By Victoria Alexander

Las Vegas: Satan Vacations Here

Sylvia Browne Is a Rock Star, I Can Do It! Conference, Pamela Anderson is Coming to Las Vegas, The Las Vegas Five Buddha Shrine, Shrek The Third, Away From Her, and more...

Sylvia Browne is a Rock Star. Thursday night I went to the “I Can Do It!” 2007 Hay House Conference being held at the Sands Expo. I had no idea what to expect. There were 3,500 people present. Psychic medium Colette Baron-Reid (pictured) has a lot of fans though I personally was not familiar with her. Charming and with a salty style of relating to her audience, Baron-Reid was clearly off Thursday night. I was making more off-the-wall predictions and talking to the dead with far more accuracy then she was. Baron-Reid told us that information comes to her in “puzzle pieces” and she has to organize it and sometimes it gets muddled. However, Baron-Reid reassured audience members she took questions from that in a few months they would see she was right on.

Then Sylvia Browne (pictured) was announced. The audience went wild! I could not believe it! I took voluminous notes – she was incomparable. I’ve seen Browne many times on Larry King Live! and she has been a frequent guest on the Montel Williams show for 17 years. I thrilled I sauntered in. She’s controversial and comes across on TV as dogmatic. In person, I loved her, fell under her spell, and I’m going to tell you why. You know all that New Age-speak you here from psychics, mediums, and those who talk to the dead? Browne is the blunt talking-tough love psychic. She’s sick and tired of spiritually-minded crybabies.*

A few Browne gems: “The dead are gone. They don’t care about you. Get on with your life.” Counseling people who claimed to have been abused? “Who hasn’t been abused? You want to abuse them. Come here and I’ll show you abuse.”

Everyone in the audience was a disciple and had Browne’s books, tapes, and DVDs. Browne spent a lot of time talking about her mother – she says she has forgiven (but clearly has not forgotten). Browne constantly said she hated her evil mother. She never wanted her mother to hug her because she might have been carrying a knife. When her mother got sick, Browne said she would “throw her a sandwich and leave.”

Several times I yelped. The audience adored her.

When people say they are afraid of having a demon, Browne says she reassures them: “Don’t worry. I married him. He’s living in Chicago.” This Browne ex-husband got several mentions as “The Demon Who Lives in Chicago.” Browne also bluntly discussed the fact that she regretted having children.

After talking for an hour, Browne led a very good mediation. After that, she called out ticket numbers and took questions from over 70 people. They all are devotees so they knew the rule of one question only.

Here are four verbatim exchanges:

Q: Tell me about my finances.
A: You’re going to make a lot of money. Next.

Q: Should I change my job?
A: In one year. Next.

Q: What about my current relationship?
A: You don’t have one. You know that. Next.

Q: (Tearfully) My parents can’t accept me for who I am. How can I forgive them?”
A: Why bother forgiving them? Who cares about those two people? All of us here accept you. (Huge applause) Next.

After Browne’s 2 hour presentation, nearly every audience member rushed to a line to have her sign a book. She must have been there until well after midnight! Sylvia Browne : The Official Site

I Can Do It! Hay House 2007 Conference. With eight full day pre-conference workshops running concurrently on Friday, I enlisted John as a reporter. While I spent the afternoon with Spirit Messenger Gordon Smith, John attended Marianne Williamson’s “Miracles at Midlife” workshop.

Gordon Smith (pictured) is recognized as “the UK’s most accurate medium,” and, while he does answer many questions from attendees, and he is very patient, the main focus of his workshop was to heighten the abilities of those present to link to spirit and meet their guides. There were live demonstrations with audience members. Everyone was expected to deliver messages for a person in the audience. I tried to sneak to the back, but when they needed one more person, so up I went!

Marianne Williamson’s Friday workshop was called “Miracles at Midlife.” Marianne (pictured) is the “anti-Sylvia.” When Sylvia cringed at her body’s shocking collapse (“How the hell did this happen?”), Marianne celebrates getting older. Internationally acclaimed author and lecturer, she is a spiritual movement star. Williamson advocates that people release negative feelings and fear-based thinking and practice the art of forgiving. Williamson’s philosophy is that “once you let go, you can connect with God’s love, become the person you were meant to be, find balance of the mind and heart, and begin to live a miraculous life.”

John reports: “A self-acknowledged pentagenarian, stage savvy Marianne Williamson captivated her primarily female audience extolling the virtues of graceful aging. Noting an obvious need to maintain physical condition, an attribute her trim form conveys, Ms. Williamson conceded that more time and effort was required for personal upkeep. However, on the positive side of the ledger was a general slowing down of activities thus allowing a deepening of personal experiences with self and others.

Past are the frenetic convivial activities of youth that provided broad, but shallow encounters, too frequently later viewed as misjudgments. With aging comes understanding, acceptance, and occasionally sagacity in all dimensions of life including emotional and spiritual well-being. Eager participation by the audience provided substantiation for her advice. In addition, there was a stern warning about complacency during one’s middle ages. That, she noted, is when you become most vulnerable. Staying on ones toes does require substantial effort, but the results are worth it.”
Hay House, Inc. | Homepage / Hay House, Inc. | Lectures & Events

Dr. Wayne Dyer. I Can Do It! Opening Keynote speaker of Friday night was Dr. Wayne Dyer. Once again the Sands Hall C overflowed with a raptured audience.

Next week I’ll be covering I Can Do It! Hay House 2007 Conference’s Saturday and Sunday’s program.

*There was an exhibition booth for “A Professional Certification Course” in Soul Coaching. Ever hear of it? The upcoming three seminars are wait-listed. Another booth had “Angel Readings.” A half-hour reading with an angel cost $90; one hour is $170.

Pamela Anderson Is Worth $1M a Month. Hans Klok, the international illusionist and known as the fastest magician on the planet was supposed to team up with Carmen Electra for “The Beauty of Magic,” a new show at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino Theater for the Performing Arts. Electra was introduced on stage at the press & VIP media event last month.

Very soon word leaked that Electra was throwing diva fits and there was tension behind the scenes. Previews and the opening date of “The Beauty of Magic” – the preview I saw looks sensational – were moved. Previews will be in late May with the official opening in early June. Janet Charlton's Hollywood -- Celebrity Gossip & Rumors says that Pamela Anderson will be paid a million dollars a month to be a sexy assistant to Klok.

Shrek Is A Bore. It had an expected huge opening weekend, but Shrek The Third is a bore. I loved the second Shrek movie but this third one is a sluggish bore. Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers) complains and moans on about not wanting to be designated King of Far, Far Away. He wants to go home to his orge-loving life with nothing-to-do this time Princess Fiona.

Upon the death of Fiona’s frog father, Shrek refuses to be king and goes in search of Artie a teenage cousin who is next in line for the throne. While Shrek is away, Prince Charming organizes a takeover of the empire by enlisting a motley crew of villains from classic fairy tales, notably Captain Hook, the Evil Queen, and the Big Bad Wolf, are the true neglected stars of Shrek The Third.

Away From Her. This is a fantastic, powerful film. Canadian actress Sarah Polley (pictured) adapted an Alice Munro short story and directed this outstanding film. Polley has a magnificent career ahead of her as a director. Julie Christie, Gordon Pinsent, and Olympia Dukakis all merit Academy Award nominations. Polley deserves two nominations: Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. Retired professor Grant (Gordon Pinsent) is serenely married to his gorgeous wife of 44 years, Fiona (the luminous Julie Christie, pictured). Slowly, Fiona and Grant realize that she is becoming more and more forgetful. Fiona recognizes that she needs to go to an assisted-living facility. Grant is opposed to this arrangement. Fiona is so sophisticated, groomed and stylish that it is hard to imagine she is soiling her underwear or forgetting how to brush her teeth.

While Fiona is forgetting the present, her long-term memory is still aware of the cruel pain of Grant’s earlier indiscretions with so many female students. Did Fiona regret compromising and her decision to stay in the marriage? At the assisted-living facility, Fiona quickly forgets who Grant is and forms an attachment with a mute patient, Aubrey (Michael Murphy). Fiona has become Aubrey’s primary caregiver and companion. He needs her.

I hope that “Take Her Away” will be remembered when award season comes around at the end of the year. You can trust me here – and I hate message movies and movies with heavy furniture sentimentality – “Take Her Away” is unforgettable.

Las Vegas Five Buddha Shrine. At the I Can Do It Conference I met the abbot of The Las Vegas Five Buddha Shrine, Vajra Acharya Chanzhi Decheng (Dan Kendall, pictured). Founded under the guidance of root Guru Living Buddha Dechan Jueren, the group practice Hanmi Buddhism: the complete teachings of the Mahavairocana Buddha passed down by Nagarjuna Bodhisattva to Subhakarasimha, Vajrabodhi, and Amoghavajra.

Join me and a group of friends I am assembling on June 17 to experience the free Healing Session that the Five Buddha Shrine holds every Sunday at 10:30 AM.

If you would like to contact me about this column, or be included on my private distribution list for a weekly reminder, just email me at Masauu@aol.com.

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