Sandy Anastasi sat behind her desk and cupped her astrology book like a crystal ball.It is, sort of. She cracked it open and read from it as she told her version of the future and the past."Who's the tall, handsome guy with broad shoulders?" she asked her client.Hmmm, her client wondered: "Could it be that gorgeous guy I met at Club Fly in Sarasota last weekend?"No matter whether her client believes what she says or not, Anastasi's business and others like it have grown as TV shows on the paranormal have multiplied over the past few years. Each week, 15 or more shows involving psychic phenomenon are scheduled on major networks and cable stations.Anastasi, 54, expects to give her career another jolt when she appears in September on John Edward's nationally televised show "Cross Country." The exact date for the show to air has not been set.Edward, a New York Times best-selling author promoted as a psychic medium who can communicate with the dead, traveled to Port Charlotte in June to tape a show with Anastasi, the woman he credits as his first teacher."I began studying tarot and other metaphysical philosophies with a woman name Sandi Anastasi, who ran a little 'psychic institute' on the south shore of Long Island. She convinced me to try working at psychic fairs," Edward wrote in his book, "Crossing Over: The Stories Behind the Stories," published in 1988.As demand for psychic information has grown, prices have kept pace.Tickets to one of Edward's sold-out seminars in late July in Toronto cost $155 each. The price to attend a smaller "gallery" group with Edward was $175 in New York.Marie Dixon, 56, of Bradenton, charges $50 for what she calls a "life reading," which includes palm and tarot card readings.
View: Full Article | Source: Herald Tribune
