Do you know how psychics learned about the paranormal etc.BEFORE computers etc.?

Question

I remember seeing little houses etc. where psychics read your fortune with a crystal ball etc. They didn't seem to have much money ...and I'm sure no Degrees. Where do you think they (and others who knew about horoscopes, numerology, etc.etc.) get their "learning" from? These things are complicated and not usually in library books. I guess information was passed down through generations...but I'd think you'd need a class in this to really know about all these things...at least a computer. (I don't think there was much in encyclopedias either) Maybe someone on here has relatives who knew about these things. How did they learn? Who taught them? Thanks.

Answer 1

It is passed on through certain cultures.  Gypsies, for example.  I would guess that much of today's palm reading and crystal ball reading originates from them.  Some methods appear in books.  Sure, they can be found in the 000-099 section of the library.  Other forms of divination and prophecy like Tarot and Astrology have traditions that are a passed on by word of mouth or writing.  But there is really nothing to any of these things, so much of what people do today is just made up as they go along.

It is not the information that is important, since it is wrong in the first place.  It is the style and the ability to "cold read" that count.

Gosh eri, we're racking 'em up aren't we?

Answer 2

I have to think that maybe you were in the wrong library. My wife worked in the public library for 11 years and many branches had books on astrology, palmistry, etc. that were very informative and instructive on techniques. In fact theft of these books was a major problem.

Also, bookstores both mainstream and new age have long before the Internet age carried this material.

Yes, there is some family knowledge passed on in some cases like "How I learned to read a deck of Tarot cards" but there are many techniques and different schools on how to construct and read an astrology chart, etc.

I would guess that most people learned the same place everyone else learns anything - books.

Answer 3

i think alot of it would of come from mastering it your self... i know years ago before the net and everything was around, when things happened, i kind of put it all together myself, in what was happening....it sort of all came together, and then people had books as well to guide them, and then from word of mouth, some one would always come along that understood matters, and would give further teachings...

Answer 4

most likely passed down through your family, like superstitions are too.

Answer 5

Much of this knowledge was passed down through families, by word of mouth, through the generations. As times have changed, then information has of course become more readily accessible.

Most of my learning I did though what I discovered through practice.

Answer 6

I learned from my grandmother. She was very in-tuned to mother nature. She taught me so many things I needed to learn in life. I grew up with her rather than my parents. I think it is the same as anything else people learn. A family teaches a child so many things in  life. A mother teaches how to wash a plate, cook a meal, even how to brush teeth, or take a bath. It is taught from day to day experiences...for me it was the "norm" what I was exposed to. All families pass down things...such as holiday traditions, etc. I think it the same with how we choose to deal with the essence of life. Love, peace harmony...

Answer 7

There are teachers....I don't think one finds a teacher though, I think a teacher finds you.  Some, it is made up...a scam.  Some, it runs in the family and they learn it the same way they learn to eat with a spoon, to cook...  Most people who are deeply into things of this nature had a book of shadows or something that has been passed from teacher....or down through a family... for generations.