”Out of nowhere, the stripper pulled out a box from under the bed and started to empty it…”

In late 2019, I was asked to write something for a health and wellness magazine.
I sent the following piece below…
I never heard back.
In fact, the lady blocked me.
I guess my truth wasn’t the “right” kind of truth!?

At that point, I was nearly one year into my recovery journey — recovering from substance abuse (addiction) and an eating disorder.
It was an extremely raw and disorienting part of my life, so at the time, I took her silence and unfollowing personally. It really hurt!

“What’s wrong with me? Why would I expose myself like that?
The health and wellness industry wants ‘health and well’, not dysfunction and dark!”

Recently, I was clearing old Notes on my phone, and for whatever reason, this piece resurfaced…

My truth is my truth — just like your truth is yours.

So I’m sharing this now as some sort of source of inspiration.
When someone asks for your story — your truth — please tell your truth.

Your unedited reality is exactly what the world needs. What you need.

That’s what resonates. (Even if it’s rejected, it’s still a win!)

You.
Exactly as you are.
As you were.

Keep it real.
Keep it raw.
Keep it, you.

FYI -

I haven’t edited the following piece of writing.
As much as I wanted to change SO much of this, to make me ‘sound better’, I didn’t change a word.
It’s 100% the version of me that existed at that point in time…

What a daily 'charge-up' looks like. — ***What a daily full body 'charge-up' can look like.***

✴️

✴️ Original Piece (2019)

Hi there ######,

You asked me to tell a little story about how crystals have guided me on my personal healing journey, and this just fell out of me.
It’s my true story — maybe a little too raw and honest — but I don’t know what else to say.
I hope you can make something of it.

I had lost my way.
It felt like I had woken up one day and suddenly wasn’t connected to my spirit anymore.
I was a costume of flesh flopping about — an empty shell.

But I now know there’s no such thing as “suddenly.”
Life doesn’t work like that.
Signs, synchronicity, and universal guidance are around us 24/7 — but you have to be awake to see them, and it takes strength and courage to act.

When you’re living an ego-driven life — obsessed with becoming anyone but yourself, looking outside to “fix” something inside, numbed out by drugs and booze — it’s impossible to be in tune or in the flow of life.

One very dark afternoon, I found myself hanging out with a stripper and her interestingly suspicious boyfriend.
It had been a long night — we were still going, buzzed from the drugs we’d taken the night before.

The sunlight was squeezing between two old towels being used as blinds in this squat-style apartment.

Out of nowhere, the stripper pulled a box out from under the bed and started to empty it.

“I’m having a clear-out, throwing junk away. Do you want these?”

She handed me a bag full of medium-to-large crystals — mostly amethyst, clear quartz, and black obsidian.

“I used to think I was a witch or something, but I’ve grown out of it now. Take them, girl!”

She threw the bag across the bed.
Then she told me I’d need to “clear them” before giving them a new home.

“Clear them?” I asked.
“Yes — you need to smudge them with sage or leave them in the moonlight, bury them in soil overnight, or wash them. It clears any energy they may already be holding and prepares them for your use.”

I opened the bag and fell in love instantly.

I took the crystals home, cleared them as instructed, and cared for them as if they were children she had passed on to me.

I felt deeply connected to them.
I didn’t bother googling “how to use crystals” — I intuitively already knew.

One of the actual crystals I took home that day.

They lived in different places around my room. I’d move them around so they could “tell” me where they most liked to be.

Sometimes I slept with them if I felt called to.

They were large crystals — not the kind you could pop in your pocket — and I wanted to expand my collection.

The minute I had that thought, crystals just kept showing up in my life.

Once, I found a citrine stone in the pocket of a pair of trousers at a second-hand store.
Another time, I missed a bus, wandered into a nearby shop, and they happened to sell crystals.

At people’s houses, I’d always spot crystals — often tucked away, but I could sense where they were.
Even at parties, strangers would mention they used crystals too.

Crystals and crystal healing weren’t as uncommon as I’d thought.

When I lost my first crystal — it must have fallen out of my pocket — I cried.
But soon after, someone told me that when you lose a crystal, it’s because you no longer need it; it’s done its job and is on its way to the next person.

Now I have quite a large collection, and I use them daily.

How?

I hover my hand over my box of crystals each morning and ask, “Which crystal or stone would I most benefit from today?”
Whatever crystal I feel heat, coolness, or energy from — I choose.
Sometimes it’s one, sometimes two or three.
By the afternoon, I usually understand why that particular stone was meant for me that day.

Fluorite — focus and concentration
Snowflake Obsidian — clearing toxins
Red Jasper — courage, balance, grounding
Citrine / Tiger’s Eye / all yellow stones — personal power, confidence, anxiety relief

The list goes on.

Crystals always know.

They know what you need.

Using crystals to clear, cleanse and energetically prepare an art space for one of my clients, the day he started his artistic transition into ‘the next chapter’ of his work.

Crystals and stones are an integral part of my healing journey.
I use them not only to support myself but to support others.
In my energy healing practice, I use them with clients to strengthen the healing process — clearing energy centres and fields, and magnetising life force and positive energy.

I call on the crystals to reveal what a client needs to focus on to move forward in their healing journey — and they always guide me.
They direct my attention to a part of the client’s body, and I investigate that area.
We work together — me, the client, and the crystal energy.

***Working with crystal wisdom for an in -person treatment. (2019)***

We all have our own story, and we’re all connected to something that makes sense to us.
Crystal properties just make so much sense to me.
I trust crystal and stone guidance.

And I trust science, too.
Quantum physics shows us that we’re living in a multidimensional, vibrational world.
Everything is energy when you break it down to its smallest form.
We are surrounded by energy.
We are energy.

We hold energy — and so do crystals and stones.
The same life force that flows through us flows through them.
Crystals hold the power to create change, just like we do.

Science is still catching up with the vibrational world, but one day this will be common knowledge.

Crystals and stones came to me when I had died inside.
They led me back to healing, recovery, self-realisation, and spiritual awakening.

For that, I am forever grateful.

( I got sober the week after stones entered my life. Coincidence? Do people still believe in coincidences?)

✴️ Original Piece (2019)

✴️

Looking back, I see that this story wasn’t rejected — it was protected.
It wasn’t meant for a magazine; it was meant for me.
For my healing, my integration, and now, maybe, for someone else to read it.

Your truth — no matter how messy, dark, or misunderstood — has value.

Keep it real.
Keep it raw.
Keep it you.

In No Particular Order …

”Out of nowhere, the stripper pulled out a box from under the bed and started to empty it…”

“What’s wrong with me? Why would I expose myself like that?The health and wellness industry wants ‘health and well’, not dysfunction and dark!”

Recently, I was clearing old Notes on my phone, and for whatever reason, this piece resurfaced…

FYI -

✴️

✴️

✴️ Original Piece (2019)

Hi there ######,

You asked me to tell a little story about how crystals have guided me on my personal healing journey, and this just fell out of me.It’s my true story — maybe a little too raw and honest — but I don’t know what else to say.I hope you can make something of it.

I had lost my way.It felt like I had woken up one day and suddenly wasn’t connected to my spirit anymore.I was a costume of flesh flopping about — an empty shell.

But I now know there’s no such thing as “suddenly.”Life doesn’t work like that.Signs, synchronicity, and universal guidance are around us 24/7 — but you have to be awake to see them, and it takes strength and courage to act.

When you’re living an ego-driven life — obsessed with becoming anyone but yourself, looking outside to “fix” something inside, numbed out by drugs and booze — it’s impossible to be in tune or in the flow of life.

One very dark afternoon, I found myself hanging out with a stripper and her interestingly suspicious boyfriend.It had been a long night — we were still going, buzzed from the drugs we’d taken the night before.

The sunlight was squeezing between two old towels being used as blinds in this squat-style apartment.

Out of nowhere, the stripper pulled a box out from under the bed and started to empty it.

“I’m having a clear-out, throwing junk away. Do you want these?”

She handed me a bag full of medium-to-large crystals — mostly amethyst, clear quartz, and black obsidian.

“I used to think I was a witch or something, but I’ve grown out of it now. Take them, girl!”

She threw the bag across the bed.Then she told me I’d need to “clear them” before giving them a new home.

“Clear them?” I asked. “Yes — you need to smudge them with sage or leave them in the moonlight, bury them in soil overnight, or wash them. It clears any energy they may already be holding and prepares them for your use.”

I opened the bag and fell in love instantly.

I took the crystals home, cleared them as instructed, and cared for them as if they were children she had passed on to me.

I felt deeply connected to them.I didn’t bother googling “how to use crystals” — I intuitively already knew.

They lived in different places around my room. I’d move them around so they could “tell” me where they most liked to be.

Sometimes I slept with them if I felt called to.

They were large crystals — not the kind you could pop in your pocket — and I wanted to expand my collection.

The minute I had that thought, crystals just kept showing up in my life.

Once, I found a citrine stone in the pocket of a pair of trousers at a second-hand store.Another time, I missed a bus, wandered into a nearby shop, and they happened to sell crystals.

At people’s houses, I’d always spot crystals — often tucked away, but I could sense where they were.Even at parties, strangers would mention they used crystals too.

Crystals and crystal healing weren’t as uncommon as I’d thought.

When I lost my first crystal — it must have fallen out of my pocket — I cried.But soon after, someone told me that when you lose a crystal, it’s because you no longer need it; it’s done its job and is on its way to the next person.

Now I have quite a large collection, and I use them daily.

How?

Fluorite — focus and concentration

Snowflake Obsidian — clearing toxins

Red Jasper — courage, balance, grounding

Citrine / Tiger’s Eye / all yellow stones — personal power, confidence, anxiety relief

The list goes on.

Crystals always know.

They know what you need.

Crystals and stones are an integral part of my healing journey.I use them not only to support myself but to support others.In my energy healing practice, I use them with clients to strengthen the healing process — clearing energy centres and fields, and magnetising life force and positive energy.

I call on the crystals to reveal what a client needs to focus on to move forward in their healing journey — and they always guide me.They direct my attention to a part of the client’s body, and I investigate that area.We work together — me, the client, and the crystal energy.

We all have our own story, and we’re all connected to something that makes sense to us.Crystal properties just make so much sense to me.I trust crystal and stone guidance.

And I trust science, too.Quantum physics shows us that we’re living in a multidimensional, vibrational world.Everything is energy when you break it down to its smallest form.We are surrounded by energy.We are energy.

We hold energy — and so do crystals and stones.The same life force that flows through us flows through them.Crystals hold the power to create change, just like we do.

Science is still catching up with the vibrational world, but one day this will be common knowledge.

Crystals and stones came to me when I had died inside.They led me back to healing, recovery, self-realisation, and spiritual awakening.

For that, I am forever grateful.

✴️ Original Piece (2019)

✴️

✴️