Acts of Violet(91)
“Well … Goodness—I don’t expect to be able to decipher all of this at once … but it’s a truly incredible gift you have. Do you know anything about OBEs? Out-of-body experiences.”
“Like your soul/astral body traveling around outside your physical body? Yeah, Violet tried to get me to read up on that stuff—she was always into wacky shit—but I disregarded it until I got older,” I say. “I don’t put much stock into the claims of people wandering around the astral plane. It’s more plausible for OBEs to result from the brain making up hallucinations, like what happens during a near-death experience. All trauma induced.”
“That is one way of looking at it,” Antoinette says. “But I’ll give you some literature that may give you a fresh perspective. The collective I’m part of studies unusual phenomena like this, but we like to blend science in with the metaphysical. We’re developing a hypothesis that connects to the branches of theoretical physics that propose different dimensions vibrate on separate frequencies. In a nutshell, we believe if a person can change their vibrational frequency, their mind/soul/astral body can travel to those different dimensions. These are not hallucinations, they’re explorations of different planes of reality. And while your case is more unique in that it’s your physical body doing the exploring, it could be a natural extension of astral travel or a more advanced form of dimensional jumping. When our group met with your sister, she was utterly riveted by the material we shared with her.”
“Of course she was. And according to you, she must’ve gotten proficient at it, seeing as she’s not here.” My snark snags on an unexpected prick of desolation. I continue in a more subdued voice. “If that’s what happened to her, I don’t want to do the same thing to my family. I very much want to remain in this dimension. Bearing in mind this is the one percent of me keeping an open mind about all this.”
“That one percent is enough for us to work with,” says Antoinette. “If it offers you some reassurance, any astral travel you may embark on is connected to intentionality. If you end up somewhere you don’t want to be, you can will yourself to return to home base. You’ve already shown your capability in that regard, both as a child and recently.”
Between my outpouring of the strange and Antoinette’s confounding rationalization of it, my head feels both helium-light and leaden.
“I don’t want to overwhelm you any further, so how about this?” Antoinette retrieves a tote bag from beneath the table and hands it to me. “I’ve prepared some things for you to read. There’s also a link to online audio files containing … let’s call them guided meditations. If nothing else, you may find the exercises a useful tool in stress management and harnessing your intuition. It’s up to you. If you’d like to get in touch to discuss any of this material, you’ll find my card in there, and I welcome the opportunity to connect again.”
“Thank you.” I take the tote and push my seat back. “Let me ask you something. I understand why my brain is seeing triple twos everywhere—my sister and I have a connection to that specific number. But the swans are baffling me. If it were butterflies, it would make more sense, because butterflies were Violet’s thing. But I can’t think of how swans are relevant to either of us.”
Antoinette hands me a scrap of paper and a pen. “Draw a swan.”
“Drawing isn’t my forte,” I say, picking up the pen, “But if this is going to—oh.” I’ve only drawn a hook and a horizontal line connecting to it but it’s so obvious now: in its most abstract form, a swan resembles the number two. “Okay. Wow.”
As we leave the teahouse, I catch sight of Cameron in his car.
I knock on his window until he rolls it down. “Hey, stalker. I just wanted to say thanks.” He tilts his head, expecting more. “Fine. You win. I’ll do your stupid podcast.”
A quick nod, but he’s still not done with me. “Any chance you and Quinn could do the show together?” he asks.
As my daughter lets out an excited squeal behind me, I tell him, “You really are an asshole, you know that?” I scrunch my mouth into something he’ll undoubtedly interpret as a smile.
www.violetisafraud.com
Violet Volk Is a Fraud
By Anonymous
JANUARY 10, 2008
Can someone please explain how Violet Volk became a feminist and pop culture icon? Her entire empire has been built on deception, whether by fooling her audience with her stage tricks or creating a false persona her fans have fervently embraced. Since when do we reward people for being con artists? Since we’ve bought into Violet’s lies and made her a superstar, I guess.
Which isn’t to say this media darling hasn’t weathered her share of public criticism (accident or no, she did kill a guy). But her ability to shake off bad press and reinvent herself, while admirable to some, is maddening when you consider the person in question.
Violet Volk is not a feminist. Or a role model. Or an icon. Or a good person.
Violet Volk is a fraud.
Violet Volk does not deserve your admiration.
I’ll tell you why.
Who am I? I’m what the gossip rags would call “a close source.”
Why am I coming forward with this? I’m sick of the deception, tired of watching adoration heaped on a woman who isn’t worthy of it. It’s time you know the truth.