"When I was 2, I always saw spirits, and I talked to my parents about it," she said.

Tao grappled with spirit messages her whole life. She recalls being stricken more than a decade ago by the death of the Princess of Wales. Trouble was, it was the day before Diana died in a Paris car crash.

Her friends and family called the premonition proof she had psychic powers, that she wasn't crazy for receiving these messages but she would be crazy to ignore them. But it wasn't until five years ago, when "the spirits went nutty in my home," that she determined to fully embrace the psychic clamor.

"That's how spirit activity works," says the Barstow, Calif. native. "It was that clear. It was that crazy."

Now five years later, the Midvale mother of three puts her spiritual insights to work as a practitioner and as leader of the Psyched Sandy Psychics group.

As she talks about the group, the mood ring she is wearing glows deep blue, which signals her happy, passionate mood. Around her neck hangs a pendant that shows the star-sign of Taurus, which underscore her hardworking and highly committed personality.

Sandy Psychics meet at least once a month, and often twice, to explore the various psychic arts at a shopping center coffee shop.

A few people come often. Others stop by just once. Still more eavesdrop on the group's activities. And there's always a skeptic whose resistance seems to get Tao charged up.

Probably because they often become believers, perhaps after Tao, a clairvoyant, serves as their spiritual medium to loved ones who have passed on. Or they maybe a doubter who is transformed when the group's discussion helps clarify fuzzy thoughts that had been troubling them.

Tao might bring mystical Tarot cards to the meetings, one of the tools she uses to help people tap into their own psychic experiences. She might offer runes, the alphabet stones also known to trigger insights. Or she will do a numerological reading.

There is a crystal reiki wand to foster healing. And spiritually potent crystals and stones.

Sometimes she is not looking for spirits but they seem to be prodding her.

Diana's death is an example, but there are many local murder mysteries and lost children, too.

She says she had strong feelings about the Destiny Norton, Lori Hacking and Hser Ner Moo murder cases. She had ideas for the searchers looking for Brendan Hawkins, the boy who was lost in the Uintas.

"It's a huge responsibility, but it's worth it," she says.

In the end, she insists, the most important tool is a person's willingness to get in touch with their own spiritual stirrings. That's what the group has been about.

"There are lots of actual psychics in Utah," she says, "but they are hidden."

fahys@sltrib.com