Two days after her grandmother's death last March, an emotionally distraught Arielle Visalli called a psychic medium, "looking for a sense of hope" that her grandmother was OK, Visalli recalled.

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She was shocked when the medium, Sheri Marcantuono, whom she hadn't met before, knew accurate details about her life.

"In the middle of setting up an appointment, she interrupted me, asking, 'Who died from stomach pain? It's a lady with curly hair and she's real bubbly and she's holding her stomach,' " said Visalli, 24, of Pittsgrove, N.J. "Then she asked me about another lady with dark, curly hair and piercing blue eyes who was pointing Sheri to a mailbox."

The two women were Visalli's grandmothers, one who died in December 2015 of pancreatic cancer; and the other, the "mailbox lady" - a reference to her trout-shaped mailbox - who died two days earlier from complications associated with Alzheimer's.

"This was all in a span of 15 minutes on the phone trying to set up an appointment that turned into a full-blown reading," Visalli said.

Since then, Visalli and Marcantuono have met twice in person.

Answering questions about dead relatives - even predicting love prospects - has always been de rigueur for psychics. But more people are turning to these soothsayers for advice about their work or life in general, seeking empowerment advice and even life coaching. And although anyone can still consult with a psychic in person or on the phone, now you can take classes, even text your questions.

Jackie Pidgeon began consulting with psychics six years ago, initially through face-to-face encounters and phone calls. When she needs privacy or is in a rush, the texting chat feature offered by ESPsychics.com works best.

"The first time I tried it, I was skeptical, because I wondered how they'd be able to pick up information just by typing back and forth to me," said Pidgeon, 43. "But as soon as I logged on, the psychic said, 'You are having relationship issues.' I contacted her because I was going through a horrible breakup."

For that service, Pidgeon pays $4.25 per minute, and she limits her chat sessions to 10 minutes.

Marcantuono, 44, a medium who's a full-time accountant, has - through Facebook and word of mouth - grown her two-year-old business, Lotus Wood Journey in Berlin, from three clients a month to 24, charging $80 to $100 per hour, depending on the discipline.

She also runs a 10-week course on empowering women to focus on personal goals, including creating a spiritual mandala, making a vision board, practicing yoga, and learning about nutrition.

For Beth Ann Mazzeo, the course was a life-changer, especially in helping her find love: Her new boyfriend closely fits the qualities she had placed on her vision board. "I wanted someone active who loves the outdoors, is generous, kind and caring, with dark hair, and taller and older than me," said Mazzeo, 49, from Hammonton, N.J. "The class reinforced positive thinking, not dwelling on your problems, and living in the now."

Among the million people each year who visit Keen.com, an advice site in San Francisco, 250,000 seek out psychics, with the rest using free content, CEO Warren Heffelfinger said. That's about a 20 percent increase from 2013, when the company launched its chat and chat mobile formats, allowing clients to text for advice. Now, about a quarter of all clients use chat, half on the mobile app, for between $1.50 and $30 per minute, depending on the adviser.

"You think of a psychic as somebody who's just trying to predict the future or channel a loved one, but the predominant advice our psychics are giving is career advice, life questions, love and relationship and dating questions," Heffelfinger said.

What's the attraction to such a texting relationship? People have questions they may deem too personal to ask friends or family, and therapists require appointments, he said.

"This is on-demand 24/7, with you wherever you are, anonymous and bite-sized," he said, qualities that are especially appealing to millennials.

But buyers beware.

Mark Edward, who wrote Psychic Blues: Confessions of a Conflicted Medium in 2012 about his own career as a mentalist and psychic, including nine years with the Psychic Friends Network (remember the one with Dionne Warwick?), attributes his abilities simply to good listening skills.

"On the 900 line, people are paying up to $5 a minute, so they will usually cut to the chase and ask about their problem," said Edward, 65. "I didn't defer to any kind of guidance or metaphysics. I was brutally honest."

For example, responding to a caller who asked if her boyfriend was going to get out of jail, he said, " 'I see there is a price that will have to be paid and you're going to have to be patient.' Then I would let them fill in the details. Once you get the ball rolling, you listen to the intensity in their voice and you make a lot of judgments based on what you hear. It's basically situational awareness."

And there's "nothing supernatural about it," he insisted.

Patti Negri, president of the American Federation of Certified Psychics and Mediums, an organization in New York that vets psychics, said, "For every legitimate psychic, there are boatloads of scam artists." Do your homework when choosing a psychic, she said, by looking at reviews and seeking referrals.

Susan Forte agrees. Though as a teenager she had visited psychics on the boardwalk who offered "hocus-pocus stuff," her experience tells her Marcantuono has the gift.

In 2010, after losing a dear friend, she channeled her devastation into seeking answers to "what was on the other side," said Forte, 42, of Berlin.

Marcantuono described her friend standing with her horse, which had died after her friend died.

"It was validation to me. It's not like she's channeling the deceased, speaking as if my friend was speaking through her. But I know that my friend is at peace, which gives me a good feeling."

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Consult a psychic - for empowerment - Philly.com