Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2010, Page 147
I don‘t believe in some constant state of enlightenment. But I do believe in and am uplifted
by others‘ moments of transcendence—the cheerful smile of my local grocer when I know
he‘s been on his feet for 12 hours the willingness of the guy at work to fix my computer
the generosity of a friend who goes out of her way for me one morning and convinces me
it‘s no big deal. If I can‘t find the ultimate stuff of life in what I can see, feel, and experience
every day—in the life I have created and in what has come to me—I don‘t think I‘ll find it
anywhere else.
Marta Szabo
The Spirit Connection: Back to Cassadaga
By Janet Karcher and John Hutchinson, Deltona, FL: Spirit Publishing. 2008. ISBN-
10: 0615253180 ISBN-13: 978-0615253183 (paperback), $18.50 US. 162 pages.
Website: www.thespiritconnection.net
―No spirit claims infallibility… Nothing granted via mediumship is intended to replace one‘s
own best personal efforts.‖ With these words imbedded without fanfare in the narrative
(page 84), Janet Karcher and John Hutchinson speak for all ethical Spiritualists. In this their
second book about Cassadaga, the authors offer an update on a small but enduring
Spiritualist ―camp‖ founded 114 years ago in Florida, east of Orlando. Since 1992,
Cassadaga has been on the National Register of Historic Places. One of the site‘s more
impressive structures, the Colby Memorial Temple, named after founder George P. Colby,
was built in 1923. In their most recent visit in 2007, the authors describe the Temple as
recently repainted and ―still an uninspiring gray.‖ There is a casual, old hometown feel to
the place by all accounts.
Karcher and Hutchinson‘s first book, This Way to Cassadaga, published in 1980, became a
popular pamphlet for tourists and anyone else interested in a dispassionate overview of this
relatively quiescent yet eccentric community. The current book reports that roughly 100 of
the nearly 300 residents are practicing Spiritualists. That census has remained stable for
decades. The rest of the residents are mostly older citizens who enjoy living in the town.
Among the latter are many who do not like being lumped in with the ―witches,‖ not because
they have anything against the Spiritualists, but rather because ignorant outsiders
sometimes lump all Cassadagans together as offbeat freaks.
The authors readily dispel the witchy stereotypes with an intimate account that is both
informative and sympathetic. There are a variety of mediums at the camp. Through brief
interviews and personal histories, we learn of many approaches to spirit contact for
information, guidance, and healing. Although sympathetic to the idea, the authors do not
cross into devotion but I did note a sense of cautious endorsement.
The town entertains a steady stream of tourists, mostly on weekends, who range from the
merely curious to the true believers. The majority of mediums at Cassadaga are older
women, and the majority of customers are adult women. The authors give the potential
tourist or client clear instructions about how to approach a reading or session. They say it
helps to be open to anything that rings true, yet to remain self-directed about the results.
Because of established rules of conduct among the Cassadaga association, none of the
certified mediums sustains exclusive controls over a following. Fees for sessions or readings
are modest, ranging for the most part from $45 to $65 a session, up from the $15 to $30
range in 1980.
Throughout the short book, the authors balance promotional and positive testimonies with
critical views. To be sure, some of the examples of ―readings‖ have the dramatic and spooky
effect of ―how could she have known that?‖ Others are clearly more like what skeptics call a
―cold reading‖ that works by the medium fishing for subtle bits of information and using
I don‘t believe in some constant state of enlightenment. But I do believe in and am uplifted
by others‘ moments of transcendence—the cheerful smile of my local grocer when I know
he‘s been on his feet for 12 hours the willingness of the guy at work to fix my computer
the generosity of a friend who goes out of her way for me one morning and convinces me
it‘s no big deal. If I can‘t find the ultimate stuff of life in what I can see, feel, and experience
every day—in the life I have created and in what has come to me—I don‘t think I‘ll find it
anywhere else.
Marta Szabo
The Spirit Connection: Back to Cassadaga
By Janet Karcher and John Hutchinson, Deltona, FL: Spirit Publishing. 2008. ISBN-
10: 0615253180 ISBN-13: 978-0615253183 (paperback), $18.50 US. 162 pages.
Website: www.thespiritconnection.net
―No spirit claims infallibility… Nothing granted via mediumship is intended to replace one‘s
own best personal efforts.‖ With these words imbedded without fanfare in the narrative
(page 84), Janet Karcher and John Hutchinson speak for all ethical Spiritualists. In this their
second book about Cassadaga, the authors offer an update on a small but enduring
Spiritualist ―camp‖ founded 114 years ago in Florida, east of Orlando. Since 1992,
Cassadaga has been on the National Register of Historic Places. One of the site‘s more
impressive structures, the Colby Memorial Temple, named after founder George P. Colby,
was built in 1923. In their most recent visit in 2007, the authors describe the Temple as
recently repainted and ―still an uninspiring gray.‖ There is a casual, old hometown feel to
the place by all accounts.
Karcher and Hutchinson‘s first book, This Way to Cassadaga, published in 1980, became a
popular pamphlet for tourists and anyone else interested in a dispassionate overview of this
relatively quiescent yet eccentric community. The current book reports that roughly 100 of
the nearly 300 residents are practicing Spiritualists. That census has remained stable for
decades. The rest of the residents are mostly older citizens who enjoy living in the town.
Among the latter are many who do not like being lumped in with the ―witches,‖ not because
they have anything against the Spiritualists, but rather because ignorant outsiders
sometimes lump all Cassadagans together as offbeat freaks.
The authors readily dispel the witchy stereotypes with an intimate account that is both
informative and sympathetic. There are a variety of mediums at the camp. Through brief
interviews and personal histories, we learn of many approaches to spirit contact for
information, guidance, and healing. Although sympathetic to the idea, the authors do not
cross into devotion but I did note a sense of cautious endorsement.
The town entertains a steady stream of tourists, mostly on weekends, who range from the
merely curious to the true believers. The majority of mediums at Cassadaga are older
women, and the majority of customers are adult women. The authors give the potential
tourist or client clear instructions about how to approach a reading or session. They say it
helps to be open to anything that rings true, yet to remain self-directed about the results.
Because of established rules of conduct among the Cassadaga association, none of the
certified mediums sustains exclusive controls over a following. Fees for sessions or readings
are modest, ranging for the most part from $45 to $65 a session, up from the $15 to $30
range in 1980.
Throughout the short book, the authors balance promotional and positive testimonies with
critical views. To be sure, some of the examples of ―readings‖ have the dramatic and spooky
effect of ―how could she have known that?‖ Others are clearly more like what skeptics call a
―cold reading‖ that works by the medium fishing for subtle bits of information and using
