The Contemporary New England Witch

The Contemporary New England Witch
Author Ms.Faith

Friday, May 12, 2017

Tips For The Lay Person On How To Avoid Charlatans



Good Evening My Witchy Reader,

This discussion is written mainly for the lay person who may not be familiar with the magickal world of the psychic, readers, mediums and intuitives of our world. Firstly, it is important to state that there are very capable, gifted, talented intuitive psychics, tarot readers, mediums, channelers, a veritable host of those who are able to truly tap into the magickal ethereal world of the unseen around us.  Those who can truly give you information you desire concerning your future, your present, to connect with loved ones who have passed, whether you call it a gift or a talent or a skill.

As a witch who owns and runs a school for the magickal arts I believe and understand that everyone is born with this ability. Some are more in tune with it than others, some are more willing to put effort into developing these abilities and making them effective skills, more so than others.

Yet I have met those who do not put any effort into truly developing their natural abilities but put effort, instead, into manipulating people's lack of knowledge about the magickal world and when these individuals are encountered it inevitably makes real authentic psychics appear as fakes and charlatans also.

The fakes are what has traditionally been called Charlatans, which is a person falsely claiming to have a special skill, or knowledge, essentially a fraud.  This is not to say all psychics are frauds, not at all. But there are differences you need to look out for. For anyone who reads this and feels that some of the following apply to you, yet you feel you are authentic, then maybe you might wish to re-evaluate your technique when dealing with the public.

For instance, I recently went to a fair where there were a number of magickal vendors and one vendor selling tumbled stones had quite a song and dance. I saw such a show from a distance and was so intrigued I went closer to see and hear what he was saying to customers.  He focused on the youngest teens, and without asking he would grab their hands and put a tumbled stone in each hand and tell them to hold them. Then he would wave his hands in front of them from head to foot, up and down before going into a 'trance' and then while the bemused teen would be watching, he would come out of his 'trance' and then start asking questions. I realized he was trying to read the customer, who mind you had just stopped to look at some tumbled stones and had not even asked or even spoken to the merchant.

He asked "you live only with your mother, right?" the teen shook her head in the negative. He seemed surprised. then he said "You really don't like school do you?" She said, "why yes, I'm an excellent student and really do love school" well he continued and kept getting questions incorrect until he finally got one right.  In the meantime he kept taking breaks, telling her to feel the energy of the stones, see how you feel holding the stones, while he chowed down on big slices of pizza. It went from incredulous to comical to offensive from a magickal practitioners point of view, what I was witnessing.

He kept her at his booth for at least 30 minutes until she walked away, and he was trying to sell stones priced at a couple of dollars at the most. I was watching with mixed irritation and amusement, as it really was a lot of work on his part, with very little return. I then watched as the next customer, an older woman he looked up and down and said "You are not happy in your life are you?" She shook her head no. Then he took a stone sphere, without asking her permission, and held it over her head and then started to rub it on her head!!

He went on to tell her that buying that stone sphere, it was selenite, would "change her entire life for the better", it "would heal her", and do all sorts of amazing things for her life. At this point I had seen enough and I walked away, slightly sick to my stomach and highly irritated.

It is obvious, to you and to me, that NO a simple tumbled stone will NOT change your entire life for the better. I am a firm believer in using stones, crystals and minerals, and I use them often in many applications and many magickal ways, but they have limited abilities as does anything. Just as one simple herb will not heal your body of every illness, sickness or disease you may have.

I have spoken out about these concepts before and if you disagree please stop reading now, because the following will just make you mad, but as a magickal person and I have been a witch and magickal practitioner for over 30 years I am also not going to tell people foolish Hippie speak nonsense that hugging a tree and sipping Chamomile tea is going to cure your life of all of your issues. It will not.

Those changes take a lot of work, and the work necessary is shown in the changes you make in your life and in your sense of being. Not in using ridiculous words making you sound like you just got off the LSD truck from Woodstock, or that you just left a Renn Faire and forgot that "Oh yeah, I do not really live in the Middle Ages, and am not a wise woman of the village selling simples to the gentry."

We can be magickal, fabulous, amazing and knowledgeable without the hand waving, song and dance and ego boosting nonsense of trying to impress people with all of our super powers!

Now some rules you might want to be aware of:

You might enter a store or an event and see a reader and even be greeted by a reader. Some readers who really do need to make a living may even offer to do a reading for you, but the legitimate ones if you decline will back off. The charlatans will come up to you uninvited and start to do a reading without your permission. Or they may say, Oh a loved one on the other side has a special message for me to tell you, and for $50 I can sit with you and tell you , blah, blah , blah  it's a con, run away.
A sincere psychic, reader or medium will not violate your boundaries in such a way. They have integrity and real psychics will rather have you approach them.

Also anyone that comes up to you in a store or supermarket and starts to say you have a curse on you, or a dark spirit following you or any such nonsense, and no money is discussed they are simply nuts and are into the power trip this affords them. Stay far away from them, as unfortunately this world does attract the less than mentally stable also, as does any religion, government agency or conspiracy theory.

A magickal person who knows their magick will be happy to explain their products and answer questions, good readers present the information they pick up without judgment or getting personally involved.

 Also to be aware of with a magickal vendor or reader they do not delve into curses, dark energy and harmful magick where they 'create' a need for you to have to come back again and again, and pay more and more for them to remove a curse that they discover has been put on you, or to remove bad luck or any such thing. Even a good reader will discourage a person coming back every week for a reading as that is too soon. I recommend my clients to come back every few months, when things start to happen from their last reading, unless they are interested in exploring a totally different area of their lives.  Even that should be limited to no more than once a month or two.

There are legitimate magickal practitioners out there. We do not need to make outrageous claims, or put up huge bill boards proclaiming our amazing powers! You won't find us on 1-900-psychic but you will find us recommended by word of mouth and some really amazing witches and psychics I know do do readings by phone.

Also a psychic or reader will never touch you without your permission as for anyone that is a violation of your personal space, but anyone who would do this is not in touch with boundaries or proper social etiquette and should not be dealt with as they are looking for their own ego boost and not in to really trying to help you.

In conclusion, a good reader or psychic should come across as a normal person, they may appear a bit different, perhaps in dress or attitude because many are centered and grounded and are very comfortable in their skin, but they should not come across as looney or totally off their rocker!! That is not a good example of an authentic reader. If you meet someone and think they remind you of someone who should be in a Scooby Doo cartoon, well then, you should probably keep looking!!


Of course, it should go without saying, but I will say it anyways, the above as with all of my discussions are my opinions and observations of over 30 years of experience in the magickal world, of practice and teaching. If you find you have a different opinion or experience I respect that and encourage you to write about it in your own blog!


Live,, Laugh and Always Love, Ms. Faith






© 2010-2017 Faith M. McCann. Portions of this blog posting may include materials from my book “Enchantments School for the Magickal Arts First Year Magickal Studies.” For more information, see www.enchantmentsschool.com or go to the title of tonight's discussion and click, it will link you to my school's website. Please note that the copying and/or further distribution of this work without express written permission is prohibited. 

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