I know what you did...

[pbray]

Last night the STAR RWA chapter kicked off their annual conference with a presentation by local psychic Phil Jordan, and I went along with jennifer_dunne so she didn't have to drive alone.

I'm a tad conflicted when it comes to psychics. I firmly believe that some people have psychic abilities, but I'd prefer if they kept their knowledge to themselves, thank you very much. It's certainly not the kind of thing that a properly bred New Englander would ever do in public.

I wasn't enthused about the talk--all I basically knew about Phil was that for many years he had done a dinner theater show in the area where he did readings for the audience. Honestly I was expecting something like "Crossing Over With John Edwards" only tackier.

I had chosen a seat at a table in the back, but as luck would have it, when Phil came in he wound up sitting next to me. I took a deep breath, introduced myself, shook hands with Phil and his assistant, and then turned on the "gracious hostess" switch which is another product of my New England breeding. We may not like you, but we can kill you with politeness.

When it came time for his talk, Phil turned out to be an engaging speaker, telling tales of his childhood, how he came into his psychic abilities, and discussing stories of his work with various law enforcement agencies. He answered questions including one on the portrayals of psychics in the media (he likes how the show Medium portrays psychic visions). He finished up by doing several readings for the audience, where the visions ranged from the mundane (a failing deck for one person, plumbing problems for another) to the life-changing (a granddaughter in one woman's future). Some of his information was absolutely dead-on, and since I knew the audience members I'm also confident that he couldn't have been fed this information ahead of time. Other information seemed off to me, but without interrogating the person who received the reading it's difficult to judge.

To sum it up, all in all it was an interesting night.

Comments

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Ooh. That does sound like an interesting evening. Kinda wish I coulda gone!

[libwitch.livejournal.com]

I actually work very closely with a number of psychics from Canada and US, and man, I so dislike Jordan. I find him to be arrogant, and he frequently does get information fed ahead of time. I walked in on such a discussion that he was having with a hostess of a party.

Of course, he also refuses to read with groups of less then 15 when he does group work. Why? Because that way his odds of getting somethign right increases - he can make a statement that hints to a pregnancy, and chances are good someone will show a slight reaction.

But then again, thats just me. I have just seen that other side of him too much - especially when I have worked with other psychics who I have seen give cold readings.