Perhaps a combination of grounded, practical, left brain "common sense" with intuitive listening/feeling is in order when thinking about using the services of a sensitive. 

    That some mediums charge, let alone that some will pay, hundreds and hundreds of dollars (or their nation's equivalent) for just one session, is mind boggling to me, but then again some have plenty of money to "play with" and maybe their hundreds and hundreds of dollars or what not spent, is equivalent to just my 50 or 100 dollars.

  Personally, i've haven't ever felt comfortable charging money for any kind of spiritual or psychic services, which is why when i use to do astrology charts, and people asked for me to do one for them, i wouldn't charge anything unless they insisted i take some kind of payment. 

    But that's just me, and it was a side thing i did and i wasn't trying to "earn a living" that way like some sensitives try. 

   I haven't requested a lot of readings myself, but have had a few here and there, and the most i ever paid was about a hundred for an hours worth of time, which was the last.  It was funny because towards the end, she said, but you know most of all this already and didn't really need me.  Mostly true, but sometimes it's nice to have some outside perspective and input to help confirm certain information, especially if the information is difficult to handle in some way.  I still sometimes doubt the info i receive, especially about self. 

I agree with you about Sylvia Brown--more often than not, she has been very off in a lot of areas and subjects, and yet, occasionally she has gotten something right on BUT we're all consciously psychic to some degree or other and we all occasionally get things correct via those means--doesn't mean we need to charge an arm and a leg for services, belt out 1 or 2 books every year, and try to become a spiritual authority of some kind.

  Obviously in most cases, you will not get your money back for an off reading  and i don't think i've ever seen any psychic advertise money back guarantee.  Let's face it, even with the real deal, some people would try to take advantage of that! 

    Edgar Cayce use to give back money to people who were not satisfied with his services, but he was an unusual one in many respects and was taken advantage of on plenty of occasion and in various ways (even by his own father).  His answer to even his exasperated and much more "practical" wife (who spent their whole marriage being sick and tired of being poor), "The rain falls on the just and the unjust alike".   He was a man who was trying, albeit clumsily most times, to follow in the footsteps of Yeshua (Jesus) whom he considered his beloved Teacher.   

   So, with psychic services, it's always "buyer beware", that's why you should go by word of mouth recommendations from people you respect or use your own intuitive inner guidance when it comes to picking out a sensitive. 

Focus27-

I think its ok for mediums to charge for their services as they have to pay the rent,eat etc. like everyone else but I think its a red flag if they do it for the money. I suggest you contact someone who has been recommended by someone you trust - anyone can claim mediumship abilities ! You then approach them with as much open-minded skepticism as you can muster but reveal as little about yourself as possible to preclude 'cold-reading'.Obviously the medium should be unknown to you.Preferably 'hits' should be information known only to you or maybe things you did'nt know but check later to be correct such as Aunt Gladys loved white wine spritzer. Finally the tone of the meeting should be one of love.

D

Focus27-

in the same way that skeptical researchers never seem to get positve psi results due to the so-called experimenter effect ( I previously gave the Wiseman/Schlitz staring experiment example ) have you considered the possibilty that your negative expectation influences your success or lack of it ? Maybe a proxy sitter will work better for you (especially if your wife is open to the experience) and would have the added benefit that the medium would not be able to 'cold' read you.For this reason telephone read proxy sitters are the method of choice for controlled experimental medium sessions.Best of luck with your ongoing quest for verification.

D

That's utterly untrue, I would be completely overjoyed by a successful hit ratio during testing of a medium. It would be a dream come true. I WANT them to succeed. They just always fail.

Focus27-

'That's utterly untrue, I would be completely overjoyed by a successful hit ratio during testing of a medium. It would be a dream come true. I WANT them to succeed. They just always fail. '

'I will attempt to amp up the tests by having my wife be the sitter while I make sure she gives nothing away, but I expect no better results.'

It may be that what you expect is overriding what you want. Alternatively, if you are given what you say you want i.e. incontrovertible evidence of the afterlife; a very uncomfortable belief system crash may ensue. Maybe part of you is protecting yourself from this. If this were true you would'nt be on your own - Bruce Moen talks about this in length in his books and his words resonate with me on this one.

Focus27 wrote on Jan 5^th, 2012 at 11:57pm:

I've been giving readings using Moen's techniques for quite some time and never charged a penny.  Charging money for readings is simply unacceptable.

Eric-

'I've been giving readings using Moen's techniques for quite some time and never charged a penny.  Charging money for readings is simply unacceptable. '

But what about someone with a great talent for mediumship (a kind of Usain Bolt if you will !) - would'nt giving up the day job allow them to reach more people providing more assurance and comfort to the bereaved ?

My take on this is that if people are going to charge money some kind of accreditation or licensing is in order. To get this you would have to prove a) You have a real ability b) You have undergone some kind of grief counselling training c) You are operating ethically. Of course for this to happen there would have to be official recognition that there is such a thing as real mediumship ...