Watch Out For These 4 Signs Of A Fake Psychic Before You Get A Reading

Throughout my spiritual path, I’ve met a series of harmful spiritual teachers at worst, and frustrating, inaccurate psychic readers at best. 

It’s a miracle I never gave up on spirituality; At times I felt abandoned by the universe, but meanwhile, I found more respect for the sacred, more passion for spirit, and traveled deeper into my own soul. 

These spiritual figures taught me who I never wanted to be. They modeled, to me, the exact blueprint of what a teacher, guru, psychic should not be, and it’s only now that I can honestly say I’m grateful for this experience. 

Here are a few characteristics of false prophets I’ve encountered over the years. May this help you discern

There’s a story from my birth religion about its prophet: It is said that instead of crying when born, like regular babies, he was born laughing. There is a similar story about the Buddha—when he attained enlightenment, the first thing he did was laugh. 

Now, I’m not encouraging spiritual bypassing here, or saying they should always be happy or possess an irritating lack of connection to reality. Spiritual figures are often plagued by problems and know the cruelty of the world intimately. However, the difference is that the problems that beset them are not of their own creation, and they don’t use the cruelty of the world as an excuse to be overly serious, mean-spirited, or depressed.

They do not create unnecessary chaos, nor do they get pushed around by it. There is a peace in their life overall. 

Being peaceful does not mean they sound soft and airy-fairy. They can be very passionate people who often come at you like a tornado—whisking away the unnecessary drama of your life. The peace comes from being one with themselves. It is beyond confidence. It is an earned, seasoned trust in life. 

Go to those blessed spiritual figures that make you feel like you were gently placed in a washing machine and then hung out to dry. You may be a little gob smacked, but you are awake, fresh, and a little cleaner. They will have you unexpectedly laughing at the very things you thought were so seriously important to you. Joy is, in fact, the best measure of success.

Fortune telling is not spirituality. It may be a cultural practice, but it is not a spiritual one. Predicting your future messes with your head, takes your power away from you, and makes you dependent on someone else’s interpretation of events. There is no fixed future.

In some cases, there may be a need to warn or anticipate an outcome, and in such cases, a spiritual figure may choose to communicate a solution. If they’re doing their job well, they will communicate only the solution—not the prediction. Truly competent spiritual figures know how the subconscious mind works and they know that communicating a future to you will likely make you avoid the very thing you seek, or invite the very thing you hope to avoid. 

Those who offer predictions as the majority of their so-called skillset are merely catering to the false belief that life can be controlled in some way. Very often, these predictions are just simply wrong. In cases of predictions being wrong, the receiver of the prediction will spiral into confusion, self-blame, or anxiety that they’ve been abandoned by god because the prediction didn’t come true. 

What these false prophets are offering is hope, and we should exercise extreme caution with spiritual figures who offer hope—because what they should be offering is power and inspiration. 

This is exactly why predictions about your soulmate are so tempting to indulge in. The soulmate issue is such a tender place; It gives you so much hope to think love will be coming in the summer during a Mercury retrograde in 2025, but it’s just not true. It keeps you looking to the future for a miracle. 

Go to those blessed spiritual figures that show you the miracle of your life in the present moment. By that, I mean they show you the way to find the best use of your energy right now. They show you your blind spots and hone in on your strengths to help you take the next step (and only the next step) in creating the life you want.

A fake spiritual figure is often quick to blame others for having “bad vibes,” or they may display empathy and compassion when protection and boundaries are needed. They’re either constantly on guard for what they perceive to be other people’s faults, or they have zero survival skills, often falling into doormat or victim mode.

In either case, this comes from thinking they are special, extraordinary, high-and-mighty, or holy (especially holier than you, of course). This is a superiority-complex-but-make-it-spiritual type of person.

They’re very quick to use shame to control people. They use the concept of truth as a cover up for being critical and judgmental. These spiritual people are often looking to make others a copycat versions of themselves.

The trickiest part about this spiritual figure is that they’ll often adopt the latest politically correct fad, so you think they must be a good person because they seem to be “woke.” They use these trendy terms, like “activism” or “trauma-informed” (that usually have a big social media interest) to describe their work, and yet you never feel any kind of love exuding from them.

Go to those blessed spiritual figures that only want the best for you. They believe in you so strongly they’re irritating. The kind who see you clearly—that is to say they see you with love and without judgement. They correct your imbalances when necessary and they believe in the best in you. And they don’t need a laundry list of titles or labels to do it. 

This is most commonly seen in law of attraction gurus, but also seen in magick practitioners, and it sounds like, “If you do [insert something that often involves a lot of money and jumping through hoops] you will live happily ever after, get 1000 clients a day, get married in 5 months, remove a curse, stop all bad things from happening to you, etc.”

Miracles have their own timing. The most a teacher, psychic, or guru can do is create an environment for them to arrive. This is the realm of true spirituality—the realm of co-creation. A real spiritual figure focuses on helping you keep the door of miracles open. They do not focus on controlling or forcing extraordinary things to happen. 

Go to those blessed spiritual figures that are practical and plugged into everyday life. Go to those blessed spiritual figures who are utterly ordinary, don’t look like much to you, and talk like they’re an everyday person.

Yet, when you contemplate what they say it rocks you, makes sense to you, feels like they’re on your side, and you’re a different person for just listening to them speak. The miracles you seek start happening to you just by coming into contact with their energy. 

The takeaway

Spirituality is a way to experience that magical divinity on earth, and you’re not wrong at all for seeking it. Keep that innocent desire, just be a little more selective. We need teachers, mentors, and guides—there’s no question about that. Remember you are who you hang out with, so hang out with those who light your soul on fire. They do exist.