.

Never get drunk or take drugs

Variations
These commandments are also used by salespeople and those with an interest in affecting people's behaviour.