When you look into someone's eyes what do you see? Do you see just their colour or do you see the person's lower back problem, their sinus congestion or a weakness in their thyroid gland perhaps?
For the thousands attending this weekend's Mind, Body and Spirit Festival at Dublin's RDS, there was an opportunity to find out what their eyes told them about their state of health.
The practice is called clinical iridology, and a number of practitioners were present to offer readings at up to €50 a shot. Using apparatus similar to what one would find at an opticians, they took photos of one's iris and then closely examined it "for detection of health imbalances and disease" in the body.
Practitioners claim it can identify disease early and therefore a patient can take action. They may need, according to the brochures handed out, detoxification, liver cleansing, herbal remedies or nutritional advice and supplements.
For those who discovered through iridology they suffered from sinus congestion, there were other gadgets. An eyezone massager developed in the UK was popular at €30. Ms Elaine Heffernan, the agent, said it was ideal to tackle bags around the eyes, wrinkles, and eye fatigue.
There were other ways available too to get rid of those bags and wrinkles in the RDS. Make-up artist Ms Karen McGovern was on hand to offer "non surgical eyelift" in the form of a wonder cream. She said the cream called Eyesential was the beauty secret of the Hollywood Stars. She was selling 120 eyelifts in a bottle for €49.99.
The range of therapies on offer to destress, rejuvenate, "heal" or simply pamper the mind, body and soul is growing at a phenomenal rate, according to the event's organiser Mr Louis O'Sullivan. The interest in them is also growing, given that he expects 15,000 people to visit the event, which ends this evening.
"Peoples interest in empirical things in weakening and their interest in spiritual or even esoteric things is increasing enormously," he said. Why so?
"People are much more liberated now. They have a higher standard of education and they are not bound down by religious disciplines. People have got freedom of choice now," Mr O'Sullivan said.
The choice in the RDS included soul reading at €20 for 20 minutes, but the practitioner said he didn't talk to the media; kinesiology which is used to pinpoint imbalances in the body, tarot card reading, Indian head massage or the opportunity to make appointments for colonic irrigation, a procedure made famous by the late Princess Diana. Ms Georgina Eafer of St Peter's Clinic in Walkinstown, Dublin, said the procedure was becoming increasingly popular at €82 a session and three sessions are recommended for each patient. It is ideal for people with gastrointestinal disorders, Ms Eafer said, but it is also recommended for anyone who suffers from fatigue. Most of the population could therefore benefit, one suspects.