August 15, 2001
Psychic Fair draws seekers and skeptics
Tarot card readings, channeling all part of local bookstore event
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
There is nothing mysterious about psychic phenomena to April Lenz of Traverse City.
A Tarot card reader for nearly 10 years, Lenz gave readings Saturday at the Psychic Fair held at the Higher Self Bookstore. Dealing up the cards and interpreting the message there, she said, is like taking a snapshot of someone's life.
Sometimes the results are so accurate they startle the person she is reading for.
"A lady said to me this morning, 'Do you know me?' because the cards mirror what the person is going through," recalled Lenz, who said she has psychic gifts and is also studying runes. "The cards mirror what a person is going though."
Lenz begins a reading session by having her client shuffle the Tarot cards as long as they like. When they feel comfortable, she takes them and starts laying out the cards from the top of the deck. She then follows her own intuition - what she believes is her psychic guide - to interpret the cards.
"Some people are easier to read than others, it is not about age or gender or even if they believe, though," Lenz said. "The cards tell you what you need to know, not what you want to hear."
Lenz was one of nine psychic or healing arts professionals participating in the Psychic Fair, including psychic readings, channeling, aromatherapy, massage and palm reading. The fair kept the Higher Self Bookstore hopping all day with the curious, the skeptics and the seekers.
Owner Ricki Blanchard throws a Psychic Fair every ten weeks or so to give as much exposure as possible to area psychic readers.
"I love psychic fairs, I've been to a few," she said. "I thought it would be fun to have the store filled with readers."
Intrigued by the readers, Julie Quinn, a first time participant, found herself very anxious before her readings Saturday afternoon.
"I was really nervous, but it was really fun, I loved it," said Julie Quinn of Traverse City, who attended the fair with her daughter. "I had a Tarot reading and a psychic reading and you get insights. It clarified a lot for me and I'm hooked."
Having a reading, whether tarot, palm or psychic, is not always smooth sailing. Sometimes the insights can be scary or challenging or even unwanted, Lenz noted.
"I had one person that the cards said was going to start a relationship and she did not want that at all," she said. "In the instance if they throw a card saying something they can try to change it before it gets there."
Sometimes a little guidance is the ticket for a person getting some kind of psychic reading. Carol Schulte said she received reassurance from a Tarot reading that her plan to move to Traverse City was the right idea at the right time.
"I've had a lot in my head and she just reinforced for me that I know where I am going," said Schulte, up for the weekend from the Detroit area. "I'm going to just do it, I've been talking about it for a while."
Even in cases like Schulte, Lenz assures they Tarot card reading is not fortune telling. Instead, she believes it is a combination of what the cards that come up signify and what her own spirit guide tells her that they mean to the specific person.
As for the skeptics? Tarot card reader Becky Jeffs noted that her work is not a magic trick.
"There's a lot of stigma about reading and psychic phenomena and there's a lot of curiosity about it, too," she said. "It is just another outlet for our subconscious, which knows a lot more than we realize."