Oniset Wigwam President Patricia Craig is quick to point out that a psychic and a medium are not the same thing.  A psychic, she said, "reads" someone based on sensory impressions.  A medium detects the presence of spirits and connects them with the living.  But both were on hand his weekend as the Oniset Wigwam celebrated its Third Annual Wigwam Fair with readings from mediums and psychics and vendors selling a variety of spiritual objects including crystals, incense, fans, as well as spiritualist-inspired arts and crafts.

This isn't your new-age, post-hippie, spiritualist event. Onset was originally settled by Spiritualists in 1877 who formed the Onset Bay Campmeeting Association. In 1890, a movement to incorporate Native American spirituality led to the establishment of The On-I-set Wigwam Co-Workers and, four-years later, the dedication of the Wigwam.

"In the 1800s, they used to have 2,000 to 3,000 people at the water for services," said  Craig.

Today, the camp offers classes from May through October on such subjects as astrology and spirituality, and holds weekly readings with mediums and psychics. There are also fire circles and workshops for communicating with animals.

Ron O'Berry offered medium readings inside the Wigwam, which was constructed in 1874 and is based on traditional Native American design with a central healing pole.

O'Berry has been a medium for 75 years, a skill that he said he first recognized when he was 3-years-old and saw his recently-deceased grandmother standing in a doorway trying to comfort his mother.

A full-blooded Chippewa whose brother and sister are healers, O'Berry said that everybody has the ability to be a medium. It is just that most people decide not to further their abilities.

"Everybody has the ability to do it [be a medium]," O'Berry said. "Some people go a little bit farther" in their pursuit of it."It's not getting into it. You're born into it."

And he has seen a lot of change over the years. He said that mediumship was much more ritualized in the past as knowledge was passed down from elders and involved elaborate ceremonies.

"Today it's much easier," he said. "It gets easier for people to understand it. It's so simple. No dogma or creed. It just gives me joy and happiness."