Tara Greene, psychic

The recession has led those questioning their financial stability to seek answers from psychics. 

Tara Greene is one such psychic that has seen a change in her clientele since October.  Her home in the Beach neighbourhood is filled with tapestries and icons from all over the world.  She has worked out of her home as a professional psychic since 1991.

The white collar clients

The cozy work-at-home environment stands in stark contrast with the environment that her clients are coming from lately.  They are downtown business professionals, stock brokers, real estate agents and investors.

Their questions usually revolve around work. They ask about what deals to sign, how much to invest, and how safe their current jobs are.

One of her clients brings business cards of co-workers and asks her what she can sense about them. He asks about their bosses, subordinates, and competitors all the same.

The growing trend

But this is more than just a one-time occurrence. Professionals visiting psychics is a growing trend.  Deborah Levin, a clairvoyant working in Toronto, sees a large rise in clients in their 40s, or close to retirement age. They are asking more frequently for advice on a career change, in anticipation of being laid off.

Levin sees this as possible for positive change rather than doom-saying. Greene’s tarot readings may parallel this idea; her predictions on what may happen in the year 2012 foreshadow momentous change, and perhaps great upheavals, but also the possibility of love, evolution, and new beginnings.

Financial stress. Life stress

For others, the relationship is less direct.  Barb Keshen, a hypnotherapist, who deals with short-term treatment for widespread problems such as smoking, weight problems, and occasionally alcoholism. While she does not make predictions or consult astrology in the formal way Greene does, she anticipates that the stress of the lingering recession will drive people to smoking and other coping mechanisms. Her business may grow as a result.