Psychic Sees Future In Cda

How disappointing. The woman reading my palm looks like a PTA mom. No gold hoops in her ears or mystery in her eyes. She’s wearing a jumper and sensible shoes.

“Most psychics look pretty ordinary,” Diane Elaine says. She hopes the double first name she uses professionally gives her some mystique but I still expect her to offer me a plate of cookies. Instead, she flattens my fingers so nothing shields my palm from her eyes.

“I do my best to tell people the positive side of what I see,” she says. “But I view the future as moveable and people need to know they can change things.”

Diane Elaine is 53 and an unlikely psychic. She was raised by conservative, academic-minded parents and was finishing a master’s degree in experimental psychology when a telepathic game helped her recognize her sixth sense.

She was captivated.

“I’ve always been fascinated by the idea that there’s no such thing as time,” she says. “That’s why we can remember the future. I wanted to tap into the time stream.”

She switched her educational emphasis to psychic healing, numerology, card-and palm-reading. The clairvoyant world sometimes showed her more than she wanted to know.

“It frightened me at the beginning,” she says, which, she believes, caused her to limit what she sees. She no longer sees disasters.

Palm-reading began as a hobby but quickly grew into Diane Elaine’s livelihood. She lived in Los Angeles, where psychics were the hit of every party. She warmed up with a character analysis from palm wrinkles and finger lengths, then moved into the time stream for answers and guidance.

That guidance steered her to Coeur d’Alene five years ago, where she found the psychic waters a tad cooler than in California.

“People up here are so stubbornly independent,” she says. “And it takes them so long to make up their minds to do anything.”

Some clients say they’ve thought about calling her for a year or more. She believes she had to survive a few winters before Idahoans would trust her.

A mainstream job in sales has supplemented the small income Diane Elaine earns from readings and classes she teaches in metaphysics. But it’s not what she wants to do.

She advertised her services this month for the first time with the intention of making it or moving. Seven immediate responses convinced her to stay.

“That’s my answer right now. Doing readings provides a valuable service,” she says. “I give people control, make clear their choices. It helps.”

And it’s fun - even without the exotic flavor.

After Christmas presents

Pack up last year’s clothes, the books you’ve finished, toys your children haven’t noticed in months, dishes you no longer use, even the furniture that doesn’t fit in your house anymore. Consider it pre-spring cleaning.

Then donate the stuff to St. Vincent de Paul’s Thrift Store, 108 E. Walnut in Coeur d’Alene. St. Vincent’s shares everything with the homeless families it shelters. It gives appliances and beds, clothes and furniture to people wiped out by floods, winter storms, fires.

It sells everything dirt cheap and spends the money it earns on its shelters and training programs for homeless folks. Get busy.

Friday night fever

Observations from a Lake City High dance chaperone: kids know all the words to “Grease” (honest) and even act the parts; slow dancing is out or couples don’t go to dances; and administrators put in some long days.

Which North Idaho high school throws the best dance, why is it so great and when is it? Brag about your school to Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814; fax to 765-7149; call 765-7128; or e-mail to cynthiat@spokesman.com.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo