The Metaphysical Lottery was a spin off from Prophette and Shaman Metaphysical Bookmakers which featured in a number of summer festivals and was a feature of the How the Light Gets In festival – the Hay Literature festival’s Fringe music and philosophy off-shoot.
The stand used a modified UK National Lottery stand and sinage, replacing the numbers with beliefs. Participants were encouranged to chose 5 beliefs from the list of 49. They marked these on a betting slip and then handed them to the operator for validation. At which point the slip was ‘processed’ through a hand-held shredder. The remains were then put in a clear zip-lock bag and handed back and the participant was told:
Your beliefs….shredded. Please remember to hold your beliefs lightly. Thank you for playing.
The Metaphysical Lottery was later incorporated into the Cornershop – The Shop of the Apocalypse project.