In certain sections of New York, it seems there’s at least one psychic on every block.  You’ll spot them reading palms at hip downtown restaurants like Raoul’s or Employees Only, or stacking Tarot cards inside their apartment/office in plain view from the sidewalk.  And then, of course, there are the (less-visible) premier NYC psychics catering to a more affluent clientele - namely CEOs and celebrities. 

Considering delving into the metaphysical has never been so accessible, it’s safe to assume there are plenty of New Yorkers eager to have their fortunes read (preferably with a diagrammed manual included for free).  We happen to be one of them.  So, we scheduled one of our writers for her first psychic sessions with two of the city’s top practitioners.  Here, the experience in her own words:

1. Roxanne Usleman’s West 29^th Street office is candle-lit with two big chairs facing one another.  The Nevada native has always been in the metaphysical profession.  She’s a certified hypnotherapist, interfaith minister, traditional Reiki master, and holds a doctorate in metaphysical science.  Soft-spoken, Usleman communicates in a way that lets you know she lives between this world and others.  

She asks to hold a metal object I wear often.  She holds the object and says a prayer.  As a child, she would see images in the form of themes, hear messages in the form of whispers, and sense feelings in bodily responses.  When the phone rang, she knew who was calling.  “The word psychic today has so many negative associations.  Yet the true psychic is especially sensitive to non-physical forces.  Being intuitive is a direct perception of truth or fact independent of reasoning abilities.”   

My many past lives as a French woman and someone with a strong musical connection come to her first.  I tell her I don’t get to many shows and am not musical.  She suggests I start:  “Do as many musical interviews as possible.  Be around musicians.”  My life-mate will be around music and very smart, she hears:  “They say you are not to get involved with any married men” -- something I haven’t done in the past, and not good karma for anyone.   

Later, Usleman begins to sense strong vibrations around me from the grandmother I never met.  “She tells you not to be so stressed out, and massages your shoulders.”  Worrying, she reminds me, shows that we don’t trust the universe.  

Horses come up big in our session.  Riding horses will bring balance to my life; help me to trust more.  The combination of music, horses and staying in the moment, Roxanne says, will create magical connections in my life.  She gives me a big squeeze before I leave and tells me to come back in June when big changes will be happening. 

2. Judi Hoffman gets right to business.  “No hocus-pocus,” she says as we sit down in her Upper East Side apartment.  She asks me to pick a deck, shuffle and pick 21.  She looks at the playing cards (not tarot cards) and the information starts rolling.  Hoffman first learned of her abilities after having a migraine for two years.  It wasn’t until a therapist told her that her migraines were psychic voices, that she began to see it as a profession.  With an acting and writing degree form Carnegie Mellon, Hoffman continued to teach and do stand-up comedy.  She couldn’t keep the clients away who traveled to her apartment for readings: “Once I was ready, the clients just came.”  Since then, her clients have included four Oscar winners, Grammy winners and lots of fashion-industry people.  She sees her responsibility to be reading as accurately as possible, and hopefully protecting people from something horrible:  “I try to be as pragmatic as possible.”

“You are three guys away from a permanent relationship,” she says from the first set of cards.  From this moment, she catches my energy and I cling to every word, which come quickly and continuously. Although she asks for specific questions at the end, most of the session is an amazing ride: reading the cards and hearing dates, work projects, travel, and people who are in my life or will be.  She predicts two to three years into the future.  Her reading is thorough and the information all hits home.  Along with inevitable surprises, “some of the answers are in your unconscious. It’s the idea of hearing it or knowing it,” she says, that can help one move forward.  She sees a trip to Eastern Europe, Prague perhaps (where I was thinking Argentina).   

I leave with the taped session and two of Hoffman’s tapes – one on finances, one on relationships.  When I get home, I realize that the tape of my session is blank.  Although I remember all the key points, I’d wanted to go over it.  Then, I remember her advice for how to proceed with so much knowledge about the future: “You can’t forcibly make something happen.  Take it and put it on the back burner.”

~Sara Costello

Photo by Naomi Harris for NY Magazine