Jan 13 2008 by James McCarthy, Wales On Sunday
Wondering what 2008 holds in store for you? JAMES McCARTHY did so he met up with celebrity psychic Gavin Cromwell to find out more...
I?M sitting in a hotel foyer waiting for a fortune teller.
If you?d called last week to say I would be getting my tarot cards read I would have said you were crazy or knew something I didn?t.
So when celebrity psychic Gavin Cromwell got on the blower ? or his manager did, anyway ? and asked if I?d like a reading I had to concede he might know something I didn?t. He?s psychic after all.
My usual blusterings about superstitious nonsense melted away as I hypocritically leapt at the chance to find out my future.
Will I be a millionaire? Is Scarlett Johannson ever going to come knocking? Who?s going to win the Six Nations and is there a bookie nearby?
Sceptic, schmeptic.
We agreed to meet at the Coed-y-Mwstwr hotel in Bridgend.
The last time I was in the South Wales town I was late for a meeting. Today I?m early, and a little disappointed Gavin ? who claims to be descended from Oliver Cromwell ? didn?t know I would be.
Set in 17 acres of woodland and with a name that means Whispering Trees, the hotel is suitably creepy. I?m told there are assorted ghouls still enjoying Coed-y-Mwstwr?s four-star luxury.
Soon Gavin, who is recording a TV show called Spirit Seekers, sweeps into the room with PR Jamie Shaw.
I reluctantly leave the warmth of the log fire to get up and say hi.
Clad entirely in black, apart from a gold belt and tie, he?s sporting black and blonde-streaked hair and eyeliner. He doesn?t so much bring to mind crystal balls and Gypsy Lee as The Crow and Brandon Lee.
He?s a chatty sort from Newport, where he went to St Julian?s infants and secondary schools. I wonder what his schoolmates made of him.
He first noticed he could see things others couldn?t when he visited the city?s 17th Century Tredegar House as a four-year-old. He tells me about how he waved at a man with a wig on, only for his baffled nan to tell him there was no-one there.
Haley Joel Osment telling Bruce Willis ?I see dead people? in The Sixth Sense races through my mind.
He?d like to do a full investigation of the house but says the managers won?t let him.
We decide to start the reading. Gavin has previously read cards for the likes of Atomic Kitten?s Natasha Hamilton, Kelly Osbourne?s cousin Terry Longden, West End star Peter Karrie and former Stereophonic Stuart Cable.
I am honoured.
I perch on a sofa next to the 26-year-old and he passes me the cards to shuffle before he lays 10 of them on a black cloth on a table in front of us.
He peels them from the pack. The Seven of Swords. The Page of Swords. The Knight of Cups. The Hermit. The Five of Pentacles. The Knight of Swords. The Seven of Wands. The Queen of Cups. The Hanged Man. The Sun.
Some cards criss-cross one another. I have no idea what any of this means.
I must be looking worried. Gavin keeps asking: ?What?s wrong??
I tell him nothing, but I?m convinced he?s probing my soul without permission.
He tells me the reading covers the next 12 months and will examine ?career, money, love and everything?.
I feel increasingly worried.
He begins: ?You need to be more vocal about what you want. You don?t know what you have got until it?s gone. It?s not just career it?s lifestyle as well. There are a lot more strings to your bow. I feel you have skills that you are not using to their full potential. You have been distracted.?
What strings? What bow? Tell me! I need to know!
?You have gone so far from the path that it seems difficult to get back,? he says, adding cryptically: ?In three months? time you are going to have a big decision to make there. Perhaps there is more of a performance side. I don?t want to see you behind the scenes.?
It?s true I?ve (dis)graced the odd stage but my hidden talents are probably best left that way.
Gavin fingers the cards and says: ?I see an increase in earnings. This is telling me you?re going to be put into a more powerful role within your life.?
I?m starting to get into this.
Then he adds: ?You?re on the outside looking in. You can be a bit of a soft touch because people know you?ll say yes to things. You need to say no to a lot of things and put a firmer side across.?
This is true. Then I wonder if he?s only said it because he knows I won?t disagree. Gavin looks at me conspiratorially.
?I see you in a role you?re not meant to be in,? he says. ?You?re a strong person that has been weakened by society, by things in life in general. I want to see this new side to your life in full. I think you?ll have a tough time deciding what to do.?
He adds: ?I see two personalities. One wanting to fit in but there is a different side that is more of a... have you ever tried to read music? I see this passion there.?
Two personalities? Great, I?m crackers.
He talks about love and tells me he sees people being jealous of me (quite of what remains a mystery) and that he sees ?a rocky road?.
Oh dear. He says my mum?s lovely, though.
He moves on: ?The Sun. A very nice card to end on. It shows personal and professional growth. I see you driving to a sunnier climate. I see you doing jobs abroad.?
That?d be nice.
Suddenly I hear a bang behind me. Expecting to see the head of a decapitated guardsman (or something) bouncing down the stairs I spin around.
The cleaner has dropped something. I breathe a sigh of relief.
Gavin?s concentration is unbroken.
Still perusing the cards, he whispers: ?There is quite a pagan element there. I think you appreciate the more natural things in life, whether it is plants, or watching things grow.?
Well, I?ve just bought a pet snake. And I nearly visited a garden centre on the weekend.
Before he finishes, Gavin leans over and touches my knee: ?I think there is a dark side to you that you can go into,? he reveals.
?I think you can think some twisted thoughts.
?I see them as coming more forward. And you enjoying that side a lot more.?
As I get ready to leave he adds that things I have ?put on the back shelf will come forward and surprise? me.
I take this to be a good thing and not a reference to someone hiding in my car with a knife.
I leave the hotel not quite knowing what to make of the whole thing. Nothing had been predicted and no claims of contact with dead spirits were made.
I enjoyed it. And I was left thinking about what was said deep into the night. It was like meeting someone who already knows you, and has a good gauge of your character.
But I had never met Gavin Cromwell before.
And that made it very spooky.
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/wal ... -20343453/
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