July 2009 interview with Sylvia Browne -- a better psychic with time?

[Questioninggeller]

A skeptical interviewer talks with Sylvia Browne, and remains a skeptic. I thought the following exchange was interesting. Browne actually says she's become a better psychic over the years. Really? If she's gotten better then why has Browne been wrong in 111 missing persons/murder cases and NEVER been correct once?

Q&A with Psychic Sylvia Browne
Seattle Weekly
July 20, 2009
By Britt Thorson

I'll admit I was skeptical about interviewing Sylvia Browne, psychic and spiritual teacher extraordinaire about her abilities. In the end curiosity got the better of me. . . . if you have any searing questions about your love life, when you're going to die, or if you're ever going to win the lottery, I suggest you buy a ticket.
...
Q: With most jobs, the more you practice the better you get. Is it possible to get better, or learn new skills in your profession?

A: I think you get better, like anything else you get better with time. It's like a muscle you keep working. You get more accurate, more seasoned, and wiser. Even if you're not psychic. I think everyone has a psychic ability, but not everyone is a psychic.

Q: Of course it's only natural you will have come across critics and nonbelievers. What do you say to them when they challenge your profession?

A: I don't care, honey, I've never let that get me down. Everyone's skeptical about something. Only God is right all the time, I just tell people I'm more right than wrong. But if you dwell on the skeptics, they'll get to you. It's like being a movie star, not everyone likes them. But if you're doing what you know God wants you to do, and you're doing it for the right reasons, that's all you need. You know I support 3 foundations; their schools, churches, everything. I don't worry about the skeptics.
...

Read the full article: Seattle Weekly

 

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

"I just tell people I'm more right than wrong."

If you were more right than wrong, people wouldn't be skeptical. They'd naturally allow that you can "make mistakes".

If, however, making mistakes is all you ever do...

 

[ExMinister]

And interesting criteria for how to determine who's a real psychic.

First, how many things they are supporting. I'm not even going to start on the claim to support the churches (at least outside of Campbell) since we've got lots of threads where we've discussed that (and it's well covered on Robert's site) and "schools." By schools, I assume she means the hypnotherapy school. Is the hypnotherapy school not charging people to become hypnotherapists? Even if it happens to be operating at a loss, it's not like it's some volunteer organization, am I right?

And I can understand the Better Business Bureau.

But exactly what kind of licensing can a psychic get? Licensed by who?

 

[Yahya Sulaiman]

And interesting criteria for how to determine who's a real psychic.

What I find interesting is that Sylvia fails several of her own criteria for determining a real psychic, as this excerpt from my amazon.com review of one of Browne's books demonstrates:

My favorite part of the book is where Sylvia discusses the issue of how she reconciles her Christianity with the Bible, which warns of false prophets and says, "Do not turn to mediums" (Leviticus 19:31), and, "Harken [typo is from Sylvia's book] not to your prophets, nor to your diviners" (Jeremiah 27:9). Here she inadvertently pretty much admits that she is a false prophet. You see, she had just spent thirty-five pages giving anecdotal evidence about fulfilled prophecies by numerous famous people (including, of all folks, Winston Churchill and H.G. Wells) without citing a single source or even telling you where you can look to verify her stories--she just wants you to take her word for it that George Washington foresaw the American Civil War and et cetera. Now, on page 72, four pages after that section of the book, she says, "The only way a false prophet can take hold is in a vacuum where no other information but the prophet's is allowed inside." (She follows this up with, "Many false prophets will also find countless ways to separate you from your money at every possible opportunity.")

In fact, this presenting-information-in-a-vacuum philosophy is her attitude throughout the entire book writ large. For example, on page 87 she says, "Tiresome skeptics say, `Prove it.' I've finally started replying, `You prove we're wrong. We're busy.'" Or take Sylvia's claim on pages 96-97 that she's "been tested a bazillion times by a whole list of psychologists, scientists, paranormal researchers, psychiatrists, hypnotherapists and MD's". (Let's forget for a moment that an MD is a kind of educational achievement, not a kind of person.) She continues: "According to the tests...my accuracy rate is somewhere between 87 and 90 percent if I'm recalling correctly." Now if this list is real then why does she mention it but never give it to us, when doing so would only increase her credibility--not to mention making an otherwise pointless passage into a meaningful allusion?

Of course Sylvia never returns to those passages from Leviticus and Jeremiah telling us not to consult mediums at all; apparently she hopes you will have forgotten about them by the time she's finished with the stuff about the other biblical reference she offers regarding false prophets. Keep that in mind when you consider how in the first chapter Sylvia the self-professed Christian cites the supposed Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament to support the idea of prophecy being important in Christianity, and then on page 72 she says, "False prophets tend to make up their own rules for their behavior at their own narcissistic whim, having nothing to do with God's rules whatsoever, but then cite a message from God as their excuse when the need arises, as if God bends his own rules sometimes for their personal convenience." I imagine that most Christians reading all this rich irony will probably laugh out loud.

Yet another of her own criterions for detecting a false prophet backfires on her, one she offers on pages 73-74: "Any prophet who believes he or she is exempt for [sic] the laws of God and society and somehow in a position of divine immunity from consequence is a false prophet." There's probably something to that, but this declaration is coming from the same woman who, during one reading on Larry King's show, broke the law by giving professional advice on psychological medicine (specifically, Tegritol) even though she doesn't have an MD and a PhD in psychology. As Sylvia says on page 209 of this book, "If there's no medical degree and license among those credentials, run. I don't care how much money you're supposedly saving by nothing bothering with that pesky `doctor' detail." It also bears notice that on page 195 she says, "You'll never hear me recommend any `medication' that can't be bought over the counter at your nearest health food store...I wouldn't follow an idiotic suggestion like that myself, so why on earth would I ask you to?" Tegritol, of course, cannot be bought over the counter at any health food store.

By the way, as to her alleged "being more right than wrong", as an excerpt in that same review of mine details (the exact reference is at that link) what she's actually said is that she's right about 87-90% of the time. My experience is that it is much less than that, as can be seen in part from Questioninggeller's list of links. Here's my favorite example.

 

[ExMinister]

By the way, as to her alleged "being more right than wrong", as an excerpt in that same review of mine details (the exact reference is at that link) what she's actually said is that she's right about 87-90% of the time. My experience is that it is much less than that, as can be seen in part from Questioninggeller's list of links. Here's my favorite example.

Even more like 12-14% (i.e. pretty much the same as guessing). http://www.stopsylvia.com/articles/predictions_annual_1996.shtml

Your Tegretol example is a classic Browne-type contradiction. If you haven't already, check out the rest of the articles on the web site I linked to above. Robert Lancaster has quite a few of them turned into articles.

 

[Yahya Sulaiman]

I am a big fan of Robert Lancaster's site, ExMinister, and I have read most of his articles. I hope and pray he finally gets better.

 

[ExMinister]

I am a big fan of Robert Lancaster's site, ExMinister, and I have read most of his articles. I hope and pray he finally gets better.

Me too.

 

[Senex]

In the comments section that "Serena in NY" character uses phrases that sound very familiar to me. She is Sylvia's top stooge I believe.

 

[Questioninggeller]

In the comments section that "Serena in NY" character uses phrases that sound very familiar to me. She is Sylvia's top stooge I believe.

Linda?

 

[Senex]

Linda?

I don't know her name but I recognize phrases from the GoSylvia site and from another on-line article reply section (I believe it was about Montel Williams winning some award).

Go Sylvia, Go Chris,,and
God (do you belive in him?)
Bless America,,,

The "Go Sylvia, Go Chris" is a giveaway and the accusation that Sylvia's detracters can be discredited because some don't believe in god is typical. As is "Bless America" -- evidently if you don't support Sylvia's fraud you support terrorism.

Also...

We Need Haters,,,and haters need us,,so hate on ignorant people,,im done debating with you,,,,obviously,,,,,your all good with limited thinking,,
and i have better things to do,,,,,,,,,like read another one of SYLVIAS,,,AMAZING BOOKS,, GOOD DAY LOSERS!!!

Calling non-believers Haters and that somehow this falls into their master plan has been well documented as well as the ad hominem epithet "Losers."

Sylvia Browne may be successful at pushing her woo on a TV audience but her staff is very poor at handling the internet. (See her wikipedea entry).

 

[Questioninggeller]

YumaSun.com

Here's a new one:

Famous psychic to stop in Yuma
YumaSun.com
January 26, 2010 8:33 PM
BY DARIN FENGER, FEATURES EDITOR


...
Famed psychic Sylvia Browne remembers feeling waves of both love and fear from mainstream America when she began gazing into the world's future 54 years ago.

Through her books and TV appearances, Browne quickly earned an impressive following of grateful fans. But the skeptics and debunkers circled just as quickly. All at once she was hailed as both sinner and saint.
...
"I never paid any attention to skeptics. I just did my work," Browne told the Yuma Sun during a recent phone interview. "People always ask me about the skeptics and all that and I just say that if you are doing what God wants you to do, then that's all you have to worry about."

And then she tossed out:
"Screw the rest of them."
...
The psychic's local booking falls between appearances on "The Jay Leno Show" and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." She's also going to be playing herself for the second time on "The Young and the Restless."

"That kind of travel is tough. Heck, in my 30s and 40s this was tough. It can be exhausting, especially if I go through 15 readings a day. But it takes me only an hour and half and I'm rejuvenated. God's been good to me. I've hit 73 and I just keep going."
...
In addition to her work as a psychic, Browne oversees her own church: Novus Spiritus. Browne describes herself as a Gnostic Christian, stressing the importance of people seeking out their own truth.

"I have eight churches and thousands of study groups, from China to Kenya," Browne said, adding with a chuckle: "I think I'm the only person who starts a church and tithes in reverse. They don't give me money. I give it to them."

But running Browne's various ventures has become a family affair, because her psychic gift is truly in her family's blood. Browne's son is also psychic and works alongside his mother. A granddaughter has also demonstrated strong psychic abilities.

"I think part of it has to do with God, of course, but I do know it's also genetic. My grandmother and her mother and her mother before that were psychic. We have tracked it back 300 years. But I think it all comes from God."

Browne said she is comforted by the knowledge that family will one day continue her work. "My granddaughter is psychic, so the scepter has been passed on to her."
...

Full: YumaSun.com

 

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

I wonder what the story is with the granddaughter. Do her parents and grandmother really tell her she is psychic? Does she really believe this?

Do they just tell her to pretend to be psychic? "Honey, just say you made the drawers fly across the room once. And that you saw your dead grandfather in the attic. Just say that one little thing for Granny, will you? There's a girl."

Or do they just make up this lie about her but keep her out of it for now? Really, what's their plan, to have the girl continue "the empire" when Chris dies?

 

[ExMinister]

"People always ask me about the skeptics and all that and I just say that if you are doing what God wants you to do, then that's all you have to worry about."

And then she tossed out:
"Screw the rest of them."

Translation *: "People always ask me about the skeptics and all that and I just say that if you can convince everyone you are doing God's work, that's going to make you a pile of money...

And screw the rest of them."

In addition to her work as a psychic, Browne oversees her own church: Novus Spiritus. Browne describes herself as a Gnostic Christian, stressing the importance of people seeking out their own truth.

"I have eight churches and thousands of study groups, from China to Kenya," Browne said, adding with a chuckle: "I think I'm the only person who starts a church and tithes in reverse. They don't give me money. I give it to them."

Translation: Browne describes herself as a Gnostic Christian, stressing the importance of people seeking her out to be told what their truth is and paying her money and making her famous.

"I think I'm the only person who starts a church and makes everyone tithe to me and then lies about it publically, in full view of all my ministers! I sure give it to them all right."

"I think part of it has to do with God, of course, but I do know it's also genetic. My grandmother and her mother and her mother before that were psychic. We have tracked it back 300 years. But I think it all comes from God."

Translation: I think part of it has to do with God, of course, because that makes me sound chosen and special when I say it. I also know it's genetic because that also makes me sound chosen and special and kinda gives me a corner on the market. Twenty years ago I used to say I got it from my grandmother. Then I thought that wasn't impressive enough so I changed it to 300 years. Ha ha, prove me wrong!


* (Disclaimer) All of this being only the ever-so-humble opinion of one ex-minister, of course (end disclaimer).

 

[SeekingTruth]

"I have eight churches and thousands of study groups, from China to Kenya," Browne said, adding with a chuckle: "I think I'm the only person who starts a church and tithes in reverse. They don't give me money. I give it to them."

Gosh, I wish I'd known this before I gave 10% of our church's monthly donations to her...oh wait, I HAD to....it was part of the agreement of starting one of her churches and being one of her ministers!

 

[ExMinister]

Gosh, I wish I'd known this before I gave 10% of our church's monthly donations to her...oh wait, I HAD to....it was part of the agreement of starting one of her churches and being one of her ministers!

Exactly. Isn't that the part that's so weird?? She says this in an article without a care in the world for all of her ministers who are going to know it's a lie. I just don't get that.

 

[ExMinister]

I wonder what the story is with the granddaughter. Do her parents and grandmother really tell her she is psychic? Does she really believe this?

Do they just tell her to pretend to be psychic? "Honey, just say you made the drawers fly across the room once. And that you saw your dead grandfather in the attic. Just say that one little thing for Granny, will you? There's a girl."

Or do they just make up this lie about her but keep her out of it for now? Really, what's their plan, to have the girl continue "the empire" when Chris dies?

I wondered this for a long time too. Francine posted about this in one of the threads from a few weeks back, saying basically that most of what Sylvia says about the granddaughter is imagination and wishful thinking and not something Angelia says about herself. I hope so. Otherwise, how sad to think someone could be manipulated that way from such a young age.

 

[Questioninggeller]

One with mention of StopSylvia.com:

Psychic Sylvia Browne coming to Orpheum
By Lindsay Melvin
DeSoto Appeal
Posted February 16, 2010 at midnight



On the playground, Sylvia Browne's friends would sit around her launching questions about what was going to happen next.

The psychic and spiritual teacher, 73, has spent years peering into the future for people across the country.

"When I was younger I couldn't turn it down. I knew who was getting divorced, who had an ulcer," said Browne in a phone interview from her Los Angeles home.
...
"People tell me, 'You saved my life, you've kept me from suicide,' That's what keeps me going," she said.

Yet, the husky-voiced, platinum blonde has also drawn skeptics.

The site StopSylvia.com is dedicated to debunking her predictions.

The psychic, however, dismisses critics saying, "When you're spiritual, you rise above all that."
...
"Love God, do good and shut up and go home," said Browne, summing up her religious beliefs.
...
"People like to think that that's one life and this is another, and that's not true."
...
"Before the show, I just say a prayer 'God please let my channel be clear,' " she said.
...

Sylvia Browne

Book-signing for "The Truth About Psychics" at Davis-Kidd Booksellers, 387 Perkins Ext. from 2:30-4:30 p.m. Saturday. For more information, call 683-9801.

Appearance at the Orpheum theater, 203 S. Main St., at 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $25, $45, $55 and $95. For tickets go to Ticketmaster outlets or ticketmaster.com.

Full: DeSoto Appeal

 

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

She's so spiritual and rose above it so much that she threatened Robert with a lawsuit, set security on him in Las Vegas and otherwise tried to silence him several times. Also tried to keep me out of her own show (that I was not disrupting but was simply attending and reporting the results of) and punished Nancy and her group for it, thinking she was behind it. And did a lot of other pretty darn mean things to her own followers once they strayed and other critics.

Platinum blond, my foot. Even her hair is fake!

 

[Questioninggeller]

A new one:

Psychic's show postponed
By Cindy Watts
The Tennessean
‎Feb 19, 2010‎

Sylvia Browne, the world-renowned psychic who was a frequent guest on The Montel Williams Show, has postponed tonight's performance because of illness.

The rescheduled show is April 24 at the Acuff Theatre near Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center. Tickets sold for tonight's show will be honored at the new date, and refunds will be available at point of purchase.
...
"I'm a psychic, but I like to think of myself a spiritual teacher, too," Browne said in a recent phone interview. "The one thing I've noticed with a lot of psychics is that they don't give credit to God, and I think you have to. I think everything comes from God. I think most of us are just tubes anyway. If we're going to give a message, we are nothing but a tube, and I always try to get to as many people as I can."
...
"I wouldn't keep this up if people didn't tell me I saved their lives, or 'I now believe in God' or 'I was thinking about suicide and now I'm not,' " she said. "I think that's what keeps me going."

Full: The Tennessean

 

[bethysunport]

At the April show, Browne will perform 200-300 psychic readings for audience members and discuss the importance of being physically, mentally and morally healthy.

I almost went into labor laughing at that line. SB moral HAH!