Medium is that real, coldreading or scam

Edwin Selij
November 21, 2012

A medium is someone who often claims to be able to talk to or contact deceased people. If you were to ask me personally, I do believe in this because I have experienced it myself. Ever since I was little I have been able to. But there are also those who very shrewdly use other tactics

Coldreading

Cold reading is a method of pretending to be a medium. It is an elaborate method that I cannot fully describe here in this article, but if you read some books about it you will be able to protect yourself from the influences of charlatans.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of charlatans who simply want to make money on other people's problems alone. Those people will naturally get their share at some point I believe. I for one am of the opinion that what you sow, you will also reap so I am just waiting 😉

Cold reading uses various tactics to get people to believe that the medium can really do something. The following tactics are used in a reading:

  1. A good setup
  2. The themes in which they work
  3. What elements are important
  4. The Win/Win Situation
  5. A good presentation

These 5 elements are used by the coldreader to achieve success during a reading. Usually the coldreader uses tarot cards or astrology. If you can apply these elements properly, you too can be at a psychic fair and give readings. I guarantee you more success than most "real" mediums and readers.

Good set up

A good set up is very important. Wherever you work with people, it is important to create an atmosphere that people believe you. After all, you do want it to work. You are friendly, open and you provide a certain ritual. Maybe you have old tarot cards that have a story attached to them, maybe you burn incense or play a meditative music. Anything to create an atmosphere of openness and trust in your gift as a medium.

The topics

The themes usually worked with are love, money, work orhealth. Those are the 4 main themes the coldreader works with. It's nice and abstract and you can go in any direction and that's important.

The elements

There are 38 elements that can be worked with and this article is too short to go into them. They are divided into 4 groups:

  • About the Character
  • About the facts and events
  • About predicting the future
  • About getting information

One example I don't want to keep from you is the Rainbow element. This one comes from the group character and is often used by "mediums. They then say something like:

'You can be a very thoughtful person who is very quick to help others, but there are times when you are very honest that you do recognize in yourself a selfish streak'

You see this sentence contains two elements of someone's personality that are opposite. Thus, you are never really completely wrong. Of course, you can also remodel this sentence with honest - dishonest or introvert - extrovert.

The Win/Win Situation

There are a number of tactics you can use to still be right as a coldreader even though you were dead wrong. One such tactic is the following. Imagine you say, "I'm getting a name through, Herman, do you know Herman?The person says he doesn't know Herman. What the coldreader can then do are 2 things.

  1. He continues to ask questions and stick to that name. Often I it so that someone suddenly does know a Herman and that instantly makes you as a coldreader even more credible
  2. Another tactic is to pretend to be confused. The "how-can-that-now attitude. If you then also state that you are not often wrong and that it must mean something anyway then the client also gets into that state and you have a win/win.

Should the client come up with it later, you get extra points!

A good presentation

Some things that are good to do is to maintain eye contact and tilt your head slightly. Subconsciously, that is a signal that you are open and interested in the other person. Those are important things to do.

Coldreading study

If you want to know more about this I can recommend Ian Rowland's book, The Full facts on Cold Reading. In it all the elements are described and you can work on it further.

Medium

Now I certainly believe that there are mediums who can make contact with deceased people, because I can do it myself. That is also the only reason why I believe in them. Especially after reading about these kinds of tricks, I know that there are a lot of people who abuse this. However, when you see through this kind of trick and know that it is a trick, then you can protect yourself. Otherwise, everyone is prey.

Spiritual Hypnosis

If you would like to delve more deeply into this then look into hypnosis training.

I hope you found this article valuable and if so please leave a comment or give it a like. It is much appreciated.