by Ken Szymanski for Volume One Magazine
(note: the second half of the article features Judy)
It was good timing. I had just gotten engaged, and my editors were looking for someone to do a story on local psychics. Interested in a possible glimpse into my future, I used the assignment as an excuse to do what I was secretly interested in doing anyway?exploring the psychic underworld of my hometown, Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Under this thinly-veiled guise, I was able to satisfy my curiosity while still avoiding the stigma that accompanies psychic treatment. Though you'll only find one local psychic in our yellow pages, Eau Claire offers a variety of metaphysical alternatives?if you know where to look. My search led me on a mind-bending psychological and spiritual journey with some of the area's clairvoyant specialists, each with a different take on my future.
* * *
I'd seen the sign north of town on Highway 53: "Psychic Readings?Walk Ins Welcome." This psychic, known only as "Nancy," seemed like a good place to start. I called for an appointment and met her at her office?a remodeled trailer home with two comfortable chairs and lots of mystical new-age decor. It was the kind of place in which you'd expect Enya to be in heavy rotation on the stereo. Disappointingly, though, there wasn't a crystal ball to be found.
Without any introductions, Nancy walked in and immediately started the reading. "What are your initials?" she fired. "What is your date of birth?" Charging right out of the gates with that information, along with a "vibe" that she got from me, she was able to give me a psychic reading. It was an hour of hit and miss.
She guessed that my parents are divorced (wrong). She felt that I am in great turmoil (wrong). She sensed that I need glasses (I hope she's wrong). She insisted that I am unhappy with my career (wrong). She guessed that there is an important person in my life named Susan (wrong, I swear). She felt that I have gone through struggles in my life (who hasn't). She guessed that I lack patience (I don't think so). Apparently, many of her assumptions were based on the fact that I'm a Leo.
Nancy did have a certain accent and enigmatic style which made this quite fun. I also liked the fact that her confidence never buckled, even after her misfires.
She told me that I came from a family of great wealth. I denied this. She back-peddled to say that wealth didn't necessarily mean financial (I let her have that one).
She suggested that I sabotaged many of my past relationships (let's not turn this into therapy) and that I was once considered "quite a player" (did she even look at my hair?). In addition, she accused me of being afraid of commitment (come on?I just got engaged).
Try this one on for size: together we concocted that my date of birth (07-29) contains all of the numbers of a previous address (709 Margaret Street).
She told me that I was unemployed (I'm a teacher on vacation?close). Come to think of it, that guess may have been based on the fact that it was the middle of the afternoon, I was unshaven, and I was visiting a psychic. After the unemployment guess, she then pegged me as a workaholic. I informed her I would be writing an article on this, and she felt that I had great talent as a writer and should pursue that as a career. She assured me I would make lots of money (I like this woman). She also asked why I was procrastinating with my writing (I was working on the article by visiting her).
Nancy's main conclusions: my fiancé holds the key to my happiness and she "adores" me (my fiancé, not Nancy); I will only be married once (good); and I should switch to teaching third graders (what?). She informed me that my eighth graders do not challenge me enough (job-shadow me on a Friday once). Despite her proclaimed 98% accuracy rate, I won't be taking her up on that last one.
Nancy has been in the business for 22 years and has many regular customers. She claims to have been consulted by many governors and senators, though for their privacy the names must remain confidential (you be the judge).
Well, I entered the room a skeptic, I left the room a skeptic, but I had a really good time (it helped that my editors were picking up the tab). Nancy was fun to talk to. We had a good discussion about life and the psychic world. Hey, anytime you get to spend an hour talking about yourself with a captive audience...who's not up for that? Some of her regulars do take it quite seriously and find affirmations in her readings, she claimed. "Psychologists and psychiatrists can't give people hope," she said. "Psychics can see and give hope."
Not everyone sees it Nancy's way. While searching for psychics on the web, I came across an anti-psychic religious site. It said that only God knows our future and to stay away from any human who dabbles in psychic readings. But, according to Nancy, astrology and psychic readings fit in just fine with her Catholic upbringing. "God gives us clues," she said. "It's up to us to use them. Life is a puzzle that we have to figure out."
You can get Nancy's help to figuring out life's puzzles, but it'll cost you 45 dollars an hour. Check out the coupon in the Yellow Pages for 10 dollars off your first visit.
* * *
I was in the middle of mowing my lawn when my two o'clock appointment with another local telepathic snuck up on me. Her name is also Nancy. Nancy Dwight is an angel card reader, hypnotist, and Reiki master (natural healing through the hands). Since her office is closed on Sundays, we met at the Acoustic Café for a reading. When giving a reading, Nancy uses angel cards, which are similar to tarot cards. Though I was skeptical, I liked Nancy right away. She wasn't the new-age hippie that I was expecting. She was down to earth, personable, and laid-back. She wasn't kooky, and she didn't have a sales pitch. She shared her own doubts, which was refreshing and led to a thought-provoking discussion about spirituality.
According to the system, the person receiving the reading picks three angel cards from the deck. The first card represents the past. The second card represents the present, and the third, the future. Picking cards from a deck seemed way too random to have any validity, and I shared my doubts with Nancy. While shuffling the deck, Nancy said that she doesn't know how it works, but it does. "Energy follows intent," she told me. Supposedly, my hands would be drawn to certain cards for a reason. "There are no accidents in this world," she said with a smile. "Everything has purpose."
Nancy explained that she is somehow "channeled" to interpret the cards. It works like this: she doesn't hear voices, she doesn't see visions, she just lets the words come out of her mouth. She warned me she might get teary-eyed. It's not from being upset; it's just that the channeling experience can overwhelm the emotions. She admitted she was new at giving readings and still learning to trust herself. I carefully picked my cards from the deck. All had paintings of angels along with sayings. The card representing my past read, "New romance is imminent." The engagement, we figured.
My present card came up, "Give self-relaxing treatment today." Nancy surmised that I have a million things going on right now (true) and I need to take more time for myself (I suppose so). I argued that this was true for most people?who isn't too busy?
The card for my future emphasized the idea of me starting my own business. Nancy, the Highway 53 psychic, also said I should start my own business with writing.
Nancy's readings definitely held truths, but they were all general truths. I was the one supplying the specifics. Couldn't anyone manipulate the general sayings on these cards to fit a specific experience? Yes, Nancy said, we have to bridge a gap, but we are being told to explore that area of life and look in that direction for a reason. Since I didn't have any pressing issues, our reading was general by nature, she said. With more specific issues, she claimed she could do a more specific reading. It's like taking your car to a mechanic and asking if there's anything wrong with it or going to the doctor and asking him if you're healthy?the answers are bound to be general. Even the best psychics only have an 80% accuracy rate, she said.
General or specific, what was guiding us, according to Nancy, could be called angels, intuition, spirit guides, a higher consciousness, etc. They are all similar ways of understanding, much like the different religions of the world. Her idea is that there is a life force surrounding all living things, and all people have the ability to tap into that life force.
Once an active, ordained Presbyterian deacon, Nancy still considers herself a very spiritual person who is not turning her back on organized religion. "Organized religion is just the tip of the iceberg," she said, choosing her words carefully. "I believe in God and Jesus. The basis of all religion is love; that's where all the things I want to do come from. We have a lot of tools to help each other. I want to help people evolve on their paths."
Her dream is to open her own alternative treatment and resource center, a place providing treatments, classes, guest speakers, discussion groups, and products to help people along their path of spiritual growth. "So far for me it's been baby steps," she said. "It's been quite a trip."
* * *
Inside a business complex near Regis High School, nestled in with realtors, lawyers, and accountants, is an office called Healing Touch. The sign reads, "Pain relief, relaxation, improve sleep, accelerate healing, prevent illness, reduce stress and anxiety." The office has soft lights, soft music, and soft angel and nursing-themed decor. This is where Judy Meinen does her work, which is to communicate with angels to help whatever is troubling your mind, body, and soul. Before you laugh, understand that Judy is a registered nurse with 13 years of experience, and she knows a lot more about the human body than you do. She doesn't wear beads and scarves; she looks and acts like a nurse or a smart neighborhood mom.
I didn't know anything about these healing touch angel treatments, but we got right into it before I asked any questions. I lay down on a table (fully clothed) and covered myself with a blanket. She began hovering her hands over me and feeling certain joints and muscles. From this, she claimed to channel angels and read things that troubled me. She said that judging from the vibe she got from my spleen, there was probably a case of mono in my past, (sophomore year in college). She felt I had a blow to the kidney (a week ago on a telephone stand?don't ask). She knew my peak hours were from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. (yep). She talked about how I use humor in diplomacy (my sometimes-effective method for disarming discipline cases in the classroom). She saw two children in my future, both boys. One had dark hair and one had light hair (we'll see). She felt strongly (from my throat area) that I should pursue my own business. All three psychics brought up that business thing, but it's something that applies to most people on some level. From the temperature of my shins, she felt that I was intelligent, highly intelligent?more than was ever measured when I was in school. This brings a point: when these clairvoyant specialists suggest a compliment, one tends to jump in agreement and become a true believer.
Psychics are easy targets for jokes. A lot of bad infomercials come to mind. According to ABCNEWS.com, a psychic hotline based in Florida allegedly recruited homeless people to work the phones as psychics. Their instructions were to keep people on the phone as long as possible. I also came across a website for the James Randi Educational Foundation, which offers a cool one million dollars to anyone who can prove to be psychic under controlled testing conditions. At this point, there have been no takers.
Still, it's hard to scoff at Judy when she talks about your solar plexus, the lymphatic tissue around your intestines, and your T10 and L2 vertebrae. She's a scientific thinker whose nursing background gives her added medical credibility. She also makes your limbs feel warm and tingly without touching them.
"When you're a nurse and you deal with nonverbal patients, you learn to do psychic readings real fast," she said, referring to her years spent in hospitals. Therapeutic touch is now a part of mainstream nursing practice, she said. She explained that humans are like atoms. An atom has a nucleus with protons and electrons floating around it but not touching it; still, it's all one unit. Humans are made up of atoms. Like atoms, we each extend beyond our physical body, or nucleus, with an energy force. Judy said that this is why babies cry when some people hold them and not with others; they sense the energy. "Babies are psychic because they don't know that they're not," Judy said, explaining her theory that all people are psychic and have lost their powers due to social conventions.
Animals can sense fear in humans because of chemicals we release when we are afraid. We extend beyond our bodies, Judy said, and siblings and spouses sense this energy more often than most. Judy supposedly has developed a knack for tuning into the energy force, like some people have a knack for interior design, sports, or car repair. She began learning it in nursing school as therapeutic touch. Now, she takes this standard protocol a step further. It's when she brings up the angel voices that people get uncomfortable.
"I grew up Lutheran, so angels were OK," Judy said. "You just weren't supposed to talk with them or hear them. You were only supposed to hear God. If you talked with angels, you risked opening yourself up to the devil, who could look like an angel." She left the church after issues of intolerance yet still considers herself spiritual. "Religion is not necessarily spirituality," she said. "Religion is like a shoe, and spirituality is the foot. Sometimes the foot outgrows the shoe."
Her own skepticism made her a reluctant believer herself, and this helps her credibility. She has no interest in the glory of healing; she simply wants to help people heal themselves. Therefore, Judy's emphasis is not on prediction, but on assessment. People often come to her after conventional medicine has failed. "I've thought about changing the name of our business to ?last-ditch effort,'" she said with a laugh.
Judy's services cost $50 per hour. This includes ghost-clearings (read on).
* * *
Looking for another perspective, I talked with local professional paranormal investigator Chad Lewis. Chad has worked with Judy in the past, and I trust his opinion. Chad has a master's degree in applied psychology, he's been investigating the paranormal for over 10 years, and I know him personally as a levelheaded critical thinker. "I'm skeptical of psychics because they tend to give vague predictions," Chad said over the phone. "I'd like to get more specific information such as names and dates."
When Chad worked with Judy on several ghost investigations, however, he was "very impressed" with her abilities. While investigating a rural haunted area, Chad brought along several psychics without telling any of them where they were going or why they were going there. "The other psychics were saying things that were way off, but Judy pulled me aside and told me that she was sensing a ?Mary S.,'" Chad said. Mary S., it turns out, was the name and initial of the woman who had died there nearly 30 years ago and was supposedly haunting the area. "I have no way of knowing if she picked that up telepathically from me or from the area, but it would've been very difficult for her to have known that," Chad said, steadfast.
Chad sometimes refers people to Judy if they are trying to get rid of spirits in their houses. Chad investigates the supernatural, but he does not deal with removal. "There was a case of a man in Chippewa Falls who felt like he was getting bit by a demonic spirit at night in his house," he said. "I stayed over a few nights and nothing happened, but the problem supposedly persisted when I wasn't there. Judy went over and did a clearing. He hasn't had a problem since."
Judy described this incident as a Sixth Sense type phenomenon. According to Judy, some spirits are so afraid of going to "hell" that they will not accept their own death; they may not even realize they are dead. She convinces them that their time on Earth is up, and they need to move on to the afterlife. Judy will make spirit removal house calls at the same rate as her healing touch treatments, but she won't charge if the haunting continues after her clearing.
I don't know much about toothy demonic spirits, and the more I learned about these telepathics, the more it felt like I was in over my head. My final stand on psychics is pretty much the same as it is on religion, UFOs, and ghosts: I'm not arrogant enough to claim I know the answers to the questions of the universe. I'm too small. But if you're interested in finding out more and making up your own mind, give our local psychics a call. They'll probably be expecting you.
