Last year i attended a barbeque and over heard an old friend speak of when she went to Lily Dale and had a reading done by a psychic. i was intrigued what, when and where is this place? being the little curious george that i am i found myself asking her tons of questions and the next morning googling it as soon as i awoke. i read online that Lily Dale was the largest spiritualist community in the world and was an area mainly inhabited by mediums/psychic's. that is about all i read and then i map quested directions. i'm one of those let's just find out when we get there types. i love to really experience a place more than just read about it. when i pulled onto Dale drive i noticed a beautiful sparkling lake on my left so i jumped out of my car and grabbed my camera "i was shooting with film that day" and took some pics of the loveliness around me. the trees, the lily pads in the water and then i noticed what appeared to be a white trash bag floating by. i thought to myself now what kind of jerk would litter this beautiful place! i turned my head for a second then looked back only to see it wasn't trash but before me was a stunning swan. amongst the warm glow of the sun it looked like a feathered gem in the water. i basked speechless, it was a breath taking view and i thought wow what a magical place. later on i read Lily Dale has 2 swans Lily and Dale. if i would have known that before coming i would not of had that wonderful surprise. its funny because i don't have a picture of that swan for some reason i was so caught up in the feeling of the moment i just forgot all about my camera. i drove slowly down the road and entered the gates of Lily Dale it is a very quaint village old rustic cottages, victorian looking houses, bed and breakfasts, a sign that say's speed limit 5 mph. i crept slowly up each street seeing signs on lawns with names on them and medium underneath each one. i felt excited and nervous i had no intent of getting a reading but at the same time thought it would be fun and spontaneous. so i parked and walked into the house and then waiting room of some random medium, i thought if its meant to be it will be. i found out soon after she was all booked up that day so i felt it wasn't meant to be so i headed out with my camera in tow. i took pics of the things i saw the decor, the museum, the forest temple, the areas where rocks seemed aligned for a purpose that i was unaware of. i walked onto a dock overlooking the lake and noticed the squirrels there were extremely friendly. altogether it seemed like i had gone back in time to a much simpler period and it was a nice thought. for a moment i imagined it was a place without internet, a small isolated country side village where ones talents are given flight by the society with in it. then i saw a sign that said cappuccino and i reverted back to reality. i walked onto the porch of a small coffee shop located in the center of Lily Dale and noticed a man that reminded me of "Gil Grissom" from CSI, my favorite tv show. he had that educated, scientist look about him with his high turtleneck and glasses. we started talking so i sat with him a while and he let me take his picture. his name was Curry what a great name for the character that he is. he told me how he and his wife were staying in Lily Dale for the summer so she could take classes on mediumship and so he could have a break from their regular life in New Hampshire. he told me he was a computer programmer how he was very narrow minded about the whole psychic thing before coming here. the things he witnessed had changed and even baffled his mind! so since he had the 411 on all the mediums i found it appropriate to ask him if he had any suggestions as far as mediums go so the next time i returned i could have one picked out. he gave me 2 names Joseph Sheil and Willa White. he started to tell me how Joseph Sheil was a spirit artist and he did these drawings, before he could finish i thought wait i saw his house and the drawings were in the windows and i remembered thinking since he had drawings with actual photos next to them what awful renditions they were. me being an artist and a slight critic of other artists. then Curry went on to explain to me that Joseph drew those drawings during a reading for someone and those were the images he was seeing of the spirits that appeared to him. so later on the families sent him photos so he could see how right on he was. i had to run back to his house to look at the drawings again and found them to be insanely dead on. i was impressed but i still found myself skeptical Curry talked of other things he saw there from spoon bending, to levitating tables all by the power of someone's mind. he mentioned another medium who was the youngest at Lily Dale but the best he had ever seen, he claimed she always had everyone she read in tears within seconds of the reading. he recommended her highly and said if i were to come back i should see her. her name Willa White i knew i would never forget. time went by as it does and it was around the 4th of July and my best friend Cristina came to visit me from California "my old stomping ground". i thought while she is here we should go to Lily Dale and get readings done. so i emailed Willa and asked her some questions about what kind of reading would it be could we ask about who we are gonna marry? she replied no that she was a medium not a psychic and she communicates with people who have passed on, she does not predict the future. i thought what a bust...who the heck is gonna come forward for me?? so i honestly wasn't all that jazzed about getting my reading because i truly didn't believe she could do what she claimed. i thought it was gonna be an obvious hoax and i'd leave feeling annoyed like i have at the state fair's "freak shows" where the world's smallest horse is just a pony. man was i wrong. she had me in tears within seconds. she had connected with a dear friend of mine who killed himself years back and all the details she knew were nothing she could of dug up on the internet. she said things he would say, she knew about paintings i had done, shrines i had made in my home. she knew private details about my family, quirks that make up who i am as a person. all in all my experience cannot be described well in words the same way a picture of that swan could not of encompassed that moment. that reading gave me so much closure it truly inspired me to keep striving forward. it made me feel less lonely like i had a team out there in the universe that was pulling for me, watching over me, loving me, hanging around and protecting me. i reflect back on times where i put myself in harms way and i still to this day can't believe i am alive, and i know now why i am. what i learned from my experience that i really loved was that i could still be surprised by life, and its nice to have faith and i'm glad that through all the negative there is out there that i still believe. i didn't read it in some book, i didn't watch some scientist document it on tv. i experienced a paranormal connection being made i had the spirits of people i lost all around me. i am no longer afraid of death i look forward to it in a way. i feel that one day instead of belonging to just my body i will be a part of everything. all the beauty, the wind, the light. a happy phantom with a boundless spirit. i had the privilege of photographing Willa White i got to walk with her in her shoes and around Lily Dale she is truly a colorful, sensitive soul. what she can do i can't think of a better word than magic. the connections she makes to people and their loved ones is something they carry with them for the rest of their lives. such a powerful gift yet she walks quietly as if not to disturb any of natures majesty. she breathes heavily as if to take it all in, all the beauty around us. all the wonder and infinite possibility around us.
