Would You Consult a Psychic About Your Love Life? These Women Did!

In this week’s New York Times Modern Love essay, a recently dumped woman goes to a psychic to ask some hard-hitting questions about her love life. Which seemed a little kooky to me, until I found out that apparently, a ton of women I know either have gone, or regularly go, to see psychics about their love lives. And these aren’t the types of women who live in apartments crowded with mystic crystals and stubs of incense sticks, if you know what I mean.

No, these girls are the rational, no-nonsense types, more prone to googling a problem than seeking advice from the stars. So why see a psychic?

For Megan, 26, it was a matter of seeking clarity on the seemingly inexplicable behavior of the guy she was seeing.

“It’s not like he was breaking up with me, we were just floating somewhere between something and I couldn’t define it, and I was driving myself crazy (maybe even literally) and I just wanted someone to give me some type of answer.”

So she went to a psychic. And then another one. And then another one.

“I feel psychics are like doctors, you always need a second opinion. Or a third,” she says. “I’m not quite sure how they work but two of the three psychics told me to stay away from someone with the letter “J” and also said they see me moving to either California or Florida. One in particular predicted a lot of the exact things that happened in my situation; Another was just crazy but fun. I’m not sure if it was as “comforting” as I wanted it to be, but probably was a lot better for me than a Xanax prescription.”

Amy, 25, went to see a psychic after hearing her sister rave about a reading.

“I asked about my love life, and she told me that the guy I was seeing then was not the guy I was going to end up with, which was true. And she said she didn’t see me having anything too serious for a little while. Also right.”

The psychic was so accurate in predicting her future that Amy went to see her a second time.

“I didn’t feel like she was as spot on that time though, so I probably won’t go again.

Kacy, 28, went to see a psychic for the first time when her mother wanted to see one.

“I found her a psychic and went along with her and really liked it.”

She liked it so much, in fact, that she started going regularly, to ask questions about her relationship.

“She told me to be patient, and that I have been making mistakes my whole life, and that I should try something new. She was right. I think so, anyway. I mean, God! I don’t know how she knows the things she knows about me, she probably has just seen a million people just like me. I don’t care. She’s not my girlfriend, so she just tells me exactly what she sees.”

It seems that the interesting thing about going to see a psychic, particularly about your dating life, has more to do with people reading than card reading. The tarot-aspect still leaves me a little skeptical, but psychics, particularly those who make their living by getting people to believe they know something about their lives, are experts at reading strangers. So, what signals and clues are you sending out to the outside world? Isn’t it tempting to pay a stranger and have them tell you exactly what they think?

What do you think? Would you ever see a psychic about your love life? (And more importantly, should I??)