by Rigorous Intuition » Sun Jun 26, 2005 11:06 am
<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>CEOs use magic, psychics</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>June 26<br><br>CORPORATE Australia is turning to the occult in a bid to boost its bottom line, employing psychics and witches as alternative business consultants.<br><br>Self-employed professionals, small business owners and executives in major, publicly listed companies are among those joining an expanding network of "covens" organised by businesswoman and self-described witch, Stacey Demarco. <br><br>The former public relations manager turned pagan and author of There's A Witch In The Boardroom said people were looking for new ways to combine spiritual values with their material success. <br><br>"There's a belief out there that you can't be spiritual and make money at the same time," Ms Demarco said. <br><br>"Our spiritual practice isn't like that." <br><br>Elsewhere, Sydney-based psychic and former lawyer, Alana Fairchild, is providing "intuitive diagnostics" sessions to large corporations, focusing on personnel issues. <br><br>Charging up to $385 per hour, she uses intuition to detect problems or "blockages" within the organisational structure. <br><br>"For me, it's all about relationships," she said. <br><br>"It's helping people go in and pick the places where they want to make changes." <br><br>She has encountered resistance to her ideas but does not believe it is any greater than the normal stumbling blocks faced by conventional business consultants. <br><br>"I think that comes with any kind of change process," Ms Fairchild said. <br><br>Fellow psychic Sally de Beche advises clients on major financial decisions based on "holographic images" of the business cycle.<br><br>"I see where the peaks are in a cycle and the best times to sell," she said. <br><br>"I think people are becoming more and more aware of what exists and more inclined to try something if the old methods aren't working." <br><br>Nick Plavsic, who runs Nest Furniture and Homewares, an importing business in Newtown, has been seeing Ms de Beche for 10 years. <br><br>"I wouldn't live or die by it but in business you need every bit of information you can get," he said. <br><br>Ms Demarco's coven meetings cover commercial issues as well as spiritual questions and also provide networking opportunities. <br><br>She dismissed comparisons with Freemasonry, arguing covens were open to all, regardless of sex. <br><br>However, like Freemasonry, coven members are reluctant to be identified and their activities remain shrouded in mystery. <br><br>"We're quite secretive because of the misunderstanding about who we are and what we do," Ms Demarco said. <br><br>In the past few years she has helped establish three large covens in Sydney and runs workshops on "business magic" from her offices in North Sydney. <br><br><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://finance.news.com.au/story/0,10166,15727217-462,00.html" target="top">finance.news.com.au/story/0,10166,15727217-462,00.html</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> <p></p><i></i>