Such a controversy it is! Sylvia Browne is certainly one of the most renowned psychic celebrities in the spotlight today. She appears to be one of those people about whom one will say, "you either love her or you hate her." Sylvia's admirers describe her as well respected, sincere, and amazing, while her critics use words such as despicable, a fraud, and a con artist.

Sylvia Browne was born in Missouri in 1936. She reports being aware of psychic visions as young as 3 years of age. In her work as a psychic reader, Sylvia attributes the insights she receives as being from God and she strives to translate this information clearly in offering this insight to her clients. She asserts she is able to read a client's etheric pattern which becomes an additional source of information pertaining to their life experiences, that she can share with her customers.

Sylvia Browne has written best selling books, is a regular guest on television talk shows, and hosts her own radio show through Hay House. She continues to conduct personal psychic readings both in person and via the telephone. In addition, Sylvia runs the Sylvia Browne Corporation and has established a church in California, named the Society of Novus Spiritus.

Whether you accept the existence of psychic abilities or not, the debate about Sylvia's legitimacy has been running since she gained notoriety. James Randi, a leading critic, proposes that Sylvia is not a psychic, but a cold reader, which is a technique that creates the aura of clairvoyance when it is really nothing more than a description of the subject's clearly observable characteristics. Anti-Sylvia Browne websites and discussion boards flood the worldwide web with a pool of negativity surrounding her. These greatly eclipse the supporters of Sylvia and her work.

While an extensive record listing Sylvia's failings is readily available, it is truly difficult to turn up documentation of her successes, aside from broad claims found on her own website. Sylvia Browne and her supporters avow that she is predominantly successful, rather than not, in her predictions while assisting on police cases. They emphasize that she is particularly successful in forecasting potential events likely to take place in someone's life.

Unfortunately for Sylvia Browne and her admirers, a recent high profile case of a missing child has again created questions about her legitimacy. This is the chronicle of the 11 year old boy who was kidnapped 4 years ago and was recently found to be alive, very near his previous home. A couple of months after the boy went missing, Sylvia reported that he was dead, and described the perpetrator in detail along with the location of the boy's body. This proved to be very inaccurate, and along side several other cases in which Sylvia has been proven inaccurate in her reading of events has fueled her detractors' mudslinging. Sylvia continues publicly to champion her work.

Inspite of the ups and downs in her fifty-year career, Sylvia Browne psychic has managed to entertain, and in some capacity, to serve, admirers and enthusiasts across the decades.