HomePsychic Powers

August, 2003
On a recent trip to Las Vegas in March of 2003, my partner and I had the urge to stop in a business with the intriguing name of "Psychic Eye." We had no intention of buying any of their crapola but it is sometimes fun to ask embarrassing reality based questions about some of the crap these places peddle. You know, the questions like, "How does the aura camera capture my aura on film, what wavelengths are the camera sensitive to?" Actually that is where I started, with the "aura camera" that would capture the human aura in beautiful multicolor hues around your head but oddly enough nowhere else. The subject had to place his or her hand on a "sensitive pad" that would sample or draw your moisture as well as "electrical energy" which were then projected onto your photograph. The samples on display looked like cheap Polaroid's with a funny-looking colored haze surrounding a person's head. The aura camera was currently out of order, unfortunately but I really had to wonder who do you call when your aura camera stops working? The young-New Age-looking man behind the counter insisted it was much more than Kirlian photography but was mildly annoyed with my skepticism. I wondered how long it would be before our questions would be placed on extinction in behavior analytic terms or we would be asked to leave the store.

Shopping With the Wizard

We were then looking at the spiritual-healing quartz crystals when an older gentleman joined our side and advised us that "You don't pick crystals, they pick you…" The gentleman explained he had heard our questions and asked if he could help us. After explaining we were doing some "skeptical window shopping" at best, he offered us a tour of this shop. It turns out we had really had some luck that day to meet this fellow. He introduced himself as Robert Leysen, the owner of the largest "Psychic Network" in the United States, with stores and psychics in southern California, the San Francisco bay area, and the Las Vegas valley. He employed over 150 psychics, Tarot readers, mediums and channelers and estimated that his businesses saw several hundred customers daily. His store in Sherman Oaks, CA typically saw around 150 customers a day. With the downturn in the economy, product sales were down maybe 20% but the demand for his psychics was stable which indicated to him, psychic services must be seen as a necessity by most customers. I asked him if he had created any famous names and he claimed he had managed or handled Tamara Rand at one point. Rand made the big time in the early 1980's with her prediction of the assignation attempt on Reagan that was later shown to be faked after the actual event.

When I asked him his psychic's skill and training, he turned the question around. "What is a psychic... you tell me. I can't evaluate a psychic in terms of success, hits or misses but only in terms of repeat business. To become a psychic you need to create a buzz, get the right personalities and power brokers as clients…" Psychics "learn it by doing it." Some psychics have better voices or "stage presence" than others; some psychics are more intuitive than others. The best psychics were more intuitive, more "in touch" with their client's lives. Whatever (or however) they do, it probably is not extrasensory he openly agreed. Whether it was a matter of being "hypersensory," just being a more acute observer or what is commonly called "intuition," he did not know or care. It was probably a lot like being a good bartender, you learn how to talk to people and say what they want to hear to get them to come back. "Give me $15,000 and six months and I could make anyone a nationally known psychic," as he claimed he was quoting himself from a recent interview he had given to a morning news show in Los Angeles. "It's all business, like religion. The masses are asses. People just buy into it and take from it whatever they need to augment their particular lives"

Unique Gift Ideas for One and All…

This gentleman was a fine host who would answer any question with little in the way of guile or shame. He was originally from Chicago, got a degree in music from the University of Wisconsin and worked for years in the rock-n-roll industry before retiring into the psychic network and shopping business. He is known as the wizard in his circles. Leysen told me he thought I must be doing some research so he gave us the item by item tour of his wares. For his healing salts which could heal the heart, soul, mind or whatever, he bought 40 lb bags of water softener salt, dyed it, added some aroma, and repackaged it in small pouches to sell for $3.50-4.00 a pouch. The needed alterations to make it "special healing salt" could be done at home or in a factory, he did both. He also peddled small vials of "sacred," or "vexing" or "power" or "love" or fill-in-the-blank potions for a few dollars a vial, (less than an ounce each) that he explained was a safe oily solvent that could be used externally that he bought in large drums. In his warehouse he colored it, aromatized it and filled the vials, finally slapping on the label that indicated its proper application and efficacy.

For self-defense he also sold a "Dark Water" product that could be used for property or self-protection. If the user applied some of this product to their doorway then harmful or negative energies, forces or entities would not be able to cross over your doorstep. (I wondered if it would keep out republicans, Mormons or Jehovah Witnesses but I didn't voice that particular question). To make wishes come true, he sold a Dragon's Blood Ink that was to be used to write your wishes on his special parchment paper and put under a lit candle. Sooner or later your wishes will come true he said with a knowing wink. For the more conventional spiritual shopper, R.L. offered Holy Water from the real Jordan River that was actually just straight tap water. He did not peddle any miracle water from Lourdes, real or other wise.

A Skeptic Who Runs a Psychic Network?

I couldn't resist asking him about the latest psychic superstars. He was very dismissive of John Edward, claiming he had been around for quite some time until he got the right backers to go "show biz." Edward was just a fast talker, most everything will be in your future, nothing new there. Edward was going down in flames because he had done it all, he had nothing else to add to his routine to keep the public's attention. Edward and James Van Praagh were like franchises of the latest fad in fast food, here today gone tomorrow. Oddly enough James Randi made the same prediction regarding Edward in a talk at my university in April 2002. If only it were coming true sooner rather than later.

Admittedly, this gentleman could have been feeding my partner and me line after line of pure BS; we had no way of knowing anything to take his words for what they were and to apply the appropriate amount of open-minded skepticism and common sense. He seemed very open to almost any question. We do not believe he was lying as what could be gained from actively debunking his livelihood? We were not whispering behind a closed door; any of his regular customers could have been standing right next to us as he explained his scams and his own-apparent skepticism. He did not have a very high opinion of most of his customers, maybe he enjoyed a chance to come (temporarily and partially) clean with some skeptics. Maybe like some crooked stock brokers or CEOs, he just doesn't think about it as anything other than what he does to make a living and a fine living it must be. Maybe his daily mantra is the rationalization is that if he didn't supply the psychics and the products, someone else would... It's too bad that such an apparent nice man could be involved in such a tawdry enterprise and I am sorry but I do feel I am in a position to pass judgment.

"But then how can one explain the runaway success of those who peddle the paranormal? According to Robert Leysen, who employs more than 110 tarot readers and astrologers at eleven Psychic Eye bookstores in California and Nevada: "I would never run my business by what a psychic tells me. I'd be out of business."
"Nasdaq Down, Psychic Readings Up," Wired News, October 12, 2002.

Interview with Leysen , Wired.com

Interview with Leysen , ReviewJournal.com