Page 5 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - April 2024
P. 5
L.A.’S Wackiest Spiritual/UFO Convention 5
‘It’s a lot of UFO stuff and
a lot of healing’: Inside
L.A.’s wackiest spiritual
convention
Continued from Page 4
An ideological grab bag
Organizers say the Expo was always
designed as a clearing house for far out
ideas but there have been times when its
open-minded, anything-goes attitude has
gone too far. Last year, filmmaker Mikki
Willis gave a baseless talk on how the
COVID industrial complex was used to
advance a century-old agenda to overtake
America in a basement area of the hotel
dubbed “the Rabbit Hole” devoted to friends about manifesting your goals or it describes a personal encounter with 13
“alternative realities and censored world worn a bracelet with the word gratitude angels and the profound revelations they
views.” This year, Quicksilver had to cut engraved on it, then you are engaging shared with him while he was clinically
a speaker from the roster after finding out with the same themes that thrive at the dead.)
he had links on his website to a Expo.
conspiracy theorist who cited a Nazi In recent years, however, the convention
sympathizer. “People who believe they can create their has seen an influx of digital-first spiritual
own destiny, people who believe they can influencers who earn their clout from
“It’s getting too negative, too right wing, contact divine presences — that’s very massive social media presences.
too go get your gun kind of s— that common across religious traditions,” she
doesn’t work at all,” he said. “I’m not said. “California and Los Angeles are the “It’s a real generational divide,” Satva
doing it again.” epicenters of it, but it’s a common belief said. “For the boomers, it’s all about
among the general populace.” prestige; for the millennials, it’s all about
Conspiracy was always a sideline at the reach.”
convention anyway, he said. More Facing the future
representative of its cosmic carnival Elizabeth April, 31, is one of the
ethos are the vendors advertising dolphin convention’s new, young stars. She
Dannion Brinkley, bestselling author of
and whale wisdom retreats, cat psychic alternately describes herself as a
“Saved by the Light” and a survivor of
services and crystals carved in the shape YouTuber, life coach, author, channeler
three near death experiences (including
of praying mantis heads (designed to help or past life regression specialist,
being struck by lightning), has been
people connect with their “galactic depending on who’s asking. Her first
speaking at the Conscious Life Expo
guides”). At Booth 400 in the book, “You’re Not Dying, You’re Just
since its inception. He was also a regular
International Ballroom, Joshua Reff Waking Up” was published in March
at the Whole Life Expo.
demonstrated his super-size tuning forks 2021, but the legion of fans that stood in
that sell for $1,111, $2,222 and $3,333, line for her workshop at the convention
Now in his mid-70s, he said these annual
based on size, and “sound healing know her from the videos she posts
gatherings introduced him to a number of
modalities.” regularly to Instagram (200,000
tools that he brought to Veterans Affairs
followers) and YouTube (216,000
as part of his decades’ long work
Taking it all in can feel like you’re subscribers).
providing hospice care for veterans.
wandering along the far-flung fringes of
the spiritual landscape. But Amanda Like Brinkley, April’s personal story may
“The VA has tai chi and yoga —
Lucia, a religion professor at UC be hard for skeptics to swallow. Dressed
aromatherapy is now part of the standard
Riverside who has attended several in ripped black jeans and a T-shirt, she
model of care, and they got it from the
Conscious Life Expos, doesn’t see it that detailed her spiritual journey in an
Conscious Life Expo,” he said. “How do
way. interview on the convention floor.
I know? I drove it there.”
Instead, she sees similarities between the She claimed to have been clairvoyant as a
With trim white hair and a white
250 exhibitors and 200 speakers that child, that she was introduced to past life
mustache, Brinkely looks and sounds like
come to sell their wares each year and regressions in her teens and that she was
a Southern gentleman. Like many Expo
more mainstream belief systems. If abducted by aliens on a meditation retreat
old-timers, he made his name with a New
you’ve ever bought a supplement to help in her early 20s. (Continued on Page 6)
York Times bestselling book. (In his case,
you sleep better at night, talked with your
