It happens regularly enough that it's almost a meme, or trope: someone thinks they’re cursed so they pay an obscene amount of money to be “cleansed” of it. How they learned they were cursed or hexed varies; sometimes the so-called psychic reached out to the mark-- I mean the poor cursed person-- no, I mean mark. Because anyone who sends you a message claiming you’re cursed is scamming you

Anyone you get any sort of reading from is scamming you. I mean really. They’re good though, a lot of “psychics”. They have a talent in “cold” or “hot” readings. They employ cards, tea leaves, runes, mirrors, and other items as props to tell “fortunes”. By “fortunes”, I mean “give advice to the people who come to them about stuff”.

A “cold reading” is something you see people doing on stage, magicians do it, so do so-called psychics (but they usually do hot readings). Basically, using a modified form of 20 questions, monitoring body language, and watching for microexpressions, they guess things about people to “tell the future” or “deliver a message from the beyond” [feel free to add the spooky wavery voice in your mind as you read this]. According to Wikipedia: Cold readings commonly employ high-probability guesses, quickly picking up on signals as to whether their guesses are in the right direction or not, then emphasizing and reinforcing chance connections and quickly moving on from missed guesses. Psychologists believe that this appears to work because of the Forer effect and due to confirmation biases within people.*

It looks a little bit like this:

I’m getting an impression, a feeling. Someone is whispering to me. There’s a message coming through from someone, an older man. I’m getting an impression of an “E” or a “T”. He wants you to know <inane blather about nothing concrete, but usually includes “I’m happy now and at peace and in heaven and blah blah blah>

The whole time this patter is going on, and I simplified it a lot, the reader is watching the questioner. The reader repeats things like they’re hearing something from far off (or sees something in the cards/etc they’re reading) Watching for nods, listening for words like, “Oh, my Grandad’s name was Tom” or “My Dad’s uncle, they were close, was named Earl”. They watch for the little eye blinks of surprise and happiness and the smiles. They also watch for negative responses, the “Wait, what?!” look that humans get, even when it passes very quickly. They watch for confusion and I’ve seen one switch to a different audience member who was nodding vigorously, with a “Oh, the message, it’s for you! I’m so sorry, the Guides just pointed in your general direction before bringing your Grandad forward.”

It was so smooth that if you had even the tiniest shred of wanting to believe, you would believe!

It’s very much the same with a warm/hot reading, except people tell you who they want to talk to/contact, and if you’re very shifty and suspect, you do some basic Googling before the appointment to make it even more convincing.

All these lies and false comfort are yours for the purchase-- for the low, low cost of whatever they can peel out of you. I’ve seen “psychic readings” go for as little as $10 for 30 minutes, to as much as $250 for a 30 minute session with a so-called pet communicator (yeah, a pet psychic. Ugh!)

I know it can be much more. Thousands of dollars for other “services”. I’ve read two stories from the US and England about people suing for theft; they were bilked out of thousands (or tens of thousands) of dollars by cons pretending to be psychics who were “breaking curses” on the mark. I know that in the US marginalized and minority communities are especially vulnerable to these sorts of scams, especially very poor communities, or communities with a cultural heritage of respecting the spirits/magical thinking.

Now, if you’re going to a Ren faire or something like that, absolutely pay your tarot reader. They’re entertainment, and it’s supposed to be fun, light-hearted, and if something about it makes you feel good, then that’s perfectly great! If you want to go to a professional palmist, same thing. Don’t give them a hard time, and do enjoy the experience. It’s fun to be listened to on that kind of level, and sometimes they do hit on things we needed to hear (like Take Better Care of Yourself, and Compassion for yourself is important!) The sorts of things that we hear when they come from others, but don’t hear when we tell ourselves.

What if you’re like me and have a knack for “readings”. I can read tarot, runes and palms, but not very well. I can read tea leaves very well. Same with fire scrying and water scrying. Mostly I’m just good at interpreting the auger in a way that’s helpful for whatever the Questioner is asking. You know, finding a thread of encouragement, or of motivation. I also don’t charge for it.

I don’t charge for readings because I don’t charge for advice. If you ask, it’s freely given. What you do with it, well, that’s on you. But asking, that’s free.There is a lot of back and forth in the greater Pagan community about whether or not readings are something that you can charge for. Some say yes, because it takes emotional labour and time. Some say no, because “reason-reason, gift from the gods/guides/universe/etc, reasons-reasons”.

To me, charging for a reading is like charging your younger siblings for dating advice. You could do it, but you’d be a complete asshole if you did. I’m growing and learning, every day trying to better myself. I want others to do that too-- it’s what Witches do, we learn and grow. We also help others get better.

If I want to encourage growth, I have to find ways to do it that cost little to me, and little to the Encouraged. If I notice a friend struggling and I ask, “Need to vent?” I’m making space for them to kick those feelings and emotions around a little, to see what comes out and to process it. I’m making space for them to say “I’m not ok with this” or “This is shitty, and I don’t know how to make it better”. I might ask, “How does that make you feel?” or “What do you think about it, I mean, really think about it?” But I make and hold that space.

They are the ones who figure it out, and it’s that way when I’m throwing runes or reading cards. I ask questions, and tell them what the wooden pieces or glossy cards could be interpreted to say. I ask if it’s valuable, and if so, “Then let’s explore that avenue”.

The cards are a prop-- for the Questioner to figure things out.

I can’t charge them when they’re the ones doing all the work! That’s immoral!

So, bottom line: if you want to pay for a psychic reading, or tarot or whatever-- remember you’re paying to be entertained. They don’t have an inside track to the Universe, they’re picking up clues from you… and feeding you what you’re telling them you want to hear.

If you want to use auguries though, that’s cool. They can be good foci or meditation points. Just remember, no matter what is in your cards, or what the bones say, you are the Mistress of your Fate-- and you get to choose. You aren’t bond to anything you read, or anything a psychic tells you.

And you don’t need to be cleansed from a curse! FFS, don’t fall for that. And if you know someone who has been scammed-- call the local AG or county attorney’s office. They deserve justice.

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_reading