San Francisco Palm Reader

My friend and I have sparked an interest in psychics lately and decided to try it out while on vacation. We called to make an appointment, and she said she would take us immediately. Once we got there, she had my friend and I both sit in the same room together. She had us each make two wishes and say one of them out loud. Then, she proceeded to have us hold out our palms from about 5 – 6 feet away from where she was sitting. She did not even hardly look at our palms and told us each some scripted answer about our lives. Apparently, my friend had some evil spirit in her body that was going to take $ 250 to cleanse. She wanted my friend to take some crystal substance in order to allow her to pray for her. We each had to pay her $ 40 for the 2 minute combined reading as it was, and she was adamant about my friend whipping out another few hundred for the bullshit cleanse. This lady was a complete scam, and tries to solicit large amounts of money out of people by making them feel scared or guilty. DO NOT GO TO HER! BTW EVERY REVIEW HAS THE SAME EXACT SYORY AS US. We were disappointed we didn’t look up a review before we wasted our money

Exact rating 3.2 stars. It would’ve been higher, but for 2 strong but polite attempts at unneeded upsells which I declined.
Before I start my review, here’s some info about me if you haven’t read any of my other reviews of psychics. In addition to being a scientific/​engineering consultant, I’m a mystic, spiritual healer and an intuitive. When I travel, I usually get readings from a few local psychics, all total strangers to me.
Since I’m a mystic, my life is filled with Divine grace, and I’m happy and at peace. I want to stress the fact that when I make visits to local psychics during my travels, I’m not seeking help with any problems, nor answers to questions, nor am I seeking spiritual guidance. Rather, I ask them for a general life reading simply because God/​Source asks me to do so, and to have a fun way of connecting with other practitioners of the metaphysical arts; I see them as metaphysical colleagues.
So, when reading my reviews of psychics here, it may be VERY helpful for you to bear in mind that I did not visit them with any problems, serious questions, nor wishes in mind, nor with any «neediness». Because of this, and because most psychics describe me as being very «clear» and easy to read, your own experience with the same psychic might be very different than mine. In other words, your mileage may vary!
BTW, my reviews of psychics are for psychic readings only, and never for any additional services that they might offer, such as healings, cleansings, or spiritual guidance.
During a stay in SF, I visited this shop at about 2 PM on Sept. 22 for a reading. The shop, located 2 or 3 doors down Columbus Ave. from City Lights bookstore, is located in a 2^nd floor apartment, at the top of a wide and very clean stairwell with a great many steps (it’s an older building; the first floor has high ceilings, so the 2^nd floor is high above the sidewalk). There’s no doorway at the top of the stairs, and rather, a railing with a gate at the stairwell apex opens into a small living room/​reading room. My reading was given at a long dining room table in a large and very ornate (Old World European style) dining room/​family room which overlooked the sidewalk.
I asked for a full deck tarot reading and a palm-​plus-​psychic reading. The reader was a dark-​haired woman named Viola, around 60 to 60+ years old, who had a beauty mark on the upper left side of her nose. There are other readers who work out of this apartment/​shop as well, including some younger women. When Viola heard that I wanted both a tarot reading ($ 50) and palm/​psychic reading ($ 40), she offered me a combined price of $ 80, but I insisted on giving her the full $ 90, plus $ 10 as a gift, before the reading.
For my reading, I did as I always do when getting a reading from a psychic whom I don’t know, and told her, prior to the start of the reading, only my first name, date/​place of birth, and the fact that I lived in MD and was visiting SF. I told her nothing else about myself until after the reading had ended.
The reading seemed to start off badly. For the first few minutes of the reading, Viola droned on in a dull monotonous voice, as if reciting a memorized script, making only vague generalized statements that could have fit many men my age.
Suddenly, the tone of the reading changed drastically. Viola paused, then stated that I was easier tor read than most people, because, she said, my mind was very calm, quiet and grounded (I’ve been told this by many psychics). However, she cautioned, it was also difficult to read me at times due to the tremendous amount of «energy» (she later described it as Divine grace) pouring from my heart & aura, which, she said, was blinding.
She then proceeded to make several very accurate detailed statements about my life and my past, including the fact that I was a mystic and spiritual healer, and had surrendered my life to God. She also accurately reported the exact reason for my stay in SF. She then proceeded to make three incorrect statements about my past, followed by some very accurate detailed statements.
Halfway through the reading, which was very positive, she tried 2 major upsells, where she tried to convince me that a past client had attacked me psychically and caused harm to my spirit and energy that she could fix. The price for the upsells seemed to be in the range of $ 380 and up. Her 2 upsell attempts, while strong and a bit insistent, were polite, and, once I had politely declined her offers, the reading resumed seamlessly.
Overall, I had a very good time with this reading, and, once the reading had ended, Viola, who was quite friendly, asked me to stay and chat for a bit, at which time I told her more about myself, and gave her some feedback on her reading. If it weren’t for the two attempts at unneeded upsells, I’d have given Viola’s reading 4 stars. Fun!
BTW, the pale yellow paper business flyer that Viola gave me was identical to the one shown in the photo section above.

Inciteful. She read my mind correctly and told me about how I can cleanse my soul. I would recommend her to anyone.

My friend and I walked by her sign and I said out loud that maybe we should try it. A guy walking upstairs overheard us and said that we could have a free preview, so we went upstairs. As soon as we got upstairs, we were immediately told that the session was at a reduced price of only $ 25 (was this our lucky day or what! And definitely no free preview). She had us hold out our hand and she said that she would tell us something about our past, future, and present. I was sitting literally 5 – 6 feet away from her but apparently she has amazing super vision because she read my palm from that distance. What she told me and my friend sounded completely scripted (probably what she told everyone who comes in). At some point I started laughing, which might have made her realize that I wasn’t falling for it. My friend is more respectful and didn’t laugh, so the psychic asked me to go into the other room because apparently my friend has an evil spirit and the psychic didn’t want me to catch it LOL! While I was in the other room, the psychic tried to convince my friend that there was evilness that was after her. Luckily for my friend, the psychic could get rid if it for $ 380. My friend graciously declined the ghostbuster service and the psychic demanded payment for literally 5min of pure, scripted nonsense! I didn’t have cash so a lady followed me downstairs and watched me withdraw money from an ATM machine. I seriously thought about making a run for it, but I didn’t. And that my friends, is how me and my friend were swindled out of $ 50 in less than 10min. I’m scared to post this because maybe this lady does have some kind of connection with the dark lord and will put the evil eye on me… Yet something tells me I’ll be ok

I was sitting on a bench at the mall when some lady with a stroller came up to me and complimented my attire. «Oh thanks,» I said and assumed that was it. The lady kept making small talk and introduced herself as a psychic. I don’t remember her name but it was pretty generic. She said she was attracted to me because of my «strong aura» and offered to read my palm. Sure, okay. Let’s see what you’ve got.
She then said, «I will need $ 5 for the reading.» No. She probably noticed the look on my face because she continued, «I will do the reading first and we’ll just see what you can give.»
She looked at my palm for about 5 seconds, looked up, and said that I am a very positive person and I have a lot going for me. She made similar generic comments about my family, love life, and future endeavors while asking questions to confirm that she was on the right path. I lied pretty much the whole way through just to see what would happen, so it was enlightening to learn that I was getting along so well with my non-​existent boyfriend.
At the end of it, she said that there was some dark spirit or whatever that attached itself to me and she would light a candle and perform some ritual to drive the spirit away. After going through a long list of all the steps in the ritual, she said «I can do this, but I will need $ 100 and after it burns all day, you need to call me and I will tell you what I saw.»
Well, that sounded oddly similar to something I read in an email from Nigeria once.
I politely declined. «No, I’m not interested.» That’s when she got really aggressive with the sales pitch. She interrogated me so it would be harder for me to say no. «Why? Why don’t you want to? Honey, I don’t want to scare you but until you remove this dark spirit, you won’t be happy. What are you going to do about this negative energy? Why do you think you don’t need my help?» I repeated that I wasn’t interested. «Is it because you don’t have faith?» It’s because you’re hella sketchy. «Yes, that’s it. I don’t have faith.»
When she realized she couldn’t get money from me, she became defensive and passive aggressive. «I’m not threatening you but until you get rid of this dark energy, you will never succeed or be happy.» I might believe the first part if you hadn’t repeated the statement three times while acting huffy. I asked for her business card and that is how I found this page.
Moral of the story: don’t leave business cards with people you try to scam.

This woman is a predator. I saw her 2 years ago when I was visiting San Fran and she seemed to have a bit of intuition about my future. In retrospect, it was all a bunch of generic script reading that could have been applicable to anyone or anything. On my second visit to see her on my most recent trip to see her, she did just about everything mentioned in the reviews below. She gave me a 6 – 7 minute tarot card reading which was given in a monotonous, script like tone. She never pointed to which card she was reading, she just flipped them over and recited her script.
She told me someone close to me was currently sick — I don’t know anyone who is sick other than me. I got a cold after spending a collective of 12 hours on airplanes with several other sick people in a four day time span. I don’t think having a cold counts. Besides, who doesn’t know someone who is sick with a cold or flu this time of year.
In addition, she told me I have an evil spirit attached to me, and just like the other reviews below, she said it eats with me, sleeps with me, breathes with me, and does everything I do. She said if I don’t get rid of it immediately things would get progressively worse. For the low, low price of $ 800 she could have a woman with sacred hands build 9 candles as tall as her that would burn for 90 days and she would meditate on them continuously until the evil spirit banished. I told her i hardly had enough money to pay for the reading and the rest of my funds were dedicated to paying my bills. She told me that my bills will always be there and I could pay those late; I needed to take care of the evil spirit immediately or I would be doomed forever. I guess me acquiring bad credit wasn’t her problem to deal with!
She also told me I could not speak of my reading to anyone lest her ability to help me be unbroken. I guess she figured anyone else would tell me she was a scam artist, rightfully so. She repeatedly tried to convince me to just give her whatever money I could because she was leaving to meditate on sacred grounds in two hours — that was my only chance. If I wanted until I could save the money, it would be too late.
Don’t waste your money or your time visiting this woman. She’s the evil spirit.

Like most people who wind up at this place, my friend & I impulsively stumbled in after a lovely Italian dinner and a couple glasses of wine. I was curious, not expecting much, but not at all prepared for the HORRIBLE «reading» I got.
Many years ago I had my fortune read a couple times on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley. Once Tarot cards, and once a palm reading. Both times the reader actually looked at the cards or my palm, as appropriate, and explained what they meant. Neither time did the reader try to cheat me out of a bunch of extra money.
My friend & I were put in different rooms, and we each had an experience identical to those described in the other one-​star reviews below: the same mind-​numbing, affectless recitation of a bunch of nonsense, clearly memorized beforehand. Neither «reader» even glanced at our palms, which were supposed to be the item being «read». I felt like turning around to see if there was a teleprompter behind my head.
My reader told me my «chakras would shatter» and be irrevocably damaged if I didn’t pay extra to have her burn candles, etc. to remove the «dark energy» that was keeping me from leading a fulfilling life (actually my life is fulfilling and I have very few complaints). When I turned her down, she asked why.
«Because much of what you said is not accurate, and you seem like you’re reading from a script,’ I told her. She tried to act astonished, but even that was unconvincing.
Don’t go here.

This place is such a scam, it’s honestly comical.
A girlfriend and I were walking from brunch to go shopping downtown and thought hey, why not? We never had done a palm reading before. We walked in to find this Gucci-​clad woman named «Jade» in this strange living room-​like area who said it would be $ 40 cash only for us to do our palm reading together. Okay, sure.
She read for maybe 4 – 5 minutes tops, babbling on. She said I had a bad aura closing in around me, and that the only way to stop this and not be enveloped by the dark spirit was to purchase $ 900 candles. $ 900 for candles. I couldn’t wait to get out of there.
Oh, and per below, she also used the «tiny match burning» line on me, too.

The problem with this is that no one reviews these BEFORE walking in and getting suckered by this lady. She makes her money from tourists walking by. $ 40 each for a tarot card reading seemed expensive, especially since she did both of our readings together, but we went for it anyway.
It seemed as though she was reading from a book in a monotone voice, never pointing at what cards she was speaking about then proceeded to tell me that I had been cursed by a woman in a past life and have a dark spirit with me that I need to spend $ 380 for her to meditate for 3 days while she leaves her body, then I could call her on the 3^rd day to get the name of the person who cursed me in my past life — still not sure how the name would help me in this life, but that I would have to light candles (she would sell me) for 90 nights in order to cleanse the dark spirit. I told her I didn’t feel anything and she said it «eats with me, drinks with me, sleeps with me, it is my twin and I won’t be able to feel it, but it is always there» and I would never find my love if I don’t cleanse it. So for a total of only $ 420, she could have helped me. Needless to say, I kept my money…
After reading some of the exact same comments below, I feel the «dark cloud» has been lifted ;)
Moral to the story, besides not going to this place — never spend a ton of money on a tarot reading and always get a second opinion!

well i went to her obviously without checking the reviews here. and then starts the palm reading from a distant without touching my hands with her hawk eye vision. she started speaking a learned or cramed set of sentences which most of the scam psychic helplines start speaking as soon as call gets connected. she has no idea what she is trying to do. told me that i have a bad spirit living with me, sleeping with me and staying with me. and she has to cleanse me from this dark cloud. and i told her i happen to learn vedic astrology, yogic rituals for my self. and then she replied they are not of any use and she has to do a cleansing with candles for me so that iam able to move without dark
the end no human made by god is to be criticized and saving your own money for you is always beneficial. The creator blesses all.

THIS PLACE MOONLIGHTS AS «SHELBYS»
DO NOT GO HERE.
–there were three of us. they put us all in the same room together. two of us shared a reader.
–it was in their living room. with marble floors. dvd racks. and a big screen tv.
–pop music was playing in the background. the same music was playing as her ring tone.
–she never once looked at the tarot cards she was flipping over.
–her cell phone rang during the reading. A LOT. playing we are young. fun.
–she never touched my palm when she did my reading.
–she didn’t explain a single one of the cards.
–the entire experience lasted less than 10 minutes.
–they don’t even accept credit cards.
–one of the readers was picking food out of her teeth as we walked in.
–she asked me if i knew anyone who was sick or had died in the last few years… define «few» years… don’t we all?
–she asked one of us if we were pregnant. when that would be physically impossible.
–she walked out with a dress on that was hanging halfway off her shoulder.
–she told us to come up with our deepest secret and then tell it out loud in front of the other people getting readings in the same room.
–she was wearing tory burch shoes. she probably bought a new pair right after we left and she collected SCAM money from us.
they call themselves shelby’s, but then make it really hard to find them on the internet. shelby is a fraud. fake.
DO NOT GO HERE.