I’m having coffee with my friend Hilary when she blurts, “I had the most unbelievable psychic reading. She knew everything. You have to call her. She will change your life!”

While I‘m open to all things woo-woo, Hilary is a true skeptic who normally laughs at psychics and self-help books. I don’t. So I look up Peggy Rometo online - she has books, CDs, and a column on wowowow.com - and make myself an appointment.

On our phone call, which Peggy is recording and will send me afterwards, she is normal and friendly and explains how her powers work.

“I receive information in a couple of different ways: I feel it in my body, sometimes in the form of aches, pains, or pressure. Usually that indicates blocked emotion. In my right ear I get the train of thought that comes from people you’ve connected with that may have passed and/or things that you may say to yourself. Over the crown of my head is the main source, which is universal consciousness. This is the connection between my guides and your guides.”

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Peggy tells me to focus and breathe while she “gets out of the way” to let her guides take over. We wait in silence for a moment. Then Peggy starts talking in a different voice. It is older, lower, and has a sing-song cadence to it.

“Melina, it’s important to trust your instincts and move away from old rejection and fear of not being good enough. Instead of walking backwards and examining your life, turn around and move forward.”

In fact, I had just written a blog about this very subject. But the weird part is I hadn’t yet sent it in, so there was no way she could have known.

Peggy starts clearing her throat like crazy.

“Ahem, the dissidence in the back of the throat and the sinus headache pressure stems from old anger and past rejection that you do not allow yourself to process. Ahem, learn to process these emotions without feeling guilty or angry with yourself for having them in the first place,” she says, coughing.