One of our RPE first year students visited a New-Age fair – and kindly wrote up her experiences for the blog: thanks SK… \u00a0Here is her personal account:<\/p>\n
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To gain an insight into the ever-changing \u2018New Age\u2019 scene I decided to attend a Mind, Body and Spirit event in Manchester earlier this month. Set in a beautiful, historic Monastery located in the middle of an industrial area, I arrived early to find the 500+ car park already full and guarded by men in fluorescent jackets. Finding a side street to park in I followed the crowds to the Monastery and was shocked at the size of the queue to pay on the door. Luckily I\u2019d pre-booked my entry ticket and sidled past the queue to the back door. I couldn\u2019t help but notice that the majority of people who were in attendance were of a certain\u2026caliber; a certain age, gender and societal class, all searching for a similar thing. A coincidence maybe but I wasn\u2019t convinced. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nGreeted by a man thrusting leaflets into my hands whilst explaining an itinerary of the numerous workshops taking place, I followed the herd into the main part of the Monastery. The room was filled with exhibitors and stalls promoting \u2018New Age\u2019 therapies, products and techniques and I found myself overwhelmed. Without any expectations I wandered aimlessly and moved with the flow looking at the beautiful ornaments, jewellery and sparkly things for sale.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nThere were different types of massages on offer, including Reiki (which was the only one I\u2019d previously heard of), claiming to reduce stress and make for a calmer, less hectic life. One masseuse said that he was a \u2018Guru\u2019 and the price for a 20-minute massage with him was noticeably more than others who offered what looked like the same service.<\/span><\/div>\nA therapy that centered around hundreds of coloured bottles standing on a shelf baffled me and was told that whichever one I was drawn to was the \u2018special one\u2019. Why it was special I had no idea and I doubt I was \u2018drawn\u2019 to it, I merely liked the pink colour.<\/span><\/div>\nCrystal healing stalls were popular amongst the crowds alongside little knick-knacks and keepsakes including pocket-angels to keep you safe and worry dolls to disperse your worries.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nThere was a heavy Eastern influence and I saw many Buddha figures and singing bowls for sale which seemed to enforce the idea that \u2018New Age\u2019 was a mixture of established religions as opposed to a new concept. I felt slightly uncomfortable with this and was disheartened by the amount of Pagan tokens that were amongst it all. There was a fine line between \u2018New Age\u2019 and Paganism and I couldn\u2019t help but feel the line was getting very blurred. I consider Paganism an actual religion and \u2018New Age\u2019 appeared to be a \u2018counterfeit\u2019 version of it, almost disregarding its\u2019 validity. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nStereotypical Mediums, psychics, tarot readers, astrologers, palm readers flooded the Monastery, all glammed up looking like Z-list celebs. For a small<\/i>fee (note: emphasis on \u2018small\u2019) you could have a reading. The cheapest I saw was \u00a340 for a 30-minute session. Need I say more? Whilst walking past one particular woman, I heard her say to her customer, \u201cyou know a woman with a cat, possibly black\u201d. At this point, my inner-cynicism was outwardly shown with a shake of my head in dismay. <\/span><\/div>\nPosters and banners were all over the place all saying where a particular psychic or medium had been featured, for example, \u201cAs seen on TV\u201d or \u201cFeatured in \u2018Take a Break\u2019 magazine\u201d. This raised my suspicions once again because it was as though they had to justify themselves for being there before anyone could question their validity. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was a brilliant experience and I had a wonderful time but I must admit instead of enforcing the \u2018New Age\u2019 concept as a religion or certified, genuine way of life, I saw it to be a moneymaking idea, preying on the same type of vulnerable person who is searching for something more in their unsatisfactory life. As a placebo though I believe that what \u2018New Age\u2019 offers can and does work, positive thinking and all that jazz. However it\u2019s slightly depressing to think that the whole business focuses on the negative side of life; everything is rubbish, why is my life like this, where can I get the answers, by doing this my life will be better. The lack of originality annoyed me slightly as everything was a mash up of Paganism, Hinduism and Buddhism mixed with 1960\u2019s hippy-culture and a dash of Mystic Meg.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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