On February’s first new moon, just after Pluto entered Aquarius, Sima Moore stood like a priestess in a flowing white robe behind a podium in the Los Angeles Ballroom at the LAX Hilton. . She was there to officially open the 22nd Conscious Life Expo with the 12th Dimension Stargate Meditation.
“When we are in the 12th dimension, we are more receptive so angels, ascended masters, nature spirits, and our own higher selves can come to us.” , she said in a deep, resonant voice as heavenly music played softly. background. At 10:30 a.m. Friday, the 220 attendees nodded in gratitude.
Moore co-stars Achille Toksal, a former advertising executive turned channeler, and Vivian, a Phoenix woman who claims to be part of an ancient alien race sent to Earth to share the wisdom of civilization. He shared the stage with Mr. Chauvet.
Conscious Life Expo co-founder Sima Moore (left), healer and channel Achille Toksal, and Vivian Chauvet, who claims to be an interstellar Arcturian who ascended thousands of years ago ( (far right) is an activation during the opening ceremony of the 5-D StarPortal Stargate competition using a stargate.
“I know I look a lot like humans, but that’s the idea,” Chauvet said, and the audience laughed. “This was the best way to be a conduit.”
Even open-minded residents of this most open of cities may balk at such outlandish proclamations, but fringe beliefs are usually It’s done on the street.
For 22 years, the gathering has been a gathering of astrologers, channelers, auric readers, quantum life coaches, psychics, hypnotists, and a growing number of “starseeds” (like Chauvet, who believe they are in human form). It is a meeting place for people who believe that they are Galactic Volunteers. To help “Children of Gaia”.
“There’s a lot of UFO stuff, and there’s a lot of healing stuff,” said Robert Quicksilver, 75, who co-founded the expo in 2003 and has run it ever since. “We think of this as a space-age translation of cosmic wisdom.”
Sacred geometry pendants sold on the convention floor of Conscious Life Expo.
Activist Justin, who declined to give his last name, is promoting his claims that hostile aliens are already here to take over Earth.
Cosmic Contact, a mist that claims to purify the aura, is one of the many healing products on display at the annual three-day Conscious Life Expo.
Over the years, the convention has been home to many wellness trends that have made their way into high-end boutiques, gyms, and grocery stores. The same black garlic spread offered at the expo booth could be on Erewhon shelves. Early iterations of the event hosted some of the first panels on the use of crystals for healing and helped popularize ancient Eastern practices such as acupuncture and Tai Chi to the West.
However, in recent years, World Expos have faced new challenges. Occasionally, conspiracy theorist speakers provide negative coverage of the convention. And Quiksilver recently began enforcing new standards for who can perform at its events. He respects free speech, but draws the line at promoting rhetoric like QAnon.
What weighs even more heavily on his mind is the future of the Expo itself. Most of the tournament’s proven regulars came of age in his 1960s and his 70s. Toward the end of their lives, some became too weak to take part in the annual trip, while others passed away. Now he and his partners are making sure to reach new and younger audiences, including bringing in speakers who are less likely to be accused of cultural appropriation and who are more likely to have hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok. We are working on ways to update the conference to attract more people.
“It’s very important for the expo to cross generations,” said Mr. Quicksilver’s son, Michael Satova, 41. He took on more hosting and booking responsibilities this year. “As the baby boomers retire and move on, there are a lot of great young people in this field who are moving the culture forward.”
Irena Kurland (left) of Woodland Hills and Frances Ortiz of Houston receive red light therapy while attending the Conscious Life Expo at the LAX Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.
rooted in california
The first seeds of Conscious Life Expo were planted in the early 1980s at another gathering inspired by New Age and human potential spiritual movements. Whole Life Expo was founded in San Francisco in 1982 and quickly began touring to cities such as New York, Albuquerque, Denver, Seattle, Las Vegas and Ashland, Oregon, ensuring it drew the largest crowds. . According to some reports, up to 20,000 seekers gathered. — held annually in Los Angeles, eventually moving to the same LAX Hilton that currently hosts Conscious Life Expo.
Quicksilver ran a chain of space gift shops called Star Magic in the 1990s and was a fixture at Whole Life Expo. When that came to an abrupt end in 2001, he created his Conscious Life Expo because the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks made people afraid to gather in large groups.
“It just came onto the field for me to do this,” he said. “I had all the skill sets and knew all the people.”
Conscious Life Expo is now the largest exhibition of its kind in the United States, attracting between 8,000 and 10,000 attendees each year. Previous speakers include spiritual leader and former presidential candidate Marianne Williamson and disgraced comedian turned self-help guru Russell Brand.
Over the years, Quiksilver experimented with holding expositions in other locations, such as San Francisco and London, but it never caught on outside of Southern California, where the new religious movement had steadily found devoted followers over the years.
Bastian Trachte of Glendale wears a pyramid-shaped head covering used for meditation and healing.
A woman soaks her feet while doing the “Gencel Ion Cell Cleanse”.
Eric Wilhauer holds a giant tuning fork used as a sound therapy tool on Dennis Visco’s forehead. The forks sell for $1,111, $2,222, and $3,333 based on size and “sound healing method.”
ideological grab bag
Organizers say the expo has always been designed as a clearinghouse for wild ideas, but at times its open-minded, anything-goes attitude has gone too far. Last year, in a hotel basement area called Rabbit Hole, dedicated to “alternate realities and censored worldviews,” filmmaker Mickey Willis talked about how the coronavirus industrial complex turned 100 years old. He made unsubstantiated claims about whether he was being used to promote a plan that spanned over 100 years. Overtake America. Earlier this year, Mr. Quicksilver had to remove speakers from his list after his website was found to have links to conspiracy theorists who quoted Nazi sympathizers.
“It’s become too negative, too right-wing, too much of a take-your-gun kind of thing, and it just doesn’t work,” Quicksilver said. “I won’t do it again.”
In any case, he added, collusion was always a supporting role at the convention. Nowhere is that more indicative of that cosmic carnival spirit than dolphin and whale wisdom retreats, cat psychic services, and crystals carved in the shape of praying mantis heads (which help people connect with their “galactic guides”). This is a company that promotes products (designed as such). At Booth 400 at the International Ballroom, Joshua Leff demonstrated his “Sound Healing Modality” with a super-large tuning fork that, depending on size, sells for $1,111, $2,222, and $3,333.
Take in all of it and you might feel like you’re wandering on the fringes of a far-flung spiritual landscape. But Amanda Lucia, a professor of religion at the University of California, Riverside, who has attended Conscious Life Expo several times, doesn’t think so.
Instead, she sees similarities between the 250 exhibitors and 200 speakers who come to sell their wares each year and more mainstream belief systems. If you’ve ever bought a supplement to help you sleep better at night, talked to a friend about achieving a goal, or worn a bracelet with the word “gratitude” engraved on it, you’ve We are working on the same themes of success. Expo.
“People who believe they can create their own destiny, people who believe they can contact the divine, this is very common across religious traditions,” Lucia says. “California and Los Angeles are the epicenters, but that’s a common belief among the public.”
Corey Halls of Minneapolis is trying out a portable infrared sauna on display at the Conscious Life Expo that is touted as a pain reliever.
towards the future
Danion Brinkley, author of the best-selling book Saved by the Light and a survivor of three near-death experiences, including being struck by lightning, has been speaking at Conscious Life Expo since its inception. He was also a regular at Whole Life Expo.
Now in his mid-70s, he said these annual gatherings have taught him the tools he brings to the Department of Veterans Affairs as part of his decades-long work providing hospice care to veterans.
“The Veterans Administration has tai chi and yoga. Aromatherapy is now part of the standard model of care, and they got that from the Conscious Life Expo,” Brinkley said. “How do you know? I drove there.”
With his neatly trimmed white hair and white mustache, Brinkley looks and sounds like a Southern gentleman. Like many World’s Fair figures, he made his name with a New York Times bestselling book. (In his case, it describes a personal encounter with 13 angels and the profound revelations they shared with him while he was clinically dead.)
But in recent years, the convention has seen an influx of digital-first spiritual influencers who gain influence from their huge social media presences.
“This is a real generational divide,” Satva said. “For baby boomers, it’s all about prestige. For millennials, it’s all about reach.”
Elizabeth April, 31, is one of the competition’s new young stars. She alternately describes herself as a YouTuber, life coach, author, channeler, or past life regression expert, depending on who asks her. Her first book, You’re Not Dead, You’re Just Awakening, was published in March 2021, and the throngs of fans who lined up for her workshop at the convention were inspired by her I know her from the videos she regularly posts on Instagram. (200,000 followers) and her YouTube (216,000 subscribers).
Like Brinkley, April’s personal story may be difficult for skeptics to accept. Wearing her ripped black jeans and T-shirt, she detailed her own spiritual journey in an interview at her convention venue.
She claimed to have been clairvoyant as a child, suffered past life regression as a teenager, and was abducted by aliens while on a meditation retreat in her early 20s.
A praying mantis crystal skull sold at the expo.
(Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)
At the expo, people will participate in “Tesla’s BioCharge Meditation,” which is said to combine Tesla technology, heart-based meditation, and the power of quantum fields to amplify synergy, vibration, and intention.
Feeling isolated, she began sharing her experience publicly on social media and at conferences to allay fears about aliens and connect with other abductees. Now, she considers it part of her personal mission to help her fellow Starseeds awaken and find their calling.
“We are all here to make the planet better,” she said. “We are all needed.”
This is a universal message of affirmation that has been delivered in various packages since the opening of the Expo, and one that many still need to hear today.
Returning to the opening ceremony, a robed Moore, an astrologer who has helped organize the Expo from its inception, described the Expo as a portal to help attendees step into a whole new experience in life. did.
“This is our family, our tribe, our kindred spirits,” she said. “You can’t get this energy anywhere else.”
