“Make two good wishes. Now tell me one.”

These are the first words Sylvia Nicholas tells her clients during a psychic reading.

Nicholas owns Psychic Readings by Sylvia, which is north of Bowling Green on State Route 25. She has been working as a psychic for 25 years, and said she first noticed her “gift” when she was 12.

“I would see dreams, I would see things happen visually,” Nicholas said. “I feel things; it’s just something I know.”

When doing a reading for clients, Nicholas said she just knows their future and their present. She knows what their boyfriend looks like, what their lucky number is and how many kids they will have one day.

Talking to people is Nicholas’ favorite part of the job.

“I like when I see improvement in them,” she said.

Nicholas calls her gift “spiritual,” which means she works through God, she said.

“I feel the moment and lead them in the right direction,” Nicholas said. “It’s all through Jesus, the feeling, the talking, the profile.”

Nicholas works out of her home, where she has a small sitting area set up in the dining room. A corner table filled with a wishing well, crystals, books and tarot cards is Nicholas’ workspace.

Readings can take anywhere from 30 minutes to one hour, depending on the client, Nicholas said.

Nicholas offers different kinds of readings, such as a psychic reading, a séance, a tarot reading, a palm reading, a water reading, a crystal reading and a romance reading.

“Career, love, business, past life, what’s going on in their life right now— it depends on what they want to know about,” Nicholas said.

Curious people of all ages come to Nicholas, but she said she does get quite a few college students. With the TV blaring in the other room, and Nicholas’ young daughter scampering around, she welcomes customers into her dining room where she gives readings at a corner table.

While telling the future is part of her gift, Nicholas said her job is “more consulting and hearing the heart and the mind.”

Nicholas, who was raised Greek Orthodox, uses prayer and said she is more of a spiritual healer.

While Nicholas said her gift is from God, the Greek Orthodox religion rejects psychics, said Rev. Father Ignatius Warren, of St. Elias Orthodox Church in Sylvania, Ohio.

“We believe there’s no need for secret knowledge,” Warren said. “Everything we need for growth and life and faith and spiritual understanding has been revealed to us and it’s available to us without a fee.”

One of the views among the monotheistic religions is that “for some within those religions, psychic ability doesn’t exist,” said Anna Hawley, a doctoral student in clinical psychology at the University, who studies psychology of religion.

While some religions may reject psychics today, there are mentions of psychics historically within religious traditions, said Donna Burdzy, a doctoral student in clinical psychology at the University.

“That’s a huge tradition,” Burdzy said. “Just about any religion you want to point your finger at has examples of either people who have visions or who have revelations.”

Nicholas’ church is in Cleveland, and she said her pastor encourages her to go with her “God-gifted feelings.”

“Only God predicts the future. I teach people to be closer to him, to understand him more,” Nicholas said.

Nicholas goes to all churches, not one specifically, she said.

“We all pray to one God,” she said.

While the church may reject the idea of psychics, Nicholas said people always believe her.

“They always cry,” she said. “They can’t believe it because I tell them what all they’ve been through– past, present, future.”

Nicholas plans to offer her abilities for the rest of her life, despite the fact that psychologists may still be debating the existence of psychics.

Burdzy teaches in an introduction to psychology class, that, “in a way all people are sort of amateur psychologists.”

“We’re always picking up information when we’re interacting with people,” she said. “I think people who are psychics, I think they’re probably very good at being able to infer or make predictions about other people’s lives with just information they’re presented with.”

Nicholas, 41, doesn’t care what psychologists say, the local psychic plans to keep telling fortunes for the rest of her life.

“I like when I get to know [people], I like to give them satisfaction to head in the right direction,” she said.