Today I have the great pleasure of speaking with Essex TV Psychic, Gail hart - from https://gailhart.co.uk/.
Let's cut to the chase and get started! Gail, thank you SO much for speaking with me today.
Can you please introduce yourself to our readers?
I work under the name Gail Hart. Most people can’t pronounce my real surname, which is French in origin, so I use Hart which is easier to spell and pronounce.
It is also my son’s surname.
When did you know that it was your calling, and what inspired you to start your business?
I was 19 years old when I started reading professionally but I had always had an interest in the paranormal and supernatural since I was very young.
I remembered my past lives since the age of 4 and had my first significant psychic experience when I was just 7 years old.
We lived across the road from the library and I would often take out books on UFOs and palmistry etc.
I did my first palm reading when I was just 12-year-old, as an exercise in my English class in my Catholic school and found out I could really do it.
My family were also interested in the psychic and mediumship world, so I grew up with it all being very natural.
We had doors that would often open and close on their own and my mum would just say “Entre” when it happened or “goodbye “when they closed.
By the time I was 19, I had heard about tarot and one day found a tarot deck in my sisters room whilst she was away at university.
I “borrowed” her deck and started to practice on friends and family for free.
Then I took out a unit in an indoor market (I was making children’s wear and jewellery) and the stall next to me was a tarot stall. I am still friends with the witch I met in the tarot stall, some 36 years on!
Eventually, I saw an advert for a spiritual Centre and arrogantly popped along, tarot in hand asking for a job. I gave two sample readings for the staff and I was in!
The youngest tarot reader they ever had. From then on, I worked at psychic fayres and events until I established myself independently and have now appeared in many magazines and on TV.
Which types of readings or services are most popular with your clients?
I guess tarot is my old faithful but as my mediumship skills improved and developed, then mediumship had become a popular request.
It’s a tough one as people often come with expectations especially with mediumship and I feel bad if I can’t connect to the person they were hoping for.
If that happens, I see if there is another spirit willing to connect, or if I can help with my own guides and tarot.
When I am seeing clients privately, I offer a mix of tarot, the guides and mediumship as these are the most reliable and in depth.
Sometimes I add oracle cards and flower insight cards as these back up the tarot and the flower cards are great at looking at the emotional issues.
The flowers are also available as remedies so I can also (as a qualified flower remedy practitioner and herbalist) offer potions to remedy an unwanted emotion.
If I am working at a corporate event or party of a birthday party or hen party, then the emphasis is on the entertainment side of things and I make the readings shorter and more fun.
I use a variety of tools depending on the type of event, but tarot, crystal ball and palmistry are more popular here.
I try to avoid mediumship or anything heavy at a party as it can be too emotional and unsuitable especially if people have been drinking alcohol. I
I have used many unusual tools for readings.
If you are clairsentient like I am, you can read almost anything, so I have read Champagne, sandwiches, beer, ribbons, biscuits, colour, flowers, objects and jewellery. Oh and lip stick print readings are fun too.
What is the most popular type of reading with customers?
I would say Tarot and mediumship. And the top subjects covered, are always love and work.
People want to know if they are going to meet someone, how it will go and if they will be with someone permanently.
They want to know if they will get a new job or the one, they are applying for will work out. Sometimes there are questions about family or if there is going to be a house move.
Of course, when making predictions, we have to emphasize it is for entertainment under UK law and we cannot guarantee something will work out as predicted.
Even the weather people get it wrong at times!
When I worked on TV and the phone lines, there were a lot of restrictions you had to work around.
It may have changed now, but back then (about 10 years ago), you couldn’t talk about Finances, health, Fertility and pregnancy or Legal issues.
You also couldn’t use the words tarot or spirit or ghost, but I hear that had changed now. I prefer the freedom of working independently.
How have things changed for you during the pandemic, and how have you adjusted?
Just before the first lock down was announced, I had a little shop unit in a shopping arcade in Chingford.
There were a few things I wasn’t happy with, such as a bad phone signal and my unit being near the communal entrance (too noisy) so I was wondering whether to renew my lease, which was due in April.
In the previous December, I had been thinking about hygiene in general and how many people touch my cards and bring coughs and colds into my working space where I am just a couple of feet away from them.
So I started putting a bottle of hand sanitizer on the table. I then came down with what I think was COVID despite it not being officially recognized as being in the UK until 2 months later, but many people I knew had the same illness and it was worse than flu.
I took 3 weeks off work, which is unusual for a workaholic like me and passed on all my party bookings. One of these booking was at the prestigious Shard in London- I was gutted!
I decided to close my shop and then just 2 weeks later, the first lock down came, and I was relieved not to be trapped paying rent on a locked unit. I must be psychic!
I had been having thoughts that I could just work from home, like I had always done but I was so pleased to be able to transfer my readings online (Skype, Zoom and email) and by phone.
So I no longer had strangers in and out of my house, which is why I had taken a shop unit in the first place.
I have to say my readings are much better done remotely, as I can focus on what the guides, spirits and cards are saying and not be distracted by facial expressions etc.
Are some readings more draining or demanding than others?
I don’t think the readings are draining as such, but some people can be, just as we find people draining in everyday life.
My friend refers to people as “Fountains and Drains” because some people can refresh and energies you and others can drain and sap your energy.
I was self-taught as a psychic and never learnt in the first few years, about psychic protection or shielding. I now make sure I do a form of “prayer” which is actually a type of reiki exercise before I start my reading, to make sure I have enough energy and I am in a protective space.
I also set affirmations to my guides so only send me clients that are for mine and their highest good and not to send me time wasters. So far this works.
There have been times, when particularly working back to back on readings at fayres or parties, that I have been ready to collapse and then the next person sits down, and like a beautiful fountain, restores my energy and brings me back to life!
I think keeping a sense of humor is important or you can take it all too seriously and it can become heavy.
Know when to refer your client on to other services or psychics and healers if you feel you have done all you can to help with just a reading.
I had one client who was very depressed and negative and always asked so many questions particularly about timings, so I referred her to an astrologer who was able to pinpoint timings of events more accurately than I could.
The client was happy and the astrologer was happy and it made space for me to take on a less challenging client.
Any parting words of advice for our readers in these difficult times?
`The most important thing I am learning, even 36 years into being a professional reader, is self-care. Know when to stop, to take a breather and make time for yourself.
Go for walks and talk to friend. It’s an isolating job and we don’t often have a team like workmates to chat to. Drink plenty of water and check you have enough energy to conduct readings.
Don’t be scared to postpone a client if you are not feeling well enough. People will be needing our services more than ever in the coming years as the world changes.
So make sure you stay healthy in mind, body and spirit. Also, know your worth. Don’t worry about what anyone else is charging or offering.
Your own way of reading is unique to you and don’t let anyone undervalue you. Tell people to go elsewhere if they are not happy with your prices or services on offer.
Gail Hart, 7th April 2021
