Summer 2005

Let Cleo Point the Way
by James Bright

“It felt weird, you know, sitting across from some strange lady I’ve never met before, and her telling me that soon I’d find the ‘lover’ I’ve been waiting for,” said Amanda White, a Colorado State University–Pueblo junior, after her first-ever palm reading.

Around eight o’clock on a Saturday night, Amanda and I pulled into the driveway of one of the many new “psychic reading” places that have popped up in Southern Colorado. The house was an undistinguished South Side Pueblo residence: not fancy but not scary either. As we stepped out of the car, Amanda threw me a nervous glance. She had been talking about this reading for over a week and was excited to finally be having it.

Over the past several years, the popularity of psychic readings has grown. No longer is being a telephone psychic a money-making business, although some still do quite well, Today’s psychics and those seeking the advice prefer to have tête-à-tête readings. This may explain why all over the country, not just in Southern Colorado, psychics have been opening their houses to strangers for the benefit of private readings. This may explain why all over the country, not just in Southern Colorado, psychics have been opening their houses to strangers for the benefit of private readings. Since the beginning of fortunetelling, psychics have used their homes (or carts, or tents, or whatever) to allow their customers a relaxing environment for readings.

When we walked up to the door of the local shop, we were not sure whether we should knock or just go in. Reluctantly Amanda took the first step into the building. The interior of the house smelt of burning wood and olive oil. The entrance was dark, but within a half minute after a bell rang announcing our presences, a small middle-aged woman walked out of a backroom and greeted us with a friendly smile.

“Hello,” she said, “and welcome to my home. I presume you’re here to receive a reading?”

Amanda smiled back and said yes. After only a few minutes of discussing payment ($20 for a twenty-minute reading) and rules, Amanda and I sat at a small round table. Cleo (not her real name) sat opposite Amanda. Cleo reached across the table and took hold of Amanda’s hand. With her left index finger she traced the lines of Amanda’s palm, the whole while making strange faces, mixed with smiles and curious glances.

When Cleo finally spoke to Amanda it was about many different things, but the overall focus of the conversation was that soon Amanda would find love, graduate from college, and find a job in a “the medical field.”

“I see,” Cleo said, “that soon you’ll be working with the ill, not necessarily as a doctor but as a helper.”

Amanda, after the reading, didn’t feel that she gained a whole lot of information from Cleo.

“I felt as though she told me things that weren’t out of this world. She pretty much told me that I would find love. The whole graduation from college thing, she probably got from the fact [that] I had a CSU-Pueblo jacket on.”

A Conversation with a Clairvoyant

“It’s not that I don’t want people to know where my business is or who I am, it’s just that normally I wouldn’t talk to someone about my gift. Many don’t understand how I’m able to read palms and see events that take place in the future, but I do.” Cleo said when she was finished with the reading. After the reading, I had told her that I was working on this story, which is when she asked me not to use her real name or give out the name of her business.

Cleo and I spent about ten minutes talking; however, it was a busy night and soon she’d have customers waiting. What I was able to get from Cleo was the fact that when she does someone’s first reading there always seems to be about a 50/50 chance of them coming back.

“Sometimes I perform a reading on someone and they come back a month or two later and eventually become regulars of mine. However, I also may perform a reading on someone and never see them again, which I understand. It doesn’t hurt or surprise me if someone doesn’t believe what I’ve told them; I know it can be hard for some to believe in what I do.”

Cleo said that she has between 50-75 customers that she sees more than three times a year. However, around Halloween Cleo sees a spike in customers.

“I get a big increase in customer flow around Halloween; it’s the whole spirit of the season, I guess, Birthdays are also another big profit maker for me. People just seem to like coming in on their birthdays, especially 16 and 18, to see what is in store for them.”

“I think,” said Cleo, “the popularity and demand also depends on the climate of the times. If you look back on the ‘field-day’ of psychic readings, which was in the 30’s and 40’s, you see a country that was upset by a lot of social factors. People just wanted to know if things were going to get better. And I believe that’s the same now. People are so uptight over what is going on in the world. They need to know if it will get better. I have a lot of military family members as customers; they just need to know if things are ever going to look up.”

This point was one I hadn’t thought of before. In our country’s social climate, it doesn’t seem shocking that some would be turning to other sources of belief instead of organized religion. The war in Iraq has been ongoing for over two years now, and families have been torn apart from each other.

Not only does the popularity of psychics come and go, but also the law plays a big part in where and how fortune-tellers make their livings. Due to many fortune-tellers ripping off clients, psychics have had a hard time keeping their business open. Many tellers are forced to close down either due to finical problems, or because of the law. However, even with the law not always on their side they do according to Cleo help in certain times.

“I have a lot of mothers and wives coming in wanting to know about their ‘boys.’ At time its heart breaking to see this. I just hope I provide them with some comfort.”

Comfort for some maybe, but Amanda’s impressions afterwards were less than appealing. “I don’t see myself going back [to Cleo’s], but that doesn’t mean that I won’t ever get my palm read again. I just wasn’t too impressed with what she told me, but you never know: Something may come along that surprises me, and I’ll then believe what she said.”

It’s My Turn

The next step in this adventure was for me to go and get my own reading done. This time I choose to go somewhere else so that the psychic didn’t know that I intended to write an article. I went by myself this time and the experience was quite different than the one I had with Amanda.

A short stout lady with shoulder-length hair sat behind a small counter watching television and smoking a cigarette as I walked into the shop. In a sweet southern accent she asked how I was. To me she seemed a lot more relaxed than Cleo and a little friendlier too, which helped in relaxing my nerves.

The lady behind the counter soon led me to another room. As I entered, I noticed that she would not be the one performing the reading. Rather, a large woman dressed in black slacks and a novelty tee-shirt sat at a table shuffling cards.
The experience I had in the actual reading was about the same as Amanda’s, but mine was a little longer and a little more in-depth (Although, I paid a little more for my reading, $25, it was well worth it). Mrs. Rosa (again an alias) spoke very softly about how many opportunities would be opening up to me.

She said that she could see several branches that broke away from the normal lines of my palm, which these branches, she claimed, showed that my life would take several turns in the next few years. However, she said that I shouldn’t be too afraid of them, because they were destined.

She led her soft index finger along my life line and simply smiled, and said, “You don’t have too much to worry about for many years.” That was all I needed to know, because I tend to worry and if she has said “oh no that doesn’t look good,” I would have freaked.

My major focus was more on the upcoming future and where I’d be soon. When I asked about the next year or so, she replied that I would be moving away but she couldn’t really say where. Her overall impression though was that life would open new doors and I should just follow whatever I felt was right, and not to second guess myself.

As I left Mrs. Rosa, I felt a lot better about my reading and the experience I had than I think Amanda did. Mrs. Rosa was just a lot more foretelling of events that might take place within my life. Now if her reading was accurate I cannot tell yet, and think that it may take some time before I know if she was right or wrong about certain situations. However, unlike Amanda I do think I may make another visit to Mrs. Rosa.