Phony Psychic Techniques

From The Full Facts Book of Cold Reading by Ian Rowland.
See also Mind Control Wiki, 38 elements of cold reading

First is the Rainbow Ruse—the “statement which credits the client with both a personality trait and its opposite.” (“I would say that on the whole you can be rather a quiet, self effacing type, but when the circumstances are right, you can be quite the life and soul of the party if the mood strikes you.”)

The Jacques Statement, named for the character in “As You Like It” who gives the Seven Ages of Man speech, tailors the prediction to the age of the subject. To someone in his late thirties or early forties, for example, the psychic says, “If you are honest about it, you often get to wondering what happened to all those dreams you had when you were younger.”

The Barnum Statement, the assertion so general that anyone would agree.

• “I sense that you are sometimes insecure, especially with people you don’t know very well.”
• “You have a box of old unsorted photographs in your house.”
• “You had an accident when you were a child involving water.”
• “You’re having problems with a friend or relative.”
• “Your father passed on due to problems in his chest or abdomen.”

The Fuzzy Fact, the seemingly factual statement couched in a way that “leaves plenty of scope to be developed into something more specific.” (“I can see a connection with Europe, possibly Britain, or it could be the warmer, Mediterranean part?”)

The Diverted Question takes a piece of solid information and extrapolates unspoken details that are very likely to be correct. The solid piece of information could come from a direct question, or noticing the type of car the client drives or any friends they might be with.

Some psychics are well versed in how an expensive purse is different from a lookalike knock off purse. This says volumes for the reading.

"I see that you have a keen eye. First your eye is always set toward quality. You know what a good name brand is worth but your eye is also very shrewd to finding the best deal."

The Russian Doll is a way of "peeling the onion" so to speak, when a statement doesn't give you hit.

"I'm getting the impression of that you're making a move right now. Does that make sense?"

"No."

"Oh this could be not you per say, but someone close to you."

"No."

"Oh, not so much a physical move but really a transition... a major change of sorts."

"Well, my brother-in-law is finally getting a job."

"That's why this sticks out in my mind so much, this is long overdue!"

It took three attempts to get a hit and the misses fall by the wayside.

The key to the Russian Doll is if something doesn't match up then expand it into a different context.

The Jargon Blast can often be described as the "baffle them with bullshit" tactic. It does two things. First it establishes you as an authority in your method of reading (astrology, tarot, palmistry, etc.) by spewing out terms of your field most people have not put in the time to learn.

Secondly, as you use these terms to describe the reading the client will put whatever meaning to it that best fits.

"The two of swords is a card of the mind. In fact, it means that there is a decision that that is being weight. The five of wands goes well with this as it indicates there is a struggle... not a major one... but a bothersome one. These are conjoined cards which means that the struggle is affecting this decision. I don't know if this makes sense to you."

You are welcome to throw in completely unrelated jargon like "form a divergence" or "Conjoined cards"

The Good Chance Guess is a guess that has a better-than-normal chance of being correct. Example You were quite active as a child and people were concerned about your well being. You have a scar on your left knee. (BTW, you would be surprised how accurate that guess is!)

The Vanishing Negative
“Moving on to career matters, you don’t work with children, do you?”

No, I don’t.

“No, I thought not. That’s not really your role.”

Of course, if the subject answers differently, there’s another way to play the question: “Moving on to career matters, you don’t work with children, do you?”

I do, actually, part time.

“Yes, I thought so.”

Push Statements – stories that are made up out of whole cloth and usually don’t make sense to the client. The client goes away and ultimately tweaks the story until it fits something in their lives. The point being that he is such a good psychic that he even knows stuff that at first doesn’t make sense.

Fine Flattery statements are designed to flatter the client in a subtle way likely to win agreement. Usually, the formula involves the client being compared to “people in general” or “most of those around you”, and being declared a slight but significant improvement over them:

I have your late sister with me now. She tells me she wants you to know that she always admired you, even if she didn’t always express it well. She tells me that you are… wait, it’s coming through… yes, I see, she says you are in many ways more shrewd, or perceptive, than people might think.

Psychic Credits are character statements which credit the client with some form of psychic or intuitive gift, or at the very least a receptivity to others who possess such gifts:

This card, the King of Wands, is generally indicative of a perceptive or even a psychic ability of some kind. Of course we all have these gifts, but they do vary from person to person. In your case, it’s the second card in the higher triad, which is devoted to your personal profile. This suggests you have very strong and vivid intuitive gifts, and good instincts which will serve you well if you learn to trust them.

Sugar Lump statements offer the client a pleasant emotional reward in return for believing in the junk on offer. In general, the Sugar Lump relates to the client’s willingness to embrace the psychic ‘discipline’ involved in the reading, and to benefit from the insights thereby gloriously revealed:

Your heart is good, and you relate to people in a very warm and loving way. The tarot often relates more to feelings and intuition than to cold facts, and your own very strong intuitive sense could be one reason why the tarot seems to work especially well for you. The impressions I get are much stronger with you than with many of my clients.

The Greener Grass element is based on the fact that we all retain some fascination with the options in life that we did not take. You could say they form their own sub-set of the Jacques Statements referred to above:

I see indications of material success and professional advancement which are a credit to you, and which reflect your own drive and ability to get things done. You are the sort of person who delivers results, and this characteristic has brought its rewards. However, it has also brought its penalties. Although you would not necessarily advertise them too openly, I sense some feelings here of a potential desire for more domestic security, and a more stable home life. I would not go so far as to say this has been a serious problem for you, but I believe your loyalty to your career has not always delivered the returns you expected.

Forking. If the client seems to reject the initial statement, the psychic can develop the same theme in the opposite direction, like this:

But this tendency is one you have learned to overcome, and these days it rarely comes to the fore. You have learned to accept yourself, and to be reconciled with your own special mix of gifts and skills. You have learned how damaging it can be to be too self-critical, and all credit to you for having matured past the self-critical stage.