Is a license in the cards for Pasco psychic?

Emily Guida says she has a sixth sense. Always has.

"When I was 3 years old, I was seeing people no one else could see," she said. "I was always standing in the corner, talking to imaginary friends. Only they weren't imaginary."

By the time she was a teen, Guida said, the visions and voices were more concentrated. Her gift was "both a blessing and burden," and she didn't know how to turn it off. After college, a friend took her to see a psychic in St. Petersburg.

"I see spirits, and I could see them in her office," Guida said. "I told her what I saw, and she offered me a job."

She started doing tarot card readings, then she developed her own technique.

"I see auras around people, and my visions come in flashes of pictures and symbols," Guida said. "So then I draw what I see on a piece of paper and I discuss it with the customer, and then they can take it with them."

Now Guida, 25, wants to do psychic readings from her home in Port Richey, but first she must get a "fortune teller" license from the Pasco County Board of Commissioners. If they approve her application Tuesday, Guida will be the only licensed medium in the county.

County ordinances regulate psychics just like they do other professions. The code says every "fortune teller, clairvoyant, palmist, astrologer, phrenologist, character reader, spirit medium, absent treatment healer or mental healer and every person engaged in any occupation of a similar nature" must pay a $225 business license tax.

While there are more than a dozen people who advertise psychic readings in Pasco County, only one person — Hudson astrologer Shelaindera Kumar Sharma — currently holds a license.

"Every couple of years we get an application," County Administrator John Gallagher said.

To qualify for the permit, the applicant must be "of good moral character."

Guida, who has bachelor's degrees in psychology and criminology, said she doesn't mind submitting to a background check to practice her craft. "It keeps an honest person honest," she said. "It's like they're building a file on you ahead of time. They fingerprint you and ask you to list your aliases. I appreciate the fact that they don't test you — like asking you to read their thoughts."

Guida works by appointment and can be reached at (813) 205-7343.