The act of
fishing for information, either from a
gullible paying customer or from an audience who have
just been told to be "open-minded", in which any positive feedback is followed deftly as though coming in "on the astral".
Cold reading:
Hello, I'm getting something ... there is someone who has recently died ... yes, someone has, hasn'
t they? ... a man, no I didn't think so, either, a
woman then, an old
woman ... no, dreadful isn't it? ... I'm thinking cancer, no?... a car crash ... yes, and it was tragic, and she was before her time too, would I be correct in saying this? ...