Rose Marks family photo–her mother-in-law’s wedding day
Gypsy fortunetellers have always intrigued me. They bring out our gullibility, and there are apparently a lot of gullible people ready to turn over their hard earned money – even their fortunes – to the worst elements of the psychic field.
Some of them operate on the bottom rung of the business providing simply readings for a few dollars. I recall paying $5 at a county fair for a five-minute reading from a gypsy. I wasn’t expecting much so I wasn’t disappointed when my reading basically consisted of ‘Good health, good fortune, and of course, great romance.’ It was all mine. I smiled and walked off, thinking that the woman might make $100-150 an evening at the fair saying basically the same thing.
The next step up the ladder is the cold reading, where the reader asks questions and watches the subject closely, profiling the person. With a couple of lucky guesses, or even a bit talent, the reader hooks the subject to believing what he or she is being told about their futures. A mentalist working a crowd might have one or more plants, who pick up information about people beforehand that is forwarded to the reader. Some such readings are simply harmless entertainment. But clever readers will promise more, especially in the realm of romance…if you come back. But this time be sure to bring cash or jewelry that can be buried to discharge evil influences in your life. That sort of thing.
Why anyone would fall for such simple ploys is beyond me. But people do. Even seemingly smart, articulate, and wealthy people. For example, millionaire romance novelist Jude Deveraux. We’ll get to her shortly.
At the top of the ladder are the best of the con artists, people who do have psychic talent, but lack ethical or moral standards. They are out to hook clients, lie and cheat, and make as much money as possible. They are clever enough to carry on this ruse for years and can earn millions.
Case in point, Rose Marks of Fort Lauderdale and New York City, who schemed $25 million from long-term clients, including $17 million from novelist Deveraux. Marks, who worked under the name Joyce Michaels, is a member of Vlax Roma, the biggest gypsy group in the U.S., where the women are traditionally fortune tellers. In fact, Marks was the head of a group of eight women, all family members, when she was arrested. With Deveraux, she worked her way deeply into the novelist’s life, serving as a personal assistant and life coach.
Some of Marks’ exploits are so over-the-top that it’s really hard to believe anyone would fall for such schemes. “She said money is energy and money is evil and if I had money in my bank account, I was attracting evil,” Deveraux testified in court at Marks’ trial in mid-September. So she gave millions in cash and jewelry for Marks to hold for her. Sounds like a con, smells like a con. But Deveraux complied.
It gets even stranger when Marks helped Deveraux with her romantic pursuits. She said she was duped into believing she was secretly corresponding with then-Secretary of State Colin Powell and actor Brad Pitt. Deveraux believed she was exchanging letters and emails with Powell for four years before she cut it off when ‘Powell’ continued to avoid a face-to-face meeting. An Arizona woman testified in court that she typed up letters and emails that appeared to be from Powell and Pitt, but were dictated by Marks. She said she thought they were role-playing writing exercises for Deveraux. Marks is a clever one. Quite creative in her ruses.
Then, as if to make it all even more bizarre, Marks devised a soul-transferring scheme to meet both Deveraux’s romantic desires and for her to salvage the soul of her 8-year-son, Sam, who had died in an ATV accident. Marks told her that her son had not gone to heaven and that Marks could transfer his soul into the body of another person, reuniting mother and son.
“She said all she saw were flames and I had to keep him out of the flames,” Deveraux testified. Marks said she had foreseen the death and prepared for it by saving an embryo from the in-vitro-fertilization procedures Deveraux had undergone to give birth to Sam.
Rose Marks
Marks claimed that a virgin, who looked like the late Princess Grace of Monaco, had used the embryo to give birth to a child – the full blood brother of Sam. Marks apparently predicted that Deveraux would die and assume the body of the younger woman and be re-united with son.
Very cunning, right? But there’s more. Marks told her that the woman had secretly married Brad Pitt and Deveraux would be married to him when she assumed the woman’s body. Wow. To go along with this scenario seems so outrageous that we have to wonder if Deveraux had lost her own soul. It seemed that she had become a character from one of her own romances.
There’s much more of this story being reported by the Sun-Sentinel newspaper. It’s been a front-page article for days, and we couldn’t help commenting on it. Marks has pleaded not guilty. She has also claimed to be a psychic consultant for the pope and the FBI and that her clients included former presidents, Powell, Pitt, and actress Jane Seymour. ‘Claim’ is the key word there.
Of course, hard-core skeptics and debunkers will say, ‘I told you so. Psychics are either frauds or misguided individuals.’ Of course, to do so essentially takes one case and expands it to the entire field of psychics and mediums. It’s seeing reality in a very rigid way, based on the idea that psychic abilities don’t exist.
But get this: Marks apparently does have psychic talents. Deveraux, in fact, came to trust her after some of her predictions proved uncannily accurate. For example, she said Deveraux’s husband would file for divorce and accurately predicted the precise hour when the divorce filing was delivered.
Marks also warned her to leave her Manhattan apartment and change the locks because her husband was coming. She checked into a hotel and staff at her apartment building told her that her husband unexpectedly showed up and was angrier than anyone they’d ever seen, Deveraux said.
Then again, knowing what we do about Marks…maybe the husband was in on the con. But no such allegations have been made by the prosecution. So who knows. Maybe Marks will reform and give good readings to her fellow inmates when this case is over.
Jude Deveraux – duped for 17 years for $17 million
Wow, how sad. I am like Math as I DO NOT want to know anything about the person or house or area before a reading. I don’t care what their name is. I am best when the person just asks a question . As The reading continues I may have more dialogue but my questions to them are whether they understood what I was telling them. All I need is a simple yes or no. I have in fact stopped people from wanting to give me added information. I warn people ahead of time that I may “shush” them.
I have never received a penny for my readings but don’t begrudge those who do, as long as it is a reasonable amount.
Also, I find that I become a bit of a psychologist for some people but even with that I try to steer them to seek out a professional.
This woman, I think, has psychological problems. So many people feel that if they are paying for a service it has to be real, and they become dependent. There are so many people who see Psychologists for years!
I did have one woman who I felt became addicted to me. She would call me constantly and if she sensed I was annoyed told a friend she was calling me AS a friend. This was no friendship. I finally had to cut her off. She soon found others and those others were happy to charge her for their “friendship”.
I have always been wary of Gypsy’s. I find them to be deceptive behind the smiles.
Fascinating post!
Gypsy culture is fascinating to me, but it does seem to be a trickster culture, perhaps out of necessity, as they have been a persecuted people. I think the person who is seeking psychic help has to be pretty discerning. A Cuban saying I heard growing up is the gypsy prayer; “Oh Lord, you don’t have to make me rich; just let me hang around people who are.”
Before I went on holiday we went to our local town and there were gypsies hassling people to read their fortunes. I stood watching them at work while Karin was in a shop and it was surprising how many people handed over money to have their hand read.
Quite a story about Marks. Interesting that you say she may have once have had a psychic talent. Pressure to perform or greed may lead to temptations to fib.
Hope your trip was great! Eager to hear about your synchros.
Before becoming ill, I did readings for several decades. Each psychic/medium has his or her own methods. For me, I only worked by referrals; never advertised. When a person phoned for an appt, I asked that person to only give me a first name. (This prevents any kind of ‘research’ into the person before they arrive, expecially during this electronic age.) I did the sessions in two parts. During the initial part, I did not allow the client to speak or to give me any information whatsoever, and I never, ever asked the client any questions. I would slip into an altered state, and my “Source” was Spirit. That first part of the session could last anywhere from half an hour to more than an hour. it depended on the information flowing through me. I would have asked the client to please not speak or make any noise such as even a “huh” type of sound while I was in that altered state. They could rattle paper, cough, whatever, but no acknowledgement of what was being said. I encouraged the person to please use a tape recorder because once I was out of the altered state, I wouldn’t remember the information that had been given. In the second part of the session, I would still be in a semi-altered state, still “connected” to the Source, and the client could begin to have a three-way conversation between the Spirit Helpers, me, and the client, and at that time, they could asked questions. But I never made a remark, followed by a question, “Does this mean anything to you?” as many readers do. That is cold reading. That is the medium being led by the client. Experienced fakes are excellent at interpreting body language, facial expressions, etc, and can build a good story on just a tidbit of information from a client. A genuine medium doesn’t need ANYTHING from the client…..especially not the reason they are there…..because the helpers already KNOW why the client has come, and 99 times out of a 100 they will answer the questions and whatever, before the client asks the question. I have to say that genuine mediums cannot always align with a client’s energies, and occasionally the medium will receive absolutely nothing for the person. In those situations, instead of making up a script, it’s the responsibility of the medium to apologize and admit that they are receiving absolutely nothing; that the slate is blank; and let the client go. As a medium syself, I’ve had s few phenomenal readings in my life by some phenomenal mediums/psychics. Contrarily, there have been a few who simply got zilch, and tried to fill in gapes by asking me questions, etc. I will never give a medium any information going in, and I will not answer questions prior to the reading. NONE. But this is just me. Others operate differently. The best readings I’ve ever had have been by psychics who never asked me a single question.
Again, that’s just me. To each his own, but it’s easy to unwittingly give information to a reader that they can build on, without realizing you are doing that. So in my humble opinion, it’s best to say, “My name is Mary” and leave it there, and allow the medium to do the work. Sorry for going on and on with this, but it’s one of my goals in life….to put fakes out of business and educate the public in recognizing the fakes from the real deal.
Absolutely amazing……..what I think when I read this is first and foremost, how desperately lonely this woman must have been, to reach for such a fraudulant relationship.
The techniques you describe in this scenario are actually usual Gypsy techniques – as someone who was a Tarot reader for years (Renaissance Faires, psychic faires, conventions), it’s common knowledge among readers that Gypsies have techniques to get more money – the most common is “evil money” or a “curse” that they will assist the victim to clear (and of course, it keeps getting more difficult to clear, and more expensive!).
I don’t read anymore, except for friends, but I do know that it’s a kind of intimacy, sometimes a bit like being an inexpensive psychologist……..for better or worse, people are talking about their most intimate desires for love, what relationships mean, what they feel they should be doing with their lives, etc. I knew a phone psychic who had a wealthy client who spent thousands of dollars on her, and would call her, like an addict, several times late at night to ask about the most trivial decisions. She was a “psychaholic”, and I was disturbed that my aquaintance continued to accept money from her.
Maybe that’s one of the reasons I got out of reading, although sometimes it was very magical and I really did feel I helped people.
You undoubtedly did help people! I still read cards for family.
Anyone who chooses to have a psychic reading should first educate himself or herself regarding the obvious ways in which a fake can be recognized. The scripts for these people tend to be consistent, whether they are gypsies or someone like Sylvia Browne. The fakes are SO easy to spot when a person knows what the signs are. Re Jude Deveraux, it’s amazing she could have been so incredibly gullible!
I have been to bonafide psychics, and it was easy to tell they were real. Nobody tried to take me for any money, except that which was agreed upon beforehand. I was encouraged to tape the encounters so I could go back and listen to them again. I was completely astounded by the accuracy of one woman, who said she saw me looking around at open air and speculated maybe a hot air balloon? It was decades before I became a skydiver, and I’m sure that’s what she saw. She also predicted the losses I would face in my life. The difference between her and the one you describe here are night and day.
I’ve been to types like what you describe, DJan. And the one you saw sounds amazing!
A warning to everyone: If you are driving down a street and see a sign in front of a house or office that has a picture of a “red hand” on it, advertising psychic readings, STAY AWAY. These red hands are the universal symbol for Romanian gypsy readers, and they have a common script that they each use with EVERY client. I was involved in assisting a law enforcement “sting” regarding a local such person. I was sent in as a client, and the reader, “Linda”, allowed me to make notes but refued to allow a tape recorder. She gave me the reading, which was totally bogus, and promised she would rid me of black forces, that I was under hidden psychic attack, if I would pay her for the appropriate candles, incense, prayers, etc, that she would use in her “ritual”. Then another client was sent in, and rec’d the EXACT same reading. We did this with no less than nine clients over a period of a few days. None of us shared the readings with each other until the sting had been completed. Then Linda was arrested for fraud and convicted, etc. So BEWARE THE RED hand sign. It IS the universal symbol for these criminals, no matter what city or state in which they reside! And they give true mediums and psychics a vry bad name that we constantly must overcome.
well, one bad gypsy does not all gypsies make i always say! however, this one is something else – but – and this is a big BUT – what in the world is wrong with the people who fall for this stuff! i mean, get a grip! or – if you just WANT to throw your money away – give it away – or whatever – then, there are organizations and individuals who truly need financial help – or – let me give ms. d. my number… 🙂