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Reprinted from the Eureka Springs Voice Imagine a lazy weekend tucked in a cozy corner of an elegant Victorian hotel -- just you, the lobby cat, and your favorite psychic friend. It's been an honored tradition since the turn of the century in Eureka Springs, where historic hotels marked the heyday of the city as a world-class spa resort. |
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In the historic New Orleans Hotel and in the regal Crescent, the tradition continues, as it does in homes, shops and cottages throughout the town. Eureka has always had a penchant for the metaphysical. Barbara Harmony, recognized internationally as a water advocate and specialist in women's leadership, spends her weekend afternoon in quiet consultation with clients in the lobby of the New Orleans, where she will read the stars or the tarot cards for guests of the hotel or visitors who seek her out from the street. "When I was a teenager, a reader told me that the reason I was unusual was that I was an Aquarian," Harmony remembers. "I was so glad to finally have a reason!" Harmony is able to tell most people a bit about themselves and their most outstanding characteristics. "I try to answer any questions about what's going on in their lives," she says, "and point out favorable times for certain ventures or undertakings." She's an experienced counselor and organizer of The Lifelong Learning Center, whose purpose is to examine priorities and goals designed to meet them. Courses range from afternoon interviews to week-long seminars, and Harmony often travels through the Midwest to hold such self-help classes. The short readings at the New Orleans and, soon, at the New Moon Spa in the historic Crescent Hotel are short-term work she enjoys. Most of her clients are visitors. Guests often consult her as couples interested in knowing their compatibility. Locals stop by the hotel frequently: it reminds them that they want to come for readings at Harmony's home north of Eureka Springs. "And children," she notes, with satisfaction. "I have a lot of young clients." Harmony isn't surprised to see Eureka's resurgence as a psychic center. "People tend to feel they are magnetically drawn here," she says. "When you get a town full of these people, they tend to be psychic." Harmony points out that Eureka Springs is an Aquarian city, founded on February 14. She keeps in relatively close touch with many of the other 20-30 astrologers who make their home in town. "We have meetings at the beginning of the year to figure out about what the year will bring," says Harmony. "There are some wonderful psychics and astrologers here: Molly Seeligson, Sandra Synar, Sharon Fithian." A surprising number of Eurekans work for psychic hotlines. At one time, Harmony says, at least 30 readers manned lines at least part of each day from their homes. Sandra Synar, an astrologer and jewelry designer, has been a psychic phone friend for a little over a year. On the advice of a friend, she applied for and got a job at the Kenny Kingston Psychic Hotline, perhaps the best known of the giant companies that lead the industry. "From the minute I logged on, the phone rang," Synar remembers. "I got an incredible education." She likes the work. "I love it," she says. "I almost need it!" Synar considers having the job as something of an honor. "I'd always thought that stuff was just b-------," she says, still amazed. "But then I can really read them. I feel like I'm helping, giving guidance. It grounds me and makes me feel needed." Actually, Synar says, she'd still read by phone even if her astrology business made it unnecessary. What she won't do is keep a caller on the line, dragging out the reading to make the sale higher. "You're supposed to stay on a lot longer than 30 minutes average," she says. "I don't like feeling pressured to keep someone on the line. So I don't get huge numbers of referrals from the company. But people still call, and I don't try to keep them on the line. They have their priorities. I try to respond to those." Synar's ability to read, psychically and through the movements of the planets, seems to her a great gift. "I was worried at first about readings," she says. "How can I charge for a spiritual thing? Well, I've got to make a living, so I just try not to charge very much and I give it away when I can." Like Harmony, Synar felt drawn to Eureka. "I feel Eureka Springs pulls people here who have things to do here," she says. Need a psychic friend? Ask a local. The psychic community in Eureka is only a bit smaller than the city itself. | |