Lily Dale, N.Y.: A Spiritual Retreat

L I L Y   D A L E, N.Y., Aug. 21 -- Maybe it’s the drive, past farms andalong the wooded shores of a quiet lake. Or maybe it’s passingthrough a gate into a cozy community of 19th Centurygingerbread-like houses and streets not widened since their horseand buggy beginnings.

Whatever the reason, the first moments at the Lily Dale Assemblyelicit a distinct sense of tranquility, a feeling continuouslynurtured through the course of a visit.

Calling itself the “world’s largest Spiritualist community,”Lily Dale and its year-round and seasonal residents invite visitorsto renew body and spirit. That could involve meditating at anancient tree stump deep in a virgin forest, taking part in a“thought exchange,” or walking a shrubbery labyrinth — a one-pathmaze — while contemplating life’s challenges.

Communing With the Spiritual World

For many of the 22,000 to 25,000 who pass through the gates eachyear, it means meeting with one of the assembly’s three dozenregistered “mediums” — people who claim to commune with thespirit world — in hopes of receiving a message or guidance from aloved one who has died.

But, “It is not a psychic fair,” cautions historian JoyceLaJudice, who stresses Lily Dale residents are serious aboutprivately practicing the religion of Spiritualism. “We are nothere for entertainment.”

Being a believer is not a requirement to wander the grounds,browse the bookstores or attend free daily meditation and healingservices and clairvoyance demonstrations by resident and visitingmediums.

Now in its 121st season, summer is Lily Dale’s busy season, withworkshops, services and lectures on topics ranging from past-liferegression to yoga scheduled every day through Sept. 3. Servicesare held on a more limited basis year-round and Lily Dale’s residentmediums continue to offer readings.

The Marion Skidmore library is stocked with hundreds of booksdevoted to healing, mediumship, transpersonal pyschology andspirital development and gift stores stock crystals, clothing,herbs and jewelry.