psychic energy

Science To New York, where authorities say scamming within the psychic community may be rife, "clients" paying thousands of dollars for all kinds of readings.

In 2011, The Times published a piece listing some of the more bizarre interactions, and this week produced a sketch of the scene at the courtroom hearing for one of the accused and interviewed a complainant:

"A crystal-ball reading and Ms. Mitchell’s pledge to meditate on the matter cost $1,000, but the price tag, she said, implied quality. “A lot of these other psychics, if you walk by their shops, they look ghetto,” she said.

"What followed were a series of candles and rituals and a “sculpture” that Ms. Mitchell said she created to absorb the victim’s evil spirits from a past life, the client said. The sculpture, however, needed fancy clothes and shoes, and so the client met Ms. Mitchell at a Gucci store and Bergdorf Goodman and paid for those things, she said."