Seers Bode Success for Museum Benefit

“Who’s the hot psychic?” That was the hot question at “Mystical Madness,” a benefit for the Newport Harbor Art Museum on Saturday night that featured no fewer than 30 metaphysical specialists.

“James Baker!” answered chairwoman Susan Porter Caput when Carolee Kurta popped that question after her arrival at Isamu Noguchi’s sculpture garden in Costa Mesa.

Baker, one of Southern California’s leading astrologers, held court under a full moon in the eerie gardens, along with crystal readers such as Lynn Darpinian, channelists such as Sydney, Tarot readers such as Beatrx Quntanna and palmists such as Carlos McAfee.

“He told me I’ve had many changes in my life and I’m in a cycle with more,” Kurta said, emerging from her session with Baker, “which is absolutely true. But, one insight he gave me was that I give people the benefit of the doubt while not trusting my own feelings enough.”

With that, Kurta, who decorated her ears with amethyst crystals for the affair, trotted off to a session with with Quntanna, who uses Tarot cards to read relationship dynamics.

“I’m doing a six-month forecast for each person,” said Kurta, who sported tiny quartz crystals, gold stars and half-moons on her earlobes.

(“The half moons open up intuition,” she said. “The stars promote insight and direction, and the crystals magnify energy.”)

“I’ll ask each person to pull six Tarot cards and then let him know what kind of energy he can expect from the next six months,” Quntanna said. “Each card design matches their energy. People are drawn to different symbols, so it can get very exciting.”

Museum director Kevin Consey had his palm read by McAfee. “I know what he’s going to see: callouses,” Consey said wearily, saying he’d spent the day shoveling dirt.

“You have nice and firm hands--springy,” McAfee told Consey. “Your vitality is up!”

He also said that Consey’s hands revealed that he was “brave” and that he could expect longevity.

Kathy Hurwitz had a psychic card reading “with a plain old deck of cards. She (the reader) sees me in threes--in three months, three weeks and three days I’ll be jumping for joy like a teen-ager,” Hurwitz said. “Something good is coming!”

Proceeds from the party, which included a buffet dinner and dancing, were expected to total $25,000. Committee members were Brooke Coldren, Toni Devich, Mark Kehke, Peter Leider, Erika Ray, Jacquelyn Schmitt, Peggy Blair Spaulding and Helen Zeughauser.

A Celebration of Courage: The Marine motto Semper fi (always faithful) might well be the motto for the crowd that annually honors John Zimmerman, a muscular dystrophy patient whose dream to become an honorary Marine came true before he died in 1985 at age 15.

More than 300 guests gathered at the Anaheim Hilton & Towers on Saturday night for the fourth annual “Celebration of Courage” dinner and auction that raised $52,000 for the county chapter of the Muscular Dystrophy Assn.

Among those paying tribute to Zimmerman’s memory were his parents, Richard and Sandra Zimmerman of Fountain Valley.

John Montana, 18, a muscular dystrophy patient who lives in Cypress, was the recipient of the John Zimmerman Memorial Award. It is annually bestowed upon an MD patient who exemplifies the courage and tenacity that Zimmerman manifested during his illness.

John Weeks was event chairman.

Debutante Ball: Les Amis de Femmes, a support group founded in 1979 on behalf of the Women’s Transitional Living Center in North Orange County, staged its 10th anniversary debutante ball at the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel on Saturday night, netting proceeds of about $10,000.

Presented were: Catherine Blake, Elizabeth Brick, Misty Hirschbein, Cathy Milam and Amy Wilson of Fullerton; Tamara Darst of Orange, and Aissa Menzies, Joy Nelson and Jill Parks of Buena Park.

Shirley Soderquist and Gretchen Reiter were co-chairwomen. Joanne Thompson is president of Les Amis de Femmes.