A weekend in Lily Dale, NY

I came to Lily Dale, NY for a weekend of quiet, alone time, opportunity to access and explore my spirit life, and the possibilities of angels and spirit guides. I come looking forward to the opportunity to poke and prod, and learn a little bit about this place that has a reputation for the being the place to go to speak with loved ones who have passed to the other side. I arrive very late on Thursday night. No spooks, despite my late arrival. Just another little upstate NY community on a beautiful lake near woods in the summer time. Friday morning I wake up wondering if I will find healthy food to eat while on my spiritual weekend adventure. Day one breakfast: a processed egg, and sticky sweet muffin… will do better next meal!!

Then I begin walking…. Up and down all of the small streets, peering into the porches of the various mediums, stepping up onto some of them, taking in the energy of the community, I obtain a large handful of cards to pick and choose from. I stumble upon and enter a small gift shop, buy a couple of CD’s, and a crystal to bless my new car.

During my 3 day stay, I get 5 readings, attend a workshop on angels, take a dip in the lake, find a couple of spare hours to do a little studying, take brief yoga time in the morning, get in some good journaling time, walk a labyrinth, and overall just have a pretty fabulous time. The highlight of the whole weekend, however was my last reading:

Before this reading, I went for a walk in the woods very nearby. There were “fairy houses” placed along a path. It was a beautiful day, the woods were quiet; I was alone. As I am looking at the beautiful trees, I begin to see a tool for me to use to kick up into a handstand. I had already checked out of my room; I was going to get on the road shortly, and I was wishing I could get a handstand in today. I have not done this outside before, but what a cool thing it would be to find a willing tree to catch my feet, and allow me up. So I begin. First tree I try is uphill from where I need to place my hands…. Not happening! I go to several trees, find hand placement difficult, trees leaning away from me, trunks too narrow, muddy ground, uneven ground, the earth’s slope too far uphill or downhill for kicking up to their trees, etc. I actually get up pretty close once, but never found the tree behind me, lost my balance quickly and came down before achieving a satisfying handstand. As I come out of the woods, I am walking and see a big beautiful tree on level ground near the lake. I look to see if there is anyone nearby, choose a side of the tree where I might be most likely to be hidden from view, and am at it again. I come so close, but again, did not get good balance and do not reach the tree to stay up. Frustrated, I keep trying; the more I try the more I realize, this is not happening today! At which point I step away from the tree, resigned to improving my handstand indoors on level floor with a smooth stable wall that doesn’t lean away from me!! I walk over to my last reading of my weekend.

The first people who showed up for this reading are both of my uncles on my dad’s side. The medium characterizes them quickly and well; they both offer me support and encouragement regarding my business. And then Gram, who only passed a couple of months ago, shows up and is having a regular conversation with the medium. Next thing I know, the medium is asking me if I do yoga. She tells me that Gram is showing her a yoga pose. I ask what pose; she only says that she is going backwards, and that Gram has a great big smile. She asks me if I had ever tried to teach Gram, or engage her with yoga, if we had a joke between us. I said no, and then I told her what I had been doing before I came in and had Gram seen me? Gram is smiling big still, and says to her, that I should have gotten up, and that it would be more like her to not get up. She says to me, that I would have better luck on more level ground! I just laughed. It sounded so much like what gram would have said to me! I left from my first visit to Lily Dale, NY with a great big grin on my face!

Donna