I have often found myself limiting my skeptical activities to informing myself, and perhaps engaging people I work with in discussions of topics that are often dusted in alternate realities – mainstream topics with a great deal of public debate, but ultimately with an objective truth. I have not dabbled in the fringe of woo, until “The Festival of Wellness” rolled into town, and I felt compelled to attend. It was touted as “Mind Body Spirit & Arts & Craft Event” but it was so much more. All of the pseudoscience actors were in town from Reiki to Reflexology.
My goal was to experience the feel of such an event, and to see if there was any attempt at deception, or whether the exhibitors were misguided believers. It really felt like if you had an exhibit, you were likely the former, although some presenters seemed genuine in their belief. At the end of the day, despite feeling annoyed with a few people, I felt rather bad for a lot of people. There is a fine line between being a victim and being preyed upon, and this environment maximises the predator/prey relationship. Attendees were clearly ready and willing to be taken advantage of, but this does not absolve this community of responsibility.
My first day at the event proved eye-opening, in a bad way. As I made my way through the hall I was inundated with sights and sounds. The amount of nonsense on display was overwhelming. I made a full tour, and asked a few non-threatening questions; I wasn’t there to debunk or argue, I simply wanted to see how that world operated.
Although entry was free, everything was for sale. A standard reading cost £20-£30, and the sign-up sheets were full. Every table had products or services that were offered on the spot. In one corner was a recliner bed surrounded by gongs and chimes, and the “practitioner” was walking around hitting the implements with great focus. Others were holding their hands over or around people with equal focus. There was an aura photographer engaging a group of onlookers as he waited for a print of an aura to be spat out for an eager client, complete with explanation of the colours… and of the accompanying fee (£30 for the image and £40 with a reading). Tarot cards were being flipped with eyes wide open and explanations to follow. Healing magnets were applied to apparently inhibit pain. There were Advanced Telepathic Intelligence discs inspired by “off planet people”. I was overwhelmed and intrigued.
I took in a talk on the first day: a medium was describing his technique, and I could not resist. It started with a description of how he used to be a skeptic – this seemed to be a running theme, as I heard that refrain repeatedly, as it must give greater credence to the claims. From his intro speech came the following…
Life is energy, everything is energy, our chairs are energy. Energy is everywhere, it has been scientifically proven. Quantum physicists agree that everything has a frequency so we are all connected.
Let the cold reading begin. There were about 15 people in the room, and I wasn’t sure what might happen should he call on me, but I figured a good cold reader would know his room, and looking around you could see who was visibly engaged – sure enough, that is where he went.
The readings were initially misses for the most part, but many of these became hits as the criteria for a hit was massaged by the reader. The final read was very weak until he made a reference to an older gentleman who was important to the person, and he began coughing to indicate that person had been ill (hardly a high-risk guess, we’ve had a pandemic). The woman said yes, that a relation she had never met had come to an untimely and violent death. She indicated that the throat may have been involved. Given this gift, no matter how vague, the medium looked to capitalise, and his coughing increased, amid gasps in the crowd. He asked the spirit to back off as his point had been made. It was remarkable to see a vague hit be turned into a real crowd pleaser. I was beginning to see how the naivety of the crowd could be exploited. This is where I started feeling bad for some people, and mad at others.
Day 2 had the same feel, and there was a talk to be given by the “Advanced Telepathic Intelligence Disc” Intuitive Modality Instructor. The “I was once a skeptic” trope was marched out. We were told that twelve spirits guide this individual, 3 “on planet” and 9 “off planet”. He could not remember the names of one of his earthly spirits, which I found odd. He told us that he remotely clears people, places and objects of bad spirits, that he once had to relocate a portal to the “off planet” from a medium’s yard to a hilltop, and that he has met aliens many times. He also belongs to a group called C5, that emits crop circle energy and invokes UFO sightings.
I was having trouble keeping up to the backstory, and he hadn’t even talked about the disc. The discs were the result of persuasion by his spirits. He was told to produce them by his off-planet spirits. They apparently have the right frequency to help you connect with energy. They are made with pure titanium and through a process of alchemy they open up your telepathic channel, instantly. He did give me one to hold in my hand, and said it may get hot or lift you up or down. It did neither. We moved on to the cold readings, a fairly pedestrian session picking on likely suspects. The discs were offered up for sale at the end, and off we went.
This is where I had to take stock of my weekend and felt that there had been a predator/prey feel about the whole affair. Many would say that events like this are harmless, and that if people want to take part in them, they have a right to. I agree, it is their right, yet the harm was palpable. I do not know any of the attendees, but I saw them parting with their cash readily. They seemed quite happy to do so, but was all of that disposable income? I am not sure. Do they have expectations and beliefs that are not being met by what they’ve been sold? That is perhaps the greater question. They are wearing blinders, convinced their particular type of woo has helped them. They appear entrenched in their beliefs, and their identity depends on it.
Personally, I feel that as well as being an affront to science, these events are also a kind of attack on individuals; one that has been cultivated for generations. I felt that these people have been indoctrinated. These are people that hold strong, albeit incorrect, beliefs that are being fortified and exploited by ne’er-do-wells.
The weekend left me with a sense that changing the culture of woo is a Sisyphean task. Getting to experience this world for myself was a step forward – I can now see how one is lured in with wishful thinking, and the ability for snake oil salespersons to fill an emotional void is all that is required. Over time I feel that the peddlers of these pseudosciences might really believe that they can perform their particular flavour of woo, and might feel they are a benefit to society… and therein lies the problem.
In the current climate of misinformation, this type of pseudoscience grows unfettered, and leads to people delaying or ignoring real science or medicine. A disclaimer saying that this is for “entertainment only” (in very small print) is akin to labelling a nuclear weapon “may cause skin irritation”. It really doesn’t tell the full story, and it is time for regulators and authorities to step in. There are real-world consequences for this nonsense. As long as these people can dress up their pseudoscience as science then we have a problem.
I now have a better upstanding of how this community operates and who it’s clientele (or victims) are. I can hopefully see a way forward that doesn’t victimise people and just weans them off through sensible legislation and education. The skeptics of the world really do have their hands full, but alas, one must keep pushing the rock up the hill.
