Within the chaos of Gayley Avenue sits a psychic shop I’m sure all UCLA students have walked by at some point in their college lives. Whether it’s been while walking your way to Roccos, grabbing some late night In N Out, or just walking from campus to Westwood you may have seen the sign of the Mystic Gift Shop, offering $25 psychic readings. Despite being in the center of many UCLA student hotspots, I’ve never talked to anyone who has been inside. During a conversation with my friend Anna we both decided: we should go and get a reading just to see what she says.Â
Neither me nor Anna are huge believers of psychics so the main goal of getting our readings done was for entertainment, not necessarily accurate predictions about our lives and futures. But as natural skeptics, we make the best critics for this type of service.
When we walked up to the shop, a sign outside advertised $25 love readings. Inside, alone sat the owner near the entrance who greeted us as we walked in. My friend and I requested individual readings from which she told us we would need to have them done separately while the other person waited outside the shop. I went first while Anna waited outside the shop for my reading to conclude.Â
Inside, the owner sat me in a chair facing away from the window and asked me to show her my palms. I stretched out my hands while she asked basic questions about whether or not I had gotten a reading anywhere and asked me to make a wish in my head (I’m still not entirely sure what the purpose of this wish was except maybe for her to “read my energy”). I purposely refrained from reacting or giving her personal details about my life to make sure anything she said weren’t just repetitions of natural assumptions she could make about my life or character.
She provided a reading that was more general than love-centered. She straight up told me when I sat down that love was not in the cards for me and that it won’t be until the end of next year. She went over a general read of what’s currently happening in my life and what she sees happening in my future. There were predictions about my social life, love life, career, and future children. The details she predicted were very specific, telling me the age I’d meet my husband and get married, how many children I’d have, and at what age I would find career success. Except for these specific details which I won’t be able to confirm or deny for about another 5-10 years, the reading was pretty general. There were many things she was accurate about, but only time will tell how accurate she was on my future predictions. The reading concluded with her telling me my lucky numbers in love and career and asking if I had any questions before I went back outside and Anna went in for her reading.
I couldn’t sit in on Anna’s reading, but from the beginning there were more details she didn’t resonate with. She also was given a general overview of her social life, love life, and future career as well as how many children she would have and how she would meet her future husband.
So what are our impressions?
To share our overall experience and recommendations, Anna and I each rated the experience based on accuracy and enjoyment and provided an overall review in our own words.
Kat’s Review:
Accuracy: 3.5/5
Enjoyment of the experience: 5/5
Would you recommend to a friend: Yes.
Overall: I generally wouldn’t recommend going to a psychic for serious inquiries or life advice, but if you’re looking for a fun activity to do with a friend (and something interesting to debrief after) I would say it’s worth a try!
Anna’s Review:
Accuracy: 2 /5
Enjoyment of the experience: 5/5
Would you recommend to a friend?: Yes, I already have.
Overall: Seeing a psychic is an experience that’s definitely worth the money. Either you come out with a clear, hopeful, optimistic vision of your future, or you spend the entire session trying to hold in a laugh. It’s cheap entertainment and a fun change of pace.