11 Jun Victorian Parlor Games in St. Augustine
The Coolest Way To Spend
a St. Augustine Sunday Afternoon
Being involved in the hospitality scene in St. Augustine for a number of years has afforded me the opportunity to do all the tours and experience all the attractions. This afternoon, I had the pleasure of attending Through The Keyhole, a 2-hour gathering (hosted by Tina Verduzco and Brandy Klopp) during which we gained first-hand insight as to how St. Augustine Victorians (from the Flagler Era, to include Henry Flagler’s second wife Ida) spent their clandestine evenings. We sipped tea, played parlor games, and attempted to conjure up spirits. We learned the origins of the modern Angel Board and how to read tea leaves! This was the best afternoon activity in which I have engaged in months and months!
The art of tea leaf reading is not my forte, but today’s experience piqued my interest! We sat at the dining room table in Alexander Homestead (built in 1888), with a tea cup and saucer, silver tray, and elegant cloth napkin (mine was mint green with a dainty white flower in the corner). The tea we sipped (from St. Augustine’s Spice & Tea Exchange) was refreshing (perhaps cleansing?), the remaining tea leaves “serving” as the information vessel, if you will. The idea is that the tea leaves will form patterns of objects relative to the information seeker and each pattern/object represents a future scenario. In my tea leaves, I saw an eagle (a change for the better); a dove (good fortune); and a very large and definite capital V (the first initial of my estranged mother’s name). Tea leaf reading dates back to the 17th century; whether you engage for amusement or for serious study, you can’t help but be inspired by whatever message you receive. We also learned about pendulum dowsing and spirit boards. It was a very interesting, informative, and safe-feeling experience, one that I highly recommend for the spiritually open minded!
According to 2ghouls Brandy and Tina, The concept of seeking evidence of life after death is not a recent addition to the tourism industry. Over a century ago, residents and guests alike were practicing Victorian Spiritualism in our Nation’s Oldest City.
2ghouls has reopened the door to the spirit world of the Gilded Age, and through paranormal experiences, they introduce their guests to those divine energies stirred up 100+ years ago!
Historian and folklorist Brandy Klopp is a native Floridian and member of the Conch Republic (born in Key West). The first time she saw the Hotel Ponce de Leon (now Flagler College), Brandy was so smitten that she would apply to no other school. Upon acceptance, she moved to St. Augustine and earned a degree in fine art and art history, which further kindled her love of the nation’s oldest city. After nine years in Boston working with outsider artists, Brandy relocated to Atlanta where she served as Traditional Arts Program Manager & Curator for the State Art Collection for the Georgia Council for the Arts, Office of the Governor. She was led back to the “sleepy colonial town” of St. Augustine in 2011. Given her background, historic tours seemed a perfect fit and she soon crossed the threshold into the city’s darker past.
Hypnotist and spirit magnet Tina Verduzco, also a popular local tour guide, comes from a linage of gypsies, psychics, and Native Americans. She studied with psychic Kay Mora (Kaimora) and is a consulting hypnotist specializing in past life regression. She has been featured on the Bio Channel’s My Ghost Story and Northeast Florida Paranormal webcast and is a member of Orlando’s Spirit Seekers. She is co-author of the young adult, historic novel Storm and the Mermaid’s Knot, a coming-of-age fantasy about a young mermaid in St. Augustine. Tina is also a full-time artist, creating assemblage pieces and Day of the Dead Art. Her work can be seen at several local galleries including Simple Gestures and The Gifted Cork. She also volunteers at the famous historical (and haunted) St. Augustine Lighthouse (be sure to watch the video hyperlinked above to Bio Channel’s My Ghost Story).
If you would like to meet Brandy and Tina, well then Aviles Street is the place to be for First Friday Art Walk
on July 6, 2012. Be sure to make your way down the street to the corner of Cadiz for Casa de Solana B&B’s Open House where Tina and Brandy will be setting up shop and ready to share some stories.
Casa de Solana Bed & Breakfast is St. Augustine’s seventh oldest house, located on the city’s oldest street, and most definitely has its share of spiritual energy and crazy stories! There will be a number of things happening at Casa that night. In addition to Tina and Brandy, there will be local artists and vendors who are anxious to wow you with their crafts! Perhaps you’ll want to sneak away to the far corner of the lush courtyard and surprise your loved one with a romantic vows renewal ceremony. Be sure to pop into the dining room for the Sangria social and sweet treats, and you’ll definitely want to take a sneak peek at The Minorcan (a 2-room suite featuring a room with a queen bed, gorgeous shower, and flat screen TV and a sitting room with fireplace, desk, and another flat screen TV)! Open House guests will be the judges for a Casa Photo Contest!
So come and meet Tina and Brandy and join the rest of the fun at 21 Aviles Street on Friday, July 6, 2012.