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Aches, Pains? Let's Get Metaphysical

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By DAVID SOMMER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 9, 2008

PORT RICHEY - Beyond the Tree of Tranquility, past the soul cards, the tarot readers and the astrologers, Sharon Silva and daughter Cassidy were asking about the wonders of EFT.

As they watched, Jeanne "J.R." Ranger tapped away at a man with a headache.

While she tapped, Ranger had her patient repeat her chants. Nothing mystical: just simple words of healing, assurances of self-worth and self-actualization.

Emotional Freedom Techniques, Ranger explained as she helped the man will his headache away.

"I hate taking pills, and that's why I'm so impressed with EFT," Ranger said.

Silva said she was impressed, too, and would be back at the Unity Truth Center for one of Ranger's twice-monthly group healing workshops.

The Port Richey woman said she had heard the nondenominational Unity Truth Center was hosting its first-ever Metaphysical Fair on Saturday and she and her daughter wanted to see what it was all about.

Silva said she has studied hypnotism and had heard about EFT.

"I've never met anyone who did it, so I'm happy I'm here," she said.

Ranger urged her to come to a Tuesday evening session.

"We work with everyone in the room and see if we can get them relief, and we usually can," Ranger said.

If Ranger's EFT technique had not worked, the man with the headache had plenty of other options at the metaphysical fair.

Classroom No. 6 was the "Reiki Room," where sore backs were massaged and feet were rubbed. Scents from candles and the sound of a bubbling fountain filled the air.

Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction, healer Olivia Murray explained.

All around the room, therapists were laying on the hands, so to speak, and clients said they were soothed.

"Everybody is praying, in a way. It's just another way of working on it," tarot card reader and numerologist Eileen Tish said of the metaphysical lifestyle.

The tarot readers were probably the most popular draw Saturday. About a dozen of them had clients lined up for readings of 15 minutes or more for $1 a minute.

"I like readings. I haven't had one in a long while," Dolores DeMauro said as she wandered the halls of the Truth Center.

"I need one. My life is so dull," the New Port Richey woman told a friend as they exchanged mischievous smiles.

The Rev. Diane Dittman, who offered tarot readings and something called "psychometry," where someone tries to learn about a person through an object they have touched, said her job is to "channel God's love and affection for others."

"We are not healers," she said. "We can only do what God's purpose is for that person."

Marlene Jordan, who practices Chinese astrology, said that to her, practicing a metaphysical art is about helping people to part with the past and embrace the new and present.

She said it should not matter whether a client gets advice through the reading of tarot cards, the stars or the palm.

"Modality is just a medium, as paint is to an artist," Jordan said. "It doesn't define the reading."

Reporter David Sommer can be reached at (727) 815-1087 or dsommer@tampatrib.com.

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