ROANOKE TIMES
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 14, 1992                   TAG: 9202140313
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium


PEOPLE

A spiritual healer said Thursday she has treated the Duchess of York for back and neck pain under a blue plastic pyramid in her London basement apartment.

The Greek-born mystic, who calls herself Vasso, said the 32-year-old daughter-in-law of Queen Elizabeth II sat on a stool under the pyramid to soak up energy around her in order to relax.

Vasso, 54, showed reporters the pyramid after The Daily Mirror published a photograph of the duchess, the former Sarah Ferguson, embracing her. "I think she is a very special person," Vasso said. "The healing was for her back and neck. . . . She said she was happy."

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said: "The lady in question is a friend of the Duchess of York, but other than that we have no comment."

The flowery invitation from France's Culture Ministry wasn't of a sort Rocky or Rambo would expect.

But sure enough, Culture Minster Jack Lang was soliciting guests to be so kind as to attend a ceremony next Friday in Paris to award the medal of the Order of Arts and Letters to Sylvester Stallone.

On Tuesday, Lang will present a medal to rock 'n' roller Lou Reed. Other recipients of the Arts and Letters medal include Jack Nicholson and Robert DeNiro.

Yearning for a valentine from Harry Belafonte, Bill Cosby, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor or Margaret Thatcher? From Erica Jong or Queen Latifah?

They may not come in the mail, but valentines made or donated by these and other celebrities were to be sold at auction Thursday night at a Manhattan party to benefit Impact, an organization that provides recreational and educational programs for homeless children.



by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB