Sixth sense sparks local business
The local coffee shop Citrus and Sage is known for its crepes, wraps, coffee and ambience. A monthly event held at the cafe is frequented by locals and students in search of guidance from Sheila Anderson Dial, a certified hypnotist and practicing psychic.
“I have more senses,” said Dial. “It’s not just my physical eyes that are watching you – it’s my spiritual eyes. I intuitively hear, see and sense things.”
Dial is a certified behavioral and clinical hypnotist. She belongs to the National Guild of Hypnotists and presided over the northern Utah chapter for three years.
A native of Tooele, Utah, Dial has lived in northern Utah for about 38 years and has been in Logan for the last seven. Dial and her husband Rick started the monthly psychic fair at Citrus and Sage in an effort to promote acceptance and understanding.
“I started the psychic fair to open up the energy in Logan,” she said.
Dial and her psychic intuitive group use means such as numerology, palmistry, divination cards and channeling to infer useful information and relate it to the client. She counsels on matters such as health, relationships, family and finances.
Dial said everyone has gifts, but not everyone uses them. She said by employing these means of numerology, palmistry and cards, one can draw on their gifts of intuition.
“Most readers have a sort of ritual or formula on their readings system to draw on their tools or gifts,” said Dial. “I do the things my mentor taught me. Her systems work for her and does good for me.”
She said each method or step builds on the one preceding it, as well as the client’s comfort level. She said she only gives people the information they are ready to receive.
“I give people what they are capable of digesting,” Dial said.
The gifts Dial claims to have are clairaudience, clairsentience and clairvoyance. She said clairaudience refers to the voices she hears in her head, clairsentience is an intuitive feeling of the truth of something and clairvoyance has to do with flashes of visions she has when viewing pictures or movies.
“I have visions,” she said. “I hear multiple voices and I know it’s not my voice. They word things differently. I try to follow what the voices tell me.”
Dial said in spite of the cost of her time, which can sometimes be outside of a college-age price range, many students go to her to receive readings and personal gui
dance. She has had business relationships with students that have lasted as long as two years.
“I had a student come from the university,” Dial said. “She’d really get some focus on what was going on in her life, and she’s working on her doctorate. She had no problem paying the money, and it was a two year relationship. You’d be surprised at how many students come in.”
Klydi Heywood, a senior majoring in communication studies, had numerology and palmistry done by Dial and said the experience changed her perspective on psychic abilities.
“I’m confused by it all, but she was good and changed my perspective a little bit on the psychic thing,” Heywood said. “It’s because she was so dead on about my characteristics and I had only known her a few days. She nailed my insecurities and even my husband’s. It was kind of creepy, but cool. She is very respectful about personal issues, but honest.”
Kyra Roskelley, who graduated from USU last spring with a degree in liberal arts, had a card reading done by Dial and said although she was nervous at first, she had a positive experience.
“When I first heard about it I was interested, but a little skeptical,” she said. “It was definitely helpful with things that I was going through. It was helpful to see how others would perceive me and see how I was doing. It also helped me see things that I need to work on.”
Branson Roskelley, a junior majoring in history, was once involved with Dial’s group of intuitive readers, and during that time learned how to do palmistry and numerology.
“Sheila was kind of a mentor for me for a while,” said Roskelley. “I learned to read from her. I don’t actively read, but I know how. I learned for a novel I was writing with a psychic character.”
Roskelley describes psychic abilities as gut instinct and intuition given a fancy name. He said the real capability of a psychic to help someone stems from the ability to make inferences about a person based on their mannerisms and idiosyncrasies and then counseling based on those inferences.
“So many things tell you about a person,” he said. “It is seeing those things and then giving the person information that is useful. Your gut instinct can tell you things about a person. A lot of it is similar to psychologist helping someone without actually knowing all the details.”
Roskelley said he has always been an intellectual skeptic of psychic abilities, and he focused more on the health and emotional aspects rather than a fortunetelling one.
“Palmistry is something that can have a fortune telling aspect, but it’s more about their health and attitudes and aptitudes,” he said. “Sheila always says it’s written in flesh, not in stone – the future is up to you.”
Roskelley said on rare occasions he has felt impressed to say something he was not able to infer from mannerisms, but in those instances he always makes it clear that it is not out of an innate psychic gift.
“I love doing it,” said Dial. “There is nothing more wonderful than someone coming to me for help. It’s a really awesome feeling. I don’t think we should be left alone without knowing where we’re going or someone out there to help us.”
Dial said there is a stigma against psychics, but it is really just terminology.
“People look at psychics like they’re freaks,” she said. “In religion we call it inspiration, in psychic readings we call it intuition. It’s not of the devil if I’m inspired to take my neighbor a casserole.”
She said this social stigma and negative attitude towards psychics and psychic abilities is her least favorite part of being one.
“The hindrance is bad PR from skeptics making you feel like you’re crazy,” she said. “Some of the opinions and the things they’re afraid of come back and hurt me. People are afraid of what they don’t understand.”
In response to skeptics, Dial said there is a distinct difference between psychic abilities and a loss of sanity.
“I’m not crazy,” she said. “The difference between a psychic and a psychotic is that I suit up and show up, and I’m not a danger to myself or those around me. I think there are some crazy people, but I think they’re crazy because they don’t understand their gifts.”
– calewp@gmail.com