Psychic Expo — convention where ‘mediums’ not rare
When it comes to the supernatural, couple Frank Chodl and Betz McKeown say they’ve got everybody covered.
“I work with the dead, and she works with the living,” said Chodl. He and his wife travel nationwide offering psychic medium sessions, spiritual touch healing and intuitive readings to customers looking for answers outside traditional means.
The two joined some of New England’s most experienced psychics, mediums and more for the second-annual Vermont Psychic Expo at the Champlain Valley Exposition Aug. 9-10.
Blue-curtained booths lined the event center’s walls, harboring mediums, tarot readers, crystal aficionados and others ready to sell mystical services to guests that weekend. Supernatural senses, and well-running AC, filled the air, occasionally pierced by drumbeats and the echoes of singing bowls. Visitors walked along rows of vendors selling crystals, handmade jewelry, incense and, of course, personalized readings.
Next to a station where you could get a photo showing colorful clouds around your body — said to capture your aura — sat Dianne Rockwell, a spirit medium based in Lancaster, Massachusetts. She’s dedicated the past nine years of her life to re-connecting clients with their “dead-not-dead” loved ones, she said.
“To me, it feels like sacred work to give a voice to those who can’t pick up the phone, put a birthday card in the mail, stop by for a hug after work,” Rockwell said. “But the love and relationship is just as strong as it ever was.”
Prior to mediumship, Rockwell made a career in wedding cake design. It wasn’t until 2015 when she reluctantly attended a workshop recommended by the late Mavis Pittilla, sometimes called the grande dame of British mediumship, where Rockwell said she uncovered the depth of her lifelong intuitive abilities.
“We’ve been using way too much logic instead of listening to our hearts and doing what feels right — because that won’t lead you wrong,” she said.
On the opposite flank of the photo booth were Chodl and McKeown. Chodl said he was just 8 years old when he first encountered a spiritual entity.
“It didn’t scare me or worry me, and actually, I felt comfort,” he said, “and ever since then, I’ve been aware of contact with entities.”
He taught art photography and digital media for 34 years before, about three years ago, he and his wife sold their North Carolina house, moved into their RV and began following “energy” across the country, he said. Vermont gave off the strongest pull, something the couple felt immediately when they crossed out of New Hampshire and into the Green Mountain State, he said.
Chodl’s mother also had hyper-intuitive abilities, he said, and supported him in becoming who he is today. He was teaching at a public school in “the buckle of the Bible Belt” when he published his first book, “Connections: A Journey to Understanding,” he said. He was surprised one day when his school’s principal requested a signed copy to display in the library.
“People are starting to open up, but at the same time, because of our openness and awareness, we’re seeing a lot more of the resistance,” Chodl said. “Change scares the hell out of us.”
Most people he meets are surprised to learn of his Roman Catholic upbringing, preparation for priesthood at seminary and ability to cite full Bible chapters, he said. But Chodl thinks his religious background may be a path to changing people’s minds about the psychic realm.
“It’s that fear-based mentality that keeps them from even exploring other possibilities. God forbid, that they could grow,” Chodl said. “They want the status quo, even if the status quo never really existed.”
But not all are reluctant to seek out the spiritual. Clients seek out hypnotherapist and astrologer Megan Parker to work through repressed emotions. Specifically: anger, fear, sadness, guilt and hurt.
“I use a guided hypnosis-based visualization process with my clients to release those major emotions and then to work on any limiting beliefs that they have,” Parker said. “And we look at the blocks and triggers that are keeping them from pursuing what they really want in life.”
Parker said she uses astrology to help clients understand their soul’s purpose, karma and life path, a method she would demonstrate in a “Basics of Astrology” workshop at the event.
Parker used Lady Gaga’s natal chart — a snapshot of the stars in relation to where and when someone is born — to assist her audience in following the zodiac signs and charts, which participants seemed to enjoy.
(Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship.)