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Elizabeth Fotinopoulos might not be a CEO or an executive, but she sure wields a lot of power. The 64-year-old redhead is a “seer” — i.e., a psychic — and when it comes to her clients, she definitely calls the shots. “I run people’s lives,’’ says Fotinopoulos, who lives with her husband in Dix Hills, LI.
“I run their marriages, help them make money . . . People have changed careers, left relationships or adopted children because I told them to. ’’
They’ve even left the Big Apple because of her.
“Elizabeth advised me to make a career choice that seemed completely counterintuitive,’’ says George de la Pena, 56, who had been acting in theater and film, but accepted a post running a department at the University of Iowa in 2005.
“I was a die-hard New Yorker, and she wanted me to take a job in the Midwest. I have no doubt that this decision spared me serious financial instability.”
Fotinopoulos says she has consulted with many celebrities, too, claiming she predicted Patrick Swayze’s illness to him in 2007. “He said, ‘Elizabeth, do you think I’m going to beat it?’ I told him no, which he didn’t want to hear, but it gave him a [desire] to really live the end of his life to the fullest.”
Fotinopoulos is just part of the wave of psychic influence among successful New Yorkers. Some people have become so dependent on psychic consultations, they regularly check online psychic sites. One site, Oranum.com, which launched last year, reports a 40 percent growth in traffic over the past three months.
Frank Andrews has been reading tarot cards out of his NoLIta brownstone and making what he says are frighteningly accurate predications for 50 years. (In 1975, he says, he warned Yoko Ono that her husband would be “sleeping in blood.”) “I read lawyers, judges, even mobsters. John Lennon shuffled those,’’ Andrews says, pointing to a weathered deck of tarot cards.
More men have been coming for readings. “When I started out, it was mostly women who came to me; now it is about 50/50,” he says. “Women have always been more attracted to mysticism and magic, but now that psychics are all over television, it’s become more acceptable to men. And more and more men want to know if they will be keeping their jobs.’’
Jane Greer, a 52-year-old Upper East Side marriage-and-family psychotherapist, is such a devotee of seer Maria Papapetros that she even sends her patients to see her. A 2004 reading, Greer claims, was a matter of life and death. “I had asked about health,” she says. “She told me my husband needed immediate medical attention, so we went to the doctor, and as it turned out, they rushed him into open-heart surgery just in time.’’
What’s more, while these clients might ask the usual questions about love and relationships, a lot of the time they’re interested in professional advice and tips about how to do their jobs better.
Lynne White, a 50-something on-air contributor to WNBC, goes to psychic Thomas John to get a handle on her business decisions, as well as her love life. “Thomas sees the future clearly,” she says. “He will also tell me if I should accept an offer or pitch a certain show.”
John says that his business has seen a dramatic bump. “Since last spring, the amount of people who come to see me has doubled. There is a lot of financial anxiety now, and people want to know there is a light at the end of the tunnel.’’
Fay Curtis may be involved in some high-powered real estate deals, but when the Citi Habitats broker, 49, wants to know what moves to make, she consults psychic Vanessa Facciola, who lives in Kew Gardens, Queens, and works out of the Patrick Melville and Warren Tricomi hair salons.
“Sometimes these closings drag on and people back out. I’ll ask her if and when the deal will happen,’’ says Curtis, who lives on the Upper West Side.
“Vanessa is scary-right. She warned me that a client was going to back out of a deal when I thought it was a sure thing — and she was right.’’
Lesley Jane Seymour, editor-in-chief of More magazine, is another believer in Facciola’s abilities.
“I met her at a beauty event; the company was using psychics to help introduce a lipstick,’’ Seymour says of their 2000 meeting.
“She told me a lot of weird stuff, and I didn’t believe a word, but I did write things down. Then all the things she told me actually came true. There are certain people who are tapped into something else. Vanessa is creepy in her ability. I hadn’t spoken to my mother in 20 years, and she told me she was ill. It gave me a chance to see her before she died.’’
According to Seymour, “Half the fashion designers we know see psychics of some sort. They live more on the creative edge than regular corporate workers, and are able to suspend disbelief better than others. They ask everything, from how successful their current collection will be to personal issues about their love lives.’’
Christopher Mueller, a 45-year-old Brooklyn Heights resident, is one such designer. He has followed Facciola’s advice on everything from his love life to creative inspiration. “She told me I needed more color to my designs, so I tried to add more,” he says.
Papapetros is another psychic mover and shaker who, in addition to advising Vanessa Williams and actresses on the set of “Desperate Housewives,” consults with a leading women’s-apparel CEO. Papapetros says she tells him “things like, ‘You should strengthen this product line’ or ‘move this person from one job to another.’ ’’
(Granted, Papapetros has made some bold claims. She says she told a Wall Street bigwig not to go to work on Sept. 11, 2001, and the executive took her advice.)
Fashion and style consultant Linda Cohen, 53, closed her 26-year-old business on the advice of statuesque blonde Alexandra Holmes, 60, who reads tarot cards out of her East 74th Street apartment. Cohen now focuses on wardrobe makeovers for her clients.
“I had a retail store, and my business was like my child,’’ says Cohen.
“But it was time to change, and I am much happier now. I always have
Alexandra’s voice sitting on my shoulder.’’