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Seasonal Touch

TheSeasonal Touch is a very simple element. The psychic merely offers statementsbased on the time of year or other seasonal factors. These obviously varyaccording to the country, culture and society in which the psychic is givingthe reading.

Forexample, I live in England where the Spring months are typically associatedwith 'Spring cleaning' and embarking on major new DIY tasks around the home.January and July are the commonest months for major sales in the shops, whichmany women will flock to in search of bargains.

Thefinancial calendar can also prove useful. One of my correspondents in theUnited States tells me that between the months of January and April, peoplewill have federal income taxes on the brain. Here in the UK, the Januarydeadline for Income Tax returns proves a regular headache for many people -especially anyone who is self-employed.

Toget the most out of this element, give some thought to how many different'calendars' we all live by, all the time. I have already referred to three,which we might call the household calendar, the retail calendar and thefinancial calendar. There are many others - the sports calendar, theentertainment industry calendar (seasons for hot new shows, or dreary oldrepeats), the food calendar and so on.

Addingimagery

Thereis a risk of this being one of the most transparent elements. Not many Britishhousewives are going to be amazed to learn that they have been doing someSpring cleaning. This glaring lack of subtlety would encourage many psychics tosimply ditch it, were it not so delightfully dependable. The artful psychic thereforetakes the trouble to dress the statement up with appropriate imagery. Forinstance, this is not so good:

"Youhave been doing some major cleaning chores around the home".

Thisis better:

"IfI focus for a moment on the domestic aspect of life, I'm getting impressions ofactivity and quite a lot of effort, I sense some strain - I mean that in boththe physical sense, a few aches down your back perhaps - and also in the mentalsense, of trying to make things right, to sort out clutter and impose somesense of order, of tidiness, of the right things in the right places. I'mgetting a sense of a very energetic aura, but also of fatigue, like someonesorting out cupboards and slinging out old paint tins that haven't been touchedfor years, that kind of thing."

Extrapolationand perspective

Itis possible to extrapolate from basic seasonal data in order to find slightlyless obvious things to say. If many women are going to sales in July, then manywomen are going to face rather frightening credit card bills about a monthlater, and may go on something of an economy drive the month after that. Hencethe psychic giving a reading in September, provided the client seems likely tofit this pattern, can discuss domestic financial affairs with some confidence.Experienced psychics are good at this kind of reasoning, wherein the chain ofcause-and-effect leads from 'things everyone knows' to things which might soundlike insight, at least by the relatively lax standards of the psychic industry.

Differentviews

Anotherway to squeeze more juice out of the Seasonal Touch is to consider differentpoints of view. Taking the 'July = Sales' notion once more, consider fourdifferent people: (a) the keen bargain-hunter, who relishes the sales, (b) theshop assistant, who dreads the extra workload and general upheaval, (c) thehusband, who is rather shocked at the consequent drain on the marital creditcard, (d) someone who has no interest in the sales, and rather resents thedisruption in their favourite shops and stores.

Fourdifferent people, with four very different perspectives. Hence one rathersimple piece of information can provide very different material for readings,depending on whether the client belongs to category (a), (b), (c), (d) or 'noneof the above'.

Psychicscan also dream up Seasonal Touch statements which are more likely to apply tomen rather than women. Sporting fixtures provide one obvious source ofmaterial. Here in England, quite a few men would regard the start or climax ofvarious sports seasons as their principal reason for living. Some find iteasier to recite a string of soccer statistics than to name their wife'sbirthday or - in extreme cases - their wife. The psychic will generally findthese enthusiasts easy to recognise. For example, it is not hard to identifyEnglish soccer enthusiasts. The prominent eyebrow ridge, trailing knuckles andongoing quest for the secret of fire generally provide tell-tale clues. Indeed,many are recognisable from news footage gathered at various European footballstadiums, or nearby town centres.

Mythanks to Ben Whiting and others for help with this element.