A Psychic Scam...

Abusers thrive in environments where victims are kept silent. Shame and fear perpetuate this cycle. I’m going to share a story of my predatory relationship with a scam artist.

My story began when I was 21, in a vulnerable time in my life where my best friend told me about this psychic. I had a previous experience with a celebrity psychic whom I vetted and did extensive research on. This new psychic I did no research on, I only went off of my best friend’s trust. I was nervous going into my appointment, but I wanted to step outside of my comfort zone. After all this was only gonna be a one time thing, what’s the worst that could happen?

Once I arrived, I noticed a big sign on the lawn and a neon sign on the window that told me I was in the right place. I also noticed a sense of dread but brushed it off as nerves. Upon entry, I was led past the living room and into a smaller dimly lit room. This room was full of candles, shrines, and ambient music. So I sat down and my tarot reading began. “Is marriage an important thing to you?” to which I replied, “Yes!”, “Because I don’t see it here at all”. I was confused and didn’t know what to say. I felt no connection to this psychic, only a stronger pull that would bring me back to this place each and every time; fear.

In order to change my fate, I had to come back. I begin coming in once a week where we would analyze my past, my mistakes, and exactly what I needed to change. She turned into my life coach with all the answers in the world. But the reality is, we were playing god. My trust in her deepened. What in the moment felt like a genuine relationship, became an inappropriate predatory relationship. Our relationship developed into codependency and I was being groomed for financial abuse. I started to believe I couldn’t do anything without her. She would set up rituals and spiritual cleansings for my bad energy. The tricks these frauds use include gaining trust, grooming, isolation, and codependency that ultimately lead to control.

She slivered her way into my life controlling every decision that I stopped believing myself capable of making my own. Every week I came in to see her for x amount of money and never told a soul. I couldn’t, she told me not to tell anyone, it would be “bad energy” like an energy blockage and stifle all the great work we were doing. It was always money going towards renting rooms to light candles for me. I felt like a prisoner to my own fate, a fate that only she could control. I developed a cognitive bias that clouded me. Shame kept me silent and fear kept me coming back. She picked up on the dread I felt every time I walked through those doors and blamed it on a negative energy blockage of mine. Everything was always my fault. The whole time that dread I felt was my intuition whispering to me to get hell out.

Cognitive Bias

Cognitive biases can generally be described as systematic and universally occurring tendencies, inclinations, or dispositions that skew or distort information processes in ways that make their outcome inaccurate, suboptimal or simply wrong (e.g., Lichtenstein and Slovic, 1971;
From: Encyclopedia of Behavioral Neuroscience, 2nd edition, 2022

After we developed a relationship, she created a program for me where I would pay for a year's worth of subscriptions to her services. This year-long program was gonna be life changing in the best possible way. She gave me the price and I felt sick to my stomach. “I don’t wanna make you feel bad but I need to know If you’re gonna do this”. I felt horrible, scared, and sick to my stomach. If I didn’t pay for this service my life would be ruined. That was the biggest lie but my fear was blinding. I became more and more terrified of her, and of my future. But the moment I paid, her sense of urgency disappeared and things began to be forgotten here and there.

As time passed, I purposely let our relationship fizzle out. I let her forget her promises, and forget about me. Once I was out, I knew what happened felt wrong but didn’t know how to escape the damage left behind. I managed to stay away but came back a year later to fix a problem I made. A candle was lit for me that night and I was summoned the next day to see if my situation was salvageable. I left her house with doom but came back the next day with peace. This wave of peace washed over me that gave me the strongest sense that I would be ok regardless of any outcome. This feeling gave me relief and ultimately freed me. It was the closest thing I’ve ever felt to my higher power. The next day I came in, it was the same spiel as last year, “I can help you for x amount of money”. I played along and that was the last time I ever saw her again.

The thing that first helped me challenge my cognitive bias was listening to interviews with Bob Nygaard, a retired NYC cop turned private investigator who tracks down psychic frauds. As well as A Little Bit Culty podcast with Sarah and Nippy. Every week they interview survivors and cult experts. For a while I was scared of telling my story because I was afraid of retaliation from her. Shame was also a big factor. But my story is so similar to the countless others.

If you’re reading this and in a similar situation please know; if someone says only they have what you need, they’re lying. Everything you need is already within you. Stay away from psychics with money wounds. Remember that spiritual narcissism is real and please trust your intuition.

~Melissa V.