My visit was a psychic

[JP1283]

Hey everybody,
This is my first post here. I can usually be found on the ExChristian.Net forums, but since this relates to psychic phenomena I thought I would post it here and get your feedback. The following is my experience with a psychic that took place back in September. I apologize, because I go off on a couple of tangents, but please bear with me.

In January of 2004, my mom called me and told me that she knew I was gay. She had always suspected, but her friend Leslie told her that Timma, Leslie's psychic friend, knew that I was gay, lonely, etc. The only thing was, I had never actually really talked to Timma; I said hello to her once or twice but that was it. Somehow she figured out my deepest secret; one which I kept hidden well.

After going through a personal matter, I called Leslie and asked for Timma's phone number. I was looking for some guidance and comfort and thought that she might be able to give it to me. I called Timma on the phone and told her that I thought I was damned; she said that I just felt that way. She said that she could tell by my voice that I was bored with life, etc. She invited me over the next day so she could give me a reading.

Timma doesn't do this professionally. She only does this for her friends and family. I went over to her house and we sat on her porch. She asked to see my keys and held them for a minute. She then said that she could see the cloud of stress around me. I had never felt so bad in my entire life. She said that I had a friend, who she thought was a female, that I could tell anything to. I do, Jennifer. (She was first one that I actually told that I was gay; prior to meeting with Timma I had gone through an HIV scare and had somewhat of a spiritual experience: Jennifer called me at the exact moment I was having a panic attack and holding my cell phone with the number to the hospital dialed into it. It was weird. I then told her that I was gay and having an HIV scare, and she had gone through the same exact thing. She invited me over to her house and I stayed with her for awhile. Of course, this made me believe in God, and believing in God made me feel that I was damned because of something else that happened to me in my past [I committed the 'unforgivable sin' in Christianity after my OCD taunted me about something a pastor who claimed that God showed him things about me told me that I should never say or that I would never be forgiven], but I'm already on this tangent so I'll get back to my story.) She then said that the next four months would be difficult, and some of it would hurt, but that around the first of the year, "many new doors would open for me." Well, that was in September, and in October I got a call from my aunt and uncle who invited me to live with them in LA and send me to school. I moved in with them in December; I got a new place to live, a new job, and I got to go to school. Many new news did open for me around the first of the year. She said that I should probably see a dietician, as there are some processes in my body that could use improving. She said that she thought that writing was my calling. I do love to write. I had written a play (which she knew about), but also I had been on the school newspaper as well. I asked her if God loved me; she said yes, and that I could know simply by the fact that I was alive. I asked her about my obsessive bad thoughts, and she said that they were given to me to look at. She said that she saw me as an old man with gray hair, and that in a year or so I would look back and wonder why I put myself through so much stress.

Everything she said was pretty much right on. I'm having trouble being skeptical about her. She did make me feel better; she's a truly wonderful person.

Either way, what do you think?

JP

[Kopji]

Hi & welcome jp1283
It sounds like you have some nice people trying to help you and give some counseling, but I don't see any of it needing to be supernatural.


In January of 2004, my mom called me and told me that she knew I was gay. She had always suspected, but her friend Leslie told her that Timma, Leslie's psychic friend, knew that I was gay, lonely, etc.

If your mom had always suspected she probably discussed the matter with her friends. Even reading your posts, you sound a little troubled and I'm no psychic. Your mom and her friends sound concerned for you.

The only thing was, I had never actually really talked to Timma; I said hello to her once or twice but that was it. Somehow she figured out my deepest secret; one which I kept hidden well.

Although you probably disagree, it does not sound like a well kept secret. We'd probably call this a 'warm reading' as opposed to a 'cold' one. She probably knows more about you than you think. She IS a friend of your family or she wouldn't be doing the reading, correct?


After going through a personal matter, I called Leslie and asked for Timma's phone number. I was looking for some guidance and comfort and thought that she might be able to give it to me. I called Timma on the phone and told her that I thought I was damned; she said that I just felt that way. She said that she could tell by my voice that I was bored with life, etc. She invited me over the next day so she could give me a reading.

Sounds like she is being a good friend and trying to help.

Timma doesn't do this professionally. She only does this for her friends and family. I went over to her house and we sat on her porch. She asked to see my keys and held them for a minute. She then said that she could see the cloud of stress around me.

You told her you thought you were damned.

I had never felt so bad in my entire life. She said that I had a friend, who she thought was a female, that I could tell anything to. I do, Jennifer. (She was first one that I actually told that I was gay; prior to meeting with Timma I had gone through an HIV scare and had somewhat of a spiritual experience: Jennifer called me at the exact moment I was having a panic attack and holding my cell phone with the number to the hospital dialed into it. It was weird. I then told her that I was gay and having an HIV scare, and she had gone through the same exact thing. She invited me over to her house and I stayed with her for awhile.
Sounds like she is being a good friend and trying to help.
Of course, this made me believe in God, and believing in God made me feel that I was damned because of something else that happened to me in my past [I committed the 'unforgivable sin' in Christianity after my OCD taunted me about something a pastor who claimed that God showed him things about me told me that I should never say or that I would never be forgiven],

That part's really screwed up. What's an OCD?

but I'm already on this tangent so I'll get back to my story.) She then said that the next four months would be difficult, and some of it would hurt, but that around the first of the year, "many new doors would open for me." Well, that was in September, and in October I got a call from my aunt and uncle who invited me to live with them in LA and send me to school.

She missed by a third of a year. Things started looking up right away. Good thing you did not wait until January to pull yourself up.

I moved in with them in December; I got a new place to live, a new job, and I got to go to school. Many new news did open for me around the first of the year. She said that I should probably see a dietician, as there are some processes in my body that could use improving.
Good thing you did not wait for January when she said things would start happening.

She said that she thought that writing was my calling. I do love to write. I had written a play (which she knew about), but also I had been on the school newspaper as well.

She knows a lot about you. This is called a 'warm reading'.

I asked her if God loved me; she said yes, and that I could know simply by the fact that I was alive.

Being torn between not knowing if your God loves you or damns you is screwed up. Consider the possibility you are both gay and good. Also very lucky you seem to be surrounded by people who care about your life.

I asked her about my obsessive bad thoughts, and she said that they were given to me to look at.

Write the thoughts down, fold them up carefully... and burn them. Especially the ones telling you that you are damned or 'unforgiven'. Christians may pray for you, but trust me, unbelievers weep for you. Find a new way to live.

She said that she saw me as an old man with gray hair, and that in a year or so I would look back and wonder why I put myself through so much stress.

Time heals. Give yourself years.

Everything she said was pretty much right on. I'm having trouble being skeptical about her. She did make me feel better; she's a truly wonderful person.

IMHO some people who are 'psychics' would probably make great counselors without the supernatural trappings. I wish they would, because there is a certain elegance in being able to counsel without the extra mumbo jumbo. Someone wise said that a garden was pretty enough without there needing to be fairies in it too - very true, and he was not speaking only of gardens.

Either way, what do you think?

You have well meaning people around you trying to help you through a tough time. Because one thinks she is psychic does not make her a bad person. (Your pastor sounds like a bad person.)

[JP1283]

Hi, Kopji, and thanks for your reply.

QUOTE]Although you probably disagree, it does not sound like a well kept secret. We'd probably call this a 'warm reading' as opposed to a 'cold' one. She probably knows more about you than you think. She IS a friend of your family or she wouldn't be doing the reading, correct?[/QUOTE]

Well, she's a friend of my mom's friend (and even they aren't really friends anymore.) Apparently I was in the room while Timma was sitting there, and when I left she said, "Oh, my heart goes out to Jeremy, does he know he's gay?"

That part's really screwed up. What's an OCD?

I have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Around the time I was 15 or 16, I developed horrible, gruesome blasphemous thoughts about God and friends and family that I couldn't control. I told a pastor about this (I wasn't even Christian) after a friend of mine said I should go see him, and he claimed God was showing him things about me blah blah blah. But then for whatever reason he said, "All of your sins will be forgiven, except for ONE, and that would be if you said that 'God and Satan are one'." The moment he said that, my brain latched onto it and I couldn't help but think it. Eventually I got over it because I realized it was OCD and I became an atheist. However, during the HIV scare, I prayed for help and "got it" from that phone call from my friend. I then started believing, but then I remembered that I had once said the dreaded phrase out loud, which sent me into an emotional tailspin. I've since told my family about the pastor (who turned out to be my english teacher my senior year of high school) and they are planning a conference with him and the principal. I need closure and that's the best way to get it. I live in LA so I can't be there when they do it.

Timma claimed to have been psychic since birth. Her mother was 'psychic' as well. She said that when she was little, her parents never took family photos and her mother always deposited her check and never cashed it. However, one day her mother cashed her entire check and put it under Timma's bed 'just in case', and then her parents took her out in the yard and took pictures with her. They were both killed later that day. Kinda creepy.

She really is a nice person, and since it is all positive stuff I really shouldn't be dwelling on it. However, I think I'm a skeptic at heart and that part me realizes that this isn't rational.

You sound like a really nice person, Kopji. Thanks again.

[JP1283]

By the way, the topic should be "My visit WITH a psychic." I don't know what I was thinking.

[Kopji]

I've since told my family about the pastor (who turned out to be my english teacher my senior year of high school) and they are planning a conference with him and the principal. I need closure and that's the best way to get it. I live in LA so I can't be there when they do it.

Some people are toxic, some ideas are toxic. Mixed together you sometimes (often?) get clergy.

I have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

Ok, sorry I thought you meant OCD was a person. I'm glad I didn't tell you to push your OCD into a dumpster.:)

Timma claimed to have been psychic since birth. Her mother was 'psychic' as well. She said that when she was little, her parents never took family photos and her mother always deposited her check and never cashed it. However, one day her mother cashed her entire check and put it under Timma's bed 'just in case', and then her parents took her out in the yard and took pictures with her. They were both killed later that day. Kinda creepy.

Almost like they knew they were going to die.

She really is a nice person, and since it is all positive stuff I really shouldn't be dwelling on it. However, I think I'm a skeptic at heart and that part me realizes that this isn't rational.

Perhaps whatever makes her a 'psychic' is integral to her, the same way OCD is a part of you.

Back to the garden metaphor... think of people (especially with so called "disorders") as sort of like having a garden with a rock outcropping in it. No matter how you try to organize your garden so it looks like a 'regular garden', there will always be a part of it that seems impossible to plant rationally. You can spend your time blasting away at the 'disorder', or accept it as part of the garden's unique appeal and work with it.

What bothers me is when people show up at the rock and say that they see the Virgin Mary in it... :D

By the way, the topic should be "My visit WITH a psychic." I don't know what I was thinking.

The mods will fix the title for you if you ask.

take care

[Irish Murdoch]

Originally posted by JP1283
[I committed the 'unforgivable sin' in Christianity after my OCD taunted me about something a pastor who claimed that God showed him things about me told me that I should never say or that I would never be forgiven]

Well, I'm not a Christian, but I do have OCD. And when your OCD makes you say something, what you say has no meaning. So, even if Christianity is true, the behaviour caused by your OCD is not a sin, much less an unforgivable one.

I asked her about my obsessive bad thoughts, and she said that they were given to me to look at. She said that she saw me as an old man with gray hair, and that in a year or so I would look back and wonder why I put myself through so much stress.

Well, she's offensivley wrong. They are "given" to you because of an organic, physical problem with your brain's caudate nucleus. A good book that explains the biological causes of OCD, and offers useful advice about how to cope with it, is Jeffery Schwarz's "Brain Lock". A *really* useful internet forum for those suffering from OCD is to be found here: http://www.stuckinadoorway.co.uk/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=1. Please give it a try.

[Ipecac]

JP,

I hope you aren't worried about these silly superstitions any longer. Religious dogma really can be a horrible, negative influence on people, doing much more harm than good. I'm sorry you've been tortured by these ridiculous prejudices.

God and Satan are one. God and Satan are one. God and Satan are one. God and Satan are one. God and Satan are one. God and Satan are one. God and Satan are one. God and Satan are one. God and Satan are one.

I don't have OCD and I've posted this here, on a public board, willingly. No lightning strikes me. No trees fall on me.

Now I'll post something with equal meaning.

Santa Claus and Darth Vader are one. Santa Claus and Darth Vader are one. Santa Claus and Darth Vader are one. Santa Claus and Darth Vader are one. Santa Claus and Darth Vader are one. Santa Claus and Darth Vader are one. Santa Claus and Darth Vader are one.

I hope you can work through your issues. You don't deserve the pain.

As far as the psychic goes, nothing she's said couldn't have been learned beforehand or intuited while you were doing your "reading".

Ipecac

[Kopji]

One more thought (yeah, I'm avoiding TV this week).
Your 'psychic' friend asking your family 'if you knew you were gay' seems like a wrong way to do this. What if she'd guessed wrong? This would be similar to someone saying "you know your husband's cheating, right?" Something to remember is that although she might be acting as a friend, at that moment she put her need for affirmation as a psychic above you.

Lots of things are part of a spectrum and not neatly boxed.
Push back a little when people try to label you.

There's 'gay', 'straight', 'bi', and RPG'ers & programmers (who don't have sex at all) :) And all kinds in between.

[JP1283]

Hello everyone.

I'm resurrecting this thread because I can't shake the feeling that she was for real.

This woman seemed to know everything about me. She knew that I was gay without even really talking to me; she knew I was a writer (she said it was my calling); she knew I had a best friend who was a female who I could tell anything to (which was true, my friend is Jennifer and she's the one I had the "spiritual experience" with); she knew that I was bored with my job and life, and she knew that doors would open; etc. However, she did say that I would look back and wonder why I was so stressed. Well, I'm screwed up now almost as bad as I was then. Whenever I think I'm gaining headway on regaining my sanity, I lose it again. It's so hard for me to accept anything paranormal, but I can't shake the feeling that she was for real. I can't really explain it and I know I have more to say about our reading but it's late and I can't really think right now. How can I know that she wasn't for real? I mean, with her mom being psychic and my reading with her, I can't seem to deny that it might be real. Please help! Sorry this doesn't make much sense; as I said before, it is late.

Thanks,
JP

[thaiboxerken]

I'm resurrecting this thread because I can't shake the feeling that she was for real.

A good con-artists doesn't get caught. A great con-artists is so good that the victim never realizes that they were conned.


You are correct, much of what you said doesn't make sense. You anecdote is likely to not really be an accurate depiction of what really happened. People do not have tape-recorder brains. You could very well have remembered all of the hits and forgot all of the hits, you could have forgotten the misses that helped the psychic come to those hits she's recieved.

Here is something you can do to re-assure that the psychic simply conned you. Go visit her and tell of her of the JREF challenge. I will assure you that she will never apply for the million-dollar prize. Heck, her mom won't apply for the challenge either.

[Quinn]

Hi JP,

I can understand how compelling the experience must feel, and I don't mean to belittle it in the slightest. But honestly, most of what this person said is exactly what anyone with any "people sense" would guess about a young adult coming to terms with being gay...

Originally posted by JP1283
She knew that I was gay without even really talking to me;
As has been said, that may not have been as difficult to see as you thought. I have a friend who didn't even realize himself that he was gay until years after I and the rest of his friends had figured it out.

she knew I was a writer (she said it was my calling);
But you said she already knew you wrote for the school paper.

she knew I had a best friend who was a female who I could tell anything to
Again, no disrespect intended, but surely you realize that among gay men, this is so common as to be a cliché?

she knew that I was bored with my job and life,
Most young adults are bored with their job and life, especially those who are keeping their true self hidden away from the world.

and she knew that doors would open; etc.
Doors open all the time for people who are watching for them. And people tend to watch for them more when someone tells them to (which is what makes that a very safe line for psychics).
However, she did say that I would look back and wonder why I was so stressed.
Most crises seem less urgent in retrospect.

Honestly, I don't see anything remarkable there. Sounds like you have much more important things to worry about than a so-so cold reading. ;)