Donald
Teuma-Castelletti
SHAWVILLE Jan. 14, 2018
A Shawville shop dedicated to the mysterious and magical offered guests the chance to reach out to lost friends and family at an event on Sunday afternoon.
99 Reasons, on Main Street, hosted a medium from Merrickville for a seance, where the room was packed with both the living, and the spirits of those who’ve passed.
“I’m a medium, meaning I can talk to people from the past,” said Constance Adams, the seance’s leader.
The event kicked off with Adams sharing with the group, a mix of newcomers to the business and those who’ve attended seances before, about what they can expect, and how they can get the most out of the session.
“All part of the fun is when people participate, and part of the reason [to attend one] is sharing,” said Adams. “It’s a whole lot of fun when people share their stories.”
Adams encouraged the room to embrace all of their senses, from touch to smell and taste, and speak up if they have a feeling they want to share. Most of the time, she said, others sitting around them will have the same feelings occur.
“You need to pay attention to sound,” said Adams, to the group. “On rare days I’ve encountered a poltergeist.”
She continued her introduction with a bit of her background as a medium. The owner of 99 Reasons, Carolle Lavryssen, was the one who actually got her started in the business back in the 90’s. Having grown in experience, she’s done many private and public seances with people over the years, with her quickest sellout occurring in 30 minutes for one in Ottawa.
From there, the real experience began with Adams burning sage and sprinkling black salt around her chair. The rest of the session featured Adams communicating with spirits who’d returned to visit friends and family in the room.
Constantly encouraging the group to share and examine her body language, Adams said that the way she’d be sitting or motioning with her hands would be reminiscent of the person a member of the group wanted to hear from. This led many to think hard to identify who they’d be hearing from.
Going into the session, Adams made two things very clear for her public seances – she doesn’t drag up any embarrassing family history in a group setting and she won’t share cryptic, worrisome predictions from the spirits. Her third rule, that she wouldn’t swear, was quickly broken and forgotten.
The two-hour session dragged up many emotions for the group, with many eager to learn more from their ancestors or check in with the living to see if a certain story shared could be a member of their family.
Those interested in checking out the seance for themselves can expect another one at 99 Reasons on Jan. 28, with more planned on a regular basis throughout the year.
