Crystal Clear!

Up until a few months ago I’d never even considered having crystal healing, but as my friend Richard was training to be a crystal healer and needed guinea pigs to experiment on I thought I’d help out.

Right from my first session I knew this wasn’t some airy-fairy therapy. As soon as Richard started laying crystals around me I was racked with the shakes as energy started to shift through my body. I flipped between being hot one minute and cold the next, and as stagnant energy was released from my system, I sighed, yawned and burped! And then, as if that wasn’t enough to convince me that something real was happening, for the next two days following the treatment I was totally exhausted and felt as if I’d been run over by a truck! These were exactly the same symptoms I was used to experiencing after having a full-blown chiropractic session, and definitely not something I expected to have happen from a few crystals being placed on my body!

Now the cynical of you out there will probably be thinking “what a load of crock!” and that it’s all in my head – that I want to believe something is happening, and so it is a kind of placebo effect - but I’m not the only one who feels the effects. If anyone were qualified to say it’s just a ‘mind thing’, it would have to be my anally retentive psychoanalytical therapist husband, but now having tried crystal healing for himself he’s equally convinced, as I am, that crystal healing shifts something and works. In fact, my husband normally needs up to three days recovering in bed after his sessions!

It’s after we’ve passed the period of healing crisis though that we experience the most exciting part of crystal healing – we both have a very sudden and marked increase of energy and also a greater sense of well-being. There are physical changes, too. After just two sessions my husband’s knees, which he damaged through years in the building game, are starting to feel stronger and I’ve found that I no longer suffer with chronic back pain. Even a long-term injury I gained while working on the farm has all but disappeared. The best change of all is our mental outlook; my husband is calmer, I’m more creative and we have both have regained a zest for life.

My last crystal session was particularly exciting though. As soon as Richard put the first stone down, even he knew something had occurred. “Are you meditating again, Theresa?” he asked as he placed a crystal by my Crown chakra. “Yes”, I replied. “I thought so”, he said, “Your energy has changed”. (In the previous session, Richard had cleared a blockage in my brow chakra as I was having trouble meditating.) As he got to my heart chakra he muttered, “This is interesting…”

By the time he reached my feet, he exclaimed, “Well, Theresa, I don’t know what else you’ve been up to, but it’s working. All your centres (chakras) are open and balanced and your energy field is the correct egg shape.” (The first time in 10 years!) “I can’t find any blockages at all. You truly are Crystal Clear!”

Richard then went on to put high vibration crystals on and around my body sending me off onto another phase of my spiritual development. And as I felt myself drifting out of my body up into the higher planes, Richard made some joke about me being so vibrationally clear, that I’d soon become invisible…

… don’t worry, I’ll float back here soon! Txx

Richard trained with The Rose School. If you’d like to know about the courses they offer, please visit: http://www.crystaltherapycourses.com/

Are you a practitioner, or do you have any healing? If so, share your experiences below. I'd love to hear from you!

My First Date with an Artist nearly fell at the first hurdle last Friday, but my husband saved the day.

I had my first date all planned. The artist and I were supposed to be visiting the local Buddhist centre to spend a serene hour meditating followed by another pleasurable hour sitting in the retreat's beautiful garden sipping at a free cup of coffee and getting to know each other. When my husband checked the times for me though, we found out that the Buddhist centre was going to be closed that day for a private function. I was really disappointed and had resigned myself to staying in when my husband suggested I take the artist somewhere else.

So leaving my husband at home with the kids, the artist and I set off for the local town in search of spending quality time together. It felt a little weird and self-indulgent at first, but eventually we had a wonderful time. We did a bit of retail therapy, we did some people watching in the library, explored why the artist had become a recluse in the past and ended the afternoon by touring a fabulous collection of paintings by local artists, which my artist positively drooled over.

By now, you may be wondering why my husband would let me go off on a date with someone else? Perhaps I ought to explain who the artist is and how we met...

Recently, I came across a book called, The Artists Way. Well, actually ‘came across’ it is not strictly true - it feels as if the universe practically forced it upon me! So, let me start again... I first came across the book mentioned in one of my emails. I subscribe to Julia McCutchen's e-newsletter and that week she was featuring a teleseminar about both the book and the author, Julia Cameron. While the book sounded interesting at the time, my thoughts were, 'I’m not an artist' and so I ignored it. Then I came across a reference to the book when I was looking through some trance research notes I’d printed off from Wiki and I remember thinking, ‘I wonder what’s so special about this book, maybe I should take a look at it’, but I didn’t. Then a couple of weeks ago I was flicking through a book about trance when I saw The Artist’s Way mentioned again. ‘There's that damn title again. Why is everyone quoting it and what has it got to do with trance?’ I questioned.

Well, three times a charm they say and so I took the hint and decided to look it up on Amazon, but even then I still thought, ‘It’s really for artists (which I’m not), so why should I get it?’ Anyway, I duly put it on my wish list, as you do, thinking I’ll get it when I have some spare cash or if need to make up an order to qualify for Amazon’s free-delivery. The universe though obviously had other plans and two weekends ago literally dumped the book in my path.

That fateful weekend a local home-education group that we used to belong to was holding a craft fair and we decided to take an impromptu trip to it to support them. While I was standing chatting, catching up with old friends, a small second-hand bookstall caught my eye - and there it was, The Artist’s Way, sitting on top of a pile of tatty old books, just waiting to be found. (Even now, after all this time I still find I get a tingle when I experience moments of sychronicity like that.)

It cost 50p. So I picked it up and paid for it there and then, and started to read it as soon as we got in the car. I’ll no doubt share more about what’s inside over the next few weeks, but I just wanted to let you know about the artist… One of the tasks listed in the book is to find two totally self-indulgent hours in a week to go on a date with your own inner creative artist. By artist, Julia Cameron doesn’t just mean people who paint, but everyone. We are all creative, and all have an inner artist, but many of us have buried that aspect of ourselves and the goal is to bring that side of us back out into the open.

At first my thought was, ‘Yeah right! Where am I going to find two hours spare?’ But once I committed to the programme, I found it. After much creeping to my husband, he agreed to let me go off on my dates alone with my inner artist while he looks after the kids. I’m not sure what will happen each week, or where the tasks laid out in the book will ultimately take us - me and my artist - but after last Friday's experience, I’m already looking forward to my second date this Friday. All being well, the Buddhist centre will be open and we’ll get our meditation followed by a free cup of coffee sitting in the sunshine and I’ll hopefully get to know my artist a little bit more. I’ll keep you posted as to how we get on…

Inspiration – where do you find your muse?

I went for a walk yesterday afternoon, chatting to myself as usual, pondering what I could write about for my first blog post. For the first half of my trek I battled with my logical mind trying to find an idea that would be ‘interesting and worthwhile’.

I often walk when I’m stuck for inspiration. And I usually get some at about the same tree along my path. What is it about this tree that starts off the magical process? Is the tree particularly special in that it inspires me? Well, yes I guess it could be. Several trees have been attributed special status in the past for bringing enlightening ideas. Probably the most famous is the Bodhi tree that Buddha was said to have been sitting contemplating under when he was enlightened.

Maybe there are special energies along the track where the tree grows? Equally possible. Again we know from historic records that certain places were considered by our ancestors to have been imbued with a special power. The Pythia in Greece is possibly the best known where, sitting on her three legged stool over a crevice in the ground, the priestess would bring forth inspiration by way of a fume induced trance.

The Native American people know the power of being in nature. They literary go out and sit in the landscape to seek inspiration and guidance when they embark on a Vision Quest. And the Australian aborigines of course have their own walk-about.

But for the cynical of you out there, maybe you could say I had just walked long enough and far enough to empty my chattering monkey mind and in the quiet state that followed I heard my true inner voice. Stories abound of people pushing hard for answer to a problem only to find it comes when they reach a point of exhaustion and decide to walk away. Having stepped away they suddenly find the ideas and answers coming in as if on a ‘stream of consciousness’ and often 'all at once', or 'as a whole'. It's as if they had reached a place in time and space where they became at One and everything flowed. To me that place of inspiration, that point of oneness is always found within us. But sometimes we need an ‘outside’ catalyst to realise that. Something that will help us find that special inner place of oneness where the magic happens. Where we find our muse. Yesterday for me that catalyst was a walk with nature. Where will you find your muse today?