Thinking Outside the Norm: Mini Psychic Fairs at PR Parties

I love it when something totally unexpected happens.

And that is exactly why I loved the Ubisoft and Nivea-hosted party last week.  Sure, they were promoting the new workout routines for Your Shape Fitness Evolved in some of the traditional ways one might expect: they gave their guests a chance to try out the product, booze, swag, and facials. (All things I adore, by the way.) But what really stood out was the fact that they had this whole OTHER thing going on, too. The vibe in the back room seemed very loosely connected to the all-natural fitness and beauty goals that Ubisoft and Nivea were selling, but at the same time it kind of tied everything up in a neat little bow. Like, of course, you will be healthy and beautiful if you work out, use great skin care products... AND are psychologically balanced and are capable of treating any health issues with homeopathy.

So: What was in the back room? There was a man on one side with a small table set up where he was practicing the ancient art of face-reading. On the other side of the room was a lovely woman who had a table set up with about 500 tiny vials of psychically charged matter, each labeled with a different health ailment. She also had a set of color therapy vials and what appeared to be some crystals. 

As a woman who attended her first “Psychic Fayre” when she was 17, I was on this room like patchouli on a Grateful Dead fan.

I worked with the woman first and admit that I was a little leery of what she was doing. Psychically charged vials of ailment spirits is not exactly a confidence building explanation of what all the little labeled bottles were. She hit me where it hurt, though, when, after sensing that I was less than open to her work, she told me that she couldn’t work with me because the chakra around my head, which should be lavender, was very closed off, not only keeping her from being able to work with me, but keeping me cut off from inspiration! Well, let me tell you that I cannot stand the idea of anything keeping inspiration away, so I became much more receptive to her suggestions. That she put a giant amethyst crystal in my pocket didn’t hurt, either, I guess.  She then went through her process again, which involved her pulling on my arm while I tried to keep my arm against my side, while she also ran her other hand over all the vials. She narrowed down the ailments by stopping on the ones where I was the least able to resist her tugging on my arm. Interestingly, she ended up selecting the vial labeled “Candida, Colon” and advised me to take more probiotics. She also sensed that I had more problems with this when I traveled, so gave me travel-specific advice for it.  Now, I know it isn’t exactly what is wrong with me, but as a person with pretty significant other colon issues, I was pretty impressed that she narrowed it down to that.  Now, if only all my problems would go away with some probiotics and the addition of the color lavender to my life!

(I’m sorry I missed getting one of the woman’s cards. I’m not even sure what her official title was. If anyone from the party reads this and knows, will you leave the answer and her info in the comment section?  Thank you!)

After I finished up with her, I went over to have my face read. Al Ferasa is an ancient practice that the Bedouins came up with… who knew?! I admit that I was expecting it to be kind of hokey. I mean, what’s he going to say? You’re a happy person, who smiles a lot! (After checking out my smile lines.) But you also have a tendency to worry! (Upon noting the sad double-furrow in between my eyebrows.)  But I was not only surprised, I was kind of floored by what he had to say. It wasn’t one specific thing, it was that he pretty much nailed my entire personality like he had known me since childhood. Most of the personality traits you probably kind of already know, if you’ve made it this far in the post, so I won’t reiterate how smart, fun-loving, and deep he said I can be… (What? Oh, shut up. I am totally deep!). What I will share is something he told me that I thought was really interesting: He told me that from looking at my eyes that I am not naturally extroverted. I KNOW. That’s ridiculous, right? But he went on: I became extroverted as a child because that’s how I developed within my family structure. (Hello! I’m the baby, of four siblings, that had to do everything over-the-top if I wanted to get noticed.) So, if I’m only a sham extrovert, I guess that means I am naturally introverted, which I think provides a reasonable explanation of why I need so much “alone time.”

Actually, this was great news to me, because I have struggled with stage fright and general paralyzing anxiety about performing since I was in high school and have never understood HOW I could be so scared of performing in front of crowds when I feel like all I want to do is perform when I am with my friends. Apparently, my desire to perform is only in overdrive when I am in family-sized groups. Thanks to Stephen Paul, I now have a little bit more insight into one of my “issues.”

I  know I’ll never call him again because I don’t have much time left before leaving the UK, but I would love to follow up with him and talk more because I believe that one has to understand themselves before they can fulfill their potential. If you want to contact Stephen, you can email him at info [at] alferasa [dot] com.

Don’t forget to check out the PAL copy of Your Shape Fitness Evolved I am giving away, I’ll be picking a winner on Sunday.