Vibroacoustic

Psychic Sister is a local shop that sells Crystals, Vintage Clothing, Tarot Cards, books and jewelry. They also offer Readings every day of the week, from Psychic to Astrology to Tarot and a myriad of combinations and variations with a changing roster of some of the finest readers around. Psychic Sister has a second location in Olympia with similar offerings. Their tagline is “Tools for Transformation”

I see Dreamy, the owner, for readings a couple of times a year. Sometimes I have big questions, other times it’s just for a check-in. I strongly believe that the places we love to visit, the places we would be sad if they closed are the places we should support. I was in retail at a time when folks were just beginning to take photos of products then buy them online instead of spending a few extra dollars to support the place that they were visiting. Folks were sad when we closed along with a million other stores that could not keep up with the big box stores let alone those who offered free shipping, something we have all come to expect. I sent Bay Leaves to my kids in New York last week. Bay leaves are the lightest of all herbs and I spent $8 in shipping. Shipping is expensive and many folks expect small businesses to eat that expense. We need to be mindful of the world we want to live in. I like to visit small shops, so I spend money at small shops. Simple. (Unintended rant complete.)

I saw a Psychic, Margie, for several years. She was an elder who wore a bouffant wig and smoked cigarettes and drank coffee with creamer and sugar. She reminded me of my Dad’s mom, Grandma Ruby. Even though Margie rarely gave me messages that were helpful, I know that she was a great reader for everyone else who saw her, including my kids. I drove to see her in her home in a cul-de-sac of identical houses in Vancouver every six months because she was an elder who lived on a fixed income and I would be sad if she wasn’t available to offer readings. She has passed to the other side and I think of her often. I am grateful for the times we spent together and am delighted that she has recently entered into my novel with her real name.

I started seeing Dreamy after Margie passed and while she doesn’t wear a wig and is not old, I see her regularly in hopes that it will help her to keep doing what she’s doing for as long as she desires.

Dreamy is primarily an astrologer, so her readings offer a lot of dates and details, but she also is a psychic and tarot reader, so it’s a combination reading that is always full of helpful guidance.

At the end of our last reading she asked if I wanted to have a sound bath. I hate sound baths, but knew Dreamy wouldn’t offer something I hated, so I asked what she meant by that. She showed me to a small room off the retail floor that was adorned in silk cloths draped over a bed.

She had me lie down as she looked at a screen of options.

“Saturn?” She said, “You have a lot of Saturn stuff happening.”

“Sure,” I shrugged as I laid down on the bed that was like a massage table.

This was not the sound bath where you lie on a yoga mat next to a dozen other folks who twitch and wriggle while someone rubs a crystal bowl to create what sounds like tinnitus.

She placed headphones over my ears, covered me in a weighted blanket and pushed the buttons for Saturn.

The room was dim but not totally dark.

The table began to vibrate as the earphones emitted a tone that also seemed like vibration. I felt like an inter-dimensional being. As the hum and vibration ramped up, the table vibrated, then it would settle back into a nothingness. I kept reminding myself not to overthink how it worked and what a nice thing that Dreamy had offered me and try to focus on the experience. Be in the now. Let your mind find a new place. Open yourself up to the feelings. I circled in and out of a bliss state to real world state, wondering how much time had passed, how much time was left to a place where I entered a state in what can only be described as being the center of a french macaroon. I was sandwiched between two bluish-purple iridescent halves of an orb. My head and limbs sticking out from the round center as I floated in a faraway galaxy.

I have been writing about the afterlife in my new book, and while Heaven is a word that is universally understood to be a lovely place one goes after death, the word has limitations and connotations that I’ve been trying to free myself from.

Not to say that now my characters can become Galactic Cookies in the afterlife, but the sound and vibration and color sensations opened me up to new possibilities.

Even if you just want to relax as you lie under a weighted blanket for half an hour in a groovy room, I highly recommend the experience. We can all use a nervous system re-set.

You can go for as little as ten minutes and as long as an hour. If you’re in Northeast Portland, stop in, they may have a walk-in appointment available.

Shop Local. Vibe Local.