AS a poll shows a majority believes that Mrs Hillary Clinton was involved in a cover up over the Whitewater affair, her reliance on a "psychic" adviser is revealed in a new book by investigative reporter Bob Woodward.
Mrs Clinton was encouraged to carry on two way conversations with the late Eleanor Roosevelt and Mahatma Gandhi but drew the line at addressing Jesus Christ.
Some 57 per cent of Americans according to the poll, conducted by USA Today/CNN/ Gallup, believe she participated in a "cover up" of Whitewater and related matters; 34 per cent say she did something "illegal", another 36 per cent say she did something "unethical" while 25 per cent say she did "nothing wrong".
The first of four extracts in the Washington Post from Mr Woodward's new book called The Choice deals with Mrs Clinton's struggle to deal with the rejection of her health care reform plan, the continuing Whitewater revelations and the rout of the Democrats in the 1994 Republican landslide.
Mr Woodward reveals that Ms Jean Houston, co director of the Foundation for Mind Research, which studies psychic experience, became one of Mrs Clinton's closest advisers. Ms Houston believes that her personal archetypal predecessor as Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom.
She did not use her techniques of hypnosis, trances and use of LSD with Mrs Clinton, but the few persons in the White House aware of the meetings feared that a comparison might be made with Nancy Reagan's use of astrology to influence President Reagan's schedule.
Ms Houston told Mrs Clinton that she was "carrying the burden of 5,000 years of history when women were subservient". The rising of women to equal partnership with men was the biggest event in history. Hillary represented the "new story" and was there up front "probably more than any woman in history - apart from Joan of Arc".
The White House spokesman, Mike McCurry, told the Washington Post that the passages about Mrs Clinton "describe a graceful first lady who enjoys listening to women with ideas and perspectives that differ from her own".