Are we feeling the magic of this little valley nestled in the new age town of Cassadaga? Or are we just having a great day?

The locals, many of whom offer physic readings and healing from there homes, claim that like Sedona Arizona, this special valley is right on a high energy lay line. The story goes that in 1894 a spiritualist in New York named George Colby was “guided” by an Indian channel called Seneca to found a spiritual center in this tiny village surrounded by trees and lakes.

The center became a winter refuge for spiritualists and today is populated exclusively by dozens of “certified” spiritualists who provide tourists with guidance, healing and spiritual education and classes. Those who live in the center area of town must be spiritualist to live there.

Imagine living in a community where every one can read each others minds, bend spoons or commune with ghosts. The locals claim there is no crime. I can understand why.

Learn more about the Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp and its spiritualist principles

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Soraya’s Tarot Card Reading

This afternoon Soraya had her cards read by a Dr. Rob. Apparently he was granted a PhD by the local Center and has been doing spiritual readings for over ten years with over 7,200 readings to date.

His bare bones office had less charm and frills than a gas station restroom, with a credit card reader sitting on an almost empty desk. It was so unpretentious that it was impressive – $25 for fifteen minutes and $40 for a half hour.

Soraya has read tarot cards for her personal friends for years. Her insights have often proven to be dead on and her predictions prophetic. Before she had barely shared her name with Dr. Rob, he recounted her past and present as accurately as an old friend. Dr. Rob’s reading genuinely impressed her. Apparently Dr. Rob was impressed by Soraya’s psychic abilities as well because he offered her a job doing readings.

While Soraya would not divulge what Dr. Rob predicted for her future, she did share that Dr. Rob predicted that I would travel continuously for the next two years around the world, while creating this site. I hope he’s right.

Hearing the Inner Voice

The town of Cassadaga, with its rolling little hills and mix of tropical and northern trees does not feel like Florida or any other place in the US or in the world. It feels universal and eclectic.

Only fifty miles away from Mickey Mouse and all the happy plastic bullshit and two hundred miles north of Miami, where so many people run tirelessly from themselves, Cassadaga is a place to slow down and stop running. It invites and encourages visitors to slow down and catch up with themselves – to become quiet and hear the inner voice.

I believe in listening to the inner voice and trusting in intuition. But I’m skeptical of trusting others to see my way for me or predicting my future. To me it feels like giving over ones personal power to another.

The spiritualists believe that the existence and personal identity of the individual continues after the change called death. Personally, I’m not sure and so I won’t pretend to know.

The universe is full of mysteries that we can’t even ponder, let alone know. I’d rather deal honestly with the ambiguity than substitute false certainties, no matter how convenient.

Gangsters and the Spiritualists

Most spiritualists and new age practitioners believe that everything happens for a reason. So how do they explain Al Capone building his vacation hideout right on the edge of their spiritualist camp? Personally if I were hiding from the Feds I would not live next to a large encampment of psychics. The locals I spoke to did not have an answer.

I wonder if the spiritualists accurately predicted that he would do hard time on the Rock in Alcatraz prison for tax evasion of all things and then die after a miserable bout with syphilis?

Hitler also consulted with psychics and mystics. But I don’t believe they were willing to tell him the truth about his future and Germany’s. If they could predict that Berlin would be destroyed as he huddled in his bunker would they really tell him? They could safely predict that such a prediction would probably get them executed.

Perhaps we are all better off inventing our own futures rather than having them revealed.

Next Stop – Dolce Vita in Florida

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 1st, 2007 at 2:50 am and is filed under Florida. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.