How technology became a driving force in the spiritualist world.
From crystal healers and spiritualists, to numerologists and psychics, the rise of spirituality amongst millennials has been well documented. Perhaps this helps to explain why so many psychics, mediums and spiritualists use technology as a driving force in growing their businesses and connecting with their customers – whether that’s through horoscope apps or inspirational memes on Instagram.
Still not convinced? There’s a huge network of spiritual individuals whose careers rely on technology, and The Debrief spoke to them to find out more…
It’s widely assumed that psychics utilise the internet and social media to research their clients before meeting them. But we wanted to know if this was true. Katy Moon, who is a writer at Spirit & Destiny magazine, says, “personally, I’ve never really come across anyone that’s done this – researching someone on the internet is quite a lot of work to do.” She then tells me about the ‘1951 Fraudulent Medium’s Act’, which is designed to protect the public from dodgy psychic traders who attempt to deceive clients in a bid to make money. But, regardless of this relatively new act, UK-based clairvoyant Emma Knowles says: “I think there are absolutely people who [research their clients on the web], as it’s human nature. But it’s really against what everything to be of spirituality is.”
“People will come to see clairvoyants like me, not because they’re not happy with their lives, but because they’re after more of something. And if I was to go and research them online, I’d just be feeding back to them what they already know. Also, people put all of the highlights of their life on social media, so [if I researched them], I would only be able to feedback the highlights of their life to them – and that’s not real.”
Instead, Emma uses the internet to build her personal brand: “Social media is my shop front. Two of my clients flew in from California because they found me on Instagram. The really positive thing about [social media] is that if you’re putting the right vibe out there, you’re actually attracting people to the right place.” She credits her active website and Instagram pages – both of which share personal images of herself combined with motivational quotes – as being the things that have elevated her career. “Tech is making things more accessible. I do distant healing with people in Canada and America, as I believe that you can send healing without ever meeting the person. You can do this over the phone [or Skype], so why can’t you do it through social media! I think technology is energy in itself, isn’t it? You’re sending signals, so it’s using frequency in the same way.”
It seems that other spiritual healers, psychics and mediums have also cottoned onto the fact that being social-media savvy can work in their benefit. Katy tells us that Facebook Live streams and spiritual events which are promoted in Facebook groups are big. “For the psychic industry, social media and the bringing together of people has been a massive development over the last 10-15 years. There’s even a website and app called Meetup, where you can meet other likeminded people.” The site also hosts events varying from psychic readings to gong baths.
As well as the option to pay for psychic readings and spiritual healing, there’s also the option to access some content for free. “There’s Facebook groups and pages for motivational speakers and psychics, and they’re really popular because they post inspirational quotes that make people feel better about their lives. A lot of psychics are almost like life coaches as well. Someone like Sally Morgan, (a popular TV psychic), has a very active presence on Facebook and is always posting. These kinds of people are doing lots of live events too, so they’ll post videos or pictures from their events – they’re really media savvy.”
But what other tech do spiritual individuals use? Katy tells me she’s heard of something called an ‘electronic voice projection’ recorder, which is a tape recorder used to record spirit voices through frequencies during ghost hunts. Spooky, I know. Emma uses recorders in a less drastic way: “When I do readings, I record the session, so then after, I can send it to the client so they can digest it back.” Very clever.
And as for apps? Well, there’s one called Ghost Radar, which is meant to pick up on spirit activity in the room. Emma also swears by an angel card app, which she uses if she’s feeling anxious. “It’s very relaxing to flick and pick a card. And you can’t always come out in the middle of the office and lay out a spread of real life cards, but you can do that really quickly on a mobile phone.”
