Yesterday I went to this huge psychic festival for a few hours. There were a ton of tarot readers, mediums, and general spiritual advice givers of all varieties and pretty much every kind of accouterment or gadget you could think of. There were seminars as well but I didn't attend any of them.

I looked at all the cool stuff and ended up buying a quartz point and some black kyanite (I already have a piece of blue kyanite). I also had an aura photograph taken. I more or less know how aura photography works but I still thought it was fun to do and I have a sweet picture. Ditto with the negative ion bracelet thing I bought. I know the science is dubious at best but I still got a neat bracelet.

Most important of all I found a couple of books by Aleister Crowley in one of the booths that sold used books. I snagged a hardcover copy of The Book of Lies and got a Dover edition of Magick in Theory and Practice. They were probably overpriced like everything else there but I was satisfied with it.

So the moral of the story is that it doesn't matter if you're being ripped off as long as you know you're being ripped off and you have fun doing it. Seriously though, everything at those festivals and fairs is way overpriced and the psychics/mediums/whatever are dubious at best. Where else are you going to get your aura photographed though?

If you ever get the chance I'd recommend at least attending one of these things even if you don't buy anything. I have a love/hate relationship with the occult and paranormal in that I find most enthusiasts to be insufferable, especially in person, but I'm passionately interested in the subject. Your mileage may vary.