Holistic Paths Home

by Anya Wolfenden, M.A.

Spiritual communities are born from the desire to reunite the soul with the glory of creation and see oneself having a purpose within it. Despite sprawling developments and endless commercialism, people are pulled to Virginia Beach. The land and waterways inspire the imagination, but this little corner of the globe spawns spiritual awareness. Sounds like a mutant movie or a salmon stream, but it is a place of acceleration and discovery. Some call it a vortex. Edgar Cayce gave a reading which said that the "Great White Brotherhood" (a spiritual group of ascended masters, not a supremacist organization) meet at a portal in First Landing State Park, in Virginia Beach.

First Landing celebrates Nature's spirit. Twisted live oaks arch over slopes cushioned with their oblong leaves. It's a place one imagines elves and fairies might regularly appear dancing along those great curved limbs. I knew I was home when I first walked the left trail at the 64th Street entrance.

Cypress "knees" poke out of coffee-colored water. Glistening with rainbow hues, sometimes dusted with chartreuse pollen, the rich brown depths reveal cycles of decay and birth. I imagine the moss and dark earth a fit host to sprites and woodland nymphs. The trail winds around short hills until you get to the pond with its resident ducks and turtles. Pass the resting bench through bay, holly, and laurel to a vast cypress graveyard. Twisted remains, bleached grey and white, create great driftwood sculptures sticking out of waves of sea grass. Ospreys nest atop the few trees left standing - totems to the living and the dead. Brush past the sea oats and step over pebbly, rivulet communities of little crabs. Padding further on soft pine straw, the way opens to trees draped with wistful Spanish moss. Glancing off to the left, tall pines cling dramatically to the beach shelves bordering the Lynnhaven Narrows. Here your view expands to a large bay leading to the Chesapeake Bay. The great Atlantic Ocean beckons, with its miles of beach and crashing surf. From the mysterious woods to open recreational waters, this is one of many magical trails.

Water is said to be the element of emotion. Perhaps that is why intuitive and emotional resources are so plentiful here. I am honored to be one of the instructors in a holistic health elective for fourth year students at Eastern Virginia Medical School. Years ago I met Dr. Kevin Baiko and toured him around The Heritage (the largest metaphysical bookstore and holistic department store on the East Coast), talking about nutritional health. He delved much further, training in massage at the Reilly School, acupuncture, osteopathy, hypnotherapy, homeopathy, and Edgar Cayce remedies, and then returned to practice here on Sundays and Mondays. We now have a resident Holistic Doctor - sports physicals and all. What a service indeed!

Water cleans your inner tubing as well, so the digestion can work to get nutrients to your body. Seasonal herbal cleansing, daily raw foods and water are a regular self-cleansing cycle, but if you go for the Cayce-recommended hydrotherapy colonic there is Sandra Duggan. She wrote the definitive books on the subject and teaches others to be certified colon therapists. Gentle, wise and understanding, this women knows how to clear the path.

Dionne Reid's card lists Holistic Practitioner, Medical Intuitive, Psychic Reader, Life & Career Coach and her doctorate is in clinical nutrition. Clear blue eyes communicate a quiet, powerful, healing channel for you to recognize spiritual purpose. Then she helps you organize the nutritional and practical support you need, and demonstrates how you can better access your health wisdom. Dionne shares a beautiful gift.

One-time residents return once the humidity and tourists leave. Nicholas, who trained at the Reilly School of Massotherapy, and used to do massage at The Heritage, trains with Sandra Duggan to expand his holistic facility in Athens, Greece. Robin came back to visit from the red rocks of Sedona; Claire visits from Richmond. "Feels like old home week" is repeated, as another practitioner from Seattle says, "I made the best friends of my life when I was here."

Some don't have to leave, but re-create new lives in Virginia Beach. Astrologist, psychic, inventors of the crystal Grid Of Light and The Angel Game, and now consultants with Voice BioAnalysis, Kay and Larry Sturgis consistently pioneer intuitive health and well-being guidance for the transformation of their fellow humans. Perhaps because they give of themselves so much, they evolve at a rapid rate.

For the beginning of knowledge is to know self and self's relationship to God! Then the relationship to the fellow man; then material knowledge to any entity, any soul, may become valuable, worth while, aggressive, advancing-success!     Edgar Cayce Reading 1249-1

The Chesapeake Bay and the great Atlantic Ocean, the First Landing of the white settlers and the homeland of Native American cultures, where Edgar Cayce formed an Association for Research and Enlightenment, and Reilly's School trained massage therapists, home of The Heritage, where so many holistic practitioners feel drawn to live; this little corner of the world is home to self discovery and spiritual community - beach style.

Copyright 2002 by Anya Wolfenden, M.A., Director of Communications at The Heritage: Health Foods, Books & Gifts, Cafe Deli, and Holistic Center, 314 Laskin Rd. Virginia Beach, (757) 428-0500. Call 1(800)862-2923 for a FREE catalog of over 400 natural health and beauty products and Edgar Cayce remedies.