I Was A Fake Internet Psychic

By Hope Racine

My introduction to the paranormal didn’t come from a deeply spiritual place; I didn’t find God and I never met a ghost. Instead, I first learned about the concept of past lives through an episode of The X-Files. But for many people, the notion of reincarnation, or having your soul be “recycled” and born again throughout periods of time, has deep-rooted religious ties. (As opposed to being gleaned through Scully osmosis.)

This transmigration of the non-corporeal self is a tenant of religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism. And like Western culture often does, this idea has been compacted into a plot device for supernatural TV shows and packaged as a pop culture phenomenon, one that I happily exploited in my role as an Internet psychic, reading past lives for $5 at a time.

I was a freshman in college when I discovered that there are a plethora of psychics biding their time on the internet, eager to access people’s past lives for a small fee and offering the opportunity for you to join their fray. A quick Google search will reveal thousands of sites — even Etsy has a booming psychic section. I was 18 years-old and strapped for cash, and the appeal of easy work was too much to pass up.

I have absolutely no preternatural powers, but I’ve always had an interest in the mystical, the mysterious — the…