A Great Falls woman called on a psychic several years back to find out if she and her ex-boyfriend were going to get back together.
Straying from the question at hand, psychic Darlene Gustovich "saw" a piece of recreational property she said the woman's folks were going to purchase. She scribbled a rough map on a napkin.
The woman's parents, who in fact were looking for a place to build a cabin, followed the map out into the boonies, and stepped out to explore the nice, snow-covered area.
"I guess this is it," her mother said.
"But it's not for sale," replied her father.
A few steps later, her mother tripped on something. The for sale sign had fallen over and was buried under the snow.
After discovering the property in such an interesting fashion, the couple couldn't resist. They bought and built and have enjoyed many happy retreats since.
A handful of local psychics foretell of love, finance, careers and more for seekers and believers from near and far.
For the past 30 years, 60-year-old Gustovich and her sister, Delores, 62, have offered local readings and traveled around the United States, giving their services to investigators on various murder cases.
Darlene Gustovich has clients in every state and in 47 countries.
"We really feel we've been so, so blessed," said Gustovich, speaking about their "God-given talent."
Jessica Morris, 40, began offering readings about six years ago and brought her talent to Great Falls in fall 2004.
At least two more women offer readings in the Electric City.
The city boasts hundreds of believers, just as many skeptics, and some a bit of both.
"I think there are genuine psychics and those who call themselves psychics ? they're the ones who pump you for information," said Krystina Kolstad, owner of the Rain Storm Forest, which sells handmade jewelry and apparel in downtown Great Falls.
Kolstad said seekers shouldn't expect psychics to tell them everything that's going to happen in the future.
"They're not reading a script," she said. "You might see something as black and the next person sees something as charcoal gray. It's a matter of perspective.
"I think you really have to trust your feelings about what they tell you, and keep an open mind."
Purple J
The inside of Jessica Morris' forehead works like a movie screen.
"I get flashes," she said. "Flashes of things come across like pictures from a movie."
Since she was a teen, Morris has known things were going to happen before they actually occurred. She ignored the feelings until six years ago, when she began having dreams about finding her brother dead.
"Two months later he was in a very bad accident," said Morris, who works at Centene Corp.
So she started reading books about psychic phenomena and opened up about her talent to people she knew in New Mexico, where she lived with her husband and their two children.
"It all exploded from there," Morris said.
A couple years ago, her family moved to Great Falls to be nearer to her father-in-law, who was ill. She was nervous about going public with her ability but when she told people she was psychic, she encountered curiosity and enthusiasm rather than negativity.
Morris offered readings through the Rain Storm Forest for a spell, but now does them at her home or at a restaurant. She does most of her readings on Saturdays.
No crystal ball
When meeting with a client, Morris holds an object, like the person's jewelry, cell phone or car keys.
"I pick up energy from whatever object or picture they give me," she said, describing a practice called psychometry.
Then she asks what the person wants to know.
Morris said she tries to answer questions and then tells whatever messages come back from the spiritual plane. The spiritual plane, according to Morris' Wicca religion, is a dwelling place for the souls and energies of the deceased.
"Some people come after a loved one has passed and want to make sure the loved one is OK," she said. "I always get a confirmation message. Something there's no way I could ever know comes through as reassurance to people in the physical world."
Morris said she actually sees the deceased person standing behind the client or off to the side.
"They are in human form," she said. "They look like they did in the physical world, not injured."
Others want to know about life basics, like love, relationships, finances and careers.
"I think the reason some people have this (talent) is to help other people find answers in their lives," she said.
Tammy Dunlop, a skeptic at first, went to Morris for a reading a year ago because she was going through some changes.
"I pretty much just handed her my cell phone and said, 'OK, tell me what you can,'" said Dunlop, a nail technician at Transformations Day Spa & Salon.
That day Dunlop became a believer.
"She was able to give me names without me saying anything ? I just sat there," Dunlop said. "She could describe my son; she knew the color of his hair and told me his age."
Morris, who claims 80 percent accuracy, said the ability to read runs in her family. Her grandmother, mother and an aunt on her mother's side are psychics as well. Both of her children are showing signs, too, she said.
She believes all people are a bit psychic.
"Everyone has the ability to be more intuitive and listen to the universal energy," Morris said. "It just depends on whether they're in tune to it or not."
The Gustoviches
Darlene Gustovich has done readings for the police chief of Saudi Arabia as well as physicians, priests and the general public.
She and her sister have helped with numerous high-profile crime cases all across the country, including those involving serial killer Ted Bundy and Lisa Marie Kimmell, a Billings woman who was kidnapped and murdered in Wyoming.
Locally, she's worked on both the Zachary Ramsay and Dolana Clark cases.
"We still believe he's alive," said Gustovich, talking about Ramsay. "Many people tell us, 'You're wrong,' but he's not dead until you prove it to me, honey."
Lt. Jere Carpenter said the Great Falls Police Department is not beyond seeking help on cases, but he couldn't cite a case where a psychic's tip has been successful.
"If a psychic offers a suggestion or possible lead, we're going to look into it," he said. "Obviously we weed out what we think is good information and what isn't."
Growing up in Great Falls, the Gustoviches assumed everyone possessed the same psychic ability they shared with their mother. In high school, they realized their talent was rare and made fun predictions about who would attend prom together.
Their silly prophecies were accurate.
In 1976, after working for several years at Opportunities Inc., the Gustoviches began psychic reading full time. Darlene had a "reading room" and Delores gave predictions in the kitchen.
About three years ago, Delores suffered a bout with cancer and other health problems, so she's currently not seeing clients.
Darlene Gustovich said she's not pretending to be God, but the Roman Catholic woman believes God helps her when she does readings.
"I get visions, I get sound, I can taste things," she said. "When we focus in a person, we sometimes feel the pain to the point where it can get us very ill."
Gustovich, too, does psychometry readings, using a rosary.
"Years ago I would have them hold a deck of cards," she said. "Props, like rosaries or cards, they're just focal points to erase outside interferences."
Gustovich said most people come to her with specific questions.
"We read first and 90 percent of the questions are answered," she said.
And, many times, things come out that people may not want to hear.
"There are good things and bad things," she said, referring to life's natural balance. "If someone just tells you what you want to hear, there's something wrong with that."
But everything she reports isn't necessarily going to happen, she said.
"We have free wills," said Gustovich. "I don't want to change people's paths, I want people to change their own paths. I just want to guide them along that path."
Frauds, fakers, phonies
Gustovich has a crystal ball her mother used to peer into, but she doesn't use it.
"I take my profession very seriously," she said. "I do not want to look like the local carnival person."
She said there are lots of charlatans who make honest gifted people look phony.
"It just makes me sick," Gustovich said. "I had one person tell me, 'I just spent $5,000 on some idiot in New York.' If you got a gift ... you don't need to see that kind of gift used like that."
Morris said clients always should walk away from a reading with some evidence, especially when the psychic claims to have communicated with the deceased.
"(The psychic) always should give you something ? a color or a number ? some small thing as confirmation that the person is giving a message," she said.
And don't be afraid to ask the psychic some personal questions to establish his or her credibility.
"You want the right thing, not junk," said Gustovich.
Source: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/p ... 30306/1024
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