Look into my eyes

A few weeks ago, a friend and I went to the opening of the new Kiehls boutique on rue Saint Dominique in the 8th. They had advertized free cocktails, nibblies and a clairvoyant medium. So we were standing there, drinking our champagne and eating our macarons that looked like mini-hamburgers, when the PR guy came over to talk to us. He heard us speaking English and chimed right in and asked if we were enjoying ourselves.  We said yes and I said "But we were hoping to see the clairvoyant" and he said that someone in her family had had an accident, so she wouldn't be able to make it. He said they were planning on bringing her back another day and that if we left our phone numbers, they would call us back to set up an appointment.  So I left my number, never really believing they would call me back.

But surprisingly enough they did, and that is how I found myself once again in their boutique last Saturday afternoon. The lady showed up 20 minutes late, leaving me to make jokes with the sales lady about how clairvoyant can she be if missed the original session last month and then got mega lost on the way this time.  But the employee assured me that she was the "real deal" and not a fraud.

So she showed up and got right into things by asking me if I had any questions for her.  I didn't really, so she took my hand and started reading my palm. As a side note, on the whole, I am a very practical person, so the logical side of me doesn't really believe in these sorts of things. But of course my emotional side would like to believe that people's spirits live on after that pass - I'd much rather picture my father being able to watch over us instead of just being in a casket in a cemetery, and I admit 100% that I would jump at any chance to communicate with him.  But unfortunately that's not what was going on here - This particular woman said that she got impressions of what happened to people in the past or what will happen in the near future, so she wasn't a "talking to the dead" kind of medium. 

But oh well, I was still curious, so on we went, with me feeling a little skeptical. I had purposely left my wedding ring off before going to the shop because I wanted to see if she could figure out if I was married or not. Throughout the reading, she used a lot of generalizations and said things like "I see you have had a lot of heartache in the past".  Which is true, but is likely true for most women my age. She also said that I travel a lot, which is also true - but there is a good chance that is true for most young foreigners in Paris.  And then she said that see me as very solitary and spending a lot of time alone - which kind of surprised me, because I have quite the active social life, but I guess when you combine that me working alone from home and my solo work trips, I guess I do spend a good chunk of time by myself without even realizing it.  So I'll give her that one. 

Mostly though, I got the impression that she was a fake and was just working off of people's reactions and facial expressions.  I could see her watching me very carefully during the reading and I made sure to keep my face extremely passive and to not confirm or deny anything she said, only to listen.  She then said "I am seeing that people at your workplace criticize you for being too cold and for not speaking up enough" - which is completely opposite of reality!

She was also fishing around with some really general statements about my love life, trying to figure out if I was with someone or not. I finally told her I was married, and then she launched into a diatribe about how we have had some difficulties for a while now and how he is very sorry and a good man at heart and that I should forgive him. I had to drop the poker face at that point and say "I'm sorry, but I really disagree with you on that one, we are a pretty solid couple with not too many issues".  She didn't back down, but after that point any time our relationship came up, she kept saying what a great guy C was and how our union was for eternity.

She continued asking me if I had any particular questions and I said no, and finally she said "Well why are you here then?" I had to answer that it was just out of curiosity, which I don't think she really liked. I'm sure she's used to people coming to her with burning questions and then she can take it from there based on their reactions. But she kept insisting that I must have questions, so I finally asked whether or not we would be moving soon (not in the next 6-12 months according to her).  And then I asked about our careers, and she said the funny thing was that all of the cards she'd pulled for us were career-related.  There wasn't a single baby card, so she said "I have to ask - do you want kids?" I replied with "not anytime in the near future anyways" and she said "Good, because both of you have brilliant career prospects ahead of you and it seems your focus is there for now".  Lastly, I asked if she saw us moving back to the US anytime soon and she said "No, you are happy with your current lifestyle". But then again, that's a pretty obvious guess since I am married to a Frenchman and have been in France for 9 years now.

Overall, I have to say I was not too impressed with this lady - anytime I asked her to explain any of her techniques (she used a combination of two decks of tarot cards and a crystal), she refused, saying she had her own "code" that couldn't be understood by anyone else.  And I felt like everything she said could be generalized to most people who would want to see a medium, ie you have suffered heartache/having marital issues/trouble getting pregnant, etc.


On a positive note though, the actual employees of the Kiehls store were great - everyone we dealt with there was very friendly and professional, and as an added bonus, they have no problem give you samples of their product with no pressure to buy.  I got three samples on my first visit and three more on my second visit and so far, I have been very happy with them. It's always a good sign too when the employees wear the products of the company they work for!