Cape event promotes alternative medicine

Margaret Wells of Blue Heron Reflexology and Reiki gave Bill Coomer a reflexology-based massage Saturday at the 2007 Mother Earth's Wholistic Fair at the VFW in Cape Girardeau. (AARON EISENHAUER ~aeisenhauer@semissourian.com) [Click to enlarge]

Elsie Smothers of Benton, Mo., soaked her feet in bath of reddish-brown water Saturday at the second annual Mother Earth Wholistic Fair.

She persuaded John Kirk, the husband of a friend, to do the same thing.

The Benton farmer had his doubts at first but was satisfied. "After I'd been in there for about 20 minutes, I had tingly feet," Kirk said.

The treatment, called an ionic cleanse, was the one the many services offered at the fair, which was held at the VFW in Cape Girardeau and promoted alternative medicine and natural healing.

"I figured they put something in there and they do -- salt," Kirk said. "The water gets white particles and then they switch the polarity from positive to negative to remove harmful toxins from the body. Then I started seeing black flakes. That's the heavy metals being removed. My water was like a rusty, dark brown."

Smothers said she always feels better when she gets the toxins out.

Thirty-three vendors, more than half of them local, plied their wares, from cosmetics to religion to vibrational healing and everything in between. Opportunities for stress reduction, relaxation enhancement, gluten-free and soy food choices were among the other offerings.

"I feel blessed to know different types of health-care practitioners and individuals who provide organic products," said fair organizer M.J. Meyers. "The fair was a great way to put them all together under one roof. It was a natural fit."

Another vendor, Yoga on Broadway, next to China Palace, promotes health through the body's own capability and challenges of flexibility. The yoga studio outgrew its home practice and specializes in 75-minute classes that promote weight loss, stress reduction and awareness.

Katie Godsey of Maple Ridge Herbs spoke with a customer at the Mother Earth Wholistic Fair at the VFW in Cape Girardeau. Thirty-three vendors participated in the annual event. (Aaron Eisenhauer) [Click to enlarge]

Brandi Schumaker, an instructor who trained in Arizona, said, "There's just about one on every corner there. The space we have on Broadway is yoga conducive. It's a comfortable, warm space."

Other people at the fair explained how pendulums and dowsing rods find disturbances, clear them and redirect energy.

"It won't work without loving intention," said Joy Baker of Timeless Connections in St. Louis.

She had jewelry and crystals adorning her booth. Baker mines crystals in Arkansas where they are found in clay on a mountaintop. "The chicken hawks are below you," she said, trying to describe the location.

Baker also demonstrated a dowsing rod, an L-shaped thin metal rod held lightly in her hand. The rod "finds what I'm looking for," she said, whether it's a a person's aura, a ghost, gamma radiation or water.

It will turn from vertical to horizontal when a person's aura blocks intervention, she said.

Canned goods were collected at the door to benefit the Regional Family Crisis Center.

cpagano@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 133