I’m a sucker for anything spiritual. Tarot cards, crystals, chakras- you name it and I’m there faster than you can say “mystical mumbo jumbo”. That being said, my relationship with my third eye is more of a casual flirtation than a long standing love affair. I just can’t muster the dedication to fully dive into the other realm, no matter how much I’d like to.
So, as I strutted in to the Mind, Body, Spirit festival I was ready throw myself in to all the mystical madness on offer…
The festival was inside, which did disappoint me slightly. For some reasons I had visions of the festival being located on a luscious green field, the faint trickle of a gentle stream somewhere in the distance, and incense wafting through the air (perhaps this was a bit of a long shot for Kensington Olympia).
At least the incense didn’t disappoint. I’d bet money on the fact that there wasn’t a single stall that didn’t have its own personal aromatic arsenal. It would have been near impossible to smell anything but heavenly coming out of that place.
Field related disappointments aside, the venue was actually pretty nice. A big, open plan room filled with lots of stalls and a few stages. The building was all white, which did feel slightly clinical (an a odd contrast to the crystals and hippy tapestries on display).
Determined to try and least one activity, I mooched around and did some window shopping. Tempted by drum healing or a chakra sound bath, I eventually settled on my trusty old friends- the tarot cards. Perhaps an unwise choice, considering the amount of times I’ve had them read .But hey, a girl needs to treat herself! Besides, £25 for a reading didn’t feel too extortionate.
The lady who read my cards was lovely, and pretty damn accurate too! The only time she messed up was when she said my energy was musical. In actual fact, I’m so unrhythmic that I couldn’t clap in time to the most repetitive of beats.
After my reading was done, I stumbled across about 10 people dancing (very much in time) to what sounded like a combination of aggressive trance and the auditory equivalent of the summer of 69’. It was pretty intense, but cool nonetheless. My favorite moment was when the DJ left the decks to join in- turns out he was the craziest dancer of them all.
By this point I was getting hungry and had a brief pit stop to munch on a vegetarian sausage roll. £7 down the drain did feel ever-so-slightly cheeky, but it was delicious. I perched on a bench , sausage roll in hand , and got ready for something I had never experienced before- a psychic.
Sceptic I am not, but something about physics do make me a little uneasy, (profiting from people who have lost a loved one feels uneasy), nonetheless, I wanted to go into it with an open mind.
The psychic was quite the performer, I’ll give him that. Every time he approached someone his opener would be “your energy is FABULOUS”. Unfortunately , I wasn’t too convinced with his psychic ability. It normally took him a few miscalculations and fumbles before he eventually got an accurate match for a dead relative. Maybe his psychic antenna might need a little fine tuning However, his fabulous energy and constant calls for his assistant “VicccctorrrriaaaHHH” were quite the performance.
Fortune told and one sausage roll down, I left feeling pretty fabulous myself.