Sylvia Browne

Sylvia Browne (born Sylvia Celeste Shoemaker 1936 in Kansas City, Missouri) is a well-known psychic medium and author of numerous books on spirituality. Her books include both serious and humorous stories illustrating some of her adventures. She has a relatively large following, and has performed thousands of one-on-one readings and assignments with everyone from the FBI to former U.S. presidents. She considers herself to be a gnostic Christian, that is, a seeker of knowledge under the Christian faith.

Browne's beliefs include the notion of spirit guides, discarnate spirits who have previously lived mortal lives and now watch over currently living mortals. Communication from these guides might manifest, for example, as the "little voice in the head" telling a person to go another way home from work to avoid danger or waking up a person in the middle of the night with news that someone has died. Browne professes the ability to speak with her spirit guides, and has given details of fifty-four of her own former lives, as divined by them.

Mrs. Browne offers readings to both individuals as well as crowds. Skeptics suggest that Browne may be using cold reading techniques to "fish" for information while reading, rather than displaying actual psychic abilities. Browne has stated on Larry King Live that she would take up famous skeptic and magician James Randi's $1,000,000 challenge to demonstrate supernatural abilities in a controlled scientific test. As of 2004, this has not yet happened.

She acquired the surname Brown from the third of her four marriages, and enhanced it with a final e as her stage name.

Sylvia Browne

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