For Anne Eli, it’s a gift she was born with: the gift to see into the past, present and future.

“I’ve been doing this since I was very little,” Eli said. “I can trace it back four generations.”

Eli has taken that gift and turned it into a business: Anne’s Psychic Gallery at 228 South Main St. (formerly occupied by AT&T).

Eli offers a range of services including tarot card, palm, crystal ball, psychic and tea cup readings. She also does horoscopes.

But unlike other psychics, who study to acquire the ability to “read,” she said her ability comes naturally.

“I don’t know exactly when it started but I know that my parents said that I started telling people things around the time I could talk,” she said.

Eli recalled that ability at a young age could be unnerving to her childhood acquaintances. She said her parents had to teach her to control her psychic impulses.

Born and raised in New York City, Eli had her own psychic business in Manhattan before relocating to Vermont. She considered Burlington, where she has relatives, but settled on Rutland with her husband, Jason, because it was more laid back.

Inside her studio, the space resembles a super-sized living room, dominated by a black leather sofa and oval marble table, accented with two candles, a Bible and tarot cards. There are a couple of glass display cases containing various bath oils and crystals. In the foyer, there’s a gold-colored Egyptian statue. The walls and carpeting are a soothing beige tone.

For the uninitiated, Eli explains that a palm reading will give her an insight into an individual’s present circumstances. “It tells me what’s going on right now in your life versus tarot cards, which can tell me both past and future, as well as the present,” she said.

Her readings can portend bad news so she always asks her clients if they want to know everything.

Even for someone who wants to know all, Eli said there is one insight she refuses to reveal: death.

“A lot of people ask me when are they going to die,” she said, “and I just feel it’s best not knowing when you’re going to die.”

She said her readings can help people alter their lives in a positive way. She said little is cast in stone.

Given her line of work, Eli said she often runs into her fair share of skeptics, especially people who have tried “by the book readers,” who lack natural ability.

She charges the following fees: palm readings, $35 to $50; tarot card, $60 to $125; aura reading, $45; crystal ball and psychic ball, $90 to $120.

Anne’s Psychic Gallery is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to midnight.

bruce.edwards

@rutlandherald.com