THE HIDDEN SIDE OF CLAIRVIEW *

Economically, this activity is an exemplary success. However, this observation marks a less radiant reality.

On an economic level, clairvoyance represents a brilliantly successful activity. But doesn’t this observation hide in the shadows another, darker side, on which a spotlight would reveal much less glorious aspects? The divinatory arts, despite their expansion and their integration into a system and social habits, have never been subject to any serious regulation. Also, scammers and charlatans of all kinds have, over the past decades, exploited this legal loophole with formidable efficiency. The very diverse world of clairvoyance displays unprecedented entrepreneurial health, but the methods used often appear more than doubtful: particularly on the web, propaganda begins with the support of press groups whose profitability is ensured by false advertising; publishers without conscience publishing the worst, offers of consultations by telephone, without any professional guarantee. The divinatory arts in our society are omnipresent. The surveys carried out show that clairvoyance, in all its forms, affects eight to ten million individuals in France. If our country prides itself on being the heir of Cartesian thought, it is also heir to that of Allan Kardec. It is difficult to draw up a typical psychological profile of the consumer of clairvoyance because the phenomenon affects all socio-professional strata of society but also all temperaments, regardless of level of education or culture. The attraction to the paranormal does not seem contradictory with a society that has reached the era of the multiverse and the quantum computer. In a context where cutting-edge technologies facilitate commercial abuse, one hundred thousand practitioners (the exact number is unknown due to a lack of serious census) share the market. Anyone can theoretically engage in this activity since no diploma or recognition from an official college exists to date, nor is there any obligation of results required by the very nature of the exercise. Carelessness and significant profits, this is a godsend to be seized, and the charlatans are not depriving themselves of it. The price of a consultation can vary from fifty to several hundred euros depending on the notoriety and power of influence of the practitioner. As for duration, only the notion of yield is taken into account. Normally, a real clairvoyant cannot undertake more than four to five consultations per day due to the mental fatigue caused by concentration and contact with the intuitive information flow. But some less honest individuals, to improve their income, practice “occult work”: return of affection, bewitchment, etc… Thanks to the modest sum of five thousand euros for a “neighborhood marabout” and up to ten thousand euros for the well-established clairvoyant, your problems of affection, libido, budget, work and others will be resolved and even your most intimate fantasies will be realized! With payment in cash, without traceability, if possible. The observation is obvious: without effective regulation, the practice of divinatory arts becomes a business exploiting credulity and fear. Worse still, the fraudulent practice damages the profession and increasingly discredits true clairvoyants with thereal gift. The most brutal methods are even practiced without any scruple: terrorizing certain customers by persuading them that a loved one is in danger, for example, in order to arouse an uncontrollable emotional state and, in doing so, generate frenzied purchasing (here consultation) behavior. Frequent example: “You are bewitched: if I do not undo the spell immediately, your child may die!” » REMEDIES?
By playing on the emotional factor using very sophisticated conditioning methods, the trap is in place. A nightmarish spiral begins for the consultant where fear, physical and moral, the shame of having allowed himself to be trapped in this vicious circle, and the guilt of paying. Because the objective is indeed this; trigger a repetition compulsion, generating a cascade of payments intended to fill the anxiety created by loss aversion. Some people will even go so far as to sell their belongings. How to get out of it? Who to contact? Few people file complaints because tangible evidence is thin and recourse is almost non-existent. Victims thus develop a feeling of abandonment, bitterness and injustice without finding a way out. The legal vacuum and perhaps a certain institutional laxity encourage crooks to continue without fear, unimpressed by the repressive weakness of the legislation. Some even have fun with it and openly make fun of it. THIS ONLY HAPPENS TO OTHERS! “The public prosecutor is not the guardian of imbeciles” reminds us of French Law. But this same right does not tell us whether there is an anthropological limit to stupidity! Once again, in the absence of specific regulations, common sense prevails. But is everyone equal in terms of cognitive competence? How can a lawyer (“ad vocatus” – the one who gives his voice to someone who has none) defend a person if there is no recognition of the crime and the victim, a moron, according to the Law, is more medical than legal? Clearly, we are going in circles… In the range of scams imagined by clairvoyance usurpers, no one can say: “this will not happen to me”! Individual doubt profiteers are adept at deciphering vulnerability. Misfortunes don’t just happen to other people. Everyone is likely one day to suffer a tragedy that will make him or her flinch. Anyone can one day be struck by despair and drift towards the most irrational behavior. Suffering calls for unreason. Furthermore, the danger interferes at all levels of society: scammers destabilize the system by taking market share from doctors, psychoanalysts, marriage agencies, etc. They use to their advantage celebrities, known for their instability and their emotional naivety, but who hold a power of influence over the public, to promote their scams. The list of dishonest interventions would be tedious, but let us remember the “Ring of Ré” scandal which opened the prison doors to Danielle Gilbert. To conclude, the fraudulent activities of money makers no longer have limits as all-consuming greed destroys everything in its path. Our caring readers will have understood that it is not a question here of discrediting the divinatory arts, but of distinguishing them from the dark, unhealthy side created by crooks. This humanly dramatic situation is intolerable, it is high time to act onthis darkened part of the star of the profession. The irrational has a prodigious impact on consciences through its potential for hope. But those who live only on hope die of hunger. Let us give them clear, honest and recognized guidance which will satisfy them and (re)put them on the rails of their journey of which they will be masters at all times. A weakened, vulnerable individual, stuck in seemingly hopeless problems, represents the most favorable terrain for false clairvoyants. Receptive to chimeras, the individual in search of hope mortgages his future to a wind maker. The harder the fall will be. A society that tolerates such victims and such perpetrators can only be in denial of its difficulties. Not to come to the aid of such an individual is to lead him to sacrifice. If nothing changes quickly, it will become legitimate to ask the question: how far are we going to go? P.Bajou (Former Vice-President of INAD) *Article updated