The Spiritual Awakening

Sparta psychic tends to network of professional women
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Arlene Rich's life has inched toward her present line of work as a psychic, medium and hypnotherapist in her business, The Spiritual Awakening. Married since high school, the 53-year-old raised three now-grown sons and for years used her computer sciences degree to work programming jobs for nonprofits. All the while, she says, she had extrasensory skills.

In 1994 she was having coffee with a neighbor when she saw the form of an old man sitting in the rocking chair in the room. She told the neighbor he was there for her, that he loved her and his name was GD.
"She got emotional and said it was her grandfather and all she ever knew him as was GD," Rich said. "It didn't unnerve me one iota. It felt natural. But I told her, 'Next time, tell him to go to your house.'"

Soon after, Rich formally studied psychic development at a local spiritual institute and hypnotherapy at The Institute of Hypnotherapy in Edison.

Today she offers a mix of these spiritual skills to clients, who come to her Sparta office for her services or talk to her over the phone. Her sessions are confidential, always start with a prayer and are never frightening, she said.

"This work is about helping other people to shine their light," Rich said.
The soul of her practice, she said, is helping people replace angst with peace, and to connect them to the world around them and the world of spirit for the purpose of bringing comfort and perspective.

WARREN WESTURA / SPECIAL TO THE DAILY RECORD

Arlene Rich used to work computer programming jobs for nonprofits. Now she helps people replace angst with peace as a psychic, medium and hypnotherapist.

More and more Americans believe in the paranormal, according to recent surveys. According to the 2006 Baylor Religion Survey, the most exhaustive ever conducted of the American public, 19 percent of East Coast Americans responding said they consult mediums, fortune tellers and psychics -- the highest than in any other part of the country.

Camille Cerria of Oak Ridge, who worked in the nautical party business for some 12 years, did not hesitate to see Rich last fall when her business, Smooth Sailing Celebrations, was ailing. Rich told her money would pour in this year.

"Instead of only making cold calls, I placed ads online," Cerria said. "In the first quarter of this year I made more money than in all of 2006." From those ads Cerria booked events for 1,000 state troopers, a Montclair State University spring formal and for pharmaceutical companies, among other clients.
"Arlene didn't give me direction," Cerria said, "but she gave me a feeling of empowerment when I doubted myself. When you have peace of mind, you think in a different way. Desperation is not fun."

Sue Urda is cofounder of Powerful You, a networking group for businesswomen in 13 states; Rich is co-facilitator of its Sparta chapter with her business partner Loann Simon.

"At my reading, Arlene told me what is in me," Urda said. "Some of what she says comes from spirit and some is from incredible insight. It is helpful to hear it from someone else. We all need that."

Rich also teaches psychic development classes because people do not need her, she said. They can be psychic and talk to spirits themselves. For more events or to contact them call
(973) 398-0169 or (973) 487-0109 or visit www.thespiritualawakening.com.

"Human Interests" appears every Thursday and other days of the week from time to time. In each column Lorraine Ash explores interesting angles on local life that may otherwise escape attention. Reader mail is welcome at lvash@gannett.com.

Listen to Arlene speak at a Powerful You! TeleNetwork event - Can You Hear Them Now?