Read all about it: psychic predicts love in Europe

I am so glad to welcome Linda Jämsén to Choices during her WOW! Women on Writing Book Blog Tour for: Odyssey Of Love: A Memoir of Seeking & Finding

Linda’s story about how she found love while living in Europe is fascinating especially since her new-found love was predicted by a psychic. This story especially intrigued me because I have a similar one. During my single days I had many boyfriends but no one I wanted to settle with. One day I encountered a psychic on the Santa Monica pier and decided to consult her. I’ll never forget her words: “Someone will come from far away and make you very happy.” Of course it turned out that that someone became my future husband who indeed made me very happy.

Now on to Linda’s love story:

 

 

How a Visit to a Psychic Changed My Life

by Linda Jämsén

Recently, I learned that my psychic friend, Angelica, had died. As I grieve this loss, I’m remembering how initially I’d been reluctant to meet her and have her peer into the crystal ball of what seemed my uncertain future. Now I clearly see how her insights and visions changed the course of my life at a pivotal time.

At age 41, I was reeling from the realization that my long-term partner, Hank, wasn’t interested in tying the knot. Ever. My best friend Jenni knew how eager I was to settle down and offered to treat me to a psychic session with Angelica, who had helped her through a rough romantic patch. I balked at her suggestion until I remembered that my mother had also visited a fortune teller and six months later, married the man envisioned in the tealeaves. Perhaps there was something to this “hocus pocus.” I agreed to go.

During my visit with Angelica, she revealed that Hank was not my future husband. Instead, she described my intended as a “tall man with glasses,” who was waiting for me in Europe, where I would soon be living. She also predicted that a “Russian icon” would bring us together.

This was not at all what I’d hoped to hear! Wasn’t Hank going to come around and pop the question? Hadn’t our seven years together been leading toward the altar? Clearly, Angelica’s sixth sense needed some fine tuning. However, when she “saw” me surrounded by musical instruments in concert halls and told me I would soon be embarking on a music and romantic-filled “Odyssey,” my interest piqued. As a lapsed classical pianist, I had to admit I was eager to reignite my passion for music. Ditto for travel to Europe, as I’d never been able to get aerophobic Hank on a transatlantic flight. Perhaps Angelica is on to something, I considered.

In the months preceding the breakup with Hank, I finally accepted that it was high time to settle down, not settle for. I couldn’t think of a better place to begin my Odyssey than Budapest, land of my musical idol, composer-pianist, Franz Liszt. During my three years there, I taught English as a Second Language (as foreseen by Angelica), helped raise funds for the Liszt Academy of Music, and joined a local chorus and toured in Israel. I met a handful of attractive romantic suitors while traveling through Europe, all the while keeping an eye out for the “tall man with glasses.” I thought I’d found “him” in Amsterdam, but a phone call to Angelica shed light on this man’s mysterious behavior and saved me from more heartache.

The next month, I met the elusive “tall man with glasses” in an unexpected way and place. This time, I didn’t need to phone and ask Angelica to “tune in” because the Russian icon she had mentioned pointed the way. When my father died soon after he and I got engaged, it was Angelica who insisted we go through with our original wedding plans and not postpone them until spring. Again, she was spot-on about this critical decision.

After the wedding, Angelica was tickled to meet my husband and enjoyed hearing details about our love story. Over the years during my solo trips to Boston, she would sometimes go into a trance and utter more predictions while we sipped tea in cafés; other times we attended a church service or concert together. I cherish these memories with her.

Although dabbling in the psychic realm may not appeal to everyone—it didn’t to me at first—the changes I made after that first visit with Angelica continue to reverberate throughout my life. I doubt I would have taken that leap across the Atlantic had it not been for her guidance and encouragement. When I think of all the ways that her life impacted mine, I am forever grateful.

My memoir, Odyssey of Love: A Memoir of Seeking and Finding, goes into more detail about my relationship with Angelica and her many predictions. You can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-Love-Memoir-Seeking-Find/dp/194860499x.

About the Book

 When Linda doesn’t receive the marriage proposal she had long been expecting from her boyfriend on her 41st birthday, she reluctantly visits a psychic, Angelica, who predicts that Linda will soon leave him for a romantic and music-filled Odyssey in Europe. There, a “Russian icon” will lead to her future husband, a “tall man with glasses.”

Skeptical at first, but eager to explore her Eastern European roots and reignite her passion for music, Linda moves to Hungary, the land of her idol, composer-pianist Franz Liszt. In Budapest, she reinvents herself as an English teacher and joins a chorus. Soon, she’s performing at the Liszt Academy of Music and Tel Aviv’s Opera House.

With Angelica’s vision in mind, Linda vows to “settle down, not settle for,” but is tempted by romantic close calls: Gabi is gorgeous, but too immature; David in Amsterdam fits Angelica’s description to a T, but his British reserve needs some defrosting. Liszt look-alike Ádám has it all, including a wife.

With her teaching and singing gigs ending, Linda flies to Finland for one last trip before moving back to Boston. But is her Odyssey truly over, or is it just beginning?

This book is perfect for women’s book clubs, expats abroad, women in mid-life seeking adventure, classical music fans, those who need a dose of hope and inspiration in their search for The One, or those interested in European travel and foreign cultures.

Publisher: Tulipan Press (May 2021)
Pages: 320
ISBN-10: ‎ 194860499X
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1948604994
Genre: Memoir

Purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and Bookshop.org. Make sure to add it to your GoodReads list.

About the Author

Linda Jämsén is an American expat writer-musician living in Finland. She grew up in New York, holding a book in one hand while exploring the piano keyboard with the other. Mesmerized by her mother’s playing of the Romantic repertoire, she soon studied piano with her and later graduated with a B.A. in Music from Bard College. Linda is also an avid choral singer and has performed in Hungary, Finland, the UK, and Israel.

During her years in Boston, Linda raised funds for a variety of philanthropic causes and completed the graduate management course at Radcliffe Seminars/Harvard. However, longing to return to her musical roots, in 2001 she moved to Budapest, land of her musical idol, Franz Liszt. There, she volunteered for the Music Academy in his name and received a CELTA certificate from International House, where she then taught English as a foreign language. Her musical, romantic, and travel adventures abroad inspired her to write Odyssey of Love: A Memoir of Seeking and Finding, her literary debut.

Linda lives on an island in Helsinki with her husband, the “tall man with glasses” from the memoir, and their treasured Russian icon. A sequel, Triptych, is in the works.

To follow the author, visit her website at www.lindajamsen.com.