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The Best Psychics in New York

By , a writer who covers weddings and pop culture for the Cut.  She's shared over 125 love stories to date for New York Magazine, largely as part of the "Wedding Files" series.
Photo-Illustration: Curbed; Photos: Getty

To find the best psychics in New York City, we polled savvy New Yorkers, including an entertainment attorney, an acupuncturist, and a podcaster. We heard about psychics with years of experience giving detailed readings, one who knows feng shui and can help you change the energy in your space, and one that will — in the nicest way — let you know when it’s time to break up with your boyfriend.

For Years-Out Predictions

Dante Sabatino, Tarot by Dante, 364 W. 18th St.; tarotbydante.com

Over his 42 years as a psychic and tarot-card reader, Dante Sabatino has earned a reputation for his startling accuracy. “It’s truly shocking,” says one private wealth adviser. For Roxanne Ong, an executive at a beauty company, he has been able to predict events “as far as four years out.” Morgane Le Fay designer Liliana Casabal calls him “a true visionary.” And he is able to perform these detailed readings not only privately — in his Chelsea apartment or over Zoom (from $200 for 30 minutes) — but also at parties: Bulgari, Sephora, and Simon & Schuster have all hired him for private events.

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 Ask a Psychic

Dante Sabatino, owner of Tarot by Dante in Chelsea

Illustration: Pete Gamlen

How do your tarot readings unfold?
I do a full session, which uses the whole deck and takes an hour. I set it up in this cross spread I created many years ago, and I read in piles. Each pile represents a different area of your psyche. As I work, I answer questions and discuss what I see and offer guidance. I get messages when the cards touch. I’ve been reading tarot for over 40 years and grew up with my mom reading cards. So I watched her technique, and my mentor’s, and I adapted their styles to create my own.

Have your predictions ever come true?
Recently, a woman I read for joined The Real Housewives of New York City — I predicted in her session a year and a half before she got cast that she would be on the show. I’m also good with pregnancies. I’ve predicted people will get jobs. I helped a client convince her father to seek medical treatment, and he was rushed into heart surgery.

What do people ask about most?
Their love life, their career. New Yorkers tend to ask about parenting and fertility because a lot of women here start trying to have a family later than women elsewhere. And, of course, health, security, future decisions.

What do you say to skeptics?
I love skeptics. Sometimes in my readings, I give specific details: “You’re going to buy a new piece of art that will match the color of your couch” or “Your grandmother’s watch broke, and you’re going to get it fixed.” And often it’s the clients who dismissed those predictions who come back to tell me they happened.

— Katie Arnold-Ratliff

For a No-Holds-Barred Tarot Reading

Dainichi Lazuli, instagam.com/dainichi_lazuli

Dainichi Lazuli reads tarot, heals with crystals, and advises on numerology and feng shui, operating (in normal times) out of the Chinatown Soup art gallery. (You can book him through his Instagram; $35 per 15 minutes.) A key to his popularity seems to be not only what he communicates but how. “He shares what he sees via the cards with such grace” says jewelry designer Anna Sheffield. Which doesn’t preclude him from giving direct advice. Danielle Prescod, writer and co-founder of the diversity consulting agency 2BG, says that “he’s told me to dump basically every guy since I started seeing him — and he was right about every single one of them.”

For Chakra Balancing With Body Treatments

Tracey Byer, 32 Union Sq. E., Ste. 415; traceybyer.com

At the beginning of Tracey Byer’s sessions, “she’ll ask if she can see your tongue,” says client Yana Volfson, the beverage director at Cosme and Atla. (“The tongue is a canvas of what’s going on in your mind and body,” Volfson says.) Byer’s healing methods are less about making predictions than about balancing chakras, which she does not only by talking her clients through the issues on their mind but also by giving them body treatments, as she is a licensed acupuncturist, massage therapist, and aesthetician with an office in Gramercy. (You don’t have to go in to see her with a particular treatment in mind, says Volfson; the decision can be made based on how you’re feeling in your body at that moment.) “I don’t need to know my future. I’m not one of those people,” says Byer’s client Wendy Credle, an entertainment attorney and TV producer. Rather, Byer has helped her address what’s going on in the here and now: “She clued me in on where I was self-sabotaging and blocking,” Credle says. She can incorporate microneedling, aromatherapy, and cupping into her sessions, too (from $108 per hour).

For a Palm Reading by a Psychotherapist

Ellen Goldberg, 11 Cornelia St.; ellensschooloforacles.com

A psychic who’s also a trained psychotherapist? It’s no wonder Ellen Goldberg is popular among powerful New Yorkers, like Paulette Cole, the CEO of ABC Carpet & Home. In each session, clothing historian Kate Sekules says, Goldberg “listens very closely, and reads everything — palms, cards, stars — for a true and deep view of you.” The Cornelia Street apartment where you can visit her again post-pandemic happens to be beautiful, in the back of a bright landmark building. (From $300.)

For Intuitive Counseling and Spatial Cleansing

Elana Kilkenny, address provided at booking; elanakilkenny.com

Pre-pandemic, you could plop down on Elana Kilkenny’s couch in Morningside Heights, where she’d offer you a cup of tea and intuit obstacles and patterns holding you back. “She isn’t a prescriptive, ‘Do this, don’t do that’ psychic,” says Yuka Hagiwara, co-founder of Olo Acupuncture. “She can zone in on exactly what needs to be dealt with” — and from there, “with great sensitivity,” help you navigate it. “She sensed that I was emotionally and energetically exhausted and warned me against being ‘nice’ to everyone,” says Cass Alcide, co-host of the Scam City podcast. (intuitive counseling sessions start at $250.) Kilkenny also happens to be a “sacred space designer,” relying on years of training in interior design and feng shui to help clients transform the energy of their space. (This can entail anything from discussing memories different paint colors evoke to helping you figure out that it’s time to let go of inherited furniture you’re not actually fond of.)

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The Best Psychics in New York