Walking in, I felt nothing but excitement. The stereotypes of psychics are true. All I saw was a dark room filled with many candles, pillows, buddha figures and a small table which was placed in the corner of the room, obvious enough to be for her readings.

The room had a serene vibe that was very comfortable and felt safe, as her house is located in a very quiet area of Lewisville. All I could hear was the sound of nothing, and I loved it.

My mom and I were nervous to meet her. She introduced herself and walked us over to her table, taking the palm of my mom’s hand and immediately starting her reading.

She came to tell us that she could feel our strong energy as soon as we walked in, her statements were general and obvious, but at one point she looked at my mom and said “You were meant to be a mother of three.”

As soon as I heard this statement I immediately thought that she had no idea what she was talking about, because my mom has two kids. This was until my mom came out to tell me she had a baby before me who had passed away prior to birth.

Shocking, I know.

“I like to call it a third eye instead of calling it a sixth sense,” said Lewisville psychic Jennifer, who did not provide a last name. “It is the gateway to psychic sensitivity.”

How did she know she was meant to be a psychic? When asked this question she was a bit thrown off since she herself did not know why or how.

“I was born with it,” Jennifer said. “I always sensed the strong energies around me and it got to the point where I had to get homeschooled at the age of 7 since I couldn’t focus in class. It took a toll on my life and I felt like I didn’t fit in.

“What sucks is that psychics can’t give themselves a reading, and it gets worse… I can’t give readings to any family members or close friends. There is too much energy when I am reading myself and I don’t know what I’m trying to depict about myself, it’s way too confusing.”

When asked about skeptics, Jennifer’s response was almost instantaneous.

“It’s just like God, some people believe in God and others don’t but you can’t force someone to change their beliefs,” she said. “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I have many people who schedule an appointment with me just to come and angrily argue that I am a fake and worship the devil.”

Jennifer explained that psychics who believe in God usually use their powers to give advice and do good for people, whereas psychics who worship the devil use their powers to promote negative energy and behavior.

“There have been times when I find out information about someone when reading them based off their energy,” Jennifer said. “But I know what is is meant for them to know, and what is better left unsaid, what God doesn’t want them to know yet.”

As a realist, I have always had the mindset “I won’t believe it till I see it”. I have a hidden fear of believing fiction because I never want to believe something that has a chance of being untrue.

A fear of fooling myself. This is until I became fascinated with astrology, as there are many things I have trouble believing through life. Astrology is not one of them.

Since seventh grade, I have been intrigued with psychics after watching the show “Long Island Medium” featuring Theresa Caputo. I find it interesting how some have the ability to find things out about you just by the palm of your hand or the energy you carry. I like to think psychics are guardian angels, healing people with their words, whether you want to believe it or not.

For example, Caputo uses her abilities to come in contact with her customer’s deceased loved ones to give them closure and updates.

While most read their daily horoscopes and treat it as nothing more than cute insight, others are more easily manipulated; they look forward to their weekly horoscopes because it gives them an idea of what is to come.

The Barnum Effect explains the human tendency to apply vague and general statements  representative of themselves or their own personal situations. For example, a horoscope may read, “Do stand up for what you believe is right but not at the expense of someone’s pride.” People might read predictions such as this and unconsciously draw parallels to their lives, even if the connection is less than apparent.

We attempt to escape the chaos life throws our way by checking daily horoscopes.

By incorporating positive descriptions, people are persuaded to have a stronger belief in them.

Naturally, it is normal for humans to associate positive attributes to themselves; we often think we take on good, general traits such as “friendly” or “outgoing, yet shy” because we tend to want to see ourselves in a positive light.

So the questions remains: are psychics real? Other professions have regulatory or licensing protocols to follow. No such standards exist for psychics. Mediums are known to have a Sixth Sense. The Sixth Sense is known as the ability to perceive the unseen worlds of angels, ghosts and heaven. Though special individuals are believed to be gifted with this ability, it is seen as unimaginary to others.

Are you a believer?