BEYOND THE BROWSERS in the New Age Shop in Central, is a backdoor with a sign saying, 'Session in Progress!'. Despite this sign's 'Do Not Disturb' tone, I am shown into the room to find holistic therapist and metaphysics disciple Frederick Stander pouring a visiting psychic a cup of tea and casting a spell of sorts.
Stander is waving his magic wand, a gold, marker-sized device called a beamer containing compressed gases, over a customer's mug to 'charge' the tea. She sips it and quickly replies, 'It's affecting my crown chakra [at the top of the head - one of the seven centres of spiritual energy in the human body, according to yoga philosophy]. For the better, oh yes, for the better.'
I feel grossly out of the loop, like a witness to children who are playing with imaginary friends. But if judgment and disbelief can be suspended, 49-year-old Stander, with his shoulder-length white hair and beard, could be a graduate - Merlin-cum-laude - of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Harry Potter novels.
To some, Stander is Hong Kong's Deepak Chopra, minus the American spiritual healer's self-promotion. But to those who denounce the esoteric New-Age realm and the likes of crystal healing and aura balancing, Stander, and his 38-year-old wife, Yvonne, a fellow energy healer, say they can provide hard evidence of their abilities - to help heal Aids patients.
They volunteered to work with Aids and HIV sufferers in the United States and Taiwan, with results documented by a Taipei hospital. They now want to serve Hong Kong's Aids community. The Standers have contacted Aids Concern, one of Hong Kong's three largest non-governmental organisations providing support to Aids sufferers, but 'they weren't that responsive', says Frederick. 'The same thing happened with some groups in Singapore.'
Aids Concern executive director Graham Smith says: 'We opened an alternative therapy room seven years ago and closed it because nobody ever used it. We've had several phone calls over the years from people, often from the mainland, 'selling the cure'. I ask, 'What was your experience with the patients?' and it turns out they all died. In these cases I proceed with extreme caution.'