Readings are a psychology that fulfills the needs of a bourgeoning popular demand, though therapists refuse to see the forest for the trees. A kind of "folk therapy,"  Readings heal mind and heart of the paralytic confusion and conflict often found in our world today of problematic uncertainties, eroding models of behavior along with mind-boggling choices and life style freedom, all overlaid by a demanding critical culture.

Given our changing times, everyone wants to know the future and that it will be good. That's human nature. Effective Readers will paint a positive picture of the future for their client, and communicate in such a convincing way that the prediction rings true.

Readings confirm and affirm.  Clients are empowered with renewed confidence, energy, and hope.  Often, that's all we need.  Though Readings do not treat the mentally unbalanced and dysfunctional, they give us enough peace and clarity of mind so that we feel good about who we are and what we are doing.

In this world of scientism dominated by left brain logic and empirical evidence, the human spiritual drive is unfulfilled.  Institutional religions often do not meet the mystical underpinnings of our psyche.  Hence, the popularity of the mystery of the cards and the intuitions of the Reader.

The truth is that Readings are not helpful unless the client believes in them.  Readings come true because we want them to.

There is simply no objective future.  And just because the future has been forecast by a Reader, it may or may not happen.  The future is subjective, subjective to our own desiring of it.  This is the basic psychology of prediction – the powerful truth of the "self-fulfilling prophecy."  We project as true what we want to see, believe in it, and sometimes even take action, thus manifesting it into reality.  In fact, we are our own oracle.

So, why go to a Reader?  Indeed, you can do your own Readings.  In this self-help world of taking responsibility and being accountable, why give away your own authority and judgment to another?  How can anyone know us better than ourselves?  Don't we have an inner voice that we can trust for guidance?

True, it's vital to recognize that ultimately we are all our own oracle, our own foreseer.  Readings, however, have great value as a source of new information and insight.  We are often stuck in an outdated way of seeing ourselves and our possibilities; nor do we believe in ourselves, which Readings can restore.

So, yes get a Reading, knowing, though, that the result is in your hands.  If you don't agree with what the Reader tells you, that's also valuable, for now you know what your really desire and believe in, the two keys to fulfilling the prophecy of your choice.

The responsible and genuinely helpful Reader educates their client that a Reading is of limited help, and that for the Reading to come true, the client must self-fulfill the prophecy by participating proactively with the principles of being their own oracle.

For Readers to contribute to the ongoing development of this nascent mainstream "intuitive psychology," we Readers must act more as a coach and educator, not as a fortune teller for a passive client, but as a fortune facilitator.

My great forecast is that everyone realize they are their own oracle.  I believe and desire it, and that's why I am acting on it by writing this column.