The Observatory, Ron Rosenbaum - The Edgy Enthusiast

Friday, April 17. Heading up 12th Avenue toward Pier 92, site of the "Natural Health & Fitness Expo "98", a major annual New Age trade show…I was surprised to discover, almost as soon as I walked into the main exhibition space of the pier - in the midst of the familiar profusion of booths offering meditation tapes, aromatherapy oils, juicers, magnetic foot supports, magic powders and pills, electronic massage devices, electronic shiatsu wands, "electronic shield" medallions to protect against the dangerous rays from everyday devices like battery-operated watches, iridology analysis microscopes, aura-imaging systems, cancer treatments, holistic dentistry, New Age facelifts and baldness remedies - one product I'd never seen before, one I found genuinely intriguing: the True Mirror.

I'm not sure exactly what makes the True Mirror New Age, except that it is an alternative way of looking at the self. Through the tricky arrangement of mirrored surfaces inside a box, it presents to you an image of yourself that is "true" rather than mirror-image reversed. It shows you, in other words, the way you actually look to others, rather than the way you customarily see yourself. I found it fascinating, not just looking at my own image, but reading the literature the True Mirror Company (based in Manhattan on Fulton Street) [now located at 43 East 1st Street in Manhattan] was offering at its booth. It's filled with raves from people who just love what they see in the mirror for the first time. "For the first time in my life, I like what I see when I look at me," says one. "Wow! I'm beautiful," says another. "So this is the real me? I've been searching for years now!" exclaims another. "It's wonderful. Am I really that beautiful? Wonders another enraptured commentator.

It makes you wonder how much of the world's troubles stem from people walking around all grumpy from looking at ugly conventional mirror-images of themselves. I thought it was the first genuinely new and thought-provoking New Age product I'd come across in a long time.

Photo courtesy of True Mirror Company