Archive for May 27th, 2008
And when I get that feeling, I want “SPIRITUAL” healing
I took a little road trip last Saturday with my girl Jessica and our friends Deborah and Alex. I guess you could say it was a spiritual journey of sorts. OK, not really, but we did spend the day at the Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp in Cassadaga, Fla.
The camp is a 114-year-old spiritualist community populated with healers, mediums and other spiritually-minded people. One of, if not the largest, community of spiritualists in the country and possibly the world, the camp is the “oldest active religious community in the southeastern United States.”
Founded by George Colby and his spirit guide “Seneca,” the small community rests on 57-acres and has about 55 residents. There’s a spiritualist church, several homes where most of the mediums and healers work from, a haunted hotel and a bookstore that almost leveled me when I walked in due to the overpowering smell of incense.
The four of us took the $15 tour at 1:00 p.m., led by the Rev. Ben Cox, and learned about the historic community and what it is they actually believe in and practice. He told us about some crazy phenomena in the town. But best of all, he took us into a bona fide seance room (lit by a single red light bulb to better see the ectoplasm, duh), closed the door, sat down at the table, and proceeded to tell us all some ridiculous fucking stories about tables and objects that slide, vibrate and levitate, and people emitting the vaporous, and sometimes solid, ectoplasm that takes on the shape of the spirits former selves. Crazy shit. Interesting. A little creepy. But interesting nonetheless.
Deborah and Jessica both spent too much money on hour-long readings with two different mediums while Alex and I walked around town exploring and making photographs. The girls seemed to think it was worth it. We all had fun and that’s all that really matters.
So if you’re really into this kind of stuff or are just curious, Cassadaga is the place to go. Or if you live in Florida and are simply looking for an alternative to the beach, make the drive to central Florida and get your palm read or something.
All Photographs Copyright (c) 2008 Matthew Ratajczak All Rights Reserved
