Psychic readings

A psychic reading is a specific attempt to discern information through the use of heightened perceptive abilities; or natural extensions of the basic human senses of sight, sound, touch, taste and instinct. These natural extensions are claimed to be clairvoyance (vision), clairsentience (feeling), Claircognisance (factual knowing) and Clairaudience (hearing) and the resulting statements made during such an attempt. The term is commonly associated with paranormal-based consultation given for a fee in such settings as over the phone, in a home, or at psychic fairs. Though psychic readings are controversial and a focus of skeptical inquiry, a popular interest in them persists. Extensive experimentation to replicate psychic results in laboratory conditions have failed to find any precognitive phenomena in humans. Psychic reading is pseudoscience. A cold reading technique allows psychics to produce seemingly specific information about an individual from social cues and broad statements.

There are many types of psychic readings practiced. Although psychic readings might not incorporate the use of any tools, a professional psychic may have one or more specialized areas of expertise. Some of the more common readings include Tarot reading, email psychic reading, palm reading, psychometry, aura readings, or astrological readings.

Astrology is the ancient study of how distant objects in the cosmos such as planets and stars have an effect on our lives. The position of the stars, planets, sun and moon when one is born is believed to have an effect on one's personality, shape how relationships work in one's life and even predict future events such as one's economic success. Astrology does not require psychic ability.

Aura readings involve the observation and interpretation of auras. The aura is a field of subtle, luminous radiation supposedly surrounding a person. Psychics have offered aura readings for many years. They claim to have a unique ability to see or sense individual’s auras, however no evidence has ever been provided to substantiate this claim. The only supporting evidence for this claim lies within the logical fallacy that psychics use when they claim they are one of the special few individuals who can see auras, and that they are unable to provide evidence to prove this claim. Psychics suggest auras are made up of “bioelectromagnetic fields” or other such phenomenon that do not have a legitimate, scientific meaning. Individuals such as James Randi have tried to test claims made about aura reading, and when he includes a few simple regulations to the test, all the claimants abilities disappear. Since the ability to read auras has been so publicly debunked, Robert Bruce, in his book Auric Mechanics and Theory, has updated the conditions or variables that need to be in place for a proper aura reading. Bruce stated that auras cannot be seen if any part of the person emitting the aura is obscured. One must wonder why clothing doesn't seem to inhibit aura readings.

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