How to Give Free Psychic Readings

Free psychic readings are worth the money paid for them. However, learning to give a psychic reading that is only partly accurate is great fun for the person giving the reading, the person receiving the reading and all those watching the reading. By practicing a few techniques, almost anyone can learn to give an entertaining psychic reading.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Props such as crystals, tarot cards or candles.

1. Talk to the people you're with and find someone who will be a good subject for a psychic reading. This person (the subject) should be talkative, offering personal information that you haven't asked for. Additionally, look for someone whose appearance or mannerisms allow you to make an accurate guess about his or her life. When you later offer to give the psychic reading, the subject may not remember how you learned about him or her.

2. Ask for the subject's help. Tell the subject that at times the images you see (or impression you get or voices you hear--whatever you prefer) are unclear and you need him or her to clarify. You can then make vague guesses about the subject, and he or she will provide specific information. Later the subject will believe that your reading was astonishingly accurate.

3. Use props. Have the subject clutch a crystal or ask for a personal item you can hold. While you're deciding what to say about your subject, you can make a show of using your prop to bring forth the information you're seeking.

4. Perform a cold reading. Make a general statement and study how your subject reacts. This will tell you whether you're "warm" or "cold." If your statement prompts a reaction from your subject, stay on that topic as long as possible. If the subject looks confused or disbelieving, pretend you didn't believe the statement yourself and move on to something that might be closer to what the subject is thinking.

5. Predict the future. Since the future has yet to occur, you can say almost anything about it and the subject won't be able to object. Avoid going too far from what it seems is actually in the subject's future. For instance, you might predict that your subject will change jobs, but predicting that the subject will return to college to prepare for a change in careers might cause him or her to doubt you.

6. Try shotgunning. Instead of choosing a person to give a psychic reading to, make a general statement and see who volunteers to have a reading done. For example, you can state that you're getting an image of a new car and see who admits they've just gotten a new car or are thinking about a new car.

Tips & Warnings

• Practice your psychic readings on friends until they seem natural. While you're at it, add some drama to your performance--practice going into trances or straining to hear voices from "the other side."
• A psychic reading that involves predictions of doom aren't fun for anyone. You should never make predictions that convince the subject to make drastic changes in career goals, relationships or lifestyles.

Resources

• To learn more about how cold reading works, see the entry in the Skeptic's Dictionary.