Marjorie Young has possessed psychic abilities since she was only child. She would sense things about the people she interacted with and foresee events, often negative ones like death or illness.

"It came to a surprise to me that not everyone had these insights," Young said.

Young initially stifled her abilities but eventually accepted and learned to control them. She learned to only receive messages when tuning into a person instead of hearing messages for everyone surrounding her.

"I can't explain it. I get the information. It just comes through me," Young said explaining that she often sees certain words, images, or people. "Even if it doesn't make sense to me, it always means something for the client."

Young acknowledges that many people are skeptical of her abilities. Even her own brother thinks she's "bananas," Young said.

"There are a lot of horrible frauds out there," she said.

But her own intuition has never been wrong, she said.

"I know I have saved some people's lives via healings and readings," said Young.

Young has worked as a spiritual counselor for over 20 years now and even was a test subject for an institute in Tokyo, Japan, where scientists are doing studies to prove spiritual intuition.

Young said she sees herself as a medium and doesn't take credit for her work.

"It's a wonderful thing to be able to do. It's for me to do for other people," she said.

Young sees her writing the same way.

"I feel detached from the work. I don't know what's going to happen. It just comes through me," she said.
Young recently has had a lot of literary success with her debut novel, "The Boy with Golden Eyes," a spiritual adventure fantasy.

The book was a runner-up in the young adult category at the Paris Book Festival, and received an honorable mention at the 2012 London Book Festival.

Young is currently working on the fourth book in the series.

"I can't wait to see how it ends," she said.

Young makes her living by doing private readings. Many have come to know her as "The Ballard Psychic', doing readings at the Ballard Farmers Market.

Young said most people ask about love and career and gave some meaningful advice.

"Sometimes it's merciful to not know," Young said. "The most important thing is to find yourself. It's better to know what's going on now because you're creating your future with every decision, every choice you make."

But going against her own advice, Young was willing to do a reading to see what 2012 has in store for Ballard. What she saw was very positive.

"I see more people coming into Ballard and the sun shining down on Ballard. Ballard is going to be desirable," Young said. "People will feel much more positive. I see a sigh of relief."

Young said Ballard is like a magnet attracting new people and businesses, a place people are going to want to invest in.

Young said the winter will be mild with at least one good freeze but little snow.

The economy will go down at the beginning of the year before going up.

"It won't be too bad of a dip and I'm seeing a smile. That's a positive sign. I think people will be pleased with the economy," she said.

The real estate market will improve also.

"Developments will pick up again and continue. Condos and apartments will sell pretty well, especially toward the end of the year in September and October," Young said. "Again, I'm seeing an air of hopefulness and optimism."

Young said this hopefulness will carry over into politics. 2012 being an election year, Young predicts that the economy won't be as pressing of an issue as it was a few months ago.

"I see the economy doing better, which favors Obama," she said, adding, "He's a better campaigner than he's been a president."

But some danger is looming, Young foresaw.

"I'm seeing an issue with fire. Larger than a house fire. Something that will take headlines. Something that will surprise us," she said. "I tend to think it's deliberate."

And certain homeless programs will be grabbing headlines, too.

"I don't think [the Ballard Safe Parking will be too popular. I see a lot of uneasiness. I see the words 'not enough' and 'inadequate'," she said.

Young felt a lot of negative energy regarding this issue and was surprised to see it coming from "nice, good people."

"A lot of people don't want homeless camps in their neighborhood out of fear of safety of their own homes," she said.

But a good thing is to come out of all the negative energy, Young said.

"It will attract additional help. Someone is going to be motivated to provide indoor housing," she said.
And despite Ballard's rising population and popularity, Young saw no immediate improvements in transit.
"It would make sense to improve transit to Ballard but I see no improvement," Young said. "But we shouldn't give up on light rail. It might be a year or two, but it's coming."

At the end of the reading, Young said she was pleased to see the positive energy around Ballard and looks forward to a good year.

Contact Marjorie Young at ballardpsychic@gmail.com.