Sunday, June 14, 2009

Psychic Power and the Barnum Effect

By David Rice

When people hear terms like psychic intuition, they rarely take the time to think about what the words mean. Even those with a strong belief in the power of psychic energy sometimes fail to understand just how important intuition is to a practicing professional psychic. Without it, dreams and visions would be nothing but meaningless symbols with no relation to the real world. Without it, psychic readings would result in incoherent, jumbled explanations to the subject of the reading. Without it, Tarot decks might just as well reserve themselves for card games and entertainment. So what is this seemingly essential aspect of the psychic experience?

Psychic intuition is defined as inner knowledge that emanates from within the diviner. It has nothing to do with seeing the past or the future - the psychic energies are not concerned with such things. Intuition is merely the release of knowledge from with the psychic. It happens in response to the psychic's inner connection with all living things - and thus all knowledge. That is why intuition can often reveal information that is completely outside of the experience of the psychic involved. Many times, this inner knowledge manifests itself as an unbidden image in the psychic's mind, often very symbolic and in need of additional interpretation.

The Barnum Effect is relied upon by a great many frauds and charlatans in the psychic industry, who have wholeheartedly adopted the adage that "there's a sucker born every minute". The effect generally relies on two factors: the source of the information and the content. In studies of the Barnum Effect, individuals appear to more readily accept information from psychics that they believe to have been personally created for them. Thus, acceptance of a prepared horoscope varies in rating depending upon the amount of information that the subject as asked to provide. Subjects who provide their entire birth date give higher accuracy to prepared horoscopes than subjects who provide no information, or just the month or day. This is explained as the reason why psychics ask a series of questions during any reading - the process of back and forth involved in their questioning helps to reinforce that the reading is personalized.

Intuition manifests in a variety of ways - ranging from a subtle hint to a strong message of certainty. Each psychic learns to recognize the individualized voice of intuition that speaks to him or her, and cultivates that voice over time. Regardless of whether the messages arrive in the form of images, feelings, or actual words, experienced psychics respect and revere the inner knowing that their intuition brings. For any psychic, the first step is to recognize the manner in which their intuition makes itself known, as that recognition will lead to trust over time.

Intuition is the most important gift of the psychic and of every human being. It is an internal compass in most people's lives - even those who demonstrate no psychic acuity. This compass provides inner guidance in the form of a deep sense of knowing. It is intuition that we refer to when we talk about what our guts tell us to do. For psychics it is the fabled sixth sense that enables them to do what they do. So the next time you have a gut feeling listen to it just like every professional successful psychic does, I promise it wont lead you down the wrong path! Learn to trust your inner self and you too can develop psychic abilities.

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