Pain is universal. This past year, pandemic and all, has brought on a new set of loss, discomfort, and growing pains that many of us are still trying to navigate. As busy Harvard students, it can be really difficult to take time out of our hectic schedules to reflect on the changes in our everyday lives, including our constantly shifting relationships with others and ourselves. So, we decided to get read by psychics.
The Independent visited Hanna and Dena, located in Cambridge and Roxbury respectively. There was a lot of bullshit to navigate through, but both psychic sessions taught us the power in recognizing our pain and fixing our relationship with loss. While it was painful to exchange money for readings, both psychics offered a valuable chance to shift one’s perspective. After having had our palms scrutinized, here’s our takeaway during this spooky midterm season: take the time to take care of yourself.
Dena the Psychic
One stop on the T and a seven minute Uber ride from Harvard, we arrived at the front desk of Dena the Psychic’s apartment building in Roxbury. We had exactly fifty dollars cash, enough for one palm reading. After five minutes’ time, a raspy voice rang through the dark gray halls. “Come on over, darlings.” Blindly following her lead, we proceeded upstairs and into her apartment. Dena was stout with a receding hairline and at least four missing front teeth.
Surrounded by stacks of pots and pans abandoned in the sink, we sat down in a small living area. Dozens of Virgin Mary figurines stood quietly in the corner. Their presence was deafening, starkly standing out against the tarot cards, incense, a glass ball, and other psychic paraphernalia strewn on the coffee table in front of us. Looking around, we got a glimpse into Dena’s everyday life; a plethora of magazine clippings, artwork, cosmetics, and miscellaneous items littered every inch of the surface area.
We expected the stereotypical four domains of psychic work to be covered: romantic relationships, familial connections, death, and major life transitions. We were spot on. Assuming the role of the readee, Eliza sat directly next to Dena, and opened her palms. Like most people receiving a palm reading for the first time, Eliza had some reservations about Dena’s higher powers. The woman started off by asking Eliza to come up with two goals, to which she responded, “win equestrian nationals and maintain a long and successful romance.” Dena had Eliza hold out fifty dollars of cash in her palms, ironically emphasizing the importance of money to not be the focus of her life goals; “Money comes and goes.”
The beginning of the session included a few inaccuracies. Dena shared conflicting statements regarding the past nine months and whether they were full of ups and downs or held at a steady “standstill.” It was also obvious that Dena used our university student context for her vision that the “next three years” will be filled with trials and tribulations. Eliza was informed that her lucky months are May and August, although the only potential connections we could conclude were the beginning and ending months of school. Dena told her that her luckiest days of the week are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and her lucky numbers 9, 19, and 24. We weren’t exactly sure how these days were selected either–we only noticed that, in naming every other day of the week, there was a forty percent chance of her striking a perceivably “lucky” day.
As the reading progressed, it became more detailed. Dena believed one of my grandmother’s had passed. But instead of a grandparent, the grumpy old lady who passed in my household was a 60 lb butterball of fat and muscle. My bulldog Mary Lou passed away in her sleep earlier this week.
After that miss, Dena informed Eliza that she was a strong candidate for twins, and with no such history in her family, it appears that her future spouse will have to supply the twin gene. Dena bounced back with a convenient prediction. She contended that Eliza would be “traveling” within the next six to nine months–conveniently right around the holidays. But finally the most predictable of them all: the proposition that Eliza will soon be invited to a big celebration. But, Dena made one pure error on that front: most colleges have big celebrations, not Harvard.
Hanna
Like with Dena we cringed as we charged Brooke’s credit card 35 dollars for a palm reading. After wandering around with Google Maps for half an hour, we finally stumbled across Hanna’s building—tucked away on a road off of Brattle Street.
From the outside, her place was unassuming. Inside, it looked like a fairy had thrown up. We were surrounded on all four sides by sparkly, lavender walls; crystals covered every inch of the room. Luckily, we were spared the rest of the psychic paraphernalia—no tarot cards or crystal balls in sight.
Brooke held out her palms, and Hanna placed a crystal in her right hand. She asked if Brooke was prepared to hear everything—the good and the bad. After a very hesitant “yes,” she began prophesying.
For the first few minutes, everything that came out of her mouth was disappointingly predictable. I sat there as she fed me what I’m sure is her usual psychic analysis:
“You will live a long and healthy life.
You will meet the love of your life very very soon.
You will be incredibly successful.”
The list goes on. Hanna made Brooke’s future life sound downright perfect, and yet, somehow, it didn’t really sound like hers. She did tell Brooke it looked like she was struggling with anxiety, which—though an accurate statement—does not require a third eye to ascertain (the alarming state of Brooke’s bitten nails can be seen from a mile away).
Right when we were about to lose hope, Hanna said something that actually resonated with Brooke.
“There’s a pain that demands to be felt.”
Although Brooke is not at all convinced that this psychic actually saw the magnitude of the loss she recently experienced; nevertheless, it finally felt as though she was speaking to someone who maybe, in her own supernatural ways, understood.
Brooke told Hanna that she was right, and for the first time in a while, she let herself feel the full weight of the pain. Hanna was right—it demanded to be felt.
Hanna squeezed Brooke’s hands a little tighter, and reminded her of something she too often forget:
“It doesn’t make you a hero to suffer alone.”
And with that, the reading was concluded.
Brooke walked out of the psychic office still somewhat skeptical. And yet, Brooke felt a little bit lighter.
When life feels especially shitty, people want to be told that it will pass. They want a stranger to convince them that their anxiety can be cured by magic healing crystals or the guy they like actually does like them back. People believe what they want to, and it’s easy to have faith when you’re being spoon-fed fantasies of some idyllic, impossibly perfect future.
Brooke’s reading may have been mostly bullshit, but oddly enough, she found it to be sort of therapeutic. It can be nice to just sit back, be a little more introspective, and have someone tell you that everything is going to be alright, even if you don’t fully believe it yourself.
Brooke, for one, left the psychic with a little more hope, and a lot more clarity. But we’ll feel differently when the credit card fraud rolls around.
In both of our readings, we found relief in the unexpected. You should try it.
Eliza Kimball (elizakimball@college.harvard.edu) anticipates her luck on Monday May 9, 2021.
Hannah Frazer (hannahfrazer@college.harvard.edu) is having her palm read on Friday.
Brooke Stanford (bstanford@college.harvard.edu) is looking to invest in a crystal ball.
Graphics by Lucy Hurlbut ’25