BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT:

Concerns about the future and economy have pushed some people to seek the advice of psychics and fortunetellers.

While the No. 1 question people ask is still about love, psychics who work at the Psychic Eye Book Shop in Burbank have noticed that more people have begun asking whether they will lose their jobs or keep their houses, shop co-owner Mary Kara said.

“The economy has affected so many people,” she said. “The world has changed. They want some direction and feel psychics could help guide them.”

Many clients who go to the shop for psychic readings have been worried about the economy and have asked whether it will change, Kara said.

“It’s hard for people,” she said. “But everything is down.”

Some Glendale fortunetellers have also noticed their clients’ questions about their futures have changed to worries about finances.

Some of the typical questions that people ask Glendale psychic Doreen Lee are about whether they are going to lose their jobs or find love, she said.

“More people have been coming in and asking about whether it is a good time to buy a house,” Lee said.

Lee, 28, also has seen a 20% to 25% increase in the number of people who go to her seeking advice and details about their future.

But she is unclear whether the boost is linked to the economy or people wanting advice for the new year.

Lee, who has been a psychic for 18 years, has retained some clients for 15 years and mostly gives fortunes about love and the economy to at least six people daily.

“I do give some advice,” Lee said. “There is no way to completely say that something is going to happen.”

Jessica Marcos has been traveling from Orange County to Glendale for two years to get her fortune read by Lee.

She started going to Lee in the hope of getting some details about the future of her love life.

“She is very open and honest with me,” Marcos said. “I am always consulting with her.”

The economy hasn’t had a negative effect on Marcos, so she has not asked Lee about her finances, she said.

But Marcos did find a boyfriend.

“I was lucky to find her,” she said about Lee.

Astrologer Carol Krause also has seen an increase in the number of people who go to her seeking astrological love matches.

The spiraling economy has left some people feeling alone and needing comfort, she said.

Krause matches couples by their astrological birth sign, but she said she also reads people’s birth charts and tells them what their birth charts say about their future.

“Usually, they come to me when something is bothering them,” Krause said.

Money, health and love are the top three requests that people seek details about, she said.

But recently, some of her clients have been asking more questions about where they should invest their money.

“It’s tough times,” Krause said. “People get scared. Everybody is a little scared, and that’s why they are asking for advice.”

Her clients also have been asking about the Mayan calendar, which ends in 2012.

“They want to know whether the world is going to end,” Krause said. “I don’t believe it is.”

When people face uncertainty, they often seek comfort in superstitions and fortunetellers, said psychotherapist Robert Gore, who also teaches psychology at USC.

“If people are feeling afraid of the uncertain, they might turn to psychics .?.?. or relics,” he said.