How Two Friends Turn Stones, Energy, And Curiosity Into A Life Of Service

What if peace — not profit — became your definition of success? That’s where we land as Deborah and Sandra share how a lifetime of friendship turned into two distinct, purpose-led paths: handmade crystal jewelry with a signature style, and a healing practice that makes meditation and Reiki feel simple and doable for anyone.

Deborah walks us through the craft behind The Lost Faery: moving from radio and newsrooms to wire wrapping, learning lapidary, and discovering why materials and engineering matter. She talks candidly about early missteps, the value of good wire, sturdy bales, and stress-testing every piece, and the leap from craft fairs to commissions to a gallery invitation. We explore the power of provenance as Sandra brings back “virgin” Arkansas quartz — stones only two sets of hands have touched — connecting wearers directly to the earth and the maker’s eye.

Sandra opens the door to Sacred Spiral Healing with a clear message: meditation doesn’t have to be complicated and Reiki can be taught, practiced, and felt by people of many backgrounds. She describes the joy of attunements, how teaching dissolves competition, and why helping one person deeply can be a greater win than chasing a crowd. Together, we navigate belief and practice — how metaphysical experiences can sit alongside Catholic faith, how folklore can inspire real-world herbal balms, and why curiosity beats fear of the unknown.

We also celebrate place. From petrified wood and jasper to dinosaur bone, the Four Corners hold minerals that polish into striking cabochons and meaningful keepsakes. Rockhounding becomes education, local pride, and a way to keep value in the community. If you’re drawn to crystal jewelry with intention, curious about Reiki or sound therapy, or simply looking for a steadier way to move through your week, this conversation offers practical insights, honest stories, and a warm invitation to slow down and create.

Enjoyed the conversation? Follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review to help others find it. Tell us: what practice helps you feel grounded right now?

Be sure to follow or subscribe!  And, if you're a local business owner who'd like to be featured - or know someone whose story should be told - get in touch at Ken@StrategicHorizonsConsulting.com

This show is brought to you by Strategic Horizons Consulting (a division of Ken Collins Marketing).

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 1:05

I am here with Deborah Mayu from The Lost Fairy and Sandra McCready. Do I say that right? With Sacred Spiral Healing. So tell us a little about yourselves.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

Well, um, a lot of people might recognize my name and know me from being on the radio for a long time in Barmington and then also writing news stories for um both the Daily Times and now the Tri-City Record. But um I also have a creative side that doesn't have to do with news or um, you know, just reporting. Um, and that is uh I like a lot of art. I I always try these new endeavors. One time I started painting and I painted a bunch of of paintings and and uh then stopped that. But recently, about a year ago, it was about a year and three months ago, my friend Sandra gave me a box of crystals and said, here, learn how

Meet Deborah And Sandra

SPEAKER_00 2:10

to make these into jewelry. And so, and I uh I said, Yeah, you know, that might be kind of fun. And so I did some research, talked to some other folks who who do wire wrapping and and silversmithing, and learned what type of wire I needed to buy and what type of materials I needed, and just you know, ordered some materials and just started wrapping these crystals and making them into necklaces. And it it worked out really good. Um, and then I started to hone it a little more. I went and took some classes, learned new techniques, started watching some videos on YouTube and learn new techniques. And most recently I've started not copying what other people do, but taking what I learned and putting it all into new designs that I'm creating. And so I don't follow the rules of let's say per se wire wrapping. I do it my own way, yeah. And I add different design elements to it. I'm trying what I'm trying to do is create jewelry that someone is gonna look at and say, Oh, Deborah May you did that. Right. And so that it has somewhat of my own flavor to it, you might say. Yeah, and so most of my pieces have spirals or circles, and a lot of them have different types of beadwork in them as well. And

From Newsroom To Wire Wrapping

SPEAKER_00 3:47

I also, in on top of this, have learned how to do a lot of um background information into the stones. Um, I started learning lapidary, so I will take a raw stone and actually take it and work it on a machine and shape it and polish it, right? And then um set it in a design. And I actually, this is so much fun because at the um I went to the county fair in August with a piece of rhodocrocyte from Silverton that I polished and shaped and then wrapped in copper, and I got best of show in first place in jewelry design and um and lapidary at the county fair. So but it's all because of Sandra here, yeah who who has Sacred Spiral, and you know, through her I kind of found my way because I started doing these meditations during COVID with Sandra, and um I started getting messages and different information coming in that guided me down this path. I I went to a rock shop and bought a few rocks and then realized that that I needed to work with them, and I really like having um different types of minerals and rocks, and and

Learning The Craft And Finding A Style

SPEAKER_00 5:17

some people may say it's crazy, but I feel an energy coming from them, and I really enjoy just being around them. My house is cluttered with them.

SPEAKER_04 5:29

Yeah. So, Sandra, tell us uh about yourself.

SPEAKER_05 5:32

Well, I'm Sandra McCready Clark, and I've been collecting stones since I was three. Well, probably before then. But my first official rock show I went to, I was three years old, purchased my first stone, it was 75 cents. I still have it. And so I've been collecting rocks my whole life. And Debbie and I go way back to childhood. Yep, elementary school. Elementary school, we went to the same church and the whole shebang. So we've known each other a long time. And I actually go to Arkansas and dig my own stones at the various mines, and so I had all these stones, and I was like, Debbie, do you think you can make something into this? Because I really want to keep it and be able to wear it. And she was like, sure, I can try, and that's how we kind of got her all started. And I was like, You're amazing at this, you have to continue. And so I've been on a couple more digs, and so I just bring boxes of rocks back for her, and she makes beautiful, beautiful creations, and then we go to various uh shows, and it's kind of cool because these stones I've pulled from the earth, so either pretty much they're called virgin stones, quote unquote. I've touched them and Debbie's touched them, right? And so that makes them kind of special that they haven't gone through all the you know channels to get there, right? So that's that's kind of unique about her jewelry as well, especially the the clear quartz crystals that I bring back.

SPEAKER_02 6:53

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 6:54

And so I do own my own business. I have, I guess you would call it what? I would call it a healing center. A healing, a small healing center. Small healing center. Yeah, I do a lot of different modalities. My number one thing that I love more than anything in the world is teaching Reiki. I've been teaching for over seven years. I've been a Reiki master for over 25 years, and uh that's my main thing, but I also do sound

Mining, “Virgin” Stones, And Collaboration

SPEAKER_05 7:20

therapy with the tuning forks, sound bowls, uh guided meditations, special classes, yeah, working with the stones, yeah, and yeah, incorporate it all.

SPEAKER_04 7:34

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 7:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:36

Did you know what I'll ask you that after we're done with this interview? I have a question about um somebody you may have worked with in the past. So um for both of you, uh just quickly, what when did this business stop being an idea and start becoming real for you?

SPEAKER_00 7:55

Well, for me, um last year I I didn't really do much of anything in Farmington except for wrap my crystals. And then I um, you know, as I learned and started um going to shows in Durango, like arts and crafts shows. And Sandy went with me to a couple of them. And uh I would, you know, I was selling some, you know, and a lot of people, and and I've had to learn, like I've really had to learn how to do things because a lot of people would walk by and they would say, Oh, those are beautiful, but they look expensive. And I'd say, Really, they're not expensive because I try to keep my prices affordable because I want people to have something beautiful that they can love and and not have to pay an arm and a leg for it. I did get some advice from someone else who makes jewelry, and they said, Well, you take you take the cost of your materials, the um, the cost of

Sacred Spiral Healing And Reiki Teaching

SPEAKER_00 8:59

your time, and then you triple it. And I thought, that seems like a lot, you know, and it really does. And so it's not something that I did to make money and I'm still not trying to make money. It's because I love the stones and I love doing it. Um, so really it became a business um in in July when I decided to go to the um to the to the gym and mineral show at the county fairgrounds. Um, and I I got the booth there. Um, Sandra had some crystals there that were for sale. Um, I had my my jewelry out, and it really just kind of took off from there. I got my license with the city, I started getting people um commissioning pieces. So I've had quite a few people come to me and they've seen my work and they'll say, Hey, can you make me something with this stone out of sterling silver, you know, sterling silver wire with this stone, and and I'll, you know, and so I've started um doing that aspect of it. And it's it's still not really money making. Um what I what usually happens is I I make enough money to buy more materials.

SPEAKER_02 10:17

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

And but it's just it's so therapeutic to work with the stones and the the wires, the metals come from the earth, the stones come from the earth, and to be able to turn them into something beautiful that someone can wear and love, that's that's the reward in it.

SPEAKER_04 10:36

And that's a decision you've made. I mean, it's not it, it is not, does not need to be your primary source of income. You have that already. So this is a passion, and you're just um making the conscious choice to I just want to continue doing this thing. So I'm not in it to make this my retirement plan or you know, whatever it is. Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

And I I think I've definitely spent um spent a lot more money than I've actually made to actually put back into it. But the thing is, is that I just enjoy it. Um and and I enjoy also being able to share information about the crystals and the minerals with people. Um, it was funny. I was at a uh at the arts and crafts show at Piedra Vista, the one right before Christmas, and I had everything out, and I had some people stop by and this one lady, there was this necklace that I made, and I wanted to keep it for myself. It was one of Sandy's um crystals from Arkansas, and I loved this stone so much, and I I really this is such a strange story, but I wanted to keep it for myself. And there was another piece that I was planning on taking, and I kept trying to put this other piece, and I would take it and I would put it in the little cases that I carry, the jewelry in, and the next thing I know, it was either on the floor or back on the table. And I'm not kidding, this really happened. And I and I took it and I put it back in the case, and and there it was, it's either on the floor or back on the table. And so I just kind of looked at it and I was like, I guess something is telling me that I'm supposed to keep this one. And so I took the other one to the show that I that I had wanted to keep. And this woman came up to me and she said, I have a friend who is very into gins and minerals, and I want something for her that's unique, not just a regular stone that you know that she could go to a crystal shop and buy. I want something unique and I want it to mean something, and she likes stories. And so I basically showed her that piece, and I said, Well, I said, this stone is a virgin crystal. I'm the second person who's touched it. My friend goes to Arkansas and mines these at the Mount Ida, um, at Mount Ida. And um, and I said, and it's a very special piece. I was actually going to keep it for myself, but something told me to bring it today. And this woman said, That is the perfect gift for my friend. She's going to love that. And it was one of the only things that I sold.

Turning A Hobby Into A Business

SPEAKER_00 13:20

But I said, you know, I said, wow, that's amazing, you know. And so it's it's just, I just had to share that story because it was just so much fun. But that it's kind of like I'm getting messages from them, you know.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

And you know, it's all because of Sandy. Now you've had your business for how long? Since 2018. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 13:42

Yeah. So when did it start being less of an idea and more real to you?

SPEAKER_05 13:48

Probably three years previous to that, because I was in the restaurant business and and raising kids for gosh, my youngest just turned to 18 yesterday. So uh yeah, I've been a mom for a long time. And um, yeah, I just decided, you know, I've always kind of wanted, I had the idea of big healing center. You know, we always think big first. And it's just kind of been like, well, you know what, that might still happen, hopefully in Farmington, where we have a hub where all of us healers can come and work together. That's I mean, those are big goals for everybody in town. Everybody's like, oh, I'm gonna start a healing center, I'm gonna start a healing center. Well, I started a long time ago, and I just kind of sit back and say, mm-hmm. And so I'm just kind of waiting for the day where everybody actually realizes we need to collaborate on that kind of thing. Because it isn't just a one-man show.

SPEAKER_02 14:37

Sure.

SPEAKER_05 14:37

So, because there's so many different modalities and so many different energies out there that we need everybody, you know, it's not uh I, I, I or me, me, me, it's us. So those are my main goals is someday that we'll someday have a big gathering here, big building in Farmington where we can all work. But my little shop started in 2018. Um gosh, I've kind of had the idea for almost uh 15 years plus that I've wanted to do this, and then you just one day just kind of jump off the cliff and say, Okay, here we go. Yeah, you have to take that leap of faith, and so you know, somehow I still have my house and able to maintain everything, you know, it's just kind of a leap of faith because not everybody's on the same page right now, currently, but I do hope that everybody gets there someday because you know it's just so much better to do things naturally and connect with our divine whatever that looks like to you, yes, to get those energies because we have everything we need, we don't really need pharma, I don't believe. Right, I believe everything we need we have from Mother Nature and of course our source. So those are my goals and reason why I did it. And like I said, just jumped off a cliff and was like, okay, here I come, Lord, let's do it. Yeah, and so, like I said, my passion, my main thing I love to do is Reiki Master Teacher. So I've been teaching for, like I said, over seven years, and nothing thrills me more than doing an attunement on a level one, and that's when they're like, oh my god, my hands are hot, oh my gosh, I can do this. Everybody can do this, but a lot of times people don't believe that they can. And so just seeing their face light up, the difference in the color of their, you know, the clarity of their eyes when they leave, the aura clearing. I mean, you can just see it. Yeah, and they just feel so much better, and even just clients too, when they're like, oh my gosh, that was amazing, yeah, you know, and it's like everybody can do it. It's not, you know, I'm just middleman. Yeah, it's not me. Yeah, it's your source that's doing it for you. So, what do you want to call it God or mother, whatever? Doesn't matter to me because it's all the same thing.

SPEAKER_04 16:53

So, what's something that your business gave you that you didn't expect?

SPEAKER_05 16:59

Gave me.

SPEAKER_04 16:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 17:04

Peace?

SPEAKER_04 17:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 17:05

I would say, yeah. Because you know, in the beginning you think, okay, you know, you look at it as a business, and now I don't look at it as a business, I look at it as a service. And I really don't care how much money I make. Really and truly the money part, like Debbie said, I keep my prices low. You can get level one to a master with me for under a thousand dollars, I believe. I haven't done the math in a while. Me and math don't mix. So, you know, and where else can you go and get a full degree for under a thousand dollars? Yeah, and so for me it's just satisfaction of sharing. Like I said, seeing people's faces light up, seeing their lives improve. That is the main thing for me. I've had people come in that are addicted to drugs, and I'm like, come on in, let's meditate, see what goes on. I'm not afraid. Yeah, you know, it used to be, you know, it's kind of scary sometimes the people that'll come in, and it's like, whoa, I measure their energy. I'm like, wow, okay, let's try this, see how it goes. And some don't ever come back, and

Guidance, Meditations, And The Lost Fairy

SPEAKER_05 18:08

then some come back and say, you know what, spending two hours with you, because I usually end up talking to somebody for an hour after meditation, make sure they're gonna be okay. And they come back and they say, change my life.

SPEAKER_02 18:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 18:19

And it's like that is the most satisfying thing to know that I made a difference in the world, and that somebody's life is best because of what I've learned, you know, and a lot of it is trial and error. I mean, you know, I think back to what I learned in my class, and I'm like, wow, I've really elaborated on that. But I'm an Aquarius, I'm always looking for truth, I'm always looking for knowledge, I'm constantly reading and learning new things. So it's like even when you become a master, you never stop learning. Every day I have to learn something new.

SPEAKER_04 18:51

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 18:52

So that's that's gonna benefit too.

SPEAKER_04 18:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 18:55

Like my students pushed me to be even better.

SPEAKER_04 18:58

So yeah. What about you, Deborah? What's something that's given you that you didn't expect?

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Well, so I think information. Okay. Um, yeah. So what happened really and why my business is called the Lost Fairy? Because people might say, well, why is you know, what does that have to do with jewelry? Or, you know, what is this? So um, in doing meditations with Sandy, I had um these messages come to me, and I I never really I mean, I've always believed that there's more than what we see out there, and that, you know, um metaphysical stuff is real. I I also have always long time believed that like things like werewolves and and um you know vampires and all of those things exist in one form or another, and whether they Bigfoot, you know, whether they come from another dimension or whether they're here in this dimension, you know, I I I don't know. But I I did these meditations and I had these messages coming to me that that I had fairy in me, that I had this this fairy line in my bloodline, and I was like, okay, well, you know, what is this? What and I had, I mean, I've everybody thinks a fairy is is you know a little a little being that flies around the flowers and things like that. So I I really started looking into this more and found out that that there are, you know, that there are a lot of people, and if you go, you can go all the way back to like the 1200s, you know, and even earlier than that, and find writings of people who had interactions with the fairy realm, and the and there's actually people who've studied at Oxford and have doctorate degrees who believe in the fairy realm and believe that fairies actually exist. And so it's kind of hard to say that, you know, for for someone who does the news and and hope that people still will take me seriously.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

And not think I'm a whack job.

SPEAKER_00 21:07

But um so I started investigating this more and more and more and have come to actually believe that there is something to this, and there are there are possibly um other entities that come from of the Fei realm, and they do come and interact with humans, and it's been very serendipitous because I would be, you know, searching for uh an answer to a question, and you know, I would have a feed pop up on Facebook that had to do with that very thing, you know, and there's there's a group that I'm a part of on Facebook that that is the Faye Wild Fairies Are Real. And this is a woman who lives in Ireland, and if you saw her, you would say, Oh yeah, she is definitely a fairy. I mean, she looks like it. And, you know, learning the different types of of Fey. Um, I mean, there's leprechauns, there's all kinds of things, and and you know, there has to be a truth in all of our myths and lore. Um, it

Reconciling Faith, Healing, And Belief

SPEAKER_00 22:10

came from somewhere, yeah, you know, and so that's the information that I received. But it went even deeper than that. Uh one time I was laying in bed at night and I was having body aches and I wasn't feeling very good. And I heard this voice say to me, um, you need to drink rose hip tea with um with nettles, and and you know, and I'm sitting here and I've never even heard of rose hip and nettles. I've never even heard of these herbs. And I and I get up the next, I you know, I get my phone out and I type it in my apple notes, and then the next morning I get up and I Google it, and you know, here are these things. Nettle helps with arthritis, it helps with these problems, and I never even knew what a nettle was. I didn't know. And so I'd start getting these messages of these things that I needed to do, and I would research it and I would, it was right. Like it was the information that I was asking for would come to me, and then when I would research it, I would find out that that was exactly the answer that I needed to hear. And then I ended up starting to make bombs. Um, and so I make these fairy balms, I call them, and there's um a fairy protection um bomb, and it's made with beeswax and coconut oil, and then the different types of herbs, and then there's a fairy sight bomb that I make, and there's a um fairy relief balm, and the fairy relief balm has the nettles in it for um arthritis, and it has um eucalyptus to you know to bring in that cooling, and then it has mugwort, which is a natural antibiotic. And so, here to find out, you know, all these things, I started researching, and then when I needed a name for my business, I said, well, what name fits, you know, what what name fits for this? And the name just popped in my head, the lost fairy, and I was like, maybe that's what I am. Uh you know, I'm a I'm a lost fairy living in the human world, so it's kind of tongue-in-cheek, but it's but definitely information, you know, knowledge and information has come to me from starting this journey, um, really, that started back during COVID and then has manifested itself into you know a brand new type of business making jewelry and being able to use my creative side to do something really fulfilling.

SPEAKER_04 24:53

So you've gone through kind of a personal transformation. How is yours, Sandra? How has yours changed you as a person?

SPEAKER_05 25:00

Well, I became Reiki level one like well over 20 years ago.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:05

So that and just getting your first attunement changes a person like drastically. It gives you peace, it gives you connection to the divine, which just automatically chills you out. I mean, it's like when you got that connection, nothing bothers you anymore. I used to be so crazy, crazy monkey mind all the time. And when you get to your first level, it just chills you out. It's like things that used to bother you, used to stress about, be up all night. It's like, eh, it'll work itself out. I mean, you just become so chill. My kids call me hippy-dippy. I'm like, I don't think that's correct. But I am a very calm, peaceful

What Looks Easy But Isn’t

SPEAKER_05 25:43

person. And so, yeah, I know 20 years ago changed my life.

SPEAKER_02 25:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:46

Yeah, for sure. And that's why I think even if if everybody on the planet got Reiki level one, we would never have wars anymore. There would be peace on earth. I swear to you. And that is my mission is to do my little bit in this little corner of my world.

SPEAKER_00 26:02

One thing, if if I could just add this, because I also got Reiki level one and two, but you know, talking about these things is a little difficult for me because like Sandy said, we we went to church together and I am a Catholic. And it it was really hard at first to like be able to think about okay, I'm a Catholic, how do you reconcile this with this information that I'm getting and with this, you know, working with stones and a lot of things because because you know, a lot of uh the teachings of Catholicism kind of frown on that type of thing. And so I basically in a meditation I asked, I said, you know, I was like, well, you know, um, I'm a Catholic and I believe in Jesus and I, you know, and I believe that he's God. And so what do you believe? You know, and and I was asking them, the the fairies, you know, what do you believe? And they they told me, they said, well, we revere Jesus as God too. And so I was like, oh, so it gave me this sense of peace, you know, because I I really was like feeling some guilt, you know, you always have Catholic guilt, but but it definitely gave me a sense of peace, and I was like, okay, so so I can't be just this crazy person, you know, that's that's feeling um guilty about doing something that might be a little bit metaphysical.

SPEAKER_05 27:21

But you know what? I was thinking about this earlier today, is like even in the Bible, everybody perceives it differently. Like I can read a passage and you're gonna get something different out of it. To me, in the Bible, it just screams Jesus was a great healer. And it even says in certain passages, I don't remember things like memorize stuff, but that he passed it on to his apostles. And the apostles, every priest can trace themselves back to an apostle. Yeah. So, I mean, it's like, what are we worried about, guys? Yeah, not to get super religious on you, but it's not like I need to just say that. It does, it just kind of like puts it in perspective because a lot of people don't understand the concept, but they're like, oh god, you're from the devil, you're doing devil's work. How could something that heals someone or helps someone in any way, capacity be from the devil? It's like, I'm sorry, devil doesn't like heals people's body, mind, and soul. I'm sorry, they just don't. I mean, they're gonna wreak havoc, they're not gonna help you.

SPEAKER_04 28:19

I think that some of that is a personal thing. Everybody has their own filter. I used to say everybody lives in their own reality. True, right. Um everybody has their own filter, and so a lot of uh uh a base human emotion is fear of the unknown. Yes, right, yes. I don't know what that is, right? And that does not fit into my indoctrination or my belief system or my whatever they're doing. So that is bad. That's bad, and they don't really they don't know enough about it to know.

SPEAKER_05 28:50

Right, and that's where I think it's it's the knowledge thing. It's like you're gonna be negative against something that you know nothing about.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

Sure.

SPEAKER_05 28:58

It's like for me, but like I said, I investigate everything. I have to if I find something, I have to know everything about it, and then I can form my own perception on it. Yeah. Whereas a lot of people just take someone else's perception and say, Yep, that's mine too. But did you but did you study it? I study constantly. I mean, you should see my I have

Letting Go Of Competition And Finding Fit

SPEAKER_05 29:17

libraries at home.

SPEAKER_00 29:18

Yeah, me too.

SPEAKER_05 29:19

Because constant, yeah, we share books all the time.

SPEAKER_00 29:21

Yeah, we share books.

SPEAKER_05 29:22

So it's just like, yeah, if you don't have the knowledge, how can you create your own thought process on it? How can you create your own perception? You're just going off what somebody said to think, you know. And so that's another thing, too, is I've always been someone, even when I was a little girl, um, but what do you think? Oh, that parents hated me because I made their kids think.

SPEAKER_01 29:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 29:43

I was like giving them the questions and they'd go home and ask their parents, where did you hear that from? Oh, that was a pretty kid, she told me.

SPEAKER_04 29:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 29:51

Think for yourself.

SPEAKER_04 29:52

I was always the really annoying logic-based kid. I was like a little data. And so it was just logic. Logic ruled my world. And I was a critical thinker from when I was a little kid, and so I would pick apart everyone. Everything they said, why they were saying it, in what setting did they say it, what are their motivations to make them say or do that. Yeah, I would pick it all apart, and it was became pretty easy to start categorizing people. Exactly. And to speed that process up, I would notice somebody and think, oh, I I know exactly who they are and what they're doing. I know what that's about. And so then I would that became a toy for me. So before I started maturing, I would play with people in logic circles and all that kind of thing, just because it was like a cat playing with a mouse. Just I would toss something out at them and watch their brains scramble a little bit and then throw them in another direction and another direction and another direction. It was just great fun for me, but I've moved way past that.

SPEAKER_05 30:57

It's called, yeah, maturing. I used to do the same thing in catechism. Boy, I was always in trouble. Throw out the questions they could not answer.

SPEAKER_04 31:08

So, for both of you, what's what's something that people might assume is easy in your business, but definitely isn't?

SPEAKER_00 31:18

Oh, I can answer that. Um, people assume that wire wrapping is easy.

SPEAKER_04 31:24

Um I can attest it as not.

SPEAKER_00 31:27

I can't assume that at all. Uh I'm gonna just I'm gonna share this. Last weekend, I had someone approach me at a estate sale. And I went there to buy some red coral, and I got an amazing red coral piece that I'm hopefully going to make a piece of jewelry out of. But anyway, um, this woman came up to me and and she said, she said, well, I want to learn how to do this. And I said, Yeah, I know, because her husband had emailed me and said, What book can she buy? And so I told her, I said, you can't really buy a book. I said, you really need to take a class. Um, there's some good YouTube videos that you can watch. I said, but it really takes having the right materials, and that is the truth. It, I mean, once you get really good and have honed your skills, you can start using the less expensive wire that you buy at like Hobby Lobby or Michael's. But when you're first learning, those wires don't work. I mean, they do not work. You have to have good wire. And so I was telling her this, and she looked at me and she said, Well, let me show you what I've done. And I said,

Redefining Success: Commissions And Galleries

SPEAKER_00 32:33

Okay. And so she pulled out her phone and she was showing me some pictures, and I I looked at them and I said, Oh, and she said, Now I could probably sell this for six bucks at an arts and craft fair. And I I thought, probably not, you know, and I'm not trying to be mean, but I mean, I have beautiful pieces that I've made out of inexpensive wire and I've priced them about between six to eight dollars. And you can't sell them at an arts and crafts fair because people want things that look different or unique. And um, and the way that these were wrapped, I could tell that if you put them on a chain and you wore them for a week, they would be falling apart.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 33:12

Because there was no, there was nothing to the bale. It was just one wire looped over something. And you have to know, like you have to learn those techniques of of how do you make a bale that's actually gonna stay strong enough to just stay on a chain or a cord. And and how do you put those wires together so that they so that they stay together? Um, about two weeks ago, I actually opened up a box of pieces that I've had for a long time when I just started learning, and I had bought a spool of silver wire. And I said, I said, I'm just gonna have fun with this silver wire. I hadn't taken a class. I just bought the silver wire and just started started wrapping these crystals, and none of them ever sold. And I couldn't understand why they wouldn't sell. And and the other day I opened them up and I look I opened the box up and I looked at them and I said, Well, now I know why none of you have sold. And I took it and I cut, and silver is $90 an ounce right now, and I cut those silver wires off of those stones and I said, I wouldn't buy this either. Like I wouldn't have paid $10 for this piece of of quartz wrapped in silver because it looked awful. Like it didn't look good, it didn't have a clear design to it. Now it would have stayed together because I always make sure everything that I sell, I tug on it, I try to bend it. I I mean I make sure that that piece is not gonna fall apart before I will sell it. And if it is gonna fall apart, cut the wire off and start over. I do not sell anything that hasn't been tested. But um but I so now I have a pile of sterling silver wire that I'm gonna have to learn how to melt down and do something with because I can't rewrap with it. Um, and it's I mean, it was eight pieces of jewelry that I took apart because I just said the quality's just not there anymore. You know? And so that's that's what I think people take for granted. They just think, oh, it's just a piece of wire and a stone. I can do something with this. And you might be able to, but is it gonna last? Is it going to be a piece of jewelry that someone's going to enjoy for years or something that they're gonna put on and wear for a week and it's gonna fall apart?

SPEAKER_04 35:32

Yeah. I know there are videos out there because I've seen them on people melting metal down and turning it into wire.

SPEAKER_00 35:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 35:43

So yeah, you can find that.

SPEAKER_00 35:45

Oh yeah, yeah. And actually I have a few pieces of of well, a few stones that I really want to um, I want to create, I want to set them in silver. I think that they would look better if they were actually set in silver instead of wrapped with silver. So I need to um learn how to how to melt that silver down and kind of mold it and make some settings to where I can actually set the stones in it and and maybe make a few rings or something like that.

unknown 36:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:18

How about you, Sandra?

SPEAKER_05 36:19

Is there something that I was sitting here thinking about it. I have the opposite problem. People come in thinking everything's so hard. But it's actually really easy.

SPEAKER_02 36:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 36:30

You just need a little guidance. So people think, oh, I can't meditate. Yes, you can. Let's just sit here and stare at this candle and kind of can you do that? Oh, yeah, I can do that. That's meditation. Do you go for can you go for a walk and just watch your feet and tune everything else out? Yeah, I can do that. That's meditation. But everybody's like, I can't meditate. Yes, you can. Everybody can. It's just getting still, you know. So a lot of people think everything's so hard. Oh my gosh, I could never be a Reiki master. Yes, you can. Everybody can do it, it doesn't matter. I've trained kids because I teach from like age 12 and up.

SPEAKER_02 37:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 37:09

Kids can do it.

SPEAKER_02 37:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 37:10

You know?

SPEAKER_02 37:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 37:12

I just don't teach anything younger than that because

Peace, Nature, And Everyday Wins

SPEAKER_05 37:15

you kind of have to have a little responsibility. But I mean, if the child was, you know, prove themselves, yeah. I could teach someone younger too. So it's a lot easier than what people think. Everybody thinks, oh, it's so woo-woo, I can't do that. It's hard. No, it's not, it's easy.

SPEAKER_02 37:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 37:30

So I have the opposite problem. Everybody thinks it's hard, so they stay away, but it's actually quite easy.

SPEAKER_04 37:37

So, so that's where you are now, but is there something like that that um that was a hard lesson maybe earlier on that that the business taught you that that now you're grateful for?

SPEAKER_05 37:54

Yeah. So in the beginning, there was a little bit of because in the beginning I was all about the well, I've gotta make the money still, because I was still on the money treadmill thing. I'm quitting my job, I gotta be able to get this, I gotta be able to make this certain amount of money. So there was a little bit of competition issues in my brain of other people doing certain things in the community, the same as myself, and like, oh my gosh, that person stole my student. Oh, that's horrible. But I I learned to put in perspective there's enough for everybody. Sure. And that's a big lesson to learn for anybody.

SPEAKER_04 38:34

That's a hard win.

SPEAKER_05 38:34

That's a hard one. That one I've learned, and also that everybody's energy is gonna be different. So I'm kind of the hard knocks teacher who's like, get up off the floor, come on, let's do this. Yeah, whereas some people will sit and stroke your hand and be like, it's gonna be okay. That's not me.

SPEAKER_02 38:53

Right.

SPEAKER_05 38:54

If you want someone who's gonna tell you the truth, come to me because I will do it as calmly and nicely as possible, but I'm gonna tell you the truth. I'm gonna tell you your flaws, and I hope that you would do the same for me.

SPEAKER_04 39:08

You know, that's something a process that I had to go through in my various endeavors as well. That, you know, when you're first starting out, you want to please everybody. You want to, and you start changing yourself to bring the business in because that's why you're doing it. You want the business, and so you become kind of putty to mold yourself into what your cluster, your customers, your clients whatever need, and then um you realize that that is actually destroying your business. And the stress point of well, they left, they left. Well, they left because you're not the right person for them.

SPEAKER_05 39:47

That's yeah, and that's the one that it hurts. It hurts the first time. It's like, oh my gosh, what did I do wrong? Absolutely nothing. Your energy doesn't align.

SPEAKER_04 39:56

Yeah, and so that was a massive, I think, angel choir moment, just when I realized, dude, you are rough around the edges. Just be who you are. Yeah, and that way you can work with the clients that respond to that.

SPEAKER_05 40:12

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 40:13

And and the ones that don't respond to that, that's never gonna work. Those are your people. They need to find someone else. And that whole competition thing is that competition, it's it's gone. I have this flavor, you have that flavor, and whatever flavor you got your choice of flavors.

SPEAKER_00 40:27

Exactly. Pick your flavor. Yeah, so that's what I learned. Yeah. With my jewelry, I've never had that. Okay. And it's kind of interesting because my my teacher, Lisa

Rockhounding, Mines, And The Work Behind Crystals

SPEAKER_00 40:37

Marie Jacobs, who taught me a lot, who used to have a business called the Alchemist and the Magpie in Aztec and makes absolutely gorgeous jewelry. Her and I have gone to shows together, and we've had our jewelry sitting right next to each other. And some people will pick up her jewelry and buy it, and some people will pick up mine and buy it. And I'm like, whatever you need, you know, whatever works for you is what I want for the client.

SPEAKER_05 41:00

So um part of that mindset is being in service.

SPEAKER_00 41:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 41:05

So if I'm in service, then whatever's supposed to come my way will come my way.

SPEAKER_00 41:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 41:10

Because, you know, I'm kind of rough around the edges, like you say. Sure. I'm not for everybody. I might make people cry. Sure. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 41:18

Right.

SPEAKER_05 41:18

But um the people who come to me need that. You know, they need me to say, hey, come on, let's go. You know, I still lend a hand, of course. It's a firm hand, but I lend a hand. And I'm not for everybody. Right. I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00 41:31

I think with my news, I'm like that. You know, people know I'm a bulldog when it comes to news. And if you got me making the jewelry, it's gonna be a whole different Deborah.

unknown 41:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:45

Yeah, Deborah, I've known you for a while. So everything you're saying is exactly right.

SPEAKER_05 41:51

And kind of like I wanted to mention a little something about the different realms like Deb was talking about, about the fairy realm. You know, like years ago, I would have been like, okay, yeah, crazy lady, whatever. But you know, when you start opening up to things, you start seeing different things. Like I have someone who's in the dragon realm, and I wholeheartedly believe it. It's like, you know what? I may have never experienced it, but it's so real for you, and you have details of that. That who am I to tell you that didn't really happen to you?

SPEAKER_01 42:22

Right.

SPEAKER_05 42:23

You know, so when you do open up to things like that, then it's just it makes life just is so fascinating. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 42:29

I mean, come on. Do we really live in a world where there weren't dragons? There had to have been dragons at some point. Right? Yeah, even they're talking about St. George and the dragon, right? I mean, even the Catholic Church acknowledges it. I mean, there had to have been dragons somewhere. And unicorns? Unicorns. Yeah. They were left off of Noah's Ark, you know, that's what according to the folk book.

SPEAKER_05 42:50

Yeah, who knows? I think they're still out there in a different dimension and we can find it. I really do.

SPEAKER_04 42:56

So, what's one thing you thought would be a problem, but turned out not to be? Earlier.

SPEAKER_05 43:04

You know what? To be honest, I don't think about problems. I know that sounds bizarre.

SPEAKER_04 43:09

No, not not from what you're doing. That does not sound bizarre because you're fully in that.

SPEAKER_05 43:14

Yeah, no, I don't think about problems. I think about solutions.

SPEAKER_00 43:18

So, yeah, I don't have any of those.

Readings, Rocks, Reiki: Clearing Misconceptions

SPEAKER_00 43:20

Space. I really don't have space to do what I want to do in my house, and I've and I I don't have the money to add on or buy a new house. Or get a studio. So, yeah, or get a studio. Um I mean, I'm lucky that that the San Juan Gym and Mineral Society has the rock house over across from the the library, the um old children's. I always think of it as the old library, but it's the old children's museum on Orchard. And so I can go in there and use the lapidary tools. So that's nice um if I can ever find the time. Time and space, because I also have to find the time. Um but but I don't have like I wish I had a room where I could learn, where I could actually keep all of my tools, keep all of my stones, and then also um have like a torch and have uh a place where I could actually start doing silversmithing and that type of thing. So that's that's my my main issue right now is time and space.

SPEAKER_04 44:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 44:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:23

Yeah. So looking forward now, um, what what does what does success look like now and how has that changed over time? Like you might have an idea when you were starting out what success was, and how's that changed? Like you mentioned, yeah, oh yeah, big healing center.

SPEAKER_05 44:49

No, but to me, success is just like even if I helped one person this week, that's success. Whereas before it was like masses, you know, I'm gonna save the world. Woo! But for me now it's just one person at a time instead of 500 at a time. Although I don't mind speaking in front of crowds, just so everybody knows. Ah, I'm good. Um, so yeah, so it's like it's um it's I don't know, perspective is more I don't know how to explain it. It's like it's not as big, it's smaller. Sometimes smaller is best, intimacy is

Contacts, Gratitude, And Closing

SPEAKER_05 45:29

better, then you know what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_04 45:31

So like I said a lot of business owners um in their particular area want to conquer the world. In the beginning, yeah. Some version of that that's um that they want to be the biggest, the bestest, the the greatest thing, and then packed all these lives.

SPEAKER_05 45:50

Right.

SPEAKER_04 45:51

And and that's great. That's a great motivator to push you past all those simple things up front that are would normally be unsurmountable, but you've got this big thing that just kind of steamrolls over them and keeps you going past that until you don't need that big steamroller anymore. And you can start paring it down to a more fitting solution. I almost said more realistic, but that's not proper, that's not a proper word. So more fitting.

SPEAKER_05 46:20

I kind of look at it also like that. My students are dandelion seeds, I call them my dandelions.

SPEAKER_02 46:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 46:28

Because you know, you make your wish and they you blow them away, they're gone. Sure. Some of them I don't ever see again.

SPEAKER_02 46:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 46:35

But it's like a drop in a pond. They took their drop and they're gonna drop it in their pond, sure, ripple it out, and how many lives are gonna be changed because of what I taught them. Even if they just take one little thing from me and take it into their world and teach it to somebody else, whether it's their kids or spouse, a friend, yeah, then it just kind of keeps my lifeline going.

SPEAKER_02 46:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 47:00

You know, my dandelion seeds are out there making more pretty, pretty yellow flowers for the bees.

SPEAKER_04 47:05

I like that better than butterfly effect. I always like the idea of butterfly effect, but it's overused so much that it's just lost its meaning. But I like so I like that.

SPEAKER_05 47:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:16

It's where you do a thing, and that thing has the capacity to just carry forward.

SPEAKER_05 47:21

If I'm just one person and I talk to one person, maybe they'll go to talk to 25.

SPEAKER_04 47:26

Sure.

SPEAKER_05 47:26

And that's the whole point of what I do.

SPEAKER_04 47:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 47:29

It's just to make a sneezy bit of difference.

SPEAKER_04 47:31

Yeah. What about you, Deborah? How's the the the vision of success? What's that look like now and how's that changed since you started?

SPEAKER_00 47:40

So when I started, I I really think that I believed, oh, I'm gonna just go out and I'm gonna make this jewelry and I'm gonna make a bunch of money. And I I don't know why I thought that, um, but I did. I really thought that people would just come in hoards and buy my pieces. And and I think then it it moved to, as I was doing these arts and crafts fairs and such, it moved to more of a okay, if I can get back my fee for the booth and maybe, you know, a little bit more money, then I'm happy. But I think the real success came recently for me at this point in in this in this business, was that I started getting people who wanted me to do commission pieces for them and they would tell me what they want, and then I would go and create it, and they were happy with it. And then from that, um the the people who run the Feed of Clay gallery in Aztec contacted me and said, Will you show your jewelry here? Can we have your jewelry here at our gallery? And I said, sure. And so I put some pieces over there. They're still there. They were they were there for the holiday season. And um, the next step in that is that they have asked me to do a three-dimensional show for them. And so I we haven't um set a date. It's either going to be it could possibly be February or it could possibly be um like August or September. And I really want to do that. Um, and I just feel like that is that's the next step in success, is when you can actually tell people, well, my work is in a gallery, you know, and it may not be a big fancy New York gallery or a Santa Fe gallery, but it's a gallery, and to know that it's good enough and pretty enough and quality enough to have gallery owners say we'd like to show your work that that is success. And the commission pieces, like I love it when somebody says, I want a stone, I want you to find this stone for me and and make a necklace, and I'm gonna give it as a gift. And this is I actually had someone recently who said, Oh, I I want I have someone who needs protection, and I want you to find a stone and make something that they can wear, and and you know, with the intention of of protecting them when they're wearing it. And I was like, Okay, and I did that and I took it to them and they loved it, and I was just that just thrilled me, you know, makes me happy.

SPEAKER_04 50:26

Yeah, very cool. So, how how for both of you, how do you hope your business makes life better in the four corners?

SPEAKER_05 50:38

Oh, well, mine's obvious.

SPEAKER_04 50:41

We're kind of just discussing that, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 50:43

Peace, peace on earth, yeah, yeah. Getting everybody to where they can handle life because man, is the energies around here are pretty crazy right now. So just so that people can find peace, you know, that they can find like even if it's just a meditation on Wednesday nights, hey, I can get through my week, you know. Um anytime people need someone to talk to, I'm a good ear, you know. Yeah, um, yeah, just spreading the light, period. Cool, person to person, yeah, the human connection. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:17

For me, I think there it's it's more than one thing. Um I really want to um when I have more time, like I'm teaching right now. I have I'm I'm a school teacher, and then I work for the newspaper, so I don't have a lot of time, and when my weekends come, I'm exhausted and I want to rest. So, but um come summer, I really want to go out and go on some um local rock hounding trips and find local stones and polish them up and shape them and make them beautiful. And then when I'm able to go to arts and crafts fairs and gem and mineral shows and that type of thing, educate people on the beautiful um minerals and stones that they can find right here in the Four Corners region. You know, what exists here, and and you know, there's dinosaur bones, and oh my god, those make beautiful stones. And there's there's um petrified wood, and those just make gorgeous, gorgeous um jewelry pieces and stones, and there's just I'm learning all of that, and I think being able to educate people and and show them the beauty that exists here, and then you know, have make that grow into not just educating people about the stones, but then you know, providing folks with beautiful pieces of jewelry that they can proudly wear and say, I got this from the four corners, you know, and and we have that. I mean, there are so many wonderful Native American artists out there who just make beautiful silver pieces, and I really don't want to compete with them, but I do want to say that you know, there's people here who have other talents and I'm that that can make beautiful jewelry as well that can represent New Mexico and represent the four corners, and so that's kind of what I'm hoping to do that would hopefully help this community. And in addition to that, just educating people on um what's here, you know, and what you can do, you know. If we have visitors in, hey, you can go find these rocks too. You can go and and not just San Juan County, New Mexico, but like La Plata Canyon up in Colorado. You can find all kinds of stones up there. Um, there's there's so much out there, and just being able to let people know that and educate them on that, I think, is is something that's good. And then, of course, paying the gross receipts tax on the pieces that I sell, you know, that that basically um helps the community because um some of my pieces sell for for a pretty nice price, and then and then I have the gross receipts tax that goes into the coffers and helps support the community. Right, you know, local business does that, and I say it's the backbone of every small community in the world, is is your small business, whether it's a sole proprietorship or or a Durango Joe's, you know, it's the backbone of the community.

SPEAKER_04 54:19

Yeah, yeah. So if your business were a person, how would you describe its personality?

SPEAKER_05 54:30

Groovy.

SPEAKER_04 54:31

Groovy. I love it.

SPEAKER_05 54:33

Yeah, that's it.

SPEAKER_04 54:36

That's perfect.

SPEAKER_00 54:38

Um, I don't know. Can you come up with one for me, Sandy? I've you might have named it that. Yeah, I might have named it that the lost fairy. Yeah. That's pretty much for her. Running around picking up stones. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Making pretty things. That's dead. I mean, it is, you know, and I actually could take an ugly stone and make it look good.

SPEAKER_05 55:00

I'm like, you're gonna make a piece out of that? I'm like, oh wow, yeah, you made a piece out of it.

SPEAKER_00 55:05

It was fun at the gym and mineral show. Chris Gallego, so I'm just gonna mention him. Shout out to Chris. I don't know if he listens, but he is he is an amazing um, I don't know if you call it lapidariist or I don't know what you call it, but this guy can make beautiful, beautiful cabochons and stones. And he was my neighbor at the gym and mineral show.

SPEAKER_02 55:27

Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:28

And he was going through his stones and he was, he would hand me this stone and he'd say, Can you make something out of this? And I'd say, Yeah. And and he he makes jewelry too. I mean, he wraps and his pieces are beautiful. And and he would hand me these, he'd say, I can't do anything with this, but I think you might be able to. And and I took this one piece and I made it into something so beautiful, and he looked at it and he was like, Wow. But it is, I mean, I feel like it is like a lost, like a lost skill that I'm tapping into, you know, as I discover who I am at the midpoint in my life, you know.

SPEAKER_04 56:09

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So what's one thing that you're celebrating right now? Big, big or small?

SPEAKER_05 56:17

Celebrating?

SPEAKER_04 56:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 56:19

Wow. I don't know. Every day.

unknown 56:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 56:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 56:25

That's a thing most people take for granted. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 56:28

In the business, just I don't know. Consistency, I guess. I don't know. Celebrate the little things, I sure suppose. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:37

Absolutely. How about that? Celebrating life. Okay. Just um living. Just getting up every day, um, and being able to work with things that are found in nature. You know, celebrating nature. Um if you had told me back when I was, I my my whole perspective on life has changed, but like back when I was in high school, I I would have never thought that going out on a nature hike would be something that would be one of the most beautiful things that I could do. And now it's like I just want to be in the forest or be in the, you know, be by the river, or just be in nature and listening to the leaves rustle in the trees, and and that's what life is, just really living and enjoying, enjoying this beautiful world that that we live in and celebrating it.

SPEAKER_04 57:31

Yeah. I agree.

SPEAKER_05 57:33

Hug a treat.

unknown 57:35

Right.

SPEAKER_05 57:37

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 57:37

That's how I've always charged recharged my batteries. Oh, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_05 57:41

Yeah, going back to the old ways.

SPEAKER_04 57:43

I would get out into nature. Um, as far away from people as I could possibly get. In fact, I grew up here. And um, when I moved back, I'm thankful for it now. Um, but when I moved back, because I left right after graduating high school, and I came back uh wow, a little over 20 years ago. And uh the bird park and all of that park system is developed down there. That used to be not developed, and that was my it was very close to where I lived when I was growing up, and that was my sanctuary. I would get off down to the river, and there was no one out there, and there was just a few little game trails and stuff, and it was just brilliant. I could escape everything, and it was so peaceful. Just the wind in the trees, and the different colors of green, and the sound of the water over the rocks, and oh, it's brilliant.

SPEAKER_00 58:41

You know, come to think of it, when when I was a kid in elementary school, you know, up Dustin didn't go very far. Right. And we would go out to Chokecherry where there's houses now. There were no houses, it was all still Chokecherry Canyon. Yeah, we'd go out there and climb on the rocks and sit on the rocks and let the sun beat down on us, and we didn't have any vitamin D deficiencies then.

SPEAKER_04 59:06

Absolutely not.

SPEAKER_05 59:08

And we had enough stored up from the summer all through winter, right?

SPEAKER_00 59:12

Yeah, it was, you know, but that was that was great as a kid.

SPEAKER_05 59:16

So I think I always did have the nature call, but just I've like I said, I've always collected rocks since I was in Wisconsin. That was when I was like baby girl.

SPEAKER_01 59:26

That's great.

SPEAKER_05 59:26

I mean, you know, back in the day you could let your kids run, you know. I'd be like three years old back out there in the gravel picking up fossils. I still have some of them from Do you remember the old?

SPEAKER_04 59:37

Maybe they still have those, but they were rock polishers? It was basically like a little adult truck. I had one of those. I had one of those. I had one of those when I was a kid.

SPEAKER_02 59:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 59:46

My grandfather was um an engineer for El Paso, and so he knew all of the geology and all of the rocks, and he could identify them all, and I became fascinated because of him doing that. And so I had my little rock tumbler.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:02

The Jaspers. You did mention the jaspers. And those are cold because they come from volcanoes, and I'm just fascinated by volcanoes themselves.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:11

So you mentioned Alabama. I just saw a thing, or Arkansas. I just saw a thing, I think it was Arkansas. There's a place where you can go to just dig up diamonds.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:22

Oh, they have the diamond one. I've never been to the diamond one because diamonds don't appeal to me.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:27

Sure.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:27

I'm a total Claire Quartz crystal lady.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:30

Right.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:30

So like if you come to my house, it glows, okay?

SPEAKER_04 1:00:34

But but is that in Arkansas?

SPEAKER_05 1:00:36

Yeah, there's a diamond one.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:37

So it's like like crystal haven down there. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:42

So like in in Mount Ida where I go, like you there's five or six, maybe even seven different mines that you can choose from. So like you could go for two weeks and dig every day and go to different places.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:53

How cool is that?

SPEAKER_05 1:00:54

And it's all a different experience, it's all a different vibe.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:57

You know, so I have my personal favorites, but other people's might be different. But then, you know, there's some that are more commercialized, some where they're Mostly on the level, it's like $25 a dig for the whole day. Yeah. And they let you pull out whatever you can carry in your vehicle. That's awesome. It is awesome. Sometimes you find some amazing things. I actually paid for a pocket this past year, and that was awesome. But then again, really intense. And I don't know that I would do it again. Yeah. Because they open up your pocket and then you have this certain amount of time. Like it's a whole day, but believe me, that day flies by so fast. It's like at the end, you're like pulling him out. I'm like, oh my god, hurry up. We're gonna close them on. So, or I'd rather just go have a leisurely day. So, but it was a lot of fun. That was really exciting too.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:43

Yeah, very cool.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:44

Yeah. So, you know, when you see the crystal collector, yeah, those things do happen, but let me tell you, they do pay for their digs. Yeah, it's not just like you can go out there on a $25 dig and find that current, you know, those big cuces, but it's still a blast.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:58

I love it. Well, and then you wonder, like, why am I why is this crystal cost so much money? Because it's not easy to get out of here.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:05

It's not easy, and then you have to process it, you know. Then you have to wash them and then, you know, use the acid bath for them and then wash them again. And I mean, there's it's a lot of pro it's a big process. It is. I totally, totally respect, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:20

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:21

When you pull them out of the ground, they don't look pretty when you pull them out. Real pretty and shiny, you know. Yeah, it's a big process, but I love it. That's my passion. I love that and Reiki. There you go. Can't go wrong. Cool, keys to happiness.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:38

So another part of my business when I when I got my license from the state is it's also a a writing business, you know, because I I am also doing fiction writing. I haven't sold anything yet, but it is a writing business too, and it's metaphysical in that I can also do like Reiki and those types of things. But but yeah, so it has a couple of different purposes. But the main purpose is if you see my cards, my cards will say um readings, rocks, and reiki. And so that's because I'll do readings for people, I work with rocks, and I can also do Reiki.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:16

So yeah, and that's the thing about like my business too, it's like Jack of all trades, it's kind of like you kind of have to be because different people are gonna need different modalities. Some people like the tuning forks, you know, that's more their vibe. Whereas other people like meditation, some people really dig Reiki, you know what I mean? And I think people get mistaken that Reiki's a massage, it really isn't. I mean, I can lightly touch or hover above, and you're still gonna get your energy coming from so people don't understand that, they get that really mixed up. Oh, do you do massage? No, I don't do massage, you know, and most you know, obviously massage is like the hot commodity right now, but people love that touch, they love the instant gratification. But what people don't really realize about Reiki is that it heals you body, mind, and soul. Yeah, and every ailment in the human body is due to a human emotion, something that's not being taken care of. Yeah, so you know, it's a little deeper than let me feel good right now. Sure, you know what I mean. Reiki takes a little bit of a little bit longer, it's more subtle, but it'll heal you body, mind, and soul, not just the body.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:31

Yeah, yeah. Awesome.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:33

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:33

Well, very cool. Yeah, it's awesome meeting you too. Deborah, I haven't seen you in a minute, so it's cool catching up with you again.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:42

Definitely, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:43

And we've never talked about this part of you, so no, we haven't.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:47

Yeah, really fun.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:49

Yeah, very cool. So thank you both for coming on.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:53

Uh any last words for anybody? Oh, could I give out my phone number in case people want to have look at rocks or do a commission? It's 505 320 6512.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:07

And I'm Sacred Spiral Healing, and you can find me on Facebook.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:12

Perfect. All right. Well, again, thank you both so much. Yeah, yeah. Really cool chatting with you.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:18

Peace, love, and light.