Santa Claus Rage

I'm going to relate an experience I had at SRF. It involves a certain individual who I will not name. The intent here is not to expose that person's behavior or cause embarrassment, but to illustrate and give some background to SRF's response and one of the ways that they discourage good medical care.

Some years ago, the Academy for Psychic Studies operated a Santa Claus booth at a local Christmas Fair. I attended as often as I could. We would let any kid sit with Santa and charged a few bucks if the parents wanted a picture. I got to take pictures of dozens of the cutest kids in the world sitting on Santa's lap. It was a great time for me.

We had guys rotating as Santa, as the fair lasted some 10 hours and that's a long time to sit in a Santa suit. Usually we would have them sit for no more than an hour as that suit gets pretty hot. Steve Sanchez was one of the booth's more popular Santas. He just had a way of engaging the kids and making them feel like they were with Santa Claus himself. He would do a deep ho-ho-ho and a hearty Merry Christmas while ringing his sleigh bells. The kids would run to him and wouldn't leave until they had given him their whole Christmas wish list for the next ten years. Taking pictures of the kids sitting with him was a lot of fun.

One of the guys playing Santa was truly a maniacal member of SRF. This fellow was a hard-core and fairly new student in the basic level of the Clairvoyant Training Program (which I attended) and frankly, he scared the crap out of me. This guy not only took every single class that was offered, he listened to the SRF-published recordings and watched all the videos while not in class. His "dedication to the teaching" made him a very popular guy there. The church leadership held him up as an enthusiastic learner and that he was succeeding practicing meditation and induced trance states. Every unattached female (and a few attached ones) were eyeballing him for a mate and a few were making moves on him. He not only scared the crap out of me, he had a certain way of making me feel like crap when in his presence.

At the Christmas Fair, he pulled nearly a double shift in a hot Santa suit. Instead of doing the ho-ho-ho and Merry Christmas thing letting the kids come to him, he'd try to persuade kids to come sit on his lap. He would shake a basket of candy canes, tell the kids "Hey, it's Santa! Come sit on my lap". He'd even work on the parents, speaking to them directly to drop their kids on his lap. There weren't a lot of takers, as I recall. Hell, if I were one of those parents, I'd pull my kid out of there as quick as I could.

Why he was so aggressive?

After the fair closed for the day, I had dinner at a local steak house with "Santa" and an SRF minister. While tearing through his Porterhouse, old Santa there went on and on about how it was his calling to be the real Santa and he was to bring to message of the spirit of Christmas to the parents of the kids he was pulling in. He went on to talk about how he saw that people were getting a "healing" from his presence as Santa and punctuated his speech with a hearty "THAT'S BECAUSE I'M SANTA CLAUS".

Whoa.

The minister present (perhaps wisely) said nothing.

I finally had enough. I had to do something to get his feet back on the ground. So I said to him, "Maybe you can let those people find their own Spirit of Christmas. It will be a lot easier on you." He said something that I couldn't understand then went back to ripping up his steak, miffed at the affront to his ego.

I thought it would be a great time to head for the Men's room. While I was gone, (as the minister present related to me) "Santa" leaped from his chair, reached across, grabbed the minister by the shirt with both hands and while pulling him over the table and his half-eaten steak bellowed:

"YOU'VE GOT TO OWN YOUR MINSTER SPACE AND SHUT THAT GUY UP!"

The minister then went to the Men's room himself. Not to find me, but to check his underwear.

Two days later, "Santa" went berserk at the SRF headquarters saying that he was sent to save the church from evil influences (probably me) and while running through the building, worked himself into a frenzy shouting about the tidal wave of evil spirits and other threats to SRF and society and that he would be the one to save SRF and the world. He was then quickly heaved out the door. He was left on the street, pounding on the gate shouting about his mandate to save us from evil.

I was not there at the time, so this is a second-hand account of the event. I did hear from several people, including my wife, talking about that event and how scary it was. So, I guess I wasn't the only one who was scared by "Santa".

Now, anyone with a brain would have looked at this event would think: "psychotic episode" - a serious medical event, and would immediately dial 911 for the psychiatric emergency team. He could get the help he needed and you would truly have saved a soul.

But no one at SRF believes in psychiatry or in mental illnesses. So no call was made and no help was obtained. It was blamed on the usual cast of evil spirits and he was just dismissed from our world.

I learned that Santa had a reputation for somewhat disturbing behavior. At one time, the founder said that he could not handle Santa and that it was now the membership's task to keep him in control. He did have a history of drug abuse and some behaviors that ranged from unsavory to potentially dangerous. He was also in a extraordinarily contentious divorce with his wife. 
The court allowed Santa only short, supervised visits with their child due to some concerns about the child's safety. The stress of all that was huge.

I once came to SRF, entering from the rear and going into the basement (as we lower-vibration students who were constantly on the shit list were asked to do). As I approached to basement door, I heard a loud, animated and very angry voice booming from the room. It was Santa, on the phone, bellowing about his frustrations about his divorce and child custody battles.
Santa was working up to this momentous event. Psychosis happens more often that not when someone is under a lot of stress. I saw that happen three times by the time I was 26 years old. It never left my memory.

Later, after a cooling-off period, he was allowed back in to SRF and was given some conditions to observe. Apparently, they realized this fellow had been through a very bad divorce with severe problems with visiting his child. He lost his house in the divorce and was living in his car. There was nowhere else he could go where he could be accepted.

The stress on this guy was enormous. He was having a very hard time because of his divorce but still came up with enough money to buy everything SRF. Seeing an opportunity, they told him that if he would settle down and be humble, he could stay. He later returned the favor by signing over to SRF a plot of land he owned. Whether that was part of the deal, I don't know.
Santa's return was kept quiet. No one knew about it for a while. It later leaked that Santa would return. Back to the Clairvoyant Training Program, where I was still a student. One night in class, a fellow student (somewhat concerned about safety, I think) asked about him and his status. It was confirmed that Santa would return and that certain conditions would apply. It was also said that although he was not yet finished with his fundamental-level training, he would advance to the higher level of training immediately. There was a palpable sense of relief in the class upon hearing this news. He scared the crap out of us all.

He made it through fairly quickly, graduating as a minister. All graduates were given a final exam known as the Ordination Review Board. We were all present at this event as it was touted as a "validation of your knowledge". Basically, it was just theater. Bad theater.

"Santa" took that review. Despite some strange and incomprehensible answers to the questions posed and despite not knowing the basic tenets of the teaching, he passed. Bad theater indeed.

In the days following, several people commented on how bizarre the "Santa" ordination exam was. There was doubt that he was ready to be a minister. More telling was that each person said "that was the scariest graduation I have ever seen here".

Well, now I can feel I was right all along. He scared me from the beginning.

He's still there and he is teaching classes and doing whatever other work the church asks of him. They say they chased all the wolves out of his space and he is clean.

I wonder, though. Had that call to the psychiatric emergency team been made the day he had an episode, would he have still scared the living crap out of everyone through his behavior in the following years? Wouldn't some treatment for the enormous stress, delusions and uncontrolled behavior been in order? This guy wasn't just acting out, he was in pain. Mental pain. And he needed more help than a place like SRF can provide.

Well, to SRF medicine can't help. Prayer does. Meditation does. But "Santa" was praying and meditating and learning all the SRF techniques available. And he was practicing with all his might and consuming all his time with it. So, with all that learning, all that devotion, all that practice and all the validation that he is doing it right, how does it happen that techniques that are said to be beneficial aren't? Why is it that a man could be driven to a psychotic episode by faithfully using calming and soothing meditation?

Margaret Singer described a condition called "relaxation-induced anxiety" that is recognized by the American Psychiatric Association. This happens when someone meditates and sees uncomfortable or disturbing mental imagery or may have physical pain or other discomfort. She cites cases where people can enter psychosis and delusions from practicing meditation. Some can meditate for a few minutes without problem, some cannot meditate at all without problem.  I'll bet "Santa" continued to meditate and enter trance states while experiencing psychosis because he didn't know any better. It probably made things worse for him and likely put him over the edge.

The same meditation and trance techniques are still in practice at SRF today. And all ministers, including "Santa" practice them faithfully.

The wolves may be in hiding.

The ISHI Hypnosis Shuffle

One of the many things there we were "encouraged" to participate was hypnotherapy certification. This course of training and certification cost some two thousand dollars and resulted in a big certificate printed on parchment proclaiming that the bearer is a certified hypnotherapist.

The training was conducted in day-long classes held over a series of weeks. The training was part lecture and part practical application. There was a lot of practice with fellow students and many practice sessions. Not much in the way of books to read outside of a binder labeled "BASIC STUDENT MANUAL" and a spiral-bound book of scripts. The BASIC STUDENT MANUAL was created and issued by the National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH) and was available from any of the NGH-recognized hypnotist training programs. One of the script binders were written by a local hypnotist, not affiliated, trained or otherwise connected to ISHI Hypnosis. The other was a standard set of scripts, also issued by the NGH. I don't recall seeing any material originally developed by ISHI Hypnosis. It appears that the study material would have been available anywhere.

We were told that certification was accredited by the National Guild of Hypnotists and was sufficient to engage in the practice of hypnosis and hypnotherapy. Starting one's own practice was mentioned but mostly, participation on the ISHI Hypnosis clinic and continuing education was encouraged. Hypnotherapists practicing in the ISHI Hypnosis clinic were not paid (even though clients coughed up fees for treatment) and continuing education classes were actually regular ISHI Hypnosis training classes opened up for "graduates".

After the arduous process of practice, study (most of which was memorizing hypnosis scripts, not studying theory) and sitting in lectures, the certification exam was administered. That exam was a fairly large document with pages and pages of questions, some multiple choice, some short answer. There were so many questions, it took some two to three hours to complete it. Once you passed that exam, you would be a real, certified hypnotherapist.

I took that training. Once the training was finished, I took that exam. Once the exam was over, I was presented with a certificate proclaiming me as a Certified Hypnotherapist and was presented with materials for membership with the National Guild of Hypnotists with the blessing of ISHI Hypnosis.

There was one problem, though: I failed the exam.

That's right. I failed.

On the day of the exam, I was running a fever. I was sick to my stomach, had a pounding headache, coughed frequently, was sore all over and somewhat disoriented. I obviously had the flu.

The text started to take on that moving, shimmering quality that you see after your third boilermaker. Not only did I not have the answers, I couldn't even understand the questions! I left about 20-25% of the answers blank. BLANK! The rest, I guessed at.

At best, I estimate I got 75% of the answers right - ONLY if ALL my guesses were correct. And if they were, I think my next stop should be a Keno table. More than likely, I got half or fewer of the answers correct.

I never knew how I actually did. No one ever got back their test. No one. And to my knowledge, no one ever failed the certification exam. No one. There was no provision for a second pass after a failed exam - no one needed a second chance. I recall that everyone who took the ISHI Hypnosis certification course was, indeed, certified.

So, if you failed the test, would you complain? Probably not. There was so much encouragement and reward for participation in the ISHI Hypnosis training program you just could not fail. Literally. What are the odds that 100% of those taking a certification exam passed on the first try each and every time?

I didn't complain. I never practiced hypnotherapy either. At least not on my own. I was required to practice in the ISHI Hypnosis clinic for no compensation, though. If my test results were as dismal as it appears (and by leaving much of the answers blank, I'd say that was pretty dismal) you wouldn't want me putting you into trance no matter what that parchment said.

But that leads me to a question: If I failed miserably but still obtained certification, how many others failed? How many of them have received certification despite failing their final exam? How many of them are in practice today?

Would you want to receive hypnotherapy from a practitioner who has not fulfilled the requirements for certification? Would you trust an ISHI Hypnotherapy graduate with your mental and emotional well being?

If you do, give me a call. I'll trance you. No guarantee that I can get you into trace. Hell, there's no guarantee you'll come out of trance even if I could get you in it!

I wonder if ISHI Hypnosis graduates have come out of their trance?

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Secret Psychics

Gee, if the Academy for Psychic Studies had fundraisers like this...

Found the article below at: http://tinyurl.com/6jg2s7m

The article below is an editorial written by Mitch Horowitz and is a great use of Steve Hassan's BITE model for identifying a cult or controlling group.  Mr. Horowitz describes the Academy for Psychic Studies so well, I'd swear he was right there with us.

It's probably the best description of our experience at the Academy for Psychic Studies I have seen.
The key is secrecy.  Keep the goings-on behind the iron gate a secret.  Be sure the members don't find out what is happening a the top of the heap.  Never allow anyone from the outside (like a journalist) to look behind the gate - unless you have complete control over what they do and do not see.

Yes, we did have an extreme leader and extreme leader-etts who kept the Academy on it's mission of exploitation.  Sure, information from the outside was controlled, our thinking was modified, our behavior closely modified and our emotions were controlled with the taunt to "stay neutral" while we were tortured, humiliated, blackmailed or pummeled with insults and deeply degrading healing sessions that were more like an interrogation at the hands of the Gestapo.

The founder, Bill Duby was fond of saying "Don't fuck with me when it comes to money!"  The Academy's finances were a dark secret.  They had money.  A lot of it.  They got it from their followers.  The Academy for Psychic Studies never released an annual report nor were anyone besides certain members of the Board of Directors were allowed to know where the money came from and were it was going.  Maybe those select board members were the ones raking it in for themselves.

How could we say this?

Did we know how the leaders (who had no jobs) could tell us they were poor as dirt but were able to drive luxury cars?  Were we told how Bill Duby could acquire apartment buildings, a farm and other properties while he slumped in his chair moaning about how broke he was?   Did anyone know how it was possible that the leaders could use Academy money to pay for whatever the hell they wanted?

I remember accompanying Bill Duby and Angela Silva to an RV dealership.  Bill wanted a new RV.  The one he wanted cost over $60,000.  Bill made the deal on the spot, then asked to use my phone, explaining he had to call a board member to say he's making the purchase.  Obviously, the deal was already done so the board member couldn't do a damn thing to object anyway.  When he returned from his shopping spree, Bill told everyone he mocked up his new toy and that he bought it personally.  There was no mention that he used church funds to buy it and I was too smart to talk about what actually happened.

Bill's own personal history was also distorted and exaggerated.  Bill's accomplishments were much more than any one person could have achieved in the time he had.   Computer programmer, construction expert, soldier, father, husband, preacher, gambler, lady's man, businessman, prophet, scholar and spiritually perfect being were only some of the claims he made.

Why was the public history of Bill Duby so fantastic and superhuman while the truth behind the tall tales told an entirely different story?  And why was any question or doubt about the supernatural accomplishments of the leaders met with an overwhelming wave of degradation and hostility from the leaders and their deluded followers?

Take a look at this comment from a former member:

Anonymous said...
I know many secrets at SRF and would be oh to happy to tell everyone who reads this, including those who are on the fence still at the cult. 

1. Rev. Bill molested a person who was associated with the church. 

2. Rev. Bill took money out of the donation box for his own needs. He would take out all the large bills and leave just the dollar bills in there. 

3.When Rev. Bill took his name off all the legal documents regarding the whole corporation including all umbrella companies, he did so to not draw attention from the IRS, and any possible future lawsuit regarding molestation case against him. 

4.Rev. Angela and Rev. Bill were lovers then Rev. Bill dropped Rev. Angela full time after she got jealous over Rev. Bill's attention towards Rev. Robin. Rev. Angela went out and got drunk and picked up some stranger in a bar for a night of self destructive behavior. Oh yah, she was on the board of directors of the church. Nice example! 

5. Rev. Bill made sure that all properties and assets associated with the church, are to benefit two people and only 2 people....Rev. Angela Silva and Rev. Robin DuMolin. So, if they want to pull the plug at anytime, they would walk away with all the assets.

If they sell off the many properties, or liquidate any stock or bonds bought with church monies, they would go to Rev. Angela Silva and Rev. Robin DuMolin. 

NO ONE ELSE IN THE CHURCH, INCLUDING THOSE WHO ARE NOT ON THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS GETS A DIME! 

Any student who is going through the training right now or in the future doesn't get a thing. 

Any current or past minister associated with the church doesn't get a thing if the place goes under. 

And believe me, many old and new ministers don't know this! 

Those who do know, are so conditioned to look the other way, because if they spoke up they would get verbally beaten down and isolated. 

They were told to shut down the place and start again with all new people. 

The current church bishop basically is a yes man for the two current top leaders, so not to catch the heat from above. Nice....! 

Piling on is an art form at the cult. If you don't agree or are put into a position not to agree with the agenda, you are isolated and verbally abused in the staff meetings once a week, or at the beginning of each month. But this is called cleansing of the bad negative energy that is in the church. Trying doing an exorcism on yourself first! 

Its like OJ saying when acquitted for murder, "I will look for the real killers". Yeah on the golf course, in Vegas and the bars you frequent. Try looking in the mirror. 

The same goes for the negative energy in the church building, try looking in the mirror before you hold a staff meeting to dispense with the made up negative energies you did a reading on...oh clairvoyant one.....What a made up con of cons! 

No different than the televangelists claiming something bad will happen if you don't cough up some money. Extortion through guilt, emotional blackmail and verbal abuse. 

Happy Holidays everyone, and hope you learn from these accurate insights.

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And how about this one from a student (who thankfully got out before she got cooked alive):

Anonymous said...
So much for the sick and psychic. What a joke this place turned out to be. I was a student in SJ and witnessed what only perceived as hanky panky and arm twisting going on during the school break periods at night. That Rev. Steve was always under stress and felt like this place hardly ever had any students. That Sandi person I remember taking classes from, and in hindsight, I wished I could hug her now, as she probably needed one or many. 

Wow, I came up to take some classes in there Berkeley school and had a few encounters with these woman that are talked about. 

Rev. Robin seemed cold and calculating like a space alien scanning you, wanting to know if your intentions are threatening or peaceful. 

Rev. Angela seemed like a hot wind bag and phony. I didn't know why all the talk was about getting a reading from her or taking a class from here. I was bombarded with advertisement for her so called gift and insight. Seemed like she was one of those lady gypsy scammers who bilk large amounts of money over time form victims who want to believe. She did seem to exhibit signs of drinking or years of drug taking. 

Rev. Bill seemed like a inmate that welcomed the newly incarcerated. Scanned you up and down and wondered if he can use you to do his bidding. I'm glad this guy is not around anymore to lay waste on the rest of the poor people continuing to find fleeting thoughts of nirvana in a house of pain. 

December 26, 2008 8:23 PM

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The thing most stressed with us was to keep our light for ourselves.  We were not encouraged to go out and talk about our experience at the Academy.  In fact, it was forbidden because we might "blow people's mind" if we did.  That the Academy for Psychic Studies tried to silence me with a lawsuit that blew back in their faces (where I forced them to pay my legal expenses while retaining my right to free speech) should tell you a lot about their quest for secrecy.

When my good friend Steve Sanchez wrote his book "Spiritual Perversion", the Academy made similar threats for legal action.  "Spiritual Perversion" was still published and the truth came out anyway.
Steve and I are members of a small number of people willing to speak out against this cult.  Most take the threats, the shame, the emotional blackmail so seriously they remain in silence, huddling in the shadows in fear of a psychic attack that will never happen.

Yeah, the Academy for Psychic Studies' need for secrecy rises above all of their other needs.  Take a look at their website.  It's sparse and there's little real information about it.  The emotional control, the humiliation, the emotional blackmail, the information control and the deep shame we have all felt about being in this crazy cult are just the tools they use to keep the Academy the most secret of secret societies.

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When Does a Religion Become a Cult?

America has long been a safe harbor for experimental faiths. But the unorthodox can descend into something darker.

By MITCH HOROWITZ

America has probably supplied the world with more new religions than any other nation. Since the first half of the 19th century, the country's atmosphere of religious experimentation has produced dozens of movements, from Mormonism to a wide range of nature-based practices grouped under the name Wicca.
By 1970 the religious scholar Jacob Needleman popularized the term "New Religious Movements" (NRM) to classify the new faiths, or variants of old ones, that were being embraced by the Woodstock generation. But how do we tell when a religious movement ceases to be novel or unusual and becomes a cult?

It's a question with a long history in this country. The controversy involving Hollywood writer-director Paul Haggis is only its most recent occurrence. Mr. Haggis left the Church of Scientology and has accused it of abusive practices, including demands that members disconnect from their families, which the church vigorously denies.

To use the term cult too casually risks tarring the merely unconventional, for which America has long been a safe harbor. In the early 19th century, the "Burned-over District" of central New York state—so named for the religious passions of those who settled there following the Revolutionary War—gave rise to a wave of new movements, including Mormonism, Seventh-Day Adventism and Spiritualism (or talking to the dead). It was an era, as historian Sydney E. Ahlstrom wrote, when "Farmers became theologians, offbeat village youths became bishops, odd girls became prophets."

When the California Gold Rush of 1849 enticed settlers westward, the nation's passion for religious novelty moved with them. By the early 20th century, sunny California had replaced New York as America's laboratory for avant-garde spirituality. Without the weight of tradition and the ecclesiastical structures that bring some predictability to congregational life, some movements were characterized by a make-it-up-as-you-go approach that ultimately came to redefine people, money and propriety as movable parts intended to benefit the organization.

Many academics and observers of cult phenomena, such as psychologist Philip G. Zimbardo of Stanford, agree on four criteria to define a cult. The first is behavior control, i.e., monitoring of where you go and what you do. The second is information control, such as discouraging members from reading criticism of the group. The third is thought control, placing sharp limits on doctrinal questioning. The fourth is emotional control—using humiliation or guilt. Yet at times these traits can also be detected within mainstream faiths. So I would add two more categories: financial control and extreme leadership.

Financial control translates into levying ruinous dues or fees, or effectively hiring members and placing them on stipends or sales quotas. Consider the once-familiar image of Hare Krishna devotees selling books in airports. Or a friend of mine—today a respected officer with a nonprofit organization—who recalls how his departure from the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church was complicated by the problem of a massive hole in his résumé, reflecting the years he had financially committed himself to the church.

Problems with extremist leadership can be more difficult to spot. The most tragic cult of the last century was the Rev. Jim Jones's Peoples Temple, which ended with mass murder and suicide in the jungles of Guyana in 1978. Only a few early observers understood Jones as dangerously erratic. Known for his racially diverse San Francisco congregation, Jones was widely feted on the local political scene in the 1970s. He was not some West Coast New Ager gone bad. He emerged instead from the mainstream Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) pulpit, which sometimes lent a reassuringly Middle-American tone to his sermons.

Yet every coercive religious group harbors one telltale trait: untoward secrecy. As opposed to a cult, a religious culture ought to be as simple to enter or exit, for members or observers, as any free nation. Members should experience no impediment to relationships, ideas or travel, and the group's finances should be reasonably transparent. Its doctrine need not be conventional—but it should be knowable to outsiders. Absent those qualities, an unorthodox religion can descend into something darker.


Mr. Horowitz, the editor in chief of Tarcher/Penguin in New York and the author of "Occult America" (Bantam), is writing a history of the positive-thinking movement.

The Academy for Psychic Studies: Psychic-ology 101

This article is from the Bohemian newspaper, distributed in the Sonoma County area. I have excerpted it with a link to the full article.

It pretty much speaks for itself.

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From The Bohemian

http://www.bohemian.com/metro/01.02.08/cover-0801.html

Medium Cool
By Vrinda Normand

The New Year is the busiest season for psychics, and Silicon Valley has a lot of them. Even true believers are always on the lookout for fraud, and Santa Clara's Edward Carrion wants to protect the psychic consumer.

"I hate people that rip off other people," he says.

So he's doing something about it. He created a free educational resource on his website (readingsbyedward.com) called "Psychic Consumer 101." There you'll find easy-to-read tips on what a psychic is, how to tell if a self-professed psychic is the "real thing," and how to tell if a psychic is "using you."

"Silicon Valley has the highest concentration of psychics that I know," Edward says. "The energy of readings here is huge." Downtown San Jose, he adds, is a major "reception center" for the other side. If that's true, then you're more likely to find a good psychic among the crowded phone book listings, websites and hippie fairs in the South Bay.

Still, Chapman warns, the same trend also invites wannabes who see the profession as an easy moneymaker, especially when the economy is struggling.

"Anything in the psychic realm can be misused," Chapman says.

I gathered lots of practical tips to be aware of if you plan on being a psychic consumer this year, but the most obvious and understated one was this: trust your gut feeling.

So I decided to find out about becoming a little psychic myself.

The Academy for Psychic Studies is tucked into a tiny office space off Lincoln Avenue in San Jose's Willow Glen neighborhood. On some Saturdays, the school advertises its presence with balloons and a sidewalk sign offering a free psychic consultation. 

The Academy's website includes a list of its classes, from beginning meditation to advanced aura reading. On Tuesdays, it welcomes members of the public to an open, complimentary "energy healing clinic."

Unfortunately, the Academy does not welcome members of the media, and refused to speak with me for this article.

"We're not interested because that's not what we're about," a woman from the Academy told me before she hung up the phone (and before I could ask why). The school also requires that visitors sign an agreement promising they're not investigators or journalists .

…be very wary if they respond defensively or try to hide something from you. I told Edward (author of "Psychic Consumer 101") about my strange experience with the Academy for Psychic Studies in San Jose. He raised his eyebrows and said, "Why are they so afraid of investigation?" A trustworthy psychic, he added, is willing to be transparent and should even let you record the reading."

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