Clothing, jewelry and spiritual connections were all up for grabs at Saturday's psychic fair held at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Gainesville.
As about 150 onlookers wound their way around the white-walled worship center, bells chimed, crystals swayed and a constant hum of intimate conversations filled the chapel.
"It is a close-knit group of people here," Bill Kelley said.
Kelley and his artistic wife, Bonnie Barnes-Kelley, have attended the fair for 10 years. Barnes-Kelley said she asks the Goddess to guide her hands and bless her stones while crafting her jewelry.
At the top of the stage, 11 tables were continuously occupied with hopeful participants looking for intimate conversations with a psychic or a connection with a dead loved one.
"When someone participates in a reading, it may not always be what's going on here and now," said event organizer the Rev. Marguerite Romeis. "You have to go to the readers without expectations."
Besides readings, the fair also offered detox foot baths, ear candling, and aura photography. In ear candling, heat is used to clean ear canals and aura photographers take photos of human energy fields.
Romeis said this fair has been slower than those in the past.
"Even though we don't have as many merchants today, things are going pretty well," she said.
One exotic booth offered colorful clothing, bright jewelry and trinkets from Thailand and India.
Merchant Sylvia Palacios has traveled to different countries for several years studying various cultures and religions.
Many of her pieces carry spiritual meanings, and she said some even serve as protection for the wearer.
One, a white shell known as gomuk, carries a special meaning, Palacios said.
"It represents the eyes of Shiva," she said, "who is the god of destruction."
The event will continue to be held three times a year, Romeis said.
