Today is my 32nd birthday.
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But before we go breaking out the sparklers and cake, let me tell you I approached this birthday with hesitation.
There are many facets of my life that are going spectacularly - I have a wonderful support network of friends and family, my career is going well and I am much more comfortable with myself than I was about a decade ago.
However, it was not escaping me that I am now very much into my 30s and there are certain questions that have come with being almost 32.
Family gatherings seem to be a breeding ground for probing questions - when are you getting married/having children/settling down?
There are only so many witty or sarcastic responses a girl can formulate before she throws her hands up in defeat.
If only there was a way to find out the answers to these questions and so many more.
I had long considered going to a psychic but like most people, was plagued with doubt and skepticism.
I kept saying I would go “for a laugh” when I really secretly hoped they could predict if I would die alone surrounded by 12 cats.
If I was going to do this, I wanted to do it properly.
I needed someone who would not lie to me and tell me what I wanted to hear - so I called Maria Campbell.
The psychic and clairvoyant has been doing predictions for The Daily Advertiser for almost a decade and while I’m still waiting to see alligators in the Murrumbidgee River, her reputation is stella.
She came to our offices in Trail Street a few weeks ago and it was like we were long lost friends.
I felt like I was in safe hands.
Truth be told, I was not sure what I wanted to find out.
I wanted answers about so many things - travel, relationships, family, what is next?
We went into the meeting room and she spread 40-year-old tarot cards across the table in front of us.
If these cards could talk.
“You call a spade, a spade, don’t you?” she said.
Was that a question or statement?
She then said some scarily accurate things - I’m a homebody that puts her career first, I’m careful with money and I have a lot of happiness around me.
Were these just lucky guesses?
How did she know this?
I was sitting there wondering when we were going to get to the good stuff because at this point I felt like it was just telling me what I already knew.
And then with the flip of a card she tells me I will find someone.
I might not even have tried to hide my happiness.
“You won’t have to go looking for it, it will come to you,” she said.
“You will be in the right place at the right time.
“I feel like it’s going to be the end of loneliness.
“There is someone coming into your life, it’s not just yet but I feel it could be this year some time.”
I was not even sure I believed in this and yet somehow, hearing this made me feel relieved – I could stop looking because Mr Right would find me.
And then the marriage card was turned over and the smile disappeared from my face.
It could all unravel depending on what she said next.
She talked about friends’ weddings and that was nice but what about mine, Maria, what about mine?
“Yours is not yet but it will happen,” she said.
“You’re coming to the crossroads now where there will be a lot of changes around you.”
I tried calling Maria’s bluff but she said she did not believe in fairytales and would not tell a client what they wanted to hear.
Her other predictions included:
- I should start meditating
- Buddhism will take an interest in me
- Sapphires are my lucky stone
- That I will have something to do with the court or justice system
- I will travel more, perhaps to the United States, but I should avoid oriental countries
- Something of mine will be lost or stolen
- I have had jealousy around me
Obviously, I do not define myself by whether or not I am in a relationship and I do not need a partner to be happy.
Nor I do think that if I go to yoga and buy a sapphire ring that suddenly my life will become more fulfilled.
But in 12 months time, I will look back at what Maria said to determine how much has come true, how much I intervened and how much I left to chance.
Executive dean at Charles Sturt University’s Faculty of Science, Professor Tim Wess, is not convinced.
He believes psychic readings are nothing more than people pulling bits of information they want to hear and intentionally relating it back to their lives.
“We filter and identify coincidences, so when people tell us a plethora of information, the bits we hang onto are the bits we recognise,” he said.
“I think people want to believe … as long as it gives people comfort its OK but I think it can be divisive.”
Professor Wess said there is no scientific explanation for psychic abilities and most are just making assumptions based on existing information and people’s reactions.
“They go down various pathways and they watch you for various triggers,” he said.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that Maria’s readings were accurate.
What she said was a bizarre insight into my past, my present and hopefully my future.
It is hard to determine if her predictions are correct a week after she had made them.
Let me get back to you in a year’s time.