"Fortune Boom"

By Jennifer H. Cunningham

March 15, 2009 | The Herald News | The Record | New Jersey

A spiritual center in Lyndhurst recently added extra healing classes to its schedule, and the wait for a tarot card reading at a Paterson botanica now averages two hours. In Paramus, more than two-thirds of a psychic's customers now ask about their financial security.

As the global financial crisis roils though North Jersey, clairvoyants, psychics and tarot card readers say a growing number of people are seeking their services.

"They want to know, 'Am I able to pay the mortgage? Am I able to take a vacation the following year? Can I continue putting my son or daughter through college?' " said Gloria Thomson of Secaucus, a professional psychic and licensed clinical social worker. "They also want to know 'Am I keeping my job?' That's one of the biggies."

And if the answer is no, Thomson said she doesn't withhold the truth. It doesn't help the client solve the problem, she said. Instead, she encourages them to reconnect with their chosen faith or belief systems.

"One of the things I'm not going to do is sugarcoat things," Thomson said.

Thomson practices at the Mystical World Bookstore and Enlightenment Center in Lyndhurst, where owner Sara Spano said she added another healing meditation class to the center's schedule because of demand. The center, which sells items such as healing candles, aromatic spiritual baths and spiritual books, said more people have been coming in for services to reduce stress brought on by financial woes.

"I see a lot more people coming in to buy candles and books for stress management," Spano said. "We try to teach people how to cope with it."

At the Botánica Caridad del Cobre in Paterson, customers now wait for as long as two hours for a spiritual consultation with Ayana Luz Sacervotiza. The botanica, which offers tarot card readings, religious statues, herbs, baths and other spiritual items, has been inundated by people in dire financial straits who are seeking relief, Sacervotiza said.

"I have many people calling me for help," said Sacervotiza, who said she is a Santeria priestess. "People are asking about jobs — they are asking me for rituals to get jobs. Clearly, the economy is hurting everyone."

Many began turning to them last fall, psychics say, after stock markets plunged, housing values declined while foreclosure rates soared, unemployment skyrocketed and several banks and businesses failed.

Hanna Stevens, a Little Falls psychic who operates out of a storefront on the Newark-Pompton Turnpike, said she's noticed that many of her clients have stopped asking questions about issues such as love in favor of questions concerning financial security.

"Everybody is fighting to pay their bills and go forward," Stevens said. "A lot of people are suffering. They want to know 'when things will get better,' " Stevens said. "I speak the truth to people, whether they like it or not. But I try to comfort them."

Although he keeps a crystal ball in his office, Phillip Cook, spokesman for the National Financial Planners Association's Los Angeles Chapter, said taking financial advice from psychics is a bad idea. Cook said visiting a psychic is often an emotional experience, and emotions are inappropriate when making financial decisions.

"Money has no emotions so you need to remove that when you make decisions about money," he said

But, since he didn't sense the impending financial crisis, visiting a clairvoyant for advice won't hurt, Cook said.

"You might as well go to a soothsayer, because I didn't see this one coming," Cook joked.

Psychics across the country are reporting similar increases in business, Dawn Carr, a founding member of the American Association of Psychics and Mediums, a national collective of two dozen psychics. Carr, of Boston, said her client base has increased by 50 to 60 percent since last fall.

"Ninety-nine percent of the people in the association have seen an increase in clientele," Carr said. "And the 1 percent that didn't were in rural areas."

When asked why she believed people were turning to psychics, Carr said simply, "They figure they have nothing to lose."