A visit to the Woo store

[Bikewer]

My son is married to a woman who is nominally Pagan. They have a circle of friends who are sort of "into" a wide variety of Neo-Pagan practices. "Druids", Wiccans, what have you.

We were shopping for a birthday present for her, and we thought we'd get her a gift certificate from this place, which is called Pathways.

I walked in in the middle of a class on Shadows. Now, other than "Me And My Sha...Dow", I didn't know of any particular beliefs about lack of light reflection, so I tried to listen with one ear while I was getting my certificate.
There were about 12 people in attendance, and the young woman was talking about it taking 91 days to get free of a particular habit, and how you can empower your shadow, and a bunch of other nonsense as well.
Sounded like an amazing mish-mash of New Age stuff to me, from a dozen sources.

In addition, the joint offers courses in Feng Shui, Tarot, "Mantras for Ganesha", Trees and Woodlands, and Essential Oil Massage.

I wonder if any of these people actually make a living peddling this stuff? Maybe it's just a part-time gig when they're not working in the cube farm.

[Lisa Simpson]

Okay, I know what Feng Shui, Mantras, Tarot and Essential Oil Massages are, but what is "Trees and Woodlands" other than trees and woodlands? What's the woo?

[grayman]

Okay, I know what Feng Shui, Mantras, Tarot and Essential Oil Massages are, but what is "Trees and Woodlands" other than trees and woodlands? What's the woo?

Talking Trees?
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Or cat seeking an answer from a wise, old talking tree?
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[Nucular]

I walked in in the middle of a class on Shadows. Now, other than "Me And My Sha...Dow", I didn't know of any particular beliefs about lack of light reflection, so I tried to listen with one ear while I was getting my certificate.

Heh, there's an increasingly diverse woo taxonomy of imaginary phenomena, and shadows seem to keep cropping up. I'm involved in a thread on another board about the likelihood of 'umbrakinesis' (it's the fashion amongst the younger posters to try to collect as many 'kineses' as they can, sort of like trading cards). Claims made for it included 'the ability to create and control darkness' (despite my repeated reminders that there's no such thing as 'darkness' other than in the sense of 'absence of light') and 'using the shadow to lift things', which just makes me weep, really. The 'Shadow People' are also fairly popular amongst those who are happy to use any old trick of the light/flicker in the corner of their eye as evidence for something-or-other.

I wonder if any of these people actually make a living peddling this stuff? Maybe it's just a part-time gig when they're not working in the cube farm.

I think a lot of those people tend to dream of making a living out of their odd preoccupations; I doubt proportionally many of them actually do. That's not to say there aren't some who will; but most money I'd speculate would be in alternative medicine, rather than workshops done in new age stores.

[I Ratant]

...
I wonder if any of these people actually make a living peddling this stuff? Maybe it's just a part-time gig when they're not working in the cube farm.
.
The guy running the store does. :)

[imjohn]

The oil massage class sounds good.

There is an entire industry around here devoted to Asian Oil Massage! :duck:

[grayman]

How much oil can you get from one Asian?

[Bikewer]

Is "happy ending" included?