By Vivian Blevins

Contributing Columnist

Are you one of those persons plagued with insomnia who is watching television at 2 a.m. and needing to talk with someone — anyone? You would, of course, prefer that the person be intelligent, empathetic, and informed in the ways of the world. Calling friends or relatives is out of the question. Their patience with you and your issues has long been exhausted. It’s 2 a.m. and you realize that you are on the last nerve of many of those you know.

An ad comes on the channel you are watching, and you’re tempted to phone a psychic thinking, “Couldn’t hurt and it might help.”

Psychic Valisa Lofton, aka Jacintha, is employed by ESP Chat. I know her because of my work with teaching creative writing to telecommunication company employees.

What’s your sense of your emotional intelligence? Are you the person to whom friends and family members turn when they need an astute listener, someone who gives good advice with options? Do you empathize with others, have a feeling for what they are experiencing? Have you ever predicted an outcome in the lives of others based upon your understanding of them, your sense of who and what they are? Are you aware of your own emotions and how those feelings influence your behavior? High emotional intelligence is essential for well-regarded psychics.

On the other hand, can you identify people with low emotional intelligence, persons on a committee at work who seem oblivious to what others on the committee are thinking/feeling? Do you have family members who scoff at feelings/emotions, seem incapable of understanding the behaviors of others, have no empathy? These persons should never consider working as a psychic.

Valia maintains that psychic abilities are strongly engrained in her family, and she lists those who have/had this special ability: her mother, Pearl Lofton, 77, from Arkansas; her maternal grandmother, Mamie Galaspy, born in Mississippi in 1918; and her maternal great grandmother, Willie Galaspy, born in 1894.

Valisa reports that at age 8, she was reading the Chicago Sun-Times and noted in a front-page story that an Hispanic girl, Lisa Kalabasas, age 11, had gone missing. Valisa felt that “something wasn’t right. The photo looked strange.” In her dreams that night, Valisa saw “Lisa being carried through a dirty, disgusting alley filled with papers, food wrappers, and trash.” She saw a man placing the girl’s body behind a dumpster at Cook County Hospital. The dream scared her, so she showed her mother the newspaper and told her about the dream. Pearl believed her, accepted what she told her as being the truth. Pearl said, “Let’s wait until your father gets home from work.” That evening, he came home with the newspaper, and everything matched with Valisa’s dream.

Frightened by this experience, Valisa was reluctant to have this ability thrust upon her as she had witnessed the disruption it caused in the lives of her mother and grandmother with “folks coming to their house for a reading, day and night.” First, Pearl had begun to read palms of children, and the word was soon passed around the neighborhood, “Miss Pearl reads palms.” Disturbance of the family life ensued.

At age 11, Valisa was doing laundry and as she was walking down to the basement, she envisioned a man breaking into their house. A man did this that night by taking the hinges off the back door. Her mother always slept with her purse, and when he tried to take it, she woke up, and he ran out. At age 15, Valisa saw a classmate who “didn’t look right” with bleached skin. “I could see her skull. When I got home that afternoon, I told Mama, ‘She’s sick.’ The girl died that night.” At a telecom office in Norcross , Ga., where she was working , Valisa dreamed she was pregnant and knew that pregnancy is interpreted as a sign of prosperity. In a second dream, she saw pregnant women at her work site and women holding babies. Within two weeks, the company gave those same women a very large incentive in terms of money and benefits to retire early.

Of her work, Valisa says, “I’m a psychic who can work with tools or with no tools.” Clients ask for advice on five areas in the following priority order: love life, money and career, decision of some sort, health, and communication with the dead. In terms of communicating with the dead, the clients usually “want to say good-bye” or “want advice from the deceased.”

Getting employment as a psychic with the company for which Valisa works involves the following steps: standard job application that includes evidence of a strong financial status and no criminal record. Prospective employees indicate their areas of strength (For Valisa, it’s mediumship, Tarot cards, and interpretation of dreams). After this step, the applicants must “read” for two or three persons in the company who rate them for accuracy and entertainment potential. It’s important to, as Valisa says, “have a good routine.” If hired, they have a probationary period of 30 to 90 days, and client reviews are a part of the process. Poaching clients from the company can result in a $50,000 fine. Valisa is proud to announce that she is a Five-Star Psychic, the highest rating.

Valisa says, “When I pull a card for a client, it’s like reading a book and the main character is my client.”

She reports, “This job is not a 9 to 5 and is emotionally exhausting. Linking up with people takes energy, and decompression strategies are essential. It is a calling and it is not about making money. COVD-19 has made things more difficult for practitioners with masks and Zoom meetings and for those with pre-existing medical conditions. This, however, is a business, and in addition to issues over which we have no control, we must factor in plane fares, lodging, meals, and fees at fairs ($30 to $1,000 plus for entry fees).”

In conclusion, I did a little study of Tarot cards and found it enlightening. Cards symbolize the very issues that we as human beings face such as our self-doubt, our refusal to listen to our inner voice, and our reluctance to recognize and act on creativity. Check out the explanation of the cards for beginners. If you have high-level emotional intelligence, empathize with others, and feel a calling, perhaps it’s time to start preparing through studying and working with a teacher. Maybe you can begin a little business — or a big one.

Vivian B. Blevins, Ph.D., a graduate of The Ohio State University, served as a community college president for 15 years in Kentucky, Texas, California, and Missouri before returning to Ohio to teach telecommunication employees from around the country and students at Edison State Community College and to work with veterans. Viewpoints expressed in the article are the work of the author. The Daily Advocate does not endorse these viewpoints nor the independent activities of the author.