The Crystal Workshop: A Journey into the Healing Power of Crystals - Azalea Lee 2020

Preface

A CRYSTAL HEALER’S JOURNEY

I HAVE ALWAYS KNOWN I had come into the world for a purpose, but for what, I did not know. As a small child, I prayed to the Universe to tell me what I was supposed to do, for I could not shake the feeling that I was here to do something. Because of this persistent feeling, finding my calling became my utmost concern. My dreams did not include getting married or starting a family but were about solving the riddle of this yearning I had inside of me. Nothing was more important to me than discovering my purpose and giving my life to it.

I knew that my teenage years were supposed to be a time of discovery in all ways, but I still worried that I had no idea in what direction I was supposed to go. I became even more concerned when I was about to begin college, for I did not feel I was getting any guidance or opinion from the Universe. There were plenty of subjects that interested me, each leading to its own trajectory of a career, but as desperate as I was to begin on a path toward something, within me was an insistent pull that kept me from fully committing to anything but my purpose.

Life delayed my finishing college but, still seemingly without any sign of what I was supposed to be doing with my life, when I returned to school, I decided to major in film. Since film was a medium of stories, and stories had great power to heal, I surmised, perhaps, this might be my purpose. After graduating it seemed providential that I began immediately working with people whom I had long admired, so I thought I had been given the sign that I was on the right path to discover my life’s purpose—and maybe that purpose was to share stories that healed.

But it felt as if the Universe was conspiring against me. My personal life kept thwarting any energy I put toward making my own stories to share, and the years were starting to roll by. Now in my thirties, I found myself working in costume design. I had unexpectedly met and married the love of my life. I fulfilled a dream of a home full of happy critters. It was wonderful, but that feeling I was born with still wouldn’t leave me . . . just what was I supposed to be doing?

Working in costume design didn’t feel like my purpose, and after so many years, making films didn’t quite feel like it either. As much as I implored and begged the Universe to tell me, as much as I was still chomping at the bit to devote my life to my purpose, as much as I was willing to do whatever was asked of me, the Universe continued to remain mum.

Though I had been a lifelong student of metaphysics and spirituality, I had never been interested in crystals. Having passed through a childhood stint of devotion to Christianity, I eventually rejected the unquestioning “for-the-Bible-tells-me-so” dogma of the religion. The crystal books I had read had this same matter-of-fact tone, with firm declarations of the crystals’ metaphysical properties. I wondered: How did these people get their information about the crystals? How did I know they weren’t just making this information up? How would I be able to tell if all the people writing about the crystals were sincere about their work and truly devoted to helping humankind? What if they just thought they knew a lot about crystals? Or even worse—were outright charlatans?

So I avoided crystals.

There eventually came a time when I wanted to pick out a special piece of jewelry for myself, and I aimed to find something that was energetically supportive. But I found myself disappointed with what was available. Much of the metaphysical jewelry I saw was poorly made and though I believed there was merit to the healing powers of crystals, I was dubious of the claims that came with the jewelry. The metaphysical properties in the descriptions of the crystals seemed to be copied from somewhere else, making the jewelry feel as if it had been created in blind faith, rather than with true understanding of the healing energy it possessed. Though I wasn’t clear exactly what I was responding to, I knew that I could at least pick out stones that agreed energetically with me. So I decided to make some jewelry for myself.

I found a few stones and made myself some pieces I was happy with. But the response I got from others, how the pieces seemed to inspire and touch them, made me realize how much I would love to make healing jewelry for them too. Though I trusted my intuition to pick out stones for myself, I wasn’t sure I would be able to choose the right stones for someone else. I knew I wasn’t going to be comfortable making jewelry based on metaphysical descriptions I found in crystal books, so in order to feel confident standing behind my work, I needed a personal understanding of what the stones could do. I figured the best way to do this was to establish a direct relationship with the crystals and see if I could develop even an iota of intuitive understanding of the crystals myself. So I took a class in crystal healing.

It was during this course that I was assigned to facilitate a crystal healing. My teacher’s friend lay on a mat as I intuitively placed crystals on her body while my teacher sat nearby to guide me in case I got stuck. But right after the session, my teacher looked at her friend, gestured to me, and said, “Can you believe this is her first time?” Facilitating the session had been quite engrossing and I was still processing the experience for myself, so I didn’t exactly realize I was being complimented when I brushed the comment off, saying that it had all just made sense to me. But driving home from the class, it dawned on me: I understood the crystals!

I went home in a daze. All my life I had struggled, begged, and pleaded to understand what my purpose was, and suddenly, by what felt like happenstance, I was tuned in and connected to the crystals. Instead of directly telling me what my purpose was, the Universe had sent me on what had felt like a wild goose chase. All my life I had had interests in so many subjects, and I had always felt encouraged by the Universe to explore them. Sometimes I would pick up a hobby for a short while before circumstances in life forced me to change direction. Though I was intrigued with everything I learned, I found it confusing that none of the things the Universe had led me to try had any relationship to one another. I had followed each sign hoping it would lead me to my purpose, but more often than not, each situation I found myself in would feel more perilous. It felt as if the Universe was sending me deeper into the wilderness and at every fork encouraging me to take the scarier and more treacherous route. And following each nudge meant choosing the path of less stability, the path that presented an even greater chance of dire consequence if things did not turn out well.

But after many decades of what seemed like aimless wandering, traversing through what felt like bramble and bush, leading to what seemed like the edge of the world, it felt like the Universe had suddenly dropped my purpose squarely into my arms. Driving home from my crystal class, I completely understood why my life had been filled with these odd, random assignments, why I had so many disparate interests, and why I had such a seemingly disjointed career. Because on that drive I realized that everything I had ever experienced, everything I had ever learned, had turned out to be the exact training I needed in order to become a crystal healer. The Universe had had a plan all along.

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I share with you this story because I have a hunch that it’s your story too. You too have been searching for something, something that has always been inside of you, pulling at you, urging you to keep looking. And despite all the obstacles, the seemingly wrong turns and dead ends, you are still trying to find the answer to what you are seeking. In your life’s journey, you’ve tried so many things in an effort to understand what you have been yearning for. You’ve read books, taken courses, and explored many different paths hoping it would lead you to your answer. Each time you pursued a new perspective, you learned more about who you were. And though you were able to discover new things about yourself, you still felt as if there was something more you needed to know.

You too have been on a meandering path filled with uncertainty. You too have been wandering in your search, feeling aimless at times, journeying through precarious situations, wondering if you have made the right decisions. And I want you to know, you have—because you have always been searching for your truth.

Now at this part of your journey, you have reached a place where you desire to learn more about the crystals. You have felt them pull at you, intriguing you with powers that you know are there. Somewhere inside of you is a hope that the crystals may lead you to the answers you seek—and they will, though it may be only part of the journey you are to take. But what a fun journey it will be, and what a blessing to discover that your crystals are your companions, cheering you on, supporting you, and helping you as you meet your destiny.

What I learned in that crystal course, and what I am teaching you in this book, is that connecting to crystals is all about learning to tune in to their frequencies. As you develop your intuitive skills, these frequencies will become louder and bolder as your ability to hear and feel them becomes more acute. This process will then help you develop an understanding of how to use the crystals’ supportive frequencies to heal yourself as they accompany you on your ongoing journey to your truth. Many of you will discover that you actually have a deep connection to the crystals and, as in my story, will find that you know more about them than you have ever realized. But even if you find that working with crystalline energy isn’t your strongest intuitive talent, upon finishing this book you will end up knowing far more about the crystals than you ever have before. Not only will your intuitive abilities be strengthened on the whole, but your perspective on crystals will be forever changed so that you will never be able to look at them in the same way again. You will be connected enough with their energies that you will be able to work with them in an intensely supportive way and know how to get their help when you need it.

So, let us begin our journey together with the crystals.

“The great arises out of small things that are honored and cared for.”

—Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth

Opal in matrix