Psychics Doing Okay in Economic Downturn

A number of psychics, according to the New York Times, are finding business robust these days, especially from clients such as real-estate and investment advisers who are paying psychics, astrologers, palm readers and channelers from $75 to $1,000 an hour for intuitive insights.

• “My phone is ringing off the hook,” said Roxanne Usleman, a psychic in Manhattan, who says she channels angels to advise her clients on interpersonal and financial matters. She reports both a spike in traffic on her Web site and a significant surge in private consultations. She used to see comfortably 15 to 20 clients a week, she said. Now she meets with more than twice that number. “I’m having trouble squeezing in appointments,” she said.

• Dawn Carr, a psychic in Boston, said her holiday bookings jumped as much as 70 percent this year over last, fueled in part by corporate bookings for holiday parties. “These people are looking for someone not just to entertain them, but to enlighten them,” she said.

“When you don’t know what to expect of a job interview or a business partnership,” Gita V. Johar, a professor of at the Columbia University Business School, told the Times. “That's when you’re most likely to turn to a psychic.”

Professor Johar, whose specialty is studying the effects of superstition on consumer behavior, suggested that when your portfolio is shrinking or your business is tanking, talking to a soothsayer may be “one way of feeling in control.” She needed no crystal ball herself to predict that “given the uncertainty of the economy, psychics are going to see an increase in business.”

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