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Lipstick psychics
Banish the incense and crushed velvet. Today's psychics are just as likely to play the Presets and mix you a cocktail...
I have a colleague who is a secret psychic. She has been sitting near me and going about her usual work day and I didn't even have a clue. There has been no chanting or hovering in the seat. She's more the type to save up for music festivals and follow funky, obscure bands than mutter mystic mantras.
It was not until we started chatting one day and she mentioned that when she held crystals, they felt hot and vibrated in her hand. Oh, and that she used to line her dashboard with about 20 crystals, as it made her feel calm.
Then it came out that when she was five years old, she would watch the TV news and predict what the newsreaders were going to say - before they said it. I was gobsmacked.
Shows like Channel 7's The One: The Search for Australia's Most Gifted Psychic make psychics seem like dark and mysterious beings. Not that they could actually be sitting next to you at work. And anything we hear tends to be juxtaposed with a healthy dose of scepticism.
Sydney psychic Amanda Roussety was a finalist on the show and says "coming out" as a psychic wasn't easy. "For many years, I didn't tell anyone, because of the stigma attached," Roussety admits. "Then one day, I realised that being psychic was who I was and if I kept hiding it, I would only be hiding 'me' from everyone I knew. Once I started telling people, it made it so much easier."
Roussety hopes to continue to break down the stereotypes. "We don't all look like gypsies and we don't curse people. We have families and normal, busy lives - just like everyone else."
Fellow psychic Rebecca Dettman, who lives in Adelaide but makes regular visits to her former home of Sydney, has put a real Sex and the City twist on her sessions, including "past lives and peach bellini" and "reiki and rum and coke".
"I mix my prophecies with my Prada and my past lives with my peach bellinis and have created a sexy-cool online 'cosmic lounge' for the ordinary corporate Generation X-Y - PsychedInStilettos.com," Dettman says.
"We live in a world obsessed with stilettos, MySpace, laptops, BlackBerrys, private jets and uber-glamour, so why should the psychic industry be any different?
"Forget long-haired types, swaying in crushed velvet outfits, waving incense sticks and telling you someone's going to die in a car crash. As a modern 'psychette', it's all about slick professionalism, fast-tracking people's money and success, and wearing stilettos, while you chat with your angels (or 'A-team') on your way down the street."
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She could be onto the money. Trend forecasters have been predicting the wellness revolution will be the next billion-dollar industry, tying into such areas as holistic and natural therapies, eco-chic, practical intuition and more. And, putting a modern-day spin on it can only help a psychic's cause.
One thing that interested me was that both Dettman and Roussety believe anyone can tap into their psychic ability, though working psychics just have strengthened intuition (there are psychic development courses to improve yours).
And I may be among them, after all. My psychic colleague read my palm the other day and said I had a little cross in the central hollow of my right hand that only one in 50 people had, marking me as having a possible strong psychic talent. While I'd rather just watch the news unfold, than predict it, I say, bring on the peach bellini.
Amanda Roussety
Being psychic comes most in handy for me in daily family life. If my children or husband are worried about something, I not only feel their worry, but I can see the cause of their worry. Even if they haven't mentioned the situation to me previously, I still can see it. Then, I can talk it through with them so that the lines of communication are always open and they don't ever feel they have to go through things alone! www.amandaroussety.com
Rebecca Dettman
My psychic ability helps when I sleep through my alarm, but wake up because an unusual voice whispers in my ear, "You're going to be late". Or, guess who's about to phone before my mobile rings on the way to work. I can also conduct a quick two-minute meditation in the toilets when feeling stressed, clear out my chakras while waiting in line at the bank, and "manifest" a car park out of nowhere when late for a meeting. As well as "remove" an annoying ex who keeps calling, by cutting an energetic cord between us, and chat to my late grandmother while washing the dishes! www.psychedinstilettos.com
I have a colleague who is a secret psychic. She has been sitting near me and going about her usual work day and I didn't even have a clue. There has been no chanting or hovering in the seat. She's more the type to save up for music festivals and follow funky, obscure bands than mutter mystic mantras.
It was not until we started chatting one day and she mentioned that when she held crystals, they felt hot and vibrated in her hand. Oh, and that she used to line her dashboard with about 20 crystals, as it made her feel calm.
Then it came out that when she was five years old, she would watch the TV news and predict what the newsreaders were going to say - before they said it. I was gobsmacked.
Shows like Channel 7's The One: The Search for Australia's Most Gifted Psychic make psychics seem like dark and mysterious beings. Not that they could actually be sitting next to you at work. And anything we hear tends to be juxtaposed with a healthy dose of scepticism.
Sydney psychic Amanda Roussety was a finalist on the show and says "coming out" as a psychic wasn't easy. "For many years, I didn't tell anyone, because of the stigma attached," Roussety admits. "Then one day, I realised that being psychic was who I was and if I kept hiding it, I would only be hiding 'me' from everyone I knew. Once I started telling people, it made it so much easier."
Roussety hopes to continue to break down the stereotypes. "We don't all look like gypsies and we don't curse people. We have families and normal, busy lives - just like everyone else."
Fellow psychic Rebecca Dettman, who lives in Adelaide but makes regular visits to her former home of Sydney, has put a real Sex and the City twist on her sessions, including "past lives and peach bellini" and "reiki and rum and coke".
"I mix my prophecies with my Prada and my past lives with my peach bellinis and have created a sexy-cool online 'cosmic lounge' for the ordinary corporate Generation X-Y - PsychedInStilettos.com," Dettman says.
"We live in a world obsessed with stilettos, MySpace, laptops, BlackBerrys, private jets and uber-glamour, so why should the psychic industry be any different?
"Forget long-haired types, swaying in crushed velvet outfits, waving incense sticks and telling you someone's going to die in a car crash. As a modern 'psychette', it's all about slick professionalism, fast-tracking people's money and success, and wearing stilettos, while you chat with your angels (or 'A-team') on your way down the street."
read on below advertisement
She could be onto the money. Trend forecasters have been predicting the wellness revolution will be the next billion-dollar industry, tying into such areas as holistic and natural therapies, eco-chic, practical intuition and more. And, putting a modern-day spin on it can only help a psychic's cause.
One thing that interested me was that both Dettman and Roussety believe anyone can tap into their psychic ability, though working psychics just have strengthened intuition (there are psychic development courses to improve yours).
And I may be among them, after all. My psychic colleague read my palm the other day and said I had a little cross in the central hollow of my right hand that only one in 50 people had, marking me as having a possible strong psychic talent. While I'd rather just watch the news unfold, than predict it, I say, bring on the peach bellini.
Amanda Roussety
Being psychic comes most in handy for me in daily family life. If my children or husband are worried about something, I not only feel their worry, but I can see the cause of their worry. Even if they haven't mentioned the situation to me previously, I still can see it. Then, I can talk it through with them so that the lines of communication are always open and they don't ever feel they have to go through things alone! www.amandaroussety.com
Rebecca Dettman
My psychic ability helps when I sleep through my alarm, but wake up because an unusual voice whispers in my ear, "You're going to be late". Or, guess who's about to phone before my mobile rings on the way to work. I can also conduct a quick two-minute meditation in the toilets when feeling stressed, clear out my chakras while waiting in line at the bank, and "manifest" a car park out of nowhere when late for a meeting. As well as "remove" an annoying ex who keeps calling, by cutting an energetic cord between us, and chat to my late grandmother while washing the dishes! www.psychedinstilettos.com
Story: Carla Caruso
