Jan Swing of Awesome Orgonite in Sun City Center displays pyramid towers. Mitch Traphagen Photo
SUN CITY CENTER — On Saturday, in a community known for golf carts and golf courses, pickle ball and a Fun Fest, hundreds of people turned out at Community Hall for a walk on the spiritual side. The Sun City Center Metaphysical Society held their fourth annual Metaphysical Expo, a quiet riot of colors, crystals, peace and light. The event included mediums and healers, astrology and tarot cards and above all, a sense of peace and a dose of spiritual harmony — both with the world and within the mind.
There were 39 tables of vendors offering much of the above and more. Many involved are quick to point out that metaphysics is not contrary to Christianity or Judaism — it merely enhances it. Metaphysics is all about helping people to get in touch with things that lie outside of the realm of our five senses. It is, for some, a different, perhaps longer, leap of faith and, according to the Metaphysical Society, “a way to interpret and understand the experiences of life from all levels of consciousness: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.”
Barely two steps into the exhibition room, a young woman approached offering a hard cover book. I was in full gear for work with press credentials displayed and three cameras hanging from my neck and shoulders. I assumed she wanted publicity. I was wrong.
“This book is for you,” she said. “We aren’t seeking publicity, we are simply offering this. It’s yours. What you do with it is up to you.”
Tara Rae, who calls herself “The Butt-Kicking Angel,” was there displaying handmade jewelry and her book, “Universe on the Move,” with a tagline of “Be all you can be without joining the Army!”
Energy sound healer Robert Austin demonstrates the properties of a copper bowl used in healing. Mitch Traphagen Photo
Artist Shirley Patterson was displaying beautiful and unique crystals along with her own art, and Robert Austin, who calls himself an “Energy Sound Healer,” was there with bowls filled with foam peanuts in which visitors would place their feet and Tibetan copper bowls in which they would place their heads. There were tables for spiritual magazines and clothing, including t-shirts in the spectrum of colors for each day of the week. Also, there were Cliff and Lisa representing Apollo Paranormal Investigations, South Hillsborough’s own Ghost Hunters. The Chakra Center table, with spiritual books and gifts, anchored one end of the expo.
Doni Doty of the Metaphysical Society and Chakra Center was the organizer of the expo, which also included speakers and seminars at the top of each hour. The society has several upcoming events including lectures on music therapy, how to receive spiritual guidance, how to be really happy and a seminar on the correlation between solar activity and creativity and spiritual advancement.
For more information, contact Doty via email at metaphysicalsociety@gmail.com or by calling 813-633-9400. The society meets every Wednesday at 10 a.m. in the Heritage Room of the Community Association complex on North Pebble Beach Blvd.
