You enter a room and hand the person in front of you something that you wear or use, that has touched your skin. The longer the object has been in contact with your body, the stronger the vibe, the frequency, whatever it is that a psychometrist reads about you and your life in that object.
Psychometry is the most mysterious yet plausible kind of psychic ability, at least to me. In my worldview, it makes perfect sense that a piece of jewelry I wear, that a cell phone permanently pressed to my ear, carries something of me that a psychic might read.
Back in the 1970s,when I was still in my twenties and in graduate school, an impulse prompted me to drive from Tallahassee to Cassadaga for a reading. I’d read something about this Spiritualist town of psychics – probably a Halloween piece, when the mainstream media back then – and yes, even now – felt it was okay to write about things that go bump in the night.
The actual Spiritualist camp hasn’t changed much in all these decades. The streets remain narrow, the air strangely still, and if you listen closely to that stillness, you may hear the whispers of ghost, spirits, the deceased. Everyone who lives here supposedly believes that there is no such thing as death, that the soul simply moves on. We’ve written about Cassadaga before.
In spite of spirituality, humans are political creatures and politics in Cassadaga are very much alive. According to the camp board, the folks who live and work across the street from the Cassadaga Hotel are not genuine, and those inside the confines of the camp are the real McCoy. We’ve found both sides to be equally good. You just have to follow your hunches about where to get a reading.
That day in the 1970s, I knocked on the door of the first house that felt right to me, and had a reading from a man confined to his bed, a quadriplegic, a psychometrist. He asked for a personal object and I gave him a topaz ring that I’d worn for years. His hands still worked and his fingers closed over my ring and after a bit, he started to talk. I no longer remember the specifics, but I know he read me backward and forward, inside and out. I kind of staggered out of there.
Some years later, this man, Wilbur Hull, connected Rob and me to Hazel Burley, who had studied under Hull, but as a medium rather than a psychometrist. Years later, Cassadaga was where Rob and I discovered we were going to be creative partners, that we would marry and have a daughter. It’s where Megan learned her Disney internship will turn into a full-time job. And she learned this through Tracy, a psychometrist located in that part of Cassadaga deemed non-genuine. Ha.
After Megan emerged from her reading, her face was lit up like high noon. “She’s incredible. She held my cell phone and shut her eyes and for the first fifteen minutes, I never said a word. But it was like she knew me.” Megan then read from her hastily scribbled notes about what Tracy had predicted for her during the next two to three years, most of it positive and wondrous.
So I knocked on the door and asked for a reading. Tracy and I sat in her front office. She explained that she did her readings by holding a personal object, so I handed her my wedding ring. She shut her eyes and started talking. The first thing she picked up on was my dad – an older gentleman in spirit who is emotionally close to me. And then she mentioned a child in spirit, a boy, a brother, something many psychics have mentioned over the years. Two or three years after I was born and before my sister’s birth, my mother got pregnant and the baby, a boy, was stillborn.. This is when I knew the woman was genuine. “Your brother facilitates things for you, makes certain things easier. He’s always around you.”
She spoke for about fifteen minutes and, like Megan, I didn’t say anything and was surprised at how much she knew about me and the people around me. She had some terrific predictions about the next two to three years, so I hope she’s correct.
After the reading, I asked how the information came to her – in images? Words? Feelings? She explained it was a combination of things. Sometimes she hears whispers – names, for instance, often come to her that way. Other times, she seems images, places, people’s faces. In health matters, she often feels the client’s aches and pains.
I told her my first reading in Cassadaga years ago was with another psychometrist, Wilbur Hull. She remembered him. “The parapelegic,” she said. “He used to do his readings from his bed.”
“That’s how he read for me. You’re every bit as good as he was.”
With that, she handed me her card, I paid her, and ducked back out into the cool evening air, feeling more upbeat and optimistic than I have in a long time.
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This photo is from inside the Cassadaga Hotel. Cell phone pic, but it gives you an idea of the quaintness of the lobby, like some place lost in time. That sign on the stand, by the way, is advertising a ghost tour.
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i always love your cassadaga stories – never tire of them – and want so much to visit, too – i think i’ve mentioned the woman/psychic who i saw a number of years ago – in a little town in maryland [about an hour’s drive or so from dc] – a friend of my daughter’s had told us about her for years and we finally went up – anyway – she “read” from a little diner on main street where she sat at a table over in a corner – if you wanted a reading, you simply ordered your meal, and once finished, sat and waited for your turn with her – she read from a deck of regular cards [not tarot] – when i went over, i simply sat down and she shuffled her deck and then began to lay the cards out – what she told me was inCREDibly correct – this woman had never seen either me or lisa before – did not know our names – asked no questions – she just began talking as she laid each card down – my son had just been released after having spent several months in a hospital – he was on 3 different life supports most of that time – and day after day after day i was told that he would not make it – anyway, bottom line is that he had suffered several strokes during that time as well, resulting in brain damage, combined with the amount of medications, etc etc – and he came away a “different person” literally and figuratively – his everything had changed – [another story another time] – and the drs words after rehab were “he’s as well as he will ever be” – so bessie is looking at the cards and says “now, don’t worry about your son…he’s ok…but he’s as well as he’ll ever be” [ver batim quote] – she said “he’s different now…but don’t worry” – of me, she said that she saw someone in my life who was surrounded by white and who worked with his hands – that he was good for me – that he traveled a lot – at the time, i was in a relationship with an oral surgeon at a major university medical center and he traveled worldwide with his research projects – she described more about him – all of it as if he were standing there beside me and as if she had known him for years – oh, and then, she said that i should be checked medically as she saw heart problems for me and i would need some sort of surgery/treatment for it – now, i knew that i didn’t have any cardiac issues but didn’t say anything – then, almost two weeks to the day later, my oldest daughter collapsed at work – bottom line, a viral infection had landed in her heart and she was hospitalized for a short time and has been treated medically ever since – so, that event actually involved my daughter – one thing bessie mentioned in terms of me was that she foresaw a trip – travel across water – in my near future – but that darn it! i’m still not in the islands! anyway – that’s one psychic story of mine –
the thing about buildings/houses is the same for me – i can get a “feeling” just by driving by – like my little 1924 bungalow i bought way back when – it just called my name – i mean, i could hear it – when i drove by – and that’s the house where the girl in the yellow dress lived – other houses have had such negativity once i moved in that i’ve literally not unpacked before moving again – and invariably, whenever i’m in a building, my hand just automatically goes to the wall to touch it as i enter – and i’m very careful now of buying things from estate sales or vintage places – for all these reasons –
Wow, gypsy, who WAS this psychic? Is she still in maryland?
Amazing stuff here.
lisa and i were just talking about her tonight when i did this comment – if memory serves, the town is called exeter – interesting in and of itself i thought – she was an older person back then which was probably about 2001 – would love to take a road trip up to find her again – no clue as to name of the diner etc but i bet the local constable or whatever would know of her, now that i’m thinking of it – and how many diners could there be with a card reader in exeter? will try to make some calls tomorrow –
Am real curious!
Very cool. I would love to visit. I have only had one reading and she was quite amazing, actually.
You would enjoy the town!
I have always wanted to visit Cassadaga.
I had an astrologist/psychic who was unbelievable. We “recognized” each other when we met. Unfortunately she passed on several years ago.
Other psychics usually love to read me, but only she was dead on.
I find I read buildings. I always touch the walls to see what I feel. I can often feel something as soon as I walk in a building. I’ve tried psychometry but am not that comfortable with it as some pieces have a lot of emotional baggage on them.
I am very wary of Estate jewelry but just recently purchased a beautiful art deco watch with diamonds. I couldn’t walk away from it and the price was excellent. I almost felt that it could have been mine, but no matter what the energy on it is so positive, happy and loving.
One of these days I will get to Cassadaga .
Vicky – is Lilydale, NY ner you? That’s Cassadaga’s sister community.
I feel things sometimes in old buildings, too. It’s an eerie feeling.
Any vibes from the art deco watch??
Lily Dale is in Western NY I’ve thought of going there.
We were in Ireland and we were walking up stone steps of a stone turret in a castle, and as I walked up I touched the wall and said ” I forgot how cold it can be” and kept going. My husband said it was truly eerie because I said it in such a way that he knew it was a “memory”.
The only vibes I get from the watch are good ones! I kept getting drawn to it. It was interesting because the owner of the local shop said ” I knew that watch would find its owner, it is special.” She said she doesn’t get that feeling about many pieces but that one was different. We have shopped at this jeweler for 14 years so I know that it wasn’t a “line”.
Honestly, I keep feeling like it “belonged” to me.
Maybe it WAS yours, from some other life.
I’ve found your posts on Cassadaga fascinating, wish I lived a bit nearer! I’ve written on my blog that for some reason psychics don’t seem to be able to read me – maybe I’m too defensive or something. Never been for a psychometry reading, must see if this is possible locally. Could well work for me as the object, I guess, is the guide plus I have picked up things myself from other peoples’ possessions.
Some people seem to be harder to read. I’m no psychic, but have some friends whom psychics can’t read. Maybe one of the psychics who drop by can illuminate why that is.
I sent a friend to the same psychic who also saw AMAZING things for my mother – all things true that she could not possibly know. Nothing for the friend transpired. But I know she was resistant. She had her mind made up before she went.. I think one has to be open – hard to describe to someone who has an “attitude” to begin with.
Mike described it as “defensive.”
Great post, guys, and great subject! I’ve been to Cassadaga numerous times, for various reasons: to have a reading for myself on occasion, to attend lectures; to go to workshops and seminars; to shop in the little store; to simply veg out by the lake. I once had a reading by a psychometrist named Angelica, who subsequently re-located to Sante Fe. She was also in the part of the camp designated secular and not psychic. WOW!!She was dead on with me. A most significant thing she said, without my having giving her any information whatsoever, was that she “saw” me wearing full whites;(I was in casual clothes and wore nothing to indicate my medical profession); and she went on to say that although I believed myself to be fully retired, (I did), I would go back to nursing and would be highly respected and receive honors for certain work. I actually argued with her because I simply KNEW I was finished with my medical career and that there was no chance I’d ever go back. Well, she was right on every point. (Her prediction turned out to be absolutely correct a bit later, to my utter shock.) Psychometry is strange. When folks come to me seeking a missing loved one, I always asked them to bring me something that the person has touched often, usually I will asked for a toothbrush or a shoe , placed into a plastic bag, etc, because I need something that other folks haven’t handled much. It’s truly amazing the energies that are absorbed into inanimate objects that we use and wear. Buildings are the same, it seems. Energies are absorbed by them and can be “read” and felt. Holding a person’s hand briefly in my own hand tells me a great deal about the person, too. Your experiences in Cassadaga are simply wonderful. Anyone who can, should step across the portal into the strange little village that seems to exist in a different dimension and is filled with so much not-0f-this-world things that go bump in the night, that one leaves it feeling all kinds of rare stuff, most of it enlightening and uplifting.
A spot on reading! Cassadaga really is a unique little place.
Wish I could go.
That was a fascinating post. I also had an interesting and amazing reading from a psychic – not one who touched objects – she just closed her eyes. This was around 1970. I was working on a series of black and white images for a book. I love color but chose black and white because in those does printing in color was very expensive. Mrs. Smith told me, among other things, that she saw my art being seen all over the world and that it was in color. I gave her all the reasons why that couldn’t possibly happen. She said, “Well you will be doing something that hasn’t been invented yet.” I forgot about all that so long ago and wished I had my notes. But hey! My art, in color, is seen on the Internet and viewers are from all over the world. How did this psychic know that! Amazing!
That IS amazing, Adele. Psychics who just close their eyes…