As snow fell on the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn in mid-December, a dozen or so people gathered inside a room at the Brooklyn Expo Center to uncover the truth about their past lives. Seated on folding chairs around a large red rug, they closed their eyes and followed the teacher’s instructions to imagine themselves stepping through a door connected to their bedroom and into their former selves.
The promise that comes with uncovering your past life is that of healing, said Trish Burger, who was leading the workshop. She added that hypnosis acts as an X-ray of the consciousness, and shared how she had once helped a client whose ankle was mysteriously hurting. “Under hypnosis his higher consciousness told me that he had broken it in a past life,” Ms. Burger said. Once she, the client and the client’s consciousness were on the same page, the ankle stopped hurting, she said.
Part of the challenge in the workshop was to let go of the immediate surroundings, which included upbeat thumping music coming from next door, where other students were learning how to belly-dance.
“I think of it as shamanic dancing in the distance,” said one past-life traveler during a break between meditations. “This is happening here, there’s shamanic work over there.”
After the final round of meditation, one student volunteered her vision, of having been her mother in the past. Others stayed quiet but took lots of notes, and at least one said her taste for hypnotherapy had been whetted.
“I would definitely be open to doing it again,” said Mary Davis, 46, a photographer. “I go to reiki and acupuncture, but I felt drawn to this. I think it can definitely help you.” She had also gone to a chakra workshop earlier in the day. “I didn’t know that much about my chakras,” she said. “It was great.”
No, this was not the Brooklyn arm of the Goop conference. This was Bust magazine’s Craftacular, a fair founded by Debbie Stoller, 55, and Laurie Henzel, 53, that brings together vendors hawking handmade and vintage products. The Bust Craftacular is in its 12th year and takes place in New York, Los Angeles and London over the course of the year. “It started as a small fair in a club in a Greenpoint,” said Ms. Stoller, who founded Bust with Ms. Henzel and Marcelle Karp in 1993. “It grew and grew and grew as the whole D.I.Y. community grew.”
For the latest fair, Ms. Stoller and Ms. Henzel decided to offer talks by various speakers including Amber Tamblyn and Lindy West, and workshops. For $10 to $15 each, or for $40 for an entire day, participants could duck into the Goddess room or the Vibes Lounge or other satellite spaces and learn how to interpret tarot cards, get access to their chakras, read the stars, decipher the lines on a palm and cast spells using the power of their orgasms.
“It’s such a moment in the culture for those kinds of things,” Ms. Stoller said, referring to mystical crafts. “People feel like it’s hard to make a difference in the political climate, so they look for some other way to make a difference. It’s a way of dealing with a sense of powerlessness.” Ms. Henzel elaborated: “Tarot and witchcraft give you a sense that you have other powers you can tap into.”
Those looking for a more grounded way of fighting for their beliefs had plenty to inspire them, including talks that focused on storytelling, patriarchal narratives and consent. Activism was on prominent display all across the large main room, where shoppers circulated among tables.
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