For women desperately trying to conceive, there’s no information more valuable than the knowledge of when and how their longed-for baby will arrive. It’s this very vulnerability that fertility psychics are tapping into. WH reports on an emerging industry
‘I felt empty… desperate.’ It was April 2021, and Charlotte Crowder was inconsolable after her son, Jack, was stillborn at 28 weeks. Compounding her grief was a creeping sense that, at 35, the time she had to conceive again was, if not running out, then running low. Shattered by the death of her baby, Charlotte craved clarity; she needed someone, anyone, to tell her that she would have her longed-for child. It was a feeling that led her to digital forums. And in the weeks and months following Jack ’s death, she spent hours scrolling through infertility, miscarriage and baby loss groups in search of answers until, one day, she found what she was looking for. She was on Facebook when her eyes settled on an advert for a fertility reading, offered by a psychic. A few days later, she saw it again. The idea burrowed inside her mind until, curiosity piqued, she contacted the woman to ask for a reading.
‘I just wanted reassurance that I would bring home a living baby some day,’ the 36-year-old stay-athome mum from Southampton tells WH. Reflecting on that time now – a period she describes as the darkest, most vulnerable moment of her life – Charlotte can’t believe she ever considered contacting a psychic. Despite considering herself to be ‘open’ to spirituality, she insists that she never would have done so had she have been in her normal state of mind. What made her click, she says, is a feeling that the advert was speaking directly to her.
Charlotte’s response isn’t just understandable, it’s becoming an increasingly common one. Over the past year, business has been booming for psychics offering online fertility readings, with adverts popping up on social media as well as e-commerce sites such as Etsy; many promising to help women who are struggling with baby loss and infertility. Last year, one fertility psychic hit the headlines when she revealed to news outlets that she makes up to £10k a month predicting when women will fall pregnant, as well as what gender their baby will be. Meanwhile, astrology apps are serving up adverts in which women are given a date and gender for their unborn child. For some, the existence of fertility psychics is a logical conclusion to the burgeoning spirituality industry that’s experienced an uplift in the wake of the pandemic. For others, it’s a gross exploitation of women at a time when they ’re at their most vulnerable. Regardless of which side of the fence you’re on, if you’re a woman w
