Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Celeb Psychic to Report on Existence of Heaven, Hell | Celebrity psychic Judi Hoffman says she predicted Angelina Jolie's twins, Lindsay Lohan's "secret other lover," and Eliot Spitzer's downfall. Now she's batting cancer and has been given a less than 10 percent chance of survival. But she isn't letting a trivial matter like that get in the way of business: "The Upper East Side clairvoyant is promising to answer the eternal life-after-death question, if and when she goes." [NYO]

Will the economy get any better in 2009? Will Barack Obama see the U.S. through the most challenging political and economic climate in a generation? And what will happen to Britney? Fortunately, the Daily News has all the answers, which it obtained from the only people willing to hazard guesses about any of these things: they contacted a bunch of local psychics. More

Once almost the sole preserve of women who wanted to know if that guy they'd met on Match.com was a trangendered serial killer or the father of their future children, now psychics and tarot card readers are enjoying a whole new client base: Men for whom rational approaches to making business decisions have turned out to be worse than useless, so why not ask the spirits for advice on which investments or real estate to buy and sell? More

The Numerologist Who Predicted It All | Forget Nate Silver. A "numerologist" by the name of "Mystical Marcy" says she made the most accurate election prediction when she determined "Obama would win by a landslide, long before polls showed him in the lead" and during the "height of Sarah Palin-mania." Mind you she made her prediction in July, weeks before Palin had even been picked as McCain's running mate and when Obama was already ahead in the polls. But you can read the nutty press release for yourself after the jump.More

We always guessed Anna Wintour had psychic powers. The November issue of Vogue is now out, and the profile of four generations of women in Joe Biden's family appears under the headline "All the Vice President's Women." And if Anna says it's a done deal, who are we to argue? [Vogue via HuffPo]  

As New Yorkers enter an era best characterized by that old Chinese curse "may you live in interesting times," it's only appropriate that people will want to take control of their lives, and their finances, in the most rational and reliable way possible. And how better to do that than by asking a clairvoyant or tarot card reader to prognosticate on which job to take and how to usefully diversify one's investment portfolio? According to the Times, psychics are "experiencing a boom in business linked to deep worries about money," especially from financial sector employees. Hey, gazing into a crystal ball will yield information at least as helpful as whatever the economic futurists employed by Wall Street firms have been saying.