I grew up, like most children, with a natural affinity for the mineral world, marveling at its seemingly endless variety of colors and textures. I recall being six or seven years of age living in Tucson, AZ when my dad took my brother and I to the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show. That was an experience---but not the one I want to share right now.
Around the time I first started working at East West I had a life-changing experience with crystals. On one fateful day I was assisting a customer with the crystals, opening up the display case for him. My enthusiasm for the stones was apparent and he began to converse with me about them. I came to learn that he was a lifelong collector of giant crystals and that he was the owner of perhaps the largest privately held collection of giant crystals in North America. Naturally, I was astonished when he invited me to view the collection.
Venturing to the secret location that even I no longer recall, I entered the building where these magnificent crystalline beings were housed. I say beings now because of the experience I had there. Walking into the space, my eyes were met with inconceivable wonders.
There was a calcite and pyrite cube cluster as large as an old Macintosh computer.
There was a 8-10 foot tall selenite crystal tower that was “enhydro,” meaning that water was infused in it, bubbles of air floating spontaneously up and down its transparent form.
There was a fossilized cross-section of a lakebed, perhaps 12-15 feet square with a plush sofa positioned in front of it, to view the otherworldly scene of a fish and a prehistoric palm frond leaf, forever suspended in the stone immemorial.
There was an illuminated quartz crystal point, over 1 billion years old, that was quite literally the size of a Volkswagen beetle.
There was a gathering of sandstone concretions strangely reminiscent of the Michelin man, which I understood were unearthed from the forests of Fontainebleau, where an ancient sea used to rest 5 million years ago.
But most spectacular of all, for me, was an 8-foot long gaping geode of the deepest purple Amethyst, shaped much like an open coffin. As I sat in front of it, gazing, I had the distinct feeling of the Amethyst gazing back at me! There was certainly a flow or stream of consciousness or energy pouring into the space in front of it, from it.
After basking in the vibrations of these amazing crystals, I thanked my gracious host and returned to my car. I had to pause and take it all in before driving home! My mind wandered back to our own small collection of crystals at East West. I laughed inwardly at the contrast between these massive specimens and our bowls of tumbled stones.
Not surprisingly, when I returned to work the next day, I had a much deeper appreciation for the crystals and a newfound sensitivity to their healing vibrations. The same vibrations that I experienced in their larger forms were present in their smaller, portable forms. I had no more doubts of the healing power of crystals, no more laughing it off as “wu wu!”
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