WE HOPE YOU JOIN US TONIGHT ON DARK MATTER RADIO WITH MARK JOHNSON, from 9-10 PM EDT. WE’LL BE TALKING (LIVE) ABOUT OUR FAVORITE TOPIC- SYNCHRONICITY!
AND HERE’S A LINK FOR THE LIVE CHAT ROOM DURING THE SHOW.
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Imagine it. You’re George Colby, a guy in upstate New York in the late 1800s, and your spirit guide – Seneca – directs you to establish a Spiritualist camp in the wilds of Florida. So what do you do? Well, you head out for Florida, of course.
Back then, Florida was a swamp, a mosquito haven, a place of sweltering heat and wilderness so extreme that unless you had some landmarks, you would count yourself among the lost and the missing. But Seneca had given Colby some landmarks – seven hills, a lake… And in 1875, Colby arrived and five years later, he filed for a homestead of nearly 75 acres.
Today, Cassadaga is divided into two distinct areas and the dividing line is Cassadaga Road. Everything south of the road is the Spiritualist camp. For more than a century, the “real” mediums lived in the camp. They were supposedly tested by the association for their mediumship skills, their ability to communicate with the dead. Psychics and mediums who practiced on the other side of the road were supposedly phonies, just living there for the spillover gravy train. This attitude and the border persist to the present.
On the porch of the Cassadaga Hotel, the main landmark at the border of the camp, you can see the buildings on the other side of the road where the non-camp psychics live and work. It’s like standing at the border between two countries. The people in these two countries speak the same language, share the same customs and belief systems, but this phony border separates them.
I’ve been visiting Cassadaga since 1975. In all these years, all these readings, I have found three mediums who were the real McCoy – Wilbur Hull, a paraplegic who first read for me in 1975; Don Fleck, who read for Rob and me in the mid-1980s; and Hazel West Burley. The rest of my readings in this strange town have been with psychics who live on the other side of Cassadaga Road and they were every bit as good at the three mediums who lived within the camp.
This border has persisted for more than a century, but a subtle shift may be underway. Here’s why.
Within the camp, there are several natural lakes – Colby Lake and Spirit Pond. In the past when we have visited, the lakes were a dominant presence in the community, filled with water, a gorgeous sparkling blue that attracted all sorts of wildlife – frogs, wading birds, eagles, rodents that lived in the lushness that surrounded the lake. If water represents spirit, then Spirit Pond was its paragon. It seemed to whisper, I represent the veil between worlds, and here in Cassadaga, that veil is quite thin… At the shore of Spirit Pond, there’s a pagoda where you can sit and take in the beauty of the lake and the surrounding area.
The problem is that Spirit Pond and Colby Lake are little more than mud holes now. The docks of private homes on the lakes are now high and dry, the frogs that used to croak in the evening have mostly vanished. Yes, part of the problem is a lack of rain. But there’s something else at work here. If you look at this symbolically, it’s as if the spirit of Cassadaga as it has been defined for more than a century – a Spiritualist community where the living commune with the dead – is changing, shifting.
Several weekends ago, we stayed at a B&B in nearby Lake Helen, but spent most of our day exploring Cassadaga. We walked way out into what used to be Spirit Pond, and I was struck by the symbolism, that Cassadaga, like the rest of the world, is in the midst of a paradigm shift.Here’s a photo of the dry lake.
I was thinking about this as I sat on the porch of our B&B Saturday evening and heard and then spotted an eagle moving between the trees.
Esoterically, eagles are about seeing the larger picture. What is that larger picture for the Spiritualist community of Cassadaga? What if this silly border – didn’t exist? After all, the veil between the living and the dead can be penetrated from either side of the road.
It will be interesting to see what happens in Cassadaga in the years ahead.
Seems as if a natural ‘joining’ is on the cards.
It sounds like a superb place to visit, from your telling of the history and experiences there. Wish I were a little closer…
I’ve never been to Cassadega, but I know it’s the sister community to Lilydale, in upstate New York. I suspect, knowing also what winters are like in that area, it was not difficult to find that many of the early mediums from Lilydale found themselves guided to winter there………………
I know that the mediums that practice there have to be registered through the Spiritualist church there, or through its affiliates around the world, which can be confusing since there are a number of different Spiritualist churches, not all of which agree with each other. Over the years of visiting Lilydale and staying there, I’ve found there are at least 4 different organizations, all sharing the same basic metaphysical ideas but all different kinds of practices – for example, there are people who teach geomancy, healing, spirit art, native american sweat lodge, Wicca, as well as the traditional Spiritualist practices. They seem to have come to grips with each other by having these different organizations all being loosely, and in general comfortably, associated with each other………..I’ve participated in mediumship circles there, but also taken a drumming class!
Sounds like Cassadega needs some of the same spirit.
Really interesting, Lauren. I wasn’t sure how all this testing as done, but the next tie we’re there, I’m going to ask around. It does sound like Cassadaga could benefit from some cooperation!
Interesting to read about the background of Cassadaga. How sad that the lakes are diminishing – whether symbolic of something more or not. It will also be interesting to see what happens to mankind in the years ahead.
I’m hoping rain wil tkae care of the problem!