A Getaway for the Girlfriends: Cassadaga, Florida's Spiritualist Camp

Central Florida's Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp makes the perfect girlfriends getaway. There are plenty of psychics and mediums to help visitors get in touch with the other side and years of history to get lost in. My friend Kathy and I spent a weekend exploring the Camp.

Our girlfriends getaway began at the Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp Welcome Center to figure out how to spend our day. We wanted to meet with mediums and unlock the secrets of life. The Welcome Center lists mediums available for readings and it's overwhelming to pick one.

The staff doesn't help select a medium. The spirits guide you in making the right choice. After looking over a dozen names, I finally selected one based on his name beginning with a "Z," it was an interesting name. Did I choose wisely?

My hour with the medium can be described as uneventful. At the time of my visit, there was a lot of uncertainty in my life and I was anxious for someone to guide me. I learned my medium was originally from Buffalo, NY, like me. Did the spirits really guide me to choose him?

I blurted out my questions and quandaries then sat at the edge of my seat hoping he was going to make some revelation about my future. There was a long pause followed by the question, "How old are you?"

When I replied, his response was, "Oh, you'll be okay. You're in the beginning of your seven year cycle. No matter what you do, you'll be okay."

"That was uneventful," I thought, then grasped at questions to pass the remaining 45 minutes.

Kathy and I wandered into the nearby Cassadaga Hotel, which is separate from the Spiritualist Camp. Mediums are available for readings there, too. The hotel's bookstore had a nice selection of books and I picked up a Wiccan for beginners guide. There were also photos on display showing orbs caught on film in the hotel's lobby. I always thought they were dirt specs on the camera lens, but are apparently spiritual energy showing up as small balls of light.

We visited a shop to feel the energy from a huge, crystal singing bowl. Kathy and I took turns rubbing a wand over the bowl's rim. I could feel the vibration in my body. Singing bowls are used for healing, clearing away negative energy and opening the body's chakras.

The girlfriends getaway continued with a guided walking tour of the Spiritualist Camp. Our guide Richard was studying at the camp to become a medium (all practicing mediums, healers and psychics need to go through the camp's rigorous certification process before practicing, which takes years). The guide told spooky ghost stories as we walked by historic homes.

The cool portion of the tour was a visit to the seance room at the Colby Memorial Temple. This is where table rocking takes place (when spirits interact with the living by moving a table). One of the most important things we learned on the tour is that spiritualism is about good, positive things.

That night, Kathy and I wandered through the Spiritualist Camp attempting to capture pictures of orbs. We snapped images by a statue known to be surrounded with spiritual energy and by the lake. Only one photo produced something suspicious.

Although our visit to the Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp was brief, it made the perfect girlfriends getaway.

Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp's History
The Camp was established in 1894 by George P. Colby from a spiritualist camp called Lily Dale in Cassadaga, New York. It is the Southeast United State's oldest active religious community and is a designated Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. Homes within the Spiritualist Camp are owned by individual owners but the land is owned by the camp.

Geography
Cassadaga is located about 35 northeast of Orlando and 25 miles southwest of Daytona Beach.

Where to Stay
Kathy and I stayed at the nearby bed and breakfast called Cabin on the Lake in Lake Helen. It's a two-story cozy cabin with three rooms, each with a private bathroom.
222 Tangerine Avenue
Lake Helen, Florida 32744
Tel: (386) 951-2684
www.cabinonthelake.com