According to Winnipeg legend, the Fort Garry Hotel is haunted. I’m there to attend the 2010 Spirit Seekers conference, dedicated to “paranormal research, spirit communication and intuitive development.” My experience in that arena is limited to one tarot reading a year ago by a man in white sneakers who got it wrong for me, but got my friend’s reading just right — but I am there because I like conferences, and I like being around people who believe in something, especially when it differs from my beliefs.

I arrive on Saturday morning to the Fort Garry, wishing my friend, who uses the word “spirit” in casual conversation, had already arrived. With my pencil skirt and notebook, I look more like a court stenographer than a spiritual seeker, so I mill around the tables of things for sale and try to look busy. I spot a small, translucent, amber-coloured pyramid. “Ooh, that’s pretty,” I say, because it is. “Do you have an orgone generator?” asks the purveyor. Pause. “That’s an orgone generator,” she offers. “Aah,” I say, and blink. She patiently explains that an orgone generator transforms negative energy into positive energy, which is why many people keep them by their beds (to help them sleep) or beside their computers and television (because of the electromagnetic energy waves).

The tables are full of attractive things for sale, to heal or to educate. If there are discrepancies in value between the crystals, the teas or the books on witchcraft, I don’t hear it articulated — on the surface they seem mutually complimentary. I look at a copy of Seven Secrets of Crystal Talismans: Updated Version and listen to the experience exchanges that go on around me.

“How was last night?”
“Amazing, I saw so many bright pink orbs.”

My first workshop is on dowsing, which I didn’t know was a thing until I walk into the La Verendrye room and take a seat near the back. We are told that Lisa will be at the back of the room to help with any medical problems that may arise — this is both comforting and potentially alarming. According to our instructor Jenny, the idea behind dowsing is that “our bodies are tools to harness our intuition” so we can use things like pendulums, rods or our fingers to find all manner of things from water sources, lost keys or emotional answers. “What if you ask [the pendulum] something and it says ‘no,’ but it’s really important?” someone asks. Jenny replies sympathetically that answers may change since the “no” answer could mean “not now” or the question could not be specific enough. The young participant smiles, sighing deeply.

Here, healing and relief are a reoccurring theme. It’s taken for granted by presenters and pops up in the questions. “What do you do with the guilt?” asks a woman in a turtleneck who seems to be taking all the same workshops as I am. “Because it’s killing me.” The workshop speakers listen patiently. At least four different speakers emphasize the role of free will to these questions.

Back in the main area, it smells of incense I can’t identify. Two septuagenarians play a soft jazz cover of “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square” while a woman from my House Clearing workshop wonders aloud if there’s smoked salmon in the brunch buffet. All weekend I will try and figure out what the other “seekers” have in common, but the only thing I can come up with is that they are mostly female, white and possess an inclination to share. I get a lot of unsolicited smiles — they seem nice.

A smiling “channeller” named Maureen assures us that if our souls are not willing while she is doing powerful Energy Work in the room, then nothing will happen. Otherwise that would be rape, as far as she is concerned — “Energetic rape.” Alternating between furrowing her brow in concentration and leaning back in her chair, she channels a collective consciousness. She points out, “There are some weepy souls over there.” Her cadence is melodic. I recognize it as that of a preacher and her offers for healing more and more resemble an altar call. In the third-person, she invites us to join her email list for more information on her workshops.

I have my cards read, learn my “soul path” is that of the Hermit and am then invited to a Spiritualist church for another reading. Maybe it’s all the talk about energy or the past-life regression meditation, but by the last workshop I am tired. Our “paranormal guide” Laurie was supposed to only give this workshop one time, but it was accidentally put on the schedule twice, so she’s doing it again. “There must be a reason you’re doing it again today,” says one of the conference organizers. “There must be,” she agrees.