Pageant Loser and Winner

People ask me all the time if I inherited my psychic abilities. I tell them my great, great grandmother was born with a veil, when the caul, which is part of the birth membrane, covered her face. It happens in 1 in 80,000 births and predicts psychic powers. Here’s one story I tell about my mother.

When I was eighteen, she insisted I enter the Miss Lebanon Valley Pageant, a precursor to Miss America. It’s a scholarship pageant, she said to my protests, so I pictured it in my mind. A talent portion, oh I loved to sing, and a swimsuit promenade into the audience. That put me into a panic since I had few curves at 5’7” and 110 pounds. It felt like a lost cause.

There were ten of us. After a short practice, a good luck telegram arrived from my gal pals, who I had begged not to come because I knew it was hopeless. Then the show. The top five pageant winners were called forward. I got held back, and willed time to pass quickly. After the pageant, one of the judges whispered that I had the best talent. I fed my humiliation with the thought.

That summer, Dad came home covered in joy. State Senator Clarence Manbeck, who provided the college scholarship, said none of the girls ahead of me wanted to attend. I had won two free years at Penn State.

Mom predicted a path I couldn’t see on my own. From a loser, I turned into a winner. You just never know. 

Difficulties, Symbols, & Astrological Signs

I wrote about the positive qualities of astrological signs in a past blog. Here are some difficulties and what each sign symbolizes.

Aries, the Ram, a fire sign. Can be impulsive, and rams against things until they succeed. Aries symbolizes sacrifice and represents the head and brains.

Taurus, the Bull, an earth sign. Sometimes obstinate and lacks reason. Taurus symbolizes procreation and represents the ears, neck and throat.                     

Gemini, the Twins, an air sign. Can be restless, shallow, and uses double talk. Gemini symbolizes unity and represents the hands and arms.    

Cancer, the Crab, a water sign. Sometimes moody or melancholy and can take ten years to make a decision. Cancer symbolizes tenacity for life and represents the vital organs.

Leo, the lion, a fire sign. Can be haughty or arrogant. Leo symbolizes strength and represents the heart.       

Virgo is the Virgin, an earth sign. Sometimes cranky, timid, or pessimistic. Virgo symbolizes chastity and represents the solar plexus.   

Libra, the scales, an air sign. Can procrastinate, argue, be pleasure-seeking. Libra symbolizes justice and represents the loins.

Scorpio, the scorpion, a water sign. Sometimes suspicious, ruthless, or can seek revenge. Scorpio symbolizes deceit and represents procreation.     

Sagittarius, the archer, is a fire sign. Can be reckless with emotional confusion, and have a lack of tact. Sagittarius symbolizes authority and represents the thighs.  

Capricorn, the goat, is an earth sign. Sometimes rigid or lonely, with ruthless ambition. Capricorn symbolizes sin and represents the knees.      

Aquarius, the water bearer, is an air sign. Can be eccentric, neurotic, or detached. Aquarius symbolizes judgement and represents the legs.  

Pisces is the fish, a water sign. Sometimes timid or apprehensive. Pisces symbolizes the flood and represents the feet. 

Playing Music and Intuition

When you’re young, it can be hard to see how one job and the next can form a career trajectory, but they often fit like hard-to-find puzzle pieces. Last weekend, after my gig at a winery with two young men, a talented drummer and an excellent guitarist, I saw the connections between intuition and music.

To play music, you have to let go of your physical plant, open your emotions, and feel the vibe. The beat in music is like your heartbeat. To become more intuitive, you have to narrow your focus to the small beat of your heart. It’s an openness to the world, and a way to feel vibes from someone other than yourself.

Both music and intuition have a healing potential to the audience. Intuitive connections between people and events can’t be explained any more than the connection between a music performer and the audience, yet it is real and profound.

Bruce Lee, the martial artist, sums it up. Be like water. Be fluid, responsive to the situation, alive and present. 

Palm Shapes, Mounts, Moons, and Fingers

Do you have a square or a long palm, and short or long fingers? The following information might even match your astrological sign. A square palm with short fingers is an Earth hand, like Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn. You’re practical, conventional, and impatient. A square palm with long fingers is an Air hand, like Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius. You’re restless, need intellectual stimulus, and like variety. A long palm with short fingers is a Fire hand, like Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius. You’re happy-go-lucky, a leader, and out-going. A long palm with long fingers is a Water hand, like Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces. You’re sensitive, creative, intuitive, and emotional.

Now look at your mounts, the pads of flesh at the base of your fingers. Look under the 2, which is the pointer. If it’s rounded, you’re confident. If it towers, you’re bossy. Under the 3 is best if it’s the least developed, because large means gloomy. Under your 4, or ring finger, if it’s rounded, then you like the arts. Under the 5, if it’s rounded, you’re a good communicator. If the padding at the bottom of your thumb is lean, you have delicate health. If it’s padded, you have good health.

Examine your thumbs, from the front. Pointed is impulsive, a spatula shape is adventurous, square is practical, and conic is creative. If you look at it from the side, a thin tip is insight while a bulbous tip signifies aggressive.

Look at your nails. Half-moons mean you exercise, while very large half-moons can mean heart trouble. White flecks are shocks to the nervous system.

Examine your fingers. If your 3 finger is the longest, you have willpower. If your 5 is long, you communicate well. If that baby finger is short, you’re insecure but shhh, no one knows. If you wear a ring on your 2, you want to boost your confidence.

Open your thumb. If you have a big gap, you’re generous and impulsive. A small gap means cautious. When you spread your fingers, if you have a big gap between your 2 & 3, you are often self-employed.

Worry Stones, Amulets, & Talismans

When I gave a friend who has health problems one of my two worry stones, I realized I also use stones on my jewelry for that purpose. Worry stones, also known as amulets or talismans, date back to ancient Greece, the bogs of Ireland and North American tribes.

Through acupressure, if you rub the smooth stones in your fingers or palms, it stimulates nerve endings, releases endorphins, and creates a calming effect. The Tibetans rubbed them in between thumb and forefinger while chanting mantras. To the Irish, they provided freedom from worry and good luck. In the 1970s, worry stones because popular to relieve stress and anxiety.

My grandmother Helen’s generation called them worry stones. I don’t remember her talking about the occult or the evil eye, but many believe they work to protect. After my grandma died, my mother gave me her scarab bracelet. I’d rub my fingers over the stones until the sad day I lost it. Forty years ago, I found a gold scarab necklace in a second hand store, and I use it to calm me. My mother often rolled her scarab bracelets back and forth with the fingers of her other hand.

Amulets can be man-made, like a lucky penny or a Saint Christopher medal, or natural, and they are believed to have special powers. A talisman is often an engraved amulet, but it can be anything that makes you feel safe. At the holistic fairs where I have a booth, people flock to buy quartz, crystals, moonstone, onyx and agates from vendors who specialize in them. 

When people I love die, I try not to hoard their belongings, but I save one thing from each person. I hold my grandmother’s scarf up to my nose to feel her presence. I like this tradition, this connection, where some small thing I possess keeps me safe from harm.

Chinese Zodiac: Who Are You? I'm a Rabbit

I knew nothing about the Chinese zodiac, so I researched it to find out I’m a Rabbit. Here’s what else I found. The Chinese zodiac is based on a twelve-year cycle, and each year in that cycle is related to an animal sign. Since the cycles don’t start on January 1, find your animal here:

https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/Chinese-zodiac/

Rat: smart, funny, creative, charming, sociable, works well with the public.

Tiger: daring, powerful, independent, active, swift, courageous.
Dragon: enthusiastic, intelligent, lively, energetic, innovative, proud, assertive, strong.
Rabbit: friendly, sensitive, artistic, compassionate, peaceful, gentle, emotional.

Snake: creative, determined, perceptive, polite, sheds their skin for something new.
Ox: steady, loyal, persistent, confident, honest, patient, conservative, strong.
Horse: bright, open, cheerful, charming, diligent, friendly, likes being around people.

Monkey: clever, entertaining, leaders, adaptable, doesn’t like being told what to do.

Rooster: dignity, pride, likes to be noticed, good communicator, not fond of repetition.

Dog: loyal, honest, trustworthy, enthusiastic, energetic, innovative, bark worse than bite.

Pig: kind, honest, peaceful, hates arguments, love their home, generous, funny, sense of humor.

Goat (also called the Sheep): kind, doesn’t like being rushed, a bit shy, easily hurt, calm, creative.

In ancient China, the zodiac was used for matchmaking. There are many sites online to check that out, if you have an interest.

The Soul of Your Home and You

The walls of my house pulse and vibrate. I’m here alone, but my house has an energy of its own. It’s surprising, but I no longer sense the people who lived and died here, before I bought it 27 years ago. Now, I remember my sister and her husband doing their remodel job. I feel music, even when I’m not playing my keyboard. My bedroom smells better than before Covid, and my house seems larger.

I’ve always looked, by way of my psychic ability, into people’s houses as I pass by. I now seldom use that skill. During my walks up and down the hill, I see no one. I hear birds. I zone out. I mean, totally out.

This is the first time in so long that I have been able to tamper my strong intuitive sense. Before this isolation, I felt bombarded by all the things other people don’t see or feel all day long. Oh, sure, I can muster it back to the forefront at a moment’s notice, for readings and helpful advice. But it doesn’t make my life more difficult.

I’m not sure I know the lesson in all of this. Maybe it’s to use our senses to feel and accept what’s right here in front of us. Our favorite chair. A soft voice. The good smells that are unique for only you. I don’t think we always have to pulse and vibrate. We can soothe and listen more.

Isolation Feeds Intuition

Isolation means to keep separate and apart. Right now, that feels like it’s everything, but it’s just our bodies. Our minds are free to roam, imagine, and connect. Since intuition is perception and insight, this is a good time for you to harness this pure knowledge.

I find that my isolation has made the world seem simpler. The air, my love for voices on the phone, and the virtual psychic readings and music lessons I give, all come to me with a clarity I didn’t notice before.

Right now, some things are harder and some are easier. One hard part of my psychic life has been doing readings by email. After a client sends 3-5 questions, I pace around the house, then begin to connect in my mind. Compared to true voices, it often felt like a barrier I had to knock down.

With this new world of isolation, it’s easier. My pings of intuition are open, instead of hiding. My bond with nature and those close to me strengthens, and those bonds are forged in the concrete of intuition.

Now is a good time to connect with all that you can’t see, explain, or touch, and to think of what you gain instead of what you lose. Draw everything into your senses. Smell, hear, and know the unknowable. It’s one of the better parts of now.

Are You Scared?

People often ask me if I’m scared of being psychic. I’ve had the ability for so long that it’s part of me and I’m not afraid. I certainly am horrified by murder when I work with detectives. As I see the aftermath of someone being destroyed, I try to figure out how I can help and direct. It’s similar to when someone has an accident. You stay calm in order to drive them to the emergency room. 

I’m most bothered by things I know in advance and can’t stop. When I was 60, my mother’s husband caused an accident that killed my mom slowly over four days. I had seen it in my mind’s eye since 1986, but not clearly, and I frightened my daughter by worrying she was involved. For 26 years, I worried. The day of the accident, I begged my mom to let me take off work and drive her to the ice cream shop. No, she said, we’ll be fine. Well, she wasn’t.

I guess it’s dread, not fear, that overcomes me at times, but whomever gave me this ability, made me strong enough to bear it.

A few weeks ago, I had negative tarot cards in my reading. My own psychic had told me to beware, but I thought she meant my new work location would be robbed. Turns out, because of a predicted ice storm, I didn’t lock my car in the driveway. Up until three years ago, someone had been going into cars on my street to steal money.

I forgot about his thievery, so he was able to enter my car after I had gone to bed and take $5.00 worth of quarters. My neighbor’s security camera showed footage of him, but not well enough to identify. I got so mad at his invasion, and actually thought I’d put a mouse trap in my center console for this next visit. But what if I forget it’s in there? I decided to let it go.

We can’t be afraid of life. We all take risks and know that things could go sour. It’s good to be careful, but optimism, whether it’s inherent or forced, is the answer. I try my best to banish fear from my life each day, just like I do red beets and rice pudding.

How I Work on Murder Cases

I’ve never personally known anyone else who worked pro bono as a psychic with police on murder cases, so let me tell you how I do it. 

1) A police detective might contact me, but most often I have a dream, see a murder on the news, or hear a TV announcer explain what happened. Then I think, that’s not right, or my brain goes on a tangent and I see the murder in my mind’s eye. 

2) I sit at my computer and write a page or two of all the info I know, from the important to the mundane. 

3) I contact a detective, if I haven’t been asked to work the case. With a new detective, I give my background and the name of a previous detective, then I send my info. 

4) The detective sees that I know obscure facts and wants to meet. 

5) At the meeting, I talk. Sometimes I cry or throw up. I don’t like to see explicit pictures of the murder. I do answer questions, but I prefer not knowing much information. 

6) I’m usually taken to the murder site. I hate that almost as much as pictures. I see the murder in color, but previously it seems to be black and white.

7) A few more phone calls are exchanged and I’m finished. 

8) I never contact a detective to find out if it’s been solved. 

9) I move on to the next case, and hope it doesn’t arrive too soon.

Read Tarot for Yourself

I felt dumb and silly when I started to read tarot cards, so here are some tips. 

1- Buy one deck. I like the Aquarian tarot because it has faces, but any deck with pictures can help you learn faster. 

2- Shuffle them before you start, just like you wash bed sheets before you use them. 

3- Pick one to three cards. Pick randomly or take the top cards if you like to shuffle. The card on the left is the past, the center card is your policy or what to do, and the third card is your future. Face them towards you. Some people use reversed cards with different meanings, but that doubles what I have to learn. Research often suggests the ten card Celtic Cross, but I like easy. Seven is the most I ever throw down. 

4- Look up the meaning of each card. Type a short synopsis if you have time. You can use a book or the info sheet that comes with your cards, but I like to google https://www.psychic-revelation.com for interpretations. 

5- Leave the cards out until the end of the day, to see what happened and how to relate it back to your cards. 

6- Pay attention to any card that repeats.

7- Shuffle and try again another day.