Submitted photo
The Genesa Crystal is a sacred geometric sculpture that can be used as a powerful tool for manifestation.
Sarah Laubacher
Reporter
By SARAH LAUBACHER
Logan Daily News Reporter
NELSONVILLE - Halloween has come and gone, but this weekend Hocking College is hosting a "premier metaphysical event" that should conjure the spirit of the season better than any haunted house or trick-or-treating expedition. The Self-Health and Awareness Expo might sound like nothing more than a spiritual retreat, but the annual event (in its fourth year) draws hundreds of ghost hunters, psychic-phenomena seekers, feng-shui fetishists, and acupuncture enthusiasts from all over the region.
Local author and ghost hunter John Kachuba is the keynote speaker for this year's event. Kachuba is best known as the author of Ghosthunters: On the Trail of Mediums, Dowsers, Spirit Seekers, and Other Investigators of America's Paranormal World (published in the Spring of 2007 by New Page Books). He is also the author of Ghosthunting Illinois and Ghosthunting Ohio, How to Write Funny, and Why is this Job Killing Me. He will present the keynote address on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. on "Finding Spirit." In addition, he will present a special workshop on Sunday at 3 p.m. on "Ghosthunting."
The expo's scope also includes information on UFO's, crystals, orbs, past lives, hypnosis and aura-readings. Workshops will also demonstrate and explain a variety of alternative healing techniques like emotional freedom technique (EFT), touch for health, acupuncture, and quantum touch. On Sunday morning, attendees can even learn how to bend a spoon with their minds, said Deborah Lindsey, who leads the spoon-bending session.
Not all of the two-day events topics are within the paranormal realm, however; the expo's main focus is alternative health and wellness. Lectures will explore the nature of consciousness through the lens of various spiritual belief systems, and through science.
In other words, if you're not in the mood to "have your aura read," you can have a detoxifying foot bath, have an energy treatment like Reiki or Bahlaqeem or get a massage.
Alternative health and wellness is an aspect of the weekend that goes hand-in-hand with Hocking College's new Holistic Health and Wellness Institute. The Holistic Healing Institute is among the first programs of its type in the country. Students can earn an associates degree in holistic healing or herbal studies by attending a flexibly scheduled, yet intense series of workshops at Hocking.
Deborah Lindsey, who served on the advisory board that created the program's curriculum, said the Holistic Healing Institute has generated a positive response so far.
"We have about 21 people in the major," she said. "They started the video gaming major at the same time, and they thought that would be a huge deal and that the alternative health care program would be lagging behind, but we have has many people as they do," she said.
Of the 30 workshops offered at this weekend's expo, two are designed to introduce the concepts covered in the Holistic Health and Wellness Institute's program. (They are offered Saturday at 1 p.m. or Sunday at 2 p.m.)
Lindsey, for example, leads the workshop "Eliminate energetic barriers to abundance with EFT - a topic she eventually plans to present as a course at the Healing Institute.
While the Holistic Health and Wellness Institute is sponsoring the event, the expo is also organized by the Self-Health and Awareness Center located in Vienna, W.Va.
The center is a spiritual development and healing center dedicated to raising the consciousness on earth through love, a press release said. More information on the expo's events, vendors and workshops can be found at www.selfhealthandawarenesscenter.com .
Activities take place Saturday, Nov. 3 and Sunday, Nov. 4 at the Hocking College Student Center. Doors open at 10 a.m. both days. The exhibit hall does not open until 11 a.m. on Sunday, although everyone is invited to come early to learn how to "Bend a Spoon with Your Mind," which starts at 10 a.m. with a fee of $10 or participate in other workshops. Doors close on the exhibit hall at 5 p.m. each day. Cost is $8 per day; some events are extra. As a special promotion, everyone who arrives between 10 and 10:15 a.m. on Saturday morning will be granted free entry. To learn more or to get discount entry coupons, visit the web site or call 304-295-4411. To learn more about Hocking College's new program, contact Kathleen Kutsco at 740-753-6099.
http://www.logandaily.com/main.asp?Sect ... eID=123845
