If not for the large plastic sign with a palm stenciled on it in the small yard, it could have been any other boxy nondescript house sitting along Route 29.
But it isn't. The concrete figurines that encircle the driveway and the two red roadsters, shiny and pristine in the March sunshine, all belong to Mrs. Jane Marks, the only psychic reader in all of Charlottesville.
Mrs. Jane, as she likes to be called, answers the doorbell at the plastic-windowed door on the side of the house marked "Office," her squarish face squinting and a little suspicious. Her voice is edgy as her two miniature poodles, Mickey and Pierre, bounce around at her feet.
"A lot of people just don't believe in this," she says and sits down in one of two wicker chairs by a glass table. A candle glows in the middle and a soft floral smell wafts through the room.
As she leans back in the chair, dressed in loose cotton clothes and dainty slipper-like shoes, her face begins to soften a bit.
"I don't want people to be afraid of me," she says, her fierce black eyes glinting. "If I could help them, if I could give them advice, I would welcome them into my home."
She glances out the window as she talks, the light nosing its way inside through the slatted blinds. Mrs. Jane is sitting in the middle of the place where she feels her powers are strongest, in a room whose walls are lined with posters of karma and astrology-influenced art.
But although this niche along 29 is where Mrs. Jane feels a greatest sense of place and strength right now, she hasn't always lived in Charlottesville.
In fact, she grew up by the bayou - after being born in Knoxville, Tenn., she moved to a little town outside of Shreveport, La. when she was only 1 or 2 years old.
She practiced her psychic palm readings in Louisiana for 20 years after turning 18 - before she moved to Charlottesville about a year ago.
"Another psychic named Mrs. Day was here many, many years ago," she says. "Then I bought the business out."
Mrs. Jane says she settled in Charlottesville because she felt a special connection to the people and places.
"I had heard about these mountains called the Blue Ridge," she says and sweeps her wispy black hair away from her forehead. "I came out as a vacation, and because I liked the area, I figured it would be a good place."
One of Mrs. Jane's three children runs out of the bedroom and interrupts her speech pattern by placing a canned energy drink in one of her hands.
As Mrs. Jane watches her daughter scamper away, she explains that she first realized she had a psychic gift when she was about 9 or 10 years old.
"I had a bad experience happen," she says, her face somber. "I lost my best friend in a swimming accident. I had known for days before that something bad would happen, but I got there too late to save her. If I was sitting down watching TV or doing homework, I would have these visions - I would see her drowning."
But Mrs. Jane says that even before her friend's death her mother, who also was a psychic, had detected that her daughter had "the gift."
"She used to tell me that when I would color with crayons or markers, I would write things down and I didn't even know where they had come from," she says, crossing her ankles and readjusting one of her pant legs.
Mrs. Jane says her mother told her she would be able to share her abilities with her friends but not her family. "She said, 'You will be their adviser one day,'" Mrs. Jane recalls.
But even though Mrs. Jane believes she inherited her gift of seeing into the future from her mother and that her children also will have the gift, she acknowledges that not all of them will get it.
"It flows through family," she says. "I don't know why, but it won't reach every one of them."
The gift certainly has reached her, but not without help, she says.
"I wouldn't have made it if it hadn't been for the good God and the good Lord," she says and pulls out a thickly bound copy of the Holy Bible from beneath the table. "That's where I get all my powers from."
She says she sees about six or seven people each day, and though the process of reading that many people's futures on a day to day basis can be tiring, she says it's no different from a regular 9-to-5 job.
"But it's funny; I feel the power never weakens," she says seriously. "In fact, it gets stronger."
Mrs. Jane cannot place a definite number on how many people visit her each day because, "it varies, some days you'll get 10 and some days it'll be cold and raining and you'll get none."
She says that about 90 percent of her clients are repeat customers and that some come from as far away as Boston and New York City.
Whether they are tourists just passing through or one of the many residents of Charlottesville, Mrs. Jane does a variety of psychic readings for each client.
Not only does she do the traditional tarot card or palm readings, she also sells potions that she calls "tools" to many customers.
As she says this, Mrs. Jane settles herself further back into the chair and the wicker creaks a little as she shifts.
She smiles for a moment, then says that although some people demand particular types of these readings or specific "tools," not every one is really right for them.
"People just come up to my door and they say, 'Do you have something for love' and I look closely at them and say 'yes,'" she says.
"But sometimes I say 'no' if I don't feel the tools would work for them in particular. Instead, I invite them inside and say, 'Let's do a tarot card reading or a palm reading and get you on the right track.'"
Most people do get on the right track, she says. While most come into the store either for fun or as what Mrs. Jane calls "non-believers," they all leave her presence with some sort of insight into their problems.
"They feel very relaxed and very openly toward me," she says. "There are things you cannot share with your best friend but they feel comfortable talking with me."
Mrs. Jane says that many of these clients' expectations are superceded in many ways. She says some show up on her doorstep without really knowing what they are doing there at all.
And others sit one-on-one with her and discover that their lives are leading them down completely different paths than they might have realized.
To get her clients to feel this comfortable, Mrs. Jane changes the atmosphere from what is usually a brightly lit room into a dim, incense-scented space that is reminiscent of a seance.
This change in scene helps prepare both herself and her client for a completely focused state of mind during the session.
"I tell them to have a clean strong mind and focus on the problem," she says and rises to cross the room.
She returns with one of her meditation tools - a thick pole resembling a walking stick that makes a strange rattling noise. She then picks up a large opaque glass bowl - the meditation bowl.
Mrs. Jane concentrates intently as she drags a cement tool along the lip of the bowl. A shrill, bell-like sound fills the room.
She uses these meditation tools at the beginning of her sessions to "help get herself on the right track."
By using the tools, she alters the rhythm and atmosphere of everyday life.
"It makes you feel cleansed; it makes you feel as though you have a new energy," she says and returns the large bowl back to its place in a corner.
Above all, Mrs. Jane says her goal is to help people. She characterizes herself as a type of messenger who receives her strength through God. She then conveys this strength to her clients, not only as a psychic, but also as a counselor.
"A lot of people just want to shut the door and not see the real world and hide under their shell," she says, the corners of her mouth tugging down into a slight frown. "But I just try to help them and show them that there really is love and strength out there"
Read More
Top 10 questions to ask on a blind date at U.Va.
By Emily Barrie | 5 hours agoSpice up the “Where do you live?” question by asking your date something a bit more creative.
Treat yourself to these three autumn recipes
By Charley Thomas | 2 days agoThis autumn dinner trio — caper chicken, acorn squash and apple pie — makes for the coziest of October evenings.
Big flavor, small truck — Mod Pod’s Mexican-inspired magic
By Sophie Guettel | 5 days agoThe Mod Pod offers a mix of casual dining with bold, vibrant flavors that make each dish worth trying.
