OJAI : Psychic Faire Draws Devotees and Novices

While a lecturer expounded on the healing energies of natural crystals and psychics hunched over Tarot cards, Ed Brough confidently predicted that the coming year would be a good one for Janette Walsh.

Walsh, an Oak View resident in her mid-30s, was one of many who sought out spiritual guidance Sunday from the assorted palmists, psychics and card readers who gathered in Ojai for the 8th annual Psychic Faire.

This year’s event, held under the sprawling branches of a monstrous oak that dominates the paperback section of Bart’s Books on West Matilija Street, drew both devotees such as Walsh, who said she has had countless Tarot card readings over the years, and others not so familiar with the spiritual world.

After hearing Brough--a card-reader and numerologist for more than 40 years--tell her that she could be psychic because her birthday falls on the 11th day of the month, Walsh said she hoped that the predictions were on the money.

“Last year was a year of turmoil in my life,” she said, “and I think it was some sort of repayment of some kind of karmic debt for things in my past. Now, I really think all my options are open, and there could be a lot of changes going on.”

Some of those who plunked down $15 to have their cards or palms or their psyches read complained about the lack of concrete predictions, but Walsh had an answer for skeptics. “You wish they’d tell you evidentiary things,” she said. “You want them to tell you something concrete so you can believe them, but this is really just a tool for better self-awareness.”

Card-reading was far from the only self-awareness tool on display at the fair.

Sparse crowds heard lectures on everything from using dragon cards or spiritual guides to map the future to the spiritual energies found in quartz crystals.

Ree Emerson of Oxnard gave her 20 listeners an introductory explanation of the practical applications that the crystals carry.

She told her audience that they could put crystals in their refrigerators to keep the temperature down or behind microwave ovens to ward off radiation and that they could wear them to balance themselves and shield them from negativity.

She also counseled the audience to recharge their crystals often with the natural power of the sun or moon, and warned against having other people contaminate a crystal with their own problems.

“One of the things with crystal etiquette is you never walk up to someone and say, ‘Let me see your crystal,’ ” Emerson warned.

“You might ask, ‘May I see your crystal,’ but you have to respect people’s privacy.”