I'll put my hand up here - I used to be a believer. And in recent years, I've come to feel I've been conned. I once wrote two crime novels featuring a medium as detective. Now, I'm not even sure they exist.
Psychic Blues: Confessions of a Conflicted Medium, by self-confessed fraudster (and renowned psychic) Mark Edward, hasn't helped matters.
In an unusual take on the psychic autobiography, Mark Edward doesn't set out to convince his followers that supernatural powers are real and available to all. He freely acknowledges that he doesn't know anyone who's genuine, out of his vast range of contacts in the spiritual industries - including himself. Instead, he exposes the tricks and tactics used by tarot readers, mediums and psychics alike. Edward himself started out as an illusionist, branching out into psychic predictions when he saw it made more money. People are far more impressed when the trick is about them, than when you saw yet another screaming beauty in half. They know magic isn't real - but they're not sure about The Other Side.
Edward talks of those who are convinced they have real abilities, simply because they begin to believe their own stories. It's hard, he says, to withstand the constant adulation of your public, simply because your techniques happen to strike a chord with them. If you're good enough at psychology, and research, it's not hard to predict something eerily close to the truth. There's a fantastic story in here, of an Englishman of Mark's acquaintance, who once challenged a psychic who gave a reading for his wife, and told the psychic he could do an equally good job. The man was so successful he became a well-known medium himself - and doesn't believe in the other side at all.
This is bound to upset some of you. Disagreements over faith always will. And I admit, some of Edward's confessions are a bit hard to take. He talks about making up stories for gullible people, mocking them by performing readings using bananas, then announces he is not unscrupulous, as he will not keep people coming back for months, merely to milk them dry. He is a man with "integrity". Hmmm.
If you're considering visiting a medium, or want to know more about how things are done, however, Psychic Blues is well worth a read. The book is certainly amusing, especially when it discusses the foibles of the kooks and dollars-can't-buy-me-sense Californians who regularly cross his path. Edward's recommendation is to treat psychics as mere entertainment - if you go in without expecting to learn anything about your future, but to receive a bit of flattery and validation, that's the best course.
That needn't stop you pursuing an interest in the other side. There are a lot of shysters out there - but maybe, just perhaps, you have to rub a lot of crystal balls to find the diamond...
How about you? Are you a believer?
If you're interested in this book, I also recommend:
Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks by Christopher Brookmyre
Haunting Violet - Alyxandra Harvey (a bit of fun)
Talking to the Dead: Kate and Maggie Fox and the Rise of Spiritualism - Barbara Weisberg
We Hear the Dead - Dianne K. Salerni
The First Psychic - Peter Lamont
