Who are we and what is our purpose? This most essential and existential question has been part of the human condition since time immemorial, and is one modern day psychics hope to help answer.

“People need to find their true path and purpose in life,” said Joanne Clarkson, 69, a psychic, tarot card reader and palm reader.

“For me, when I read palms, it tells your pathway and purpose in life. A little bit of your history and where you are going. The tarot answers specific questions.”

One question either discipline cannot answer is how long the person is going to live, Clarkson said.

Clarkson is one of 13 psychic readers and five energy workers who will set up shop at the Unity Spiritual Enrichment Center, 3918 San Juan Ave., Port Townsend, during the annual Psychic Faire. The theme this year is “Into the Mystic.”

The faire will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both June 21 and 22.

In addition to tarot and oracle card readers, palmists, astrologers, Akashic record consultants, channels and energy healers will be on site to act as a guide to attendees, Clarkson said.

And, ufologist James Clarkson will be present to provide information about the unresolved phenenomen of visitors from other worlds some believe have and continue to visit planet Earth.

Joanne Clarkson said those who have never delved into the world of spiritual mediums need not be afraid of the experience.

“All of us are very positive readers,” she said. “It is life changing. We get so stuck in a rut in our basic lives. Going to this will really wake you up to your total potential, what you really need to do.”

The reading might also affirm what a person already is doing, Clarkson said.

“It never hurts us to find out where we are on the path. You can ask your question ahead of time if you have to.”

The palms, cards or spirits always know the answers, she said.

To ensure a positive reading, the church is always blessed beforehand, Clarkson said.

“We start with a blessing of the whole place. If there is any bad energy, we do a cleaning in the middle. I have never had anybody come away from there and say they had a negative experience.”

However, the reader will not sugarcoat what they see, Clarkson said. Instead they will provide answers in a way that is not mysterious or vague. In effect, the helpful advice acts as a guidepost on the journey of life.

Palm reading

Joanne Clarkson learned how to read palms as a child, she said.

“When I was 12 years old I took the bus downtown to the public library and checked out all the books on palmistry. I taught myself to read palms to have a skill nobody else had. Kids can learn anything in the public library.”

Palmists observe the “heart line,” the “head line,” the “life line” and the “fate line” when conducting a reading, Clarkson said.

“We read the entire hand. We start with your non-dominant hand as your potential and your dominant hand as how you develop.”

The heart line provides indications of a person’s emotional stability, romantic perspectives, depression and cardiac health. The head line indicates the person’s learning style, approach to communication, intellect and craving for knowledge. The life line indicates a person’s physical health, general well-being and major life changes. The fate line, not present on all hands, indicates external circumstances, those beyond the person’s control.

Some folks have been known to “change their fate,” Clarkson said.

Reading the cards

Suzanne Rodgers, 71, use a combination of gemstones and tarot cards in her readings. She began the practice about two decades ago.

“You can do a traditional ten-card or a celtic cross that will tell now or what is to come,” Rodgers said.

On a person’s birthday, she will put 12 cards around a person in a circle, she said.

“Each one represents each month of the year. With my friends who follow it closely we are always watching. If you are watching like that, you get more of the nature of that card. You keep learning all the time.”

While Rodgers knows how the process works, it is up to the person being read to interpret the meaning, she said.

“There are four suits; the cups, the wands, the pentacles and the swords. They represent either fire, earth, air or water so the mental or emotional. I can give them a lot of that information. I encourage them to look at the reading and let them be the reader to get what they want from it.”

Rodgers said all humans have the potential to unlock their psychic abilities.

“To me it is sort of like music. We all have musical talents and all love music. Some of us are Mozart and most of us aren’t. All of us are somewhere in between. I think that you can nurture it or not.”

Psychic abilities tend to run in a family, said Zylpha Elliot, 59, also a tarot reader.

“My mom read cards and my grandmother was very psychic. I think some families may have more of it in their DNA because past ancestors have developed more skill or they have come in from past lives with skill because they are interested in it.”

Elliot said she pestered her father until he purchased a tarot deck for her at the age of 12.

“My father, he was very psychic but he never went there. He was very disappointed when I started taking it seriously.”

When Elliot performs a reading she searches for ways in which the subject can make positive changes in their lives.

“I try to bring out as much information from spirit as possible for that person to make the changes they might want to make to go on the path that might be best for them. I tell them the possibilities I see in the cards. I tell them what I can see about people they know or what they need to know.”

Elliot asks the person not to tell her the question they want answered until all the cards are laid out on the table.

Cultural waves

Historically, the divine arts have met resistance from a culture distrusting of the medium. That may be changing, Elliot said.

“I think some parts of our culture are really getting better and more open in some parts but not in others.”

Because of this stigma, some folks who have psychic talents are afraid to explore the ability, Elliot said.

“I know I boxed it off until I could open it safely. It can be dangerous because people don’t want to hear this person can see spirits. Our culture discourages it and I think we can do a lot by taking a key from Native American cultures to look at that and see how it is empowering and how we are cutting off half our power when we don’t pay attention to it.”

In her lifetime, Elliot has witnessed an emergence of a more tolerant culture, she said.

“Things are opening up. I think you could put a lid on by force but you are not going to be able to keep Spirit from shining there.”

Spirit is the source of all life, Elliot said.

“We are all co-creators and share in the spirit that created everything. I think Spirit is our connection to that Creator. It can be individual spirits, but overall we are all one big sea of Spirit.”

A separate path

Daphne Carrozza, 61, a tarot reader, began delving into spiritual arts as a teenager.

“I really wanted to belong to a church but I didn’t connect with Christianity,” she said. “I had a card reading done when I was 16 and it kind of stayed with me for a while.”

Carrozza said she was inspired by a spiritualist church in Anaheim, California.

“They channeled their messages from the podium from spirit. I became more aware of the spirits around us and developed my capability as being able to communicate with them.”

It was as if unspoken feelings suddenly made sense, she said.

“Have you ever had a feeling where you’ve had it but you can’t put it to words?”

Carrozza later became an ordained reverend and discovered she enjoyed helping others with her spiritual gifts.

“I focused more on the healing arts as the years went by and then I became a hypnotherapist and was able to combine my channeling ability, my mediumship capabilities in the sessions as a hypnotherapist as well.”

Carrozza said she channels a person’s energy and association with the afterlife, their masters and angels, presents the person with information they are ready to receive.

“They receive some sort of emotional healing or messages from the afterlife or they are actually able to work with the energy that comes through everyday life.”

For more information, or to schedule interviews with any of the psychics and presenters, send an email to joanneclarkson28@gmail.com, call 360-701-2030 or visit www.unitypt.org.