The Sylvia Browne Psychic Controversy

What a controversy it is! Sylvia Browne is for certain one of the most famous psychic celebrities in the public eye in recent times. She looks to be one of those people about whom one can say, "you either love her or you hate her." Sylvia's supporters identify her as very reputable, earnest, and awesome, while her detractors opt for words like despicable, a fraud, and a con artist.

Sylvia Browne's journey began in Missouri in 1936. From her accounts, she was seeing psychic visions as a small child. As a practicing psychic now, Sylvia claims that she receives information from God and she strives to translate this information clearly in relaying this insight to her clients. She affirms she can read a client's etheric design which becomes an additional source of information relevant to their life experiences, that she can offer to her customers.

Sylvia Browne has acheived best selling author status, is a frequent guest on television talk shows, and hosts her own radio show through Hay House. She continues to conduct personal psychic readings both face to face and via the phone. In addition, Sylvia operates the Sylvia Browne Corporation and has established a church in California, named the Society of Novus Spiritus.

Whether one believes in psychic powers or not, the debate about Sylvia's authenticity has existed since she ascended into the spotlight. James Randi, a leading critic, contends that Sylvia is not a psychic, but a cold reader, which is a technique that produces the aura of clairvoyance when it is in reality nothing more than observing and reporting the obvious characteristics of the person being read. Anti-Sylvia Browne websites and discussion boards flood the worldwide web with a deluge of criticism surrounding her. These greatly eclipse the supporters of Sylvia and her work.

Although an extensive record detailing Sylvia's failings is easily obtained, it is actually difficult to locate evidence of her successes, aside from wide claims found on her own internet site. Sylvia Browne and her admirers claim that she is predominantly successful, rather than not, in her clairvoyance while assisting on police cases. They emphasize that she is especially successful in predicting potential events likely to occur in someone's life.

Regrettably for Sylvia Browne and her boosters, a recent high visiblility case of a missing child has again created questions about her authenticity. This is the story of the 11 year old boy who was kidnapped 4 years ago and was recently found to be alive, very near his previous home. A couple of months after the boy was kidnapped, Sylvia relayed that the child had been killed, and described the perpetrator in detail along with the location of the boy's body. This has proven to be very inaccurate, and along side several other cases in which Sylvia has clearly been wrong in her reading of events has fueled her critics' mudslinging. Sylvia continues publicly to champion her work.

Inspite of the ups and downs in her fifty-year career, Sylvia Browne psychic has managed to entertain, and in some capacity, to serve, admirers and supporters throughout the decades.