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Amusements/Books PAGE 16/SYRACUSE POST-STANDARD/TUESDAY, SEPT. 19. 1978Two Looks at Counter-Culturess’Prepares lor Zodiac’s ChangePhoios by Stafi PhotograDher Sieve V/oilerReady for Aquarian Age David Davis, 30, sits among some of the items featured at Seven Rays, the ‘metaphysical’ bookshop he opened recently at 827 E. Genesee St.By LAURIE LUCASWhile Onondaga County has exhausted itself finding spots for a garbage-gobbling steam plant and a football stadium, David Davis used his psychic energy to fill a void not many knew existed.Finally, Syracuse has its own metaphysical bookstore.“My main purpose was not to make money, but to fill a need, to enlighten the public.” explains the bearded, T-shirted Davis, owner of the Seven Rays bookstore at 827 E. Genesee St:So what is a “metaphysical” bookstore designed for “new age” people?Every 2,161 years, says Davis, the solar system passes into a new sign of the zodiac We're moving into the Age of Aquarius now,” he adds helpfully. Quite simply, this means all the mysteries of the universe will be revealed and knowledge will replace faith.The winners in the new age, Davis believes, will be the hitherto unacknowledged wonders of auras, healing biospheres and yoga systems. These and other cosmic conundrums awaiting plausible proof are between the covers of any of Seven Rays’ 3,000 books on alchemy. Kabbalah (ancient Hebrew secrets), death and reincarnation, astrology, psychokinesis, witchcraft and the like.But catchy titles such as “The Crack in the Cosmic Egg,” “The Astrology of Accidents,” and “One, Two, Three. . . Infinity” aren't the store's only allurements., There's a tiny gadget called the negative ion generator that discharges electrons to clean the air of dust, impurities or .odors. When they’re gone, there’s always nepali rope incense to perfume the air. You can also “float” prayers in the breezes with a silk screened cloth adorned with Hebrew, Hindu or Arabic blessings.“The Sait City is ideal for this bookstore,” raves a young customer dressed in a blue uniform with maroon sneakers and a beeper in his belt “Sait, you see, is an alchemical element and crystallizes in perfect cubes. So it’s a perfect symbol of manifestation,” he says, in perfect seriousness.Davis, a 30-year-old Long Island native, claims his spiritual awakening began when he joined the Holy Order of Mans, headquartered in San Francisco. During the seven years he served as a “brother” with the nondenomina-tional Christian order, he was sent to Syracuse and 15 other cities to spread the word.But when he discovered the Salt City lacked proper metaphysical food for thought, he figured he’d “found his mission” and dropped out of the religious sect.Nevertheless, insists Davis, his new god is not mammon and capitalist stirrings haven’t co-opted spiritual ones. “I don’t try to pressure my customers. I must be careful,” he says, “because I'm dealing with consciousness.”Thus, every nuance from the soft, mellow FM music to the lemony walls gently massages the browser’s “inner energies and awareness.”“Yellow is the color of the plant Uranus, the color of intuition,” Davis claims.Suspended from the ceiling, a pyramid energy grid twists lazily. Cushioned on velvet, a .crystal ball winks in the light and displays an easily read prophecy: the prospective soothsayer with leave $80 poorer.The store’s name, too, is heavily freighted with symbolism: the seven day’s of creation, seven colors of the rainbow, seven whole notes of the scale, seven continents and seven basic energy centers.Certain people do respond to ihese subtleties. “One day I came by and dropped $60 here,” says a fiftyish man, a geoiogist from Albany who’s wearing a Mickey Mouse: watch. “I’m a student of the earth,” he declares, but declines to give his name.He holds a rainbow decal in the palm of his hand: “You know, when I see these on car windows, I look to see who’s driving.” He leaves with two issues of a magazine called “Gnostica” tucked under his arm. The leadarticle of one: “Sexual Rites and Nature Worship.”But Seven Rays doesn't peddle sex manuals or prurient material, notes Davis. “You can gel ‘The Joy of Sex’ in any bookstore,” he points out. “We’re interested in inner development here.” Purists, then, need not blush at the tame “how-to” selection confined to shiatsu (Japanese finger pressure) and other massage - techniques.In some people's minds, he says, anything “new age” is wedded erroneously to haliucino-; gens. “The only books I have related to drugs concern drug-related psychotherapy,” he is quick to explain. And customers who ask for rolling papers and other marijuana implements roll away empty-handed. “This isn't a ‘head shop.'” Davis tells them.But there’s definitely a market for his meta-. physical bookstore here, he believes. “It was once an underground thing; everyone was afraid people would think they’re crazy. But now they're coming out of the closet,” he maintains. “Look at how many people came to the Psychic Fair last month — 2,000.”Davis says he logs about 60 hours a week between his business and the free classes he runs each week in the back room of his shop. The courses include ESP and psychic development, astrology, Sufi philosophy, palmistry . and theosophy.And who patronizes Seven Rays? “All kinds of people,” he observes. “The campus crowd, housewives, hairstylists . . . mostly curious persons looking for additional information.” Sometimes, an inexplicable occurrence or a death in the family will awakeD a need for “something more,” he says.Comments a young woman customer, an artist from Truxton: “For me, it's an opportunity, all this knowledge in one place.” She digs into her knapsack to pay for two books: “The Home Health Book” and “Climb the Highest Mountain.”“I have to go by intuition.” she explains. The first item is for herself; the other, a birthday present for her brother’s “spiritual journey.”fglg. ■ . Or Anything ElseIn addition to some 3,000 different books, Davis has paraphernalia including crystal balls, acupuncture charts, negative ion generators and pyramid energy grids.
Newspaper Details
Syracuse Post Standard
Syracuse, New York, US
Tue, Sep 19, 1978
Page 16
Full Page
Clipped by
Onondaga C.
NY, USA 19 Jul 2023
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