Page 4 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - April 2024

4 L.A.’S Wackiest Spiritual/UFO Convention

‘It’s a lot of UFO stuff

and a lot of healing’:

Inside L.A.’s wackiest

spiritual convention

By Deborah Netburn Staff Writer
Photography by Mel Melcon

On the first new moon in February, not
long after Pluto had entered Aquarius,
Shima Moore stood like a priestess in
flowing white robes behind a podium in
the Los Angeles Ballroom at the LAX
Hilton. She was there to officially open
the 22nd Conscious Life Expo with a
12th dimensional stargate meditation.

“When we’re in the 12th dimension,

we’re more receptive so the angels and
ascended masters, nature spirits and our
own higher selves can come to us,” she
said in a deep, resonant voice as celestial
music played softly in the background. It
was 10:30 a.m. on a Friday and a crowd
of 220 attendees nodded appreciatively.
cosmic wisdom.” and more likely to have hundreds of
Over the years, the convention has also thousands of followers on TikTok.
Moore shared the stage with Asil Toksal,
become ground zero for many of the “It’s so important for the Expo to
a former advertising executive-turned-
wellness trends that have made their way transcend generations,” said
channeler, and Viviane Chauvet, a
into high-end boutiques, gyms and Quicksilver’s son Michael Satva, 41, who
Phoenix-based woman who claims to be
grocery stores. Today, the same black took on more organizing and booking
a member of an ancient alien race sent to
garlic spread offered at an expo booth responsibilities this year. “As the
Earth to share her civilization’s wisdom.
may end up on the shelves of Erewhon. boomers retire and move on there are so
Earlier iterations of the event hosted many amazing younger people in this
“I know I look a lot like a human, but
some of the first panels on the use of space pushing the culture forward.”
that’s the idea,” Chauvet said as
crystals for healing and helped
members of the audience chuckled. “This
popularize ancient Eastern practices like Rooted in California
was the best way to be a conduit.”
acupuncture and tai chi in the West.

Even an open-minded resident of this “It just showed up in the field for me to
But in recent years, the Expo has
most open-minded of cities might balk at do this,” he said. “I had all the skill sets
encountered new challenges. The
these far-out proclamations, but fringe and I knew all the people.”
occasional conspiracy theorist speaker
beliefs are business as usual at the annual
has drawn negative coverage of the
L.A. convention, which took place Feb. Today, the Conscious Life Expo is the
convention. And Quicksilver recently
9-12. largest of its kind in the United States,
began enforcing new standards for who
drawing between 8,000 and 10,000
can be featured at the festival. He values
For 22 years, the gathering has been a attendees per year. Past speakers include
free speech but draws the line at
meetinghouse for astrologers, spiritual leader and presidential also-ran
promoting QAnon-like rhetoric.
channelers, aura readers, quantum life Marianne Williamson and disgraced
coaches, psychics, hypnotists and a comedian-turned-self-help guru Russell
Weighing more heavily on his mind is
growing number of “starseeds” — Brand.
the future of the Expo itself. Most of the
people like Chauvet who believe they are
convention’s tried-and-true regulars
galactic volunteers that have taken on a Quicksilver has experimented over the
came of age in the 1960s and ’70s. As
human form to help “the children of years with bringing the Expo to other
they enter their twilight years some have
Gaia.” locations, including San Francisco and
grown too infirm to make the annual trip
London, but it never caught on outside
while others have died. Now, he and his
“It’s a lot of UFO stuff and a lot of Southern California, where new religious
partners are grappling with how to
healing,” said Robert Quicksilver, 75, movements have long found a steady
update the conference to ensure that it
who co-founded the expo in 2003 and stream of willing believers.
attracts a new and younger audience,
has been running it since. “I think of it as
including bringing in speakers less likely
offering a Space Age translation of the (Continued on Page 5)
to be accused of cultural appropriation