I believe in psychics - my husband thinks it's claptrap. So could an 'energy reading' be the key to sprucing up our marriage after 20 years together?

No matter really overmuch you emotion a man, aft 15 years of matrimony – and 20 years together – nan things that erstwhile struck you arsenic endearing small habits thin to make you want to grind your teeth.

That’s really it is for maine and my husband, Cornel. We person a bully relationship, but there’s not overmuch swooning these days. He was erstwhile nan spontaneous one, strutting done life for illustration a brave young buck. Now he’s much slow aged deer, while for illustration galore women successful midlife I person go progressively stressed and distracted, and now tube done nan days astatine a 1000 miles an hour.

We don’t request a drastic involution – but we could do pinch a spot of sprucing up.

So, offered nan chance of precisely that successful nan shape of a ‘couple’s power reading’ by a renowned personage psychic, I was hardly going to opportunity no.

For £160 a session, US master Kathy Fitz gives nan balanced of a matrimony MOT – complete nan phone, nary little – assessing whether you and your partner are still ‘tapping into your energy’. After conscionable 80 costly minutes, she promises couples will announcement ‘an betterment successful communication, a measurement of accessing emotions aliases energies that are holding them back’.

Readings for illustration this are large business – nan psychic services manufacture is said to beryllium worthy $2.3bn (£1.8bn) a twelvemonth successful nan US alone. Fitz’s personage fans besides see queen of wellness, Gwyneth Paltrow, who rhapsodises astir her activity connected her manner site, Goop.

So 1 grey, drizzly evening, I book america successful for a ‘uniquely personalised’ session.

After 2 kids, aged 15 and ten, and 2 decades of more-or-less home harmony, we cognize each different wrong out. But will Fitz see our energies aligned?

Cornel sniggers.

‘Isn’t that a load of tosh?’ he says. ‘How tin personification do that complete nan phone?’

Already, nan psychic is bringing our differences to nan fore. Because Cornel is simply a hardened cynic, astir arsenic ‘woo-woo’ arsenic a Scotch egg.

I, connected nan different hand, americium decidedly woo-woo. I person had 2 psychic readings, 1 of which was truthful spookily meticulous I person ne'er forgotten it.

It happened erstwhile I was conscionable 13, and saw a gipsy luck teller astatine a fair. I handed complete 50p and she sat maine down and pronounced that I would emergence to nan apical of my occupation earlier having to take betwixt 2 men.

In 2005 I was promoted to beryllium editor of a magazine. I was joined astatine nan time, but soon afterwards met Cornel and had to take betwixt nan 2 men.

The prediction was bullseye-true.

Then location was nan clip I visited a unsighted psychic erstwhile I was 27 who told maine I’d person 2 children, a boy, past a girl. That happened too.

Still, I’ve ne'er progressive Cornel successful my little mainstream beliefs.

‘Everything is energy, inquire an astrophysicist,’ I show him.

He shrugs, which I cognize aft 20 years together means, ‘Oh, spell connected then’.

On nan evening of our reading, Cornel sits down astatine nan array adjacent to maine and I dial Kathy astatine her Florida agency via nan non-esoteric mean of WhatsApp. Her voice, erstwhile she answers, is simply a languorous, lukewarm American drawl.

According to Kathy, each humans person a unsocial power field. She will ‘clear out’ nan ‘old energy’ holding america back. The result? Positive vibes that will make our narration stronger.

‘Who wants to spell first?’ she asks. I look complete astatine Cornel but he is already playing a snooker crippled connected his phone. ‘You,’ I hiss, making a bid to drawback his telephone disconnected him.

‘Er, yes, OK, I will,’ he says.

Kathy asks Cornel to opportunity his afloat sanction respective times, which he does, while still trying to cookware balls successful his game.

Then nan statement goes silent. Suddenly, Kathy starts breathing successful and retired heavily, telling Cornel to do nan same. Cornel rolls his eyes. Then she pauses. ‘Some of this could beryllium aged energy, aliases from aged family dynamics, but what it’s showing maine is simply a work that you had to carry,’ says Kathy. ‘Sometimes it tin slow you down, for illustration wearing a dense backpack.’

Cornel and I speech glances.

He grew up successful Communist Romania pinch his mother, who was past a azygous parent. She had been deed by a car erstwhile he was a babe and their life was difficult and impoverished. He’d started playing nan soft aged 7 successful a bid for a amended life.

Kathy explains that this consciousness of work utilized to beryllium a affirmative force, but now Cornel’s older it doesn’t service specified a useful purpose. Cornel’s eye-rolling stops for a infinitesimal and he looks reflective.

Kathy says she is going to ‘get free of’ this old, antagonistic energy, inhaling and exhaling sharply respective times. How does that activity from 4,000 miles away? There’s nary explanation, but Kathy continues…

‘There’s this no-nonsense portion of you that wants to get things done, it’s served you very well.

‘It’s conscionable that now your life is different. It’s for illustration you’re astatine a edifice and get to prime and take what you want from nan menu.’

I americium baffled, but Kathy explains that Cornel tin now fto spell of aged pressures and activity luxury. ‘I’m seeing a velvet clothes and slippers,’ she says, without a trace of irony.

I almost laughter arsenic Cornel loves nan acheronian reddish dressing gown and posh Barbour slippers he sewage for Christmas.

‘I spot you kicking backmost successful a luxurious way,’ she adds.

She past exhales loudly again and asks if he has a imaginative outlet. Cornel replies that he useful arsenic a musician and Kathy says he should look into painting, aliases moreover conscionable doodling, to ward disconnected antagonistic energy.

Then it’s backmost to nan large breathing. We hold silently. Once she announces she has cleared Cornel’s power – he dutifully says he feels better, past gets backmost to nan snooker – she moves connected to me.

As pinch Cornel, she asks maine to repetition my afloat sanction a fewer times. She exhales loudly earlier saying: ‘You’re astatine a sewing instrumentality and you’re sewing really fast…’

Cornel is drinking beverage and spits it out.

I cognize why. I can’t sew for toffee and erstwhile sewed 2 legs of a brace of trousers together.

‘She doesn’t mean literally!’ I mouth.

Kathy goes connected to say: ‘And you’re pressing nan pedal but it doesn’t spell immoderate faster and you’re really frustrated.’

This I motion at. I americium nan slightest diligent personification I know.

‘No matter really accelerated you’re going you want to spell faster. Let’s look astatine what’s driving that…’

She exhales again and tells me: ‘The image that is showing up, you’re moving and you’re looking backmost and arsenic agelong arsenic everyone’s down you, you’re golden. There’s a region that allows you to beryllium yourself, but erstwhile personification gets a small closer, you want to get going again.’

This is me, undoubtedly. I person fewer adjacent friends and don’t for illustration getting adjacent to people. I connection a non-committal, ‘That’s accurate.’

She suggests this is to do pinch ‘old family energy’ that makes maine consciousness I request to ‘get up of nan game’.

She ‘clears’ this aged power – and strangely I do consciousness lighter, almost happy arsenic she does this – and past turns her attraction to our power arsenic a couple.

‘A batch of times pinch couples, their energies are conscionable truthful intermingled and enmeshed that it tin beryllium problematic. But you 2 are a small spot nan opposite. You person a narration abstraction and truthful does he… but those spaces are not needfully together.’

This, Kathy says, is simply a bully thing, but tin beryllium frustrating erstwhile we want to stock heavy togetherness arsenic a couple.

I look complete astatine Cornel, engrossed now successful his emails, and motion sagely.

‘Sometimes you want to link but, Cornel, you’re excessively applicable and, Julie, you’re excessively speedy.’

Now this does ringing a bell.

Cornel is decidedly nan much pragmatic 1 and I americium nan impatient one, rushing and not reasoning things through. He is simply a saver, I americium a spender. He searches for a vacation for hours, I book successful seconds.

‘With this displacement you are moving towards, there’s a lightness that will move in,’ Kathy intones, betwixt breaths.

‘There’s a slowing down, and this will make it truthful overmuch easier to move into a deeper abstraction successful your relationship.’

Huff, puff, much heavy breathing. Cornel looks astatine his watch.

‘The thought of this reference is to merchandise power truthful you don’t enactment stuck successful a rut. I image you young and getting to cognize each different and that operation tin beryllium very exciting.’

Exciting? That doesn’t sound excessively bad.

‘You some person a stubborn energy,’ she says. We some motion vehemently.

She tells america to return a heavy activity successful and fto it retired erstwhile we’re comfortable.

We do.

She ends nan convention by saying she sees america – our power – entwined pinch ‘curiosity’ arsenic if successful a braid.

‘You’ve known him for truthful agelong but there’s still a batch you don’t cognize astir him – and vice versa.’

When nan reading’s over, Cornel staggers retired of his chair dramatically and moans ‘Starving!’ earlier heading for nan snack cupboard.

I consciousness lighter, much alert.

‘Does your power consciousness immoderate different?’ I ask.

‘Well my humor sugar’s low,’ he says, biting into a Double Decker bar. He’s very overmuch nan aforesaid man he was 80 minutes ago, then.

So was our reference a genuine stepping chromatic to becoming closer? It’s a nary for Cornel, who thinks nan telephone telephone was a spot of costly claptrap.

But it was an emphatic yes from me: I consciousness Kathy sewage immoderate things astir america precisely right.

And nan joyousness of this method is that, successful theory, it tin activity for some of america moreover if Cornel remains cynically unconvinced. His power has been cleaned whether he realises that aliases not.

In nan pursuing weeks, Cornel and I determine to make clip conscionable for us, to laughter and beryllium a spot lighter together.

As for semipermanent harmony successful our marriage, only clip will tell.

Will I ever slow down? Probably not. Will Cornel participate his fated luxury clothes and slippers phase?

He’s already there.