 Psychic Blues cover | |
| Author | Mark Edward |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Sean Tejaratchi |
| Language | English |
| Subjects | Psychic Reading |
| Publisher | Feral House |
Publication date | August 7, 2012 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 340 |
| ISBN | 978-1-936239-27-6 |
Psychic Blues: Confessions of a Conflicted Medium is a memoir by Mark Edward about his time working as a psychic entertainer. Published in 2012, the book covers Edward's controversial career as both a performer and a skeptical activist.
Mark Edward gives the reader a look into the world of the psychic entertainer. From working the overnight shift answering the telephone for the Psychic Friends Network [1] [2] to counseling the rich and famous at celebrity galas, [2] [3] [4] the author paints a picture of what it is really like to work in this profession. The book was published in paperback format in 2012 by Feral House. In 2015, Edward announced plans for the production of an audiobook version containing a substantial amount of additional material about his influences, personal life, and motivations. [5]
This book contains only my observations of the psychic world in its most likely paradigm: a terribly disappointing con.
— Mark Edward, page xiii
In 2019, the audiobook "Psychic Blues: New Expanded Edition" was released. Read by the author himself, Edward states he reverted to the original manuscript submitted to the publisher for his reading of the audiobook, as the paperback was substantially edited by the book's publisher to reflect the darker side of the psychic image. [6]
Mark Edward (born Mark Edward Wilson) [4] first acquired an interest in performing and magic from his grandfather, who was a magician himself. [2] His career as a performer began in the 1970s, [4] [7] and has included 14 years at The Magic Castle, where he gave palmistry and tarot readings and conducted séances. [2] [8] He has also performed at a wide variety of venues, including private homes, [7] [9] a spiritualist church, [2] [10] corporate events, [11] celebrity parties (including a baby shower at Eddie Murphy's house and Buddy Hackett's 70th birthday party), [2] [4] [12] and large public gatherings such as Dragon Con. [2] [13] His work with the Psychic Friends Network led him to the conclusion that all psychic entertainers were using only natural techniques, and that the public would be better served by his revealing these techniques. [1] [2] [4] [7] [14]
Mark Oppenheimer of The New York Times placed Edward's book in the tradition of other performers—such as James Randi, Harry Houdini, and Penn & Teller—who simultaneously "perform their crafts and debunk them". [4] Oppenheimer also commented on the "conflicted" nature of the book, saying, "there is something tragic about his own ambivalence. From page to page, he cannot decide which side he is on. Sometimes he is crusading against the mountebanks and charlatans. Other times he defends his work as pure entertainment." [4] He called the book, "A strange mishmash of self-pity, self-justification, and genuine repentance—and a compelling look at the disputed territory where entertainment meets religion, where some practitioners actually think they can practice both at the same time." [4]
The subject matter of this book caused ITV's program This Morning to invite Edward to speak about "supernatural swindlers" on May 1, 2014. [15]
A Carmel Pine Cone newspaper article noted, "The book has stirred up attention both in the United States and abroad", and, "His message is that so-called psychics don’t have supernatural powers—they're just master manipulators and are well versed in saying what people want to hear—and that most of them are simply frauds." [7]
Skeptical activist and podcaster John Rael [16] also recognized the dual nature of the book. Writing in a Skeptic.com book review, Rael chided Edward for continuing to perform as a psychic entertainer while still recognizing the value of the book itself. “The greatest tragedy of this book is that Edward seems to miss out on his own lesson, and it’s a really good one: . . . that we should listen to each other and talk to each other much more than we do." [17] Of the book, Rael said: "[D]o you want to learn about psychics? The people, not the tricks? Do you want to understand who psychics are and not just how they operate? Here is your book." [17]
Writing for Skeptical Inquirer , Ray Hyman acknowledged Edward's "ambiguous role in the skeptical community," [18] stating that, "He is quite active in helping skeptical groups test psychic claims and debunk obviously phony psychics who exploit their clients. At the same time, Edward still performs as a 'psychic.' He does not claim to have psychic powers. On the other hand, he does not openly disclaim such powers." [18] Of the book itself, Hyman said, "Because it provides us a rare insight into a psychic's world, as well as raising some important ethical issues for skeptics to ponder, I highly recommend every skeptic carefully read and ponder this book's contents." [18]
James Randi was a Canadian-American stage magician, author, and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. He was the co-founder of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), and founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF). Randi began his career as a magician under the stage name The Amazing Randi and later chose to devote most of his time to investigating paranormal, occult, and supernatural claims. Randi retired from practicing magic at age 60, and from his foundation at 87.
A psychic is a person who claims to use powers rooted in parapsychology such as extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws, such as psychokinesis or teleportation. Although many people believe in psychic abilities, the scientific consensus is that there is no proof of the existence of such powers, and describes the practice as pseudoscience. The word "psychic" is also used as an adjective to describe such abilities.
Sylvia Celeste Browne was an American writer, medium, and psychic. She appeared regularly on television and radio, including on The Montel Williams Show and Larry King Live, and hosted an hour-long online radio show on Hay House Radio.
A debunker is a person or organization that exposes or discredits claims believed to be false, exaggerated, or pretentious. The term is often associated with skeptical investigation of controversial topics such as UFOs, claimed paranormal phenomena, cryptids, conspiracy theories, alternative medicine, religion, or exploratory or fringe areas of scientific or pseudoscientific research.
Doris May Fisher Stokes, born Doris Sutton, was a British spiritualist, professional medium, and author. Her professed ability to communicate with the dead, public performances, television appearances, and memoirs made her a household name in Britain. During her lifetime she was a controversial figure, with some believing her to possess psychic abilities, but investigations published after her death demonstrated that she used techniques including cold reading, hot reading, and planting accomplices in her audience, giving the appearance of having paranormal abilities.
Milbourne Christopher was a prominent American illusionist, magic historian, and author.
Mediumship is the pseudoscientific practice of mediating communication between familiar spirits or spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or spirit channelling, including séance tables, trance, and ouija. The practice is associated with spiritualism and spiritism. A similar New Age practice is known as channeling.
The Psychic Friends Network(PFN) was a telephone psychic service operating in the United States in the 1990s. The company's infomercials were aired frequently on late night television at that time. In 2012, the business began to migrate to online services.
A psychic reading is a specific attempt to discern information through the use of heightened perceptive abilities; or natural extensions of the basic human senses of sight, sound, touch, taste and instinct. These natural extensions are claimed to be clairvoyance (vision), clairsentience (feeling), claircognisance and clairaudience (hearing) and the resulting statements made during such an attempt. The term is commonly associated with paranormal-based consultation given for a fee in such settings as over the phone, in a home, or at psychic fairs. Though psychic readings are controversial and a focus of skeptical inquiry, a popular interest in them persists. Extensive experimentation to replicate psychic results in laboratory conditions have failed to find any precognitive phenomena in humans. A cold reading technique allows psychics to produce seemingly specific information about an individual from social cues and broad statements.
Rosemary Altea is a British author who describes herself as a medium and healer. She has appeared on various programs, including Larry King Live, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and featured in the series premiere of Penn & Teller: Bullshit! alongside mentalist Mark Edward. She has written six books and claims to have a "healing foundation".
Massimo Polidoro is an Italian psychologist, writer, journalist, television personality, and co-founder and executive director of the Italian Committee for the Investigation of Claims of the Pseudosciences (CICAP).
A pet psychic is a person who claims to communicate by psychic means with animals, either living or dead. The term psychic refers to the claimed ability to perceive information unavailable to the normal senses by what is claimed to be extrasensory perception. It is the opinion of scientific skeptics that people believe in such abilities due to cognitive biases and the use of various techniques by the practitioners, including intentional deception.
Walter Franklin Prince was an American parapsychologist and founder of the Boston Society for Psychical Research in Boston.
Banachek is an English mentalist, magician, and "thought reader".
Mark Edward is an American mentalist and author. He has written books on mentalism, séance theory and production, including Psychic Blues published in 2009, where he discusses working for the Psychic Friends Network. Wilson has appeared on television as both primary consultant and on-air performer in such diverse programming as ABC's "The Con", A & E's Biography: "Houdini, the Great Escape", NBC's "The Other Side" and "Psychic Secrets Revealed", The Sci-Fi Channel's "Mysteries, Magic and Miracles", The Discovery Channel's "Forces Beyond", and on two episodes of The Learning Channel's "Exploring the Unknown". His featured segment as a spirit medium on the pilot episode of Showtime's "Penn & Teller's Bullshit!" series entitled "Speaking with the Dead" helped secure an Emmy Award nomination for that episode in 2002. He is a fellow with the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.
Theresa Caputo is an American psychic medium, best known for her TLC reality television series Long Island Medium.
Joseph Francis Rinn (1868–1952) was an American magician and skeptic of paranormal phenomena.
Susan Gerbic is an American studio photographer who became known as a scientific skepticism activist, mostly for exposing people claiming to be mediums. A columnist for Skeptical Inquirer, she is the co-founder of Monterey County Skeptics and a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)