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“In addition to using these in private sessions, I also present concerts with these bowls. They help you drift into an altered state.”

 “You can call the universal energy whatever you want,” she adds, “but every culture since the beginning of time has defined it and found ways to connect with it. Christians call it the Christ energy. Buddhists, Hindus and Taoists: They are all trying to connect with the same thing.”

Swimming with dolphins

How did Merendino become so involved in these healing arts?

“My father was a standard healer, a doctor specializing in obstetrics and gynecology,” she says. “He never understood me. But I was born this way. I saw auras and could read palms when I was 5 or 6. He wasn’t a believer until much later in his life when he was ill and I treated him. Then he said he believed.”

Her mother, who lives in Danbury and whom she resembles, is familiar to vintage moviegoers as the beautiful actress Betsy Palmer. The star appeared in such classic films as “The Thin Gray Line,” “Mr. Roberts,” and “Queen Bee,” alongside the likes of  Tyrone Power, Henry Fonda, Jack Lemmon, James Cagney and Joan Crawford. (Who can forget how her kindly Carol Phillips is done in by Joan Crawford’s title character in “Queen Bee,” a 1955 melodrama?) Later in her career, Palmer appeared in more than 70 television programs, including as a charming panelist on “I’ve Got A Secret.”

Unlike her father, Merendino says, “My mother always thought it was cool that I was different in this way. She understood it was natural and instinctive for me. And I believe most Pisces – I’m a Pisces – have this trait, that we feel thoughts and feeling of others really strongly.” 

As Pisces the Fish, Merendino was naturally attracted to dolphins.

“My email name is ‘Psychic Dolphin Girl’ on Yahoo. But it’s not the best way to get in touch with me. I don’t check it every day. I don’t like living with a computer in my home, it’s like …” She pauses to think a moment, trying to sum up her mixed feelings. “I mean, computers are useful and I know we need them. But it’s like living with a robot with weird vibes. So I only check email at work or other places with a computer.” 

For many years, Merendino lived in a town that has become widely known for attracting artists and alternative healers, Sedona, Arizona.