The Street Smart Psyhic's Guide to Getting a Good Reading by Lisa Baretta

First published in 2009.

What's the secret to getting the most from your psychic reading? Who better to ask than the Street-Smart Psychic? Lisa Barretta offers insider advice from the other side of the tarot cards, crystal ball, and tea leaves.

Sassy, candid, and spot-on, Lisa Barretta's guidance will help you choose the psychic that's right for you - astrologer, medium, tarot reader, or phone-line psychic - and steer clear of charlatans. True stories from Baretta's colorful career as a psychic reader reveal what to do - and what not to do - to build rapport with your psychic and get the best possible reading. (book back blurb)

I had just a slight ulterior motive when I requested this book from Llewellyn. One of my novels is about a psychic on Coney Island and this sounded right up her alley. I've been to psychics, and I know a small amount about them, but this book helped me to, well, get to the other side of the tarot cards so to speak. I was able to get inside my character's head via Barretta's workings of the field.

I know a lot of people don't believe in psychics and think the lot of them are just scamming gypsies but I can tell you, coming from a huge skeptic, they do exist. When I get a reading done, I give the psychic very little to work with, usually just a couple of key words, and they should tell me what I need to know from that. And they do. Across multiple psychics. While I'm not a psychic junkie like Barretta talks about, hopping from psychic to psychic in a matter of hours, I go to them every once in a while and some of the same stuff has come through across 3 of them over an extended period of time and at different venues. It's not like I openly tell them any of the information that they come out with. They just know. And yeah, sometimes it's freaky.

Before I read this book I kind of knew the gist of getting a reading. You have to be open and receptive to what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. That's a major thing. So is keeping your legs uncrossed. Crossing your arms and/or legs during a reading will cut the energy channels between you and the psychic which will limit the reading you have. I'm going to a psychic fair next month. I must remember that. But what this book did was give me greater insight to getting a psychic reading. Barretta knows her shit, and she knows her shit. And she attempts to teach the reader the good shit from the bad shit so you don't end up in deep shit.

This book would be absolutely excellent for anyone that's a psychic virgin. Never been to a psychic? Then read up. It's not as dentist appointment as you think. The better prepared you are for the reading (and I'm not talking about having your questions ready), the better reading you'll get.

Barretta really tried to hammer home certain points in the book, almost to the point of redundancy but I think she was just trying to reiterate how important these aspects were to the act of getting a reading. Follow them, and follow them good, and you'll be sure to get the reading you pay for. From what it's like on the client side to what it's like on the reader's side, plus behind the scenes shenanigans that you don't get to see, this book will give you a thorough view into the world of psychic readings and show you that it's not all hokum. But just like any business, it's not without it's con-artists either. Not only does Barretta show you how to get a good reading, but she keys you in on how to get out of getting a bad one. Always a plus for those psychic virgins out there.

Overall, if you're into this kind of thing (which I am, obviously) and are genuinely interested in getting a psychic reading, pick up this book first and see what it's all about. If you read it, I'm sure it'll calm your nerves about that initial table sit-down with the psychic that probably won't fit your stereotypical idea of a psychic. You'll not only help yourself get the answers you need, but you'll help your reader channel those answers through for you better. Plus Barretta says it all with a sort of sass that's undeniable. I swear she was at a psychic fair I went to a couple years ago (the same one I'm going to next month) and if she's there again, I'ma have to lay down some cash for her.