WITH psychic mediums and complementary therapists under some duress these days – from new Govern-ment regulations, attempts at the UN to curb alternative remedies and, I suspect, rumblings from the big pharmaceutical companies – it's not surprising the holistic community is starting to fight back.

Readers of this page will know how I have revealed a pincer movement on the holistic sector by the Government's new consumer trading regulations, which seek to curb the activities of spiritual workers, and the UN's Food Code administration which has declared war on complementary medicine.

Now, three friends from Bristol and South Gloucestershire, who run holistic and psychic fairs in the area, want to bring complementary therapies and healing "out into the public realm", remove public misconceptions – and raise money for charity.

Debbie Woodcraft of Chipping Sodbury, Jean Foley from Coalpit Heath, and Ian Perry of Yate, formed 3Spirit last year to run fairs, and have been staging them regularly at different venues – they have one at Warmley Community Centre, Kingswood, tomorrow.

Debbie and Jean are holistic therapists and Ian is a clairvoyant and Tarot reader. They decided to form 3Spirit after they met at a therapy centre in Chipping Sodbury.

"Complementary therapies are receiving a really bad Press at the moment," Debbie told me. "They are really taking a hammering, with people saying they don't do anything, but I believe that they do.

"I have seen what happens when people receive complementary therapies. I can see how different they look and feel afterwards. It doesn't cure people, but it helps. Your body can do wonderful things if it's given the right conditions, but people don't get that information.

"It's better to have an Indian head massage than to take a load of drugs. Complementary therapies are not dicing with the devil, they will help you feel better, and help your body get over the stress that everyday living puts upon it."

Drugs just mask the problem, they don't get rid of it, says Debbie, who also hopes to remove the "scary" image that many have of mediums.

"I believe people are scared by psychic mediums," said Debbie. "If you don't really know about it, you can find it quite frightening and scary. But they are just very normal people. They are not doing anything that would make people frightened. We want people to come and meet them."

A percentage of the door takings at every 3Spirit event goes to the Penny Brohn cancer care centre in Bristol which offers complementary therapies alongside more typical methods of treating cancer.

Tomorrow's fair, which will have 30 readers and practitioners, plus a range of gift stalls, runs from 10am-5pm and admission is £2, which includes refreshments.

After that, 3Spirit have fairs at the Hilton Hotel, Bradley Stoke, on October 18, and at the Hilton Hotel in Swindon on November 29.

You can visit www.healing witch.com – the 3Spirit website – for details.