THE PSYCHIC INDUSTRY: SUPPLY AND DEMAND

Emma-Louise Rhodes

It is incredibly easy to decry, ridicule and, in some circumstances, expose the Spiritualist cause without a second thought. There is a whole industry of alleged psychics extorting huge sums of money from the bereaved and easily led, who should be uncovered for what they really are and, in extreme cases, forced to give their ill-gotten payments back. However, a question that has come up time and time again during my many discussions on the subject of Spiritualism is quite simply ‘What harm are they actually doing?” In order to answer this, it is important to take a look at the industry and, more importantly, those who, through their desperate need to believe, keep it thriving.

LEVELS OF BELIEF

Millions of people the world over make a steady, healthy income from selling crystals, offering spirit healing and apparently contacting dearly departed loved ones. In turn, huge quantities of psychic supporters regularly purchase all of the above and more, making spiritual commodities more commercial today than they ever have been. It is true that if the demand for such ‘services’ was not evident, there would be no such industry. Yet, considering the popularity of something as innocuous and mainstream as a dream-catcher, one really does have to ask, what harm are those pedalling their psychic delights actually doing and shouldn’t it just be a case of ‘live and let live’?

However, there are several issues that must be examined before any conclusions can be formed. First, it is important to categorise exactly what is inoffensive in the psychic industry and what, on the other hand, is plain and calculated exploitation. Decorative goods and lucky charms, such as the aforementioned crystals and dream-catchers, are merely pleasing to the eye, harmless items that, on the whole, are not taken too seriously by their buyers. Many seaside shops lining the promenades of Margate, Brighton and Blackpool now sell, next to the obligatory ‘Kiss Me Quick’ hats and sticks of rock, psychic charms and pictures of Native American spirit guides. The problem with such harmless ‘tack’ is what it potentially represents in terms of the gigantic industry of con-artists and charlatans who parade as truthful and gifted psychics and regularly endorse, and themselves sell, such items. This said, the majority of those purchasing such products are not hardcore Spiritualists who base their every movement around what the spirit world tells them and, for this reason, such novelties should always be taken with a pinch of salt.

The next phase of faith in the spiritual world comes in the form of those who wish to consult a psychic, either in order to contact someone they have lost or simply out of sheer curiosity. Most of us know of someone who has been to a Spiritualist church or visited a medium and been given messages from ‘the other side’, be it relevant or totally inaccurate. The majority of these people try to find something meaningful in their reading (regardless of whether the medium has drawn a complete blank) in order to justify their giving up a Sunday evening to go to church or, more importantly, parting with however much money the given psychic’s asking price was. In this instance it is common for such sitters to react, initially, in slightly different ways: they will either be totally impressed by what the medium has told them and depart wanting more, or they will leave feeling disappointed yet, on the whole, pleased that they have dabbled in the unknown and given the psychic world ‘a try’.

The next, and most serious, level is that of the serious spirit believer – those who have utter faith in Spiritualism and hang on its every word. Like most true believers, their conviction in the life hereafter is unshakable, and they heap an enormous amount of respect on those ‘gifted’ enough to be able to contact the psychic world from the comfort of their own two-up-two-down suburban semis. These devout Spiritualist rarely question what they see and one day aspire (through a £1000 weekend residential course with a ‘respected’ medium) to tap into their own psychic abilities.

“WHAT HARM ARE THEY ACTUALLY DOING?”

A scenario that is repeated millions of times the world over every single day, is that of a bereaved and anxious person who desperately wants to contact a dead loved one. They are willing to pay vast amounts of money just to establish some kind of communication with them again, and approach the medium(s) full of hope and expectation.

Despite the fact that the psychic truly believes they are gifted and helping others, or whether they are a calculated cold-reader making a career from swindling the anguished, if the sitter actually believes that they have made contact with the departed and feels joy and happiness because of this, is any real damage being done and, more importantly, should such feelings be taken away from the grief-stricken by exposing the mediums for what they really are?

Regardless of the industry in question (be it used car salesmen or modelling agencies), morally if someone is blatantly lying to a customer and deceptively taking money from them, then despite the apparent satisfaction that they have given, surely they should still be exposed and stopped? Yet, in terms of the psychic industry, in revealing a medium to be a fraud, the bereaved lose any comfort that they might have gained from their experience and are again thrown into the despair that they were so desperate to rid themselves of.

The modern day, logical answer to helping the distressed through their time of mourning or to console those who cannot come to terms with their loss, is counselling. The need to believe in something, coupled with the desperate hope that those who have died have gone to a better place where, one day, they will be reunited with their loved ones, exists somewhere in most human minds. Even the hardiest disbeliever, given absolute, incontrovertible proof would, in some way, want to embrace the fact. Why else, for example, does the James Randi Educational Foundation state that they ‘will pay US$1,000,000 to any person who can demonstrate any psychic, supernatural or paranormal ability under satisfactory observing conditions’? Every sceptic would be quite willing to believe in ‘life in the world unseen’, given unshakable evidence. In our drab, day to day existence, where we are constantly bombarded by media images of pain and suffering and, at some point, ourselves have to face up to losing a loved one, the image conjured up by the Spiritualism is certainly an appealing one. In his book Tricks of the Mind, psychological illusionist Derren Brown states:

‘I love the idea of ghosts and angels and am drawn
to great stories of the paranormal. I love them
because, like anyone, I relish the thrill to the
imagination they evoke.’

This being the case, it is easy to see why impressionable persons in a state of mental confusion and anguish desperately clutch at straws and part with copious amounts of money for consolation and reassurance. But psychics are not, in any way, shape or form, trained councillors and their alleged quick fix style of comforting can, in many cases, lead to an addiction to the world of mediums.

On the website UK-Skeptics a short article published in 2004 and titled ‘Are spiritualist mediums offering comfort or doing harm?’ the writer declares:

‘When grieving people go to psychic mediums,
the medium is taking on the role of a grief
counsellor. Grief counsellors are trained to help
people in these circumstances and understand
the potential problems people can go through:
mediums are not.’

The article also goes on to question whether consulting a medium interferes with personal memories and recollections of the departed.

‘Memories of the deceased are very precious to
those left behind: how we remember a person is
the result of all of those memories we have of
them. The medium, by giving false messages, is
altering those memories and even introducing new
ones that may contradict what the person would
really have said.’

Indeed, if a the dead friend/relative passed away some years ago and if the sitter is particularly keen to grasp at straws (regardless of whether the medium is supplying them with the right information or if they are merely giving them a bad cold-reading), they will take what has been said and try to somehow weave it into their memories and make it real. A vast number of people come away from readings questioning if what the medium told them was actually said or done somewhere in the distant past. Did, for example, grandmother really leave this earth secretly upset by a family rift that only she knew about? Here lies the danger with Spiritualism literally messing with people’s minds and emotions through rearranging the truth and, in some cases, disturbing happy memories that should be left untouched.

Another negative emotion brought about by consulting mediums is that of resentment, towards both them (the psychic) and the dead. Kenneth Meynell of the Spiritualist’s National Union states that:

‘…the prime condition (of contacting the dead)
is that there is a spirit person there willing to
communicate … communication cannot take
place unless the spirits are willing to do so.’

On the basis of this, if a person consults a medium desperately hoping that a certain friend/relative will come back and the reading draws a blank in terms of what they expected to hear, bitterness is often felt, not only regarding the psychics incapability to connect with the correct spirit but also, in many cases, towards the dead soul who they had so hoped would come through. If, after numerous consultations with mediums, a sitter finds that a certain dearly departed individual has in no way, shape or form tried to make contact, their feelings towards that person (if their belief in Spiritualism is strong) might become jaded, confused and upset, and general feelings of abandonment might well result.

The flip side of the aforementioned scenario is that of the sitter who is given, what they believe to be, a strong message from ‘the other side’ and a particular loved one. This might well lead (after the initial euphoria has worn off) to further trips to the medium, followed by regular attendance to the Spiritualist church, fairs, coffee mornings and open circles. During this time, huge amounts of money will be handed over without a second thought, just for a simple reassurance now and again that the dead friend/relative is resting in peace. Just like the tobacco and alcohol industries, as long as there is steady addiction, there is steady trade.

SPIRITUALISM AS A COMMODITIY

In February, 2007 the Office of Fair Trading listed ‘psychic mailings’ as being the fourth largest fraudulent way of extorting money from consumers in the UK, making over 40 million pounds a year. Such statistics prove why the psychic industry is so very appealing to those gifted enough in cold reading to make a sound income off the back of the grieving, from the comfort of their own homes.

With the likes of Colin Fry, Gordon Smith and Tony Stockwell regularly appearing on television, it is not surprising that, within the last ten years, the psychic industry has pushed its way into the mainstream. The appearance of the ‘Psychic Sisters’ (Jayne Wallace and Christine Murray) at Selfridges, Oxford Street in 2006 signified that Spiritualism is, without doubt, considered quite conventional, commercial and viable in modern society. Raising the dead for profit is nowadays not only seen as tolerable, but also as a completely marketable and acceptable business venture.

In many cases, it appears as if the Fraudulent Mediums Act of 1951 is going by the wayside and that it is up to the consumer to select and reject what they should or should not be purchasing, regardless of the impressionability and bewilderment of the bereaved. Just to remind ourselves of exactly what, apparently, is still deemed illegal, it is interesting to note that the Act states that:

‘… any persons who-

a) with intent to deceive purports to act as a
spiritualist medium or to exercise any powers
of telepathy, clairvoyance or any similar
powers, or
b) in purporting to act as a spiritualist medium
or to exercise such powers as aforesaid, uses
any fraudulent device,

shall be guilty of an offence.’

Unfortunately, many international magazines who constantly push the psychic industry in terms of advertising phone-lines, mailings or consultations, fail to see (probably blinded by the immense revenue gained by such ads) the possible implications of these scams. Regardless of the fact that the Office of Fair Trading has openly discouraged consumers from such swindles and rated them as one of the biggest cons in Britain, there is simply no stopping those who want to seek solace in spiritual readings, whilst all the time frittering their hard-earned money away.

Quite simply (and rather sadly), as long as there is the faint glimmer of hope that the dead are looking down on us, patiently waiting for that psychic link-up by a gifted spiritualist, there will always be the demand for mediums and, subsequently, money to burn from those willing to be taken in by the inconceivable. If only those tempted by the psychic industry, having been thrown into the vast and terrifying world of loneliness and bereavement, could find the strength to face their fears in a rational manner, instead of inadvertently fuelling the steadily burning and widespread blaze of fake psychics spreading their ill-informed judgments to the naïve and needy. Yet, in reality, it is not that straightforward. If someone offers a drowning soul a lifeline in the middle of a raging sea, he would be a madman not to take it. So the grief stricken will always reach out for that dimly flickering light, that single chance that someone, somewhere can bring back their lost love, memories and, most importantly, happiness.

REFERENCES

James Randi Educational Foundation - www.randi.org
Brown, Derren, Tricks of the Mind, Transworld Publishers, London, 2006
UK-Skeptics - www.skeptics.org.uk
Fraudulent Medium Act 1951 (14 and 15 Geo 6 c 33)

©Emma-Louise Rhodes, 2007