Reece Scarpignato (4:53)
No, No, I didn't know, like. Cause I'm really not a spiritual. Like I was into spirituality more as like entertainment. I never took it seriously and so I didn't really like know about Sedona. If I had heard of Sedona, I think it was like I was like, oh, like, you know, it's probably just a bunch of, you know, white girls with crystals in the desert. But like, yeah, didn't. Didn't really take it very seriously. So Sedona is a massive hotspot of spiritual tourism, but also spiritual like culture in general. Like it's the type of place where you'll drive around and see just a wizard standing on the side of the road with a crystal ball and a staff. I think we saw at least three to four, like just separate wizards like out and about. In Sedona, it's this beautiful part of Northern Arizona covered in like, it basically looks like Zion national park everywhere, but it's covered in just this lush greenery. So there's this beautiful juxtaposition between like the desert red rock and like the beautiful foliage like everywhere you go. It's just, it really is like a very awe inspiring place. Just from first glance. If you want to get the vibe of this place, they have a McDonald's with a turquoise M. And it's all made out of adobe or kind of faux adobe, I guess. When we went out there, I hadn't met any of the crew prior besides the director. It was just come to this random house in the middle of Sedona and we were going to meet the crew. So I just drove out in my own car, loaded up the rental lights and equipment in my own car and just drove out to this random house that the financier had owned, I guess on the outskirts of Sedona. It was this big ranch house out in the middle of nowhere. And we just lived there for the duration of the shoot. Basically I arrived at the house in the middle of the night, you know, met the crew. It was a very, very small crew. I was kind of the gaffer slash Pennsylvania. Then we had the dp, The AC DP is director of photography, AC is the assistant camera, the director, producer and the sound guy. So there were five of us in total staying at this large kind of ranch house in the outskirts of Sedona. We basically spent the duration of our time there interviewing psychics. From, you know, crystal shop owners to personal healers, to tarot card readers, to people who could tell your future. There's a very large community of psychics in Sedona. So that was kind of, you know, the focus of our documentary was just taking each one of these psychics and interviewing them and then letting them do like a demonstration. Since I was the gaffer pa, I was the most like expendable member of our five person crew. Like we joked and said my, my position was the psychic guinea pig of the, of the crew. So I was most of the time thrown in as like the example for their demonstrations. We had a lot of like group demonstrations where all of us were involved. But for most of the single demonstrations, I'd say like I was the one who was receiving the brunt of the psychic demonstrations. Basically. I thought this was like one big joke. Like I was like, oh, like we're gonna come here and like, I'm just gonna see all these like, you know, kind of phony psychics, like do their thing and I'm, you know, gonna leave just absolutely tickled. Right? Like that's kind of how I came in. So we had quite a few different ones. I think I had one where it was a sound healing ritual that we did up on one of the, on the mesas, like during sunset, which was really cool, but I didn't really like feel anything when that was going on. But they Put, like, a sound bowl on my chest, made a circle of rocks, and, like, you know, I stood there while, like, they kind of rang the bowl and stuff. There was another one where I was kind of. There's two psychics, and they were trying to read my future, but I don't really think they got it right. They're also telling me things about myself, which was just like. I mean, even the career that had only known me for about a week were like, that doesn't sound like you at all. So there was definitely times where I didn't really feel anything, but maybe I just, like, wasn't open enough or something. We were there for, I think it was two weeks, and it was like, every day was like a new psychic. I. I could go on and on and on. At this point, I was just kind of doing my job. Like, gaffing can get kind of physically intensive, even if you're on kind of a lax schedule. Like, we were, you know, mainly just setting up lights, sitting around, or just, you know, being thrown in as, like, the test dummy. So I was having really just a great time, but, you know, still very much in work mode. Like, we would be very serious and professional during the day, get our shots, get our interviews, and then go back and we'd, you know, kind of play cards and chat, have a couple drinks with the crew back at our house. And that's kind of was the experience most of the trip. It was honestly just, like, super fun, kind of like a paid vacation. But you get to do, like, what you love while you do was during this period, you know, of interviews, one was a little different than the other psychics we were interviewing, which were kind of, like, in their offices or in, like, you know, their shops or, you know, it. It was very much inside. We were going to go on, like, a hike called, like, a vortex tour. So basically, what a vortex is is a concentration of spiritual energy in certain places. Sedona is known for having a lot of them, but they're all over the world. They have these complex, like, vortex maps that I. I don't understand. But that's the reason that a lot of people are drawn to Sedona, and it has such a big psychic following or psychic concentration is because apparently people are drawn to the massive amounts and powerful vortexes. In Sedona, the guy that we were interviewing was a vortex tour guide. That's kind of what he did for a living. He'd done it in many different places. He'd done it in, like, Hawaii. He'd done it In Sedona, I think, parts of South America as well. Basically, what he said during the vortex tour is that the reason that Sedona has this concentration of vortexes is the makeup of the soil. Basically, it has a lot of iron oxide and quartz, which are both very conductive. Iron oxide, you know, conducts electricity and quartz conducts, like, radio waves and things like that. Like, it's used in radios to transmit frequencies and just kind of the shape of, like, spires and mesas and stuff really helps get that energy flowing. I didn't believe this at all when I was hearing it, especially not from our guide. Our guide was this guy named Bonna. Despite the fact that he was a white dude from Portland who had, like, a very youth pastor vibe. He, you know, carried a guitar. I think he was dressed in all white with a white baseball cap. When. When we interviewed him, you know, would say, send it all the time. Definitely not the type of person I thought of as, like, a shaman or like a spiritual guide. The hike was right off the main trail. It was within sight of, like, a parking lot and a road we're walking through, just kind of scrubland, like, overshadowed by these massive, massive mesas covered in beautiful green foliage. And think we're there in the winter when, like, it's, like, probably the greenest all year. So it's just this beautiful contrast between the red, red rocks and the green foliage. And we make our way to this thing called the Baby Bell, which is this small hill right near what they call. I think it's the Bell. It's this giant, famous rock formation towards the center of Sedona that kind of overshadows most of the city. So as we're ascending this small hill, it couldn't have been more than a few stories high. He starts explaining to us the mechanics of the way in which vortexes form and are kind of transmitted. I guess he. He starts talking to us about the soil makeup and how that contributes to vortexes forming, especially in this area. And what he explains while we're ascending is that you can feel this pull inside of your body. Sometimes it'll be pulling kind of upwards, sometimes it'll be pulling downwards, but it's kind of this draw again. I didn't really believe it. I was just kind of in work mode, you know, I was, like, making sure the lighting on his face looked good when they were shooting him and, you know, for the interviews. But as we started, you know, to ascend this hill and when we, you know, stopped for interviews on each little point, I started to Feel that effect that he was describing, like, more and more and more as we ascended. At first I was like, oh, this is totally placebo. You know, he's like, bringing this up. And so, like, you know, obviously you're going to kind of feel it. It wasn't enough to, like, to really feel, like, a major difference, but there was something that was, like, definitely there. And the higher we would get, the more I would feel that, like, pulling sensation. Again, I was in work mode. I was focused on what I was doing. So it's like. And, you know, it wasn't really enough to interrupt what I was doing. So I wasn't really that concerned with. Was like a pulling sensation in my chest. That's the best way I can describe it. Like, almost like. I don't know, something inside me was being, like, just gently tugged at. As we kind of conclude our final interview of him in this location, he suggests that we all go to the top of this hill, right? He's like, that's where, you know, all of this spiritual energy focuses. So I want us all to go on the top of this hill and stand in a circle on the rim of the hill, facing the landscape around us, and we're all going to do a group meditation. And so at this point, you know, we've been hiking. I've been, you know, doing lighting stuff. So I'm, you know, a little tired. I'm just kind of glad to get a quick break. You know, I'm like, oh, this'll be just like any of the other demonstrations. I'll just, you know, get a break from my work, have a fun little, you know, psychic experiment, and then we'll. We'll go about our day. I face away from everybody, and I'm facing, you know, the beautiful, beautiful Sedona landscape. Just awesome cliffs stretching out, beautiful nature everywhere. And he says, everybody take a deep breath in. And then he strums his guitar twice. And then he tells everybody to breathe out. And, you know, I sit there for maybe two seconds, kind of relaxing, not really feeling anything. And then all of a sudden, my vision just gets this, like, kind of ultra HD effect to it with, like, a blurred sort of vignette around the edges of my vision paired with this feeling of calm and tranquility, which is just completely contrasted to kind of my work mode brain. And it's not something I usually feel, especially when I'm on set and kind of have to be on call the entire time. It was instant. Like, one moment I was just standing there kind of waiting for the meditation to be over, really, all of a sudden, I just was in a completely different headspace. And before I can really, like, realize what's happening, I just get this mental image that, like, definitely wasn't my own projected into my head. I guess if you can imagine, like a shape floating in front of you in your mind's eye, like, that's exactly what it was like. But the only difference was I wasn't in control of that image. So it's like, you know, I could see perfectly fine. If, you know, somebody had come up and walked right in front of me, I could have seen that person. But I was also receiving these, like, images that were very similar to something that you would, like, imagine. If you're trying to, you know, imagine an apple or a cube or something. What flashes in front of my vision is thousands of images of, like, natural looking spirits, kind of Mother Earth spirit, just this mental image of a forest or earth spirit. And if you can imagine, you know, putting pictures frame by frame next to each other and playing it back over three to four seconds, it was very similar to that. Just different interpretations of the same idea, all paired with the knowledge that this was, this being introducing itself to me. It was just pure thought and feeling with no room for any miscommunication or any doubt on the intention. And it was just immediately followed by just this feeling of, like, anything that was bothering me, anything that I was thinking of was just completely cleared. It was this sense of calm and synchronicity and togetherness of the universe. Very similar to when you take psychedelics. It's just a sense of calm and love, I guess. And they just beamed these thoughts of, don't be afraid, you know, all is well, the universe is in perfect alignment, everything is as it should be. It was like all around me was what it was communicating. It was. It was everywhere. It was the hill, it was the air, it was the trees, it was the sky. In the same way that everything is connected, it was some sort of thing that was part of the interconnectedness of the world around me. It definitely presented itself to me with like a very loving mother energy. It seemed like an intentional way to communicate with me. Like it had chosen that sort of form to get the maximum amount of impact on me before I could even really grasp what was happening. After it had followed up, introducing itself, it shifted my focus to this large spire to my right. And when I say shifted focus, I found myself moving my head in the direction of this spire completely involuntarily. And as I did so, like, it was kind of like I just blinked. And all of a sudden my. My head was looking at this spire, and I don't even remember, like, looking that direction. And my vision felt like it zoomed into this spire where I automatically knew that was, like, where I was supposed to focus my attention. Then the entity started comparing me to this spire, and, like, was talking about how, like, this spire, I was shaped by the wind and the rain, and, you know, comparing that wind and rain to the struggles of my own life and how they had shaped me into the person that I am. Just like the wind and the rain had shaped this spire into the way that it looked. And, you know, despite being weathered, despite being battered, the spire still stands strong and has more character based on the struggles that it has endured or the wind and the rain that it has endured. It was a lot more succinct than my description, but it was able to tie those struggles to the very personal, emotional struggles in my own life. So much so that I was overwhelmed with emotion, like, almost, you know, as if it knew me. I'm not a big crier. I very much repress my emotions. And, you know, when I'm overwhelmed with this incredibly emotional experience, I feel the urge to cry and naturally repress it. That's when it kind of tells me that it's okay to cry and that it's okay to express my emotions. And I feel these tears going down my face. And when I reach up to. To wipe them away, I realize there's no tears on my face. All it is is this wind, almost, like compressed air being shot at my cheeks, almost to, like, emulate tears. So after that incredibly, like, personal and emotional experience that, like, really, I mean, probably only lasted a minute, but, like, was probably better than, like, a year's worth of therapy. The entity asked me if it. If I had any questions for it. I. I asked it a couple questions, but they're pretty personal to me. I did ask it about my career in film. That's one thing I will talk about. Like, what is going to happen with my film career? What is the future of my career going to look like? And it gave me the answers in those same visualizations that it had to introduce itself. And these visualizations were kind of cryptic, and I still don't really know what they mean. It was these blue figures, kind of like bathroom people, but smaller and shorter, filled with this white light energy that kind of looked like veins. And they were passing that white light energy back and forth to each other in a circular fashion. And as this white light energy was passed to each entity, the amount of entities grew. And then it was 2, and then it was 3, then it was 5, then it was 10, then it was 20, then it was thousand, then it was a million and it was 10 million. And then just like it had began, it was done. And I was there standing on the edge of the hill with the crew, like exactly how it had started. I don't really know how long this experience lasted for. My sense of time was completely altered. I had no concept of time. It could have lasted anywhere from like five to 10 minutes. But again, I'm, I'm not really sure. There is video footage. The DP was filming this, but I haven't seen it.
