• Watermelon Tourmaline Meaning | Crystal for Joy, Balance & Love
    Nov 18 2024
    Join Adam Barralet, Kyle Perez, Nicholas Pearson and Ashley Leavy in Episode #8 of the Crystal Confab Podcast as they unpack all-things Watermelon Tourmaline, including: How Watermelon Tourmaline helps you understand the true meaning of joy Balancing the inflow and outflow of love with Watermelon Tourmaline Watermelon Tourmaline's connection to the heart energy center Bi-color vs. True Watermelon Tourmaline Tune in now for a deeper look at Watermelon Tourmaline meaning! P.S. - Watermelon Tourmaline fakes are flooding the market! However, once you know what to look for, it's typically fairly easy to recognize the real deal. Make sure to check out my video all about How to Spot Watermelon Tourmaline Fakes and never be fooled by imposter crystals again! Are you interested in becoming a Certified Crystal Healer? Find out more about the CCH and Advanced Crystal Practitioner Program HERE!
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    45 mins
  • Moonstone Meaning | Crystal Varieties, Lunar Energy & More!
    Nov 7 2024
    Join Adam Barralet, Kyle Perez and Nicholas Pearson in Episode #7 of the Crystal Confab Podcast as they unpack all-things Moonstone, including: Moonstone meaning & uses Working with Moonstone during the Full Moon in Cancer Which varieties of Moonstone to use for each lunar phase What's the difference between Genuine Moonstone and Rainbow Moonstone? Tune in now for a deeper look at Moonstone meaning! P.S. - Moonstone comes in many varieties and colors, which can make it difficult to spot Moonstone fakes! However, once you know what to look for, it's typically fairly easy to recognize the real deal. Make sure to check out my video all about How to Spot Moonstone Fakes and never be fooled by imposter Moonstone again! Are you interested in becoming a Certified Crystal Healer? Find out more about the CCH and Advanced Crystal Practitioner Program HERE!
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    41 mins
  • Best Crystals for the Seasons
    Nov 7 2024
    Selecting crystals for the seasons is all about trusting your intuition and considering the emotions each season evokes in you. Then it's as simple as matching these feelings with crystals that reflect the same energy.
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    22 mins
  • Rose Quartz Meaning | Healing Properties, Spotting Fakes & More!
    Nov 4 2024
    Join Adam Barralet, Ashley Leavy, Kyle Perez, and Nicholas Pearson in Episode #6 of the Crystal Confab Podcast as they explore Rose Quartz' meaning and uses, including: Is Rose Quartz actually the ultimate "stone of love"? Spotting Rose Quartz crystal fakes Rose Quartz for grief & loss Working with Rose Quartz at Beltane Rose Quartz for fresh starts Tune in now for a deeper look at Rose Quartz' meaning! Crystal Confab Podcast Introduction: Are you just starting with crystals? Or maybe you have a whole collection but aren't sure how to use them? Join 4 crystal nerds, healers, workers, and lovers for crystal confab, a casual chat about all things crystals. Adam Barralet: Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of crystal confab. Today, we're looking at the crystal of love, or are we? I've got a bit of an issue, to be honest with Rose Quartz. I feel it's a bit like the Kardashians. It gets far more attention than it deserves because there are so many beautiful, loving crystals out there. But whenever people are talking about love, they go straight to Rose Quartz. So today, me and my gang, we're gonna kind of unpack rose quartz. What it's good for, what maybe another crystal might be good for, and maybe throw in some surprise uses for this crystal as well. How are we today, guys? Ashley Leavy: Oh, good. Good. Adam: Good. Good. Now, Nicholas, I wanna start with you today. Tell us a little bit, rose quartz, it's counted as the crystal of love, but where did that come from? And do you think that's all we can use rose quartz for, love? Nicholas Pearson: Oh, I'm so glad you asked. This is like my nerdy superpower is, like, tracking down where these, like, little epithets and things come from in our world. And, just casually over the years, I noticed that, like, before a certain point, nobody really makes a strong connection between Rose Quartz and Love. There might be a little kind of anecdotal stuff here or there, but it's about from the year 1985 onwards, and it's really, like, more frequent in the late eighties, early nineties that we start to see rose quartz called the love stone pretty universally. So, at some point in the last couple years, I decided to, like, intentionally do a deep dive on this. I was writing some new curriculum centered around rose quartz. I was like, let's actually find out where this comes from. And to the best of my knowledge, and I could be wrong, I I would love a larger dataset than I've got, but it's already pretty big. The first time we see rose quartz called the love stone is in, like, one of those classic late eighties books called, Crystal Awareness by Kathryn Bowman, where she just gives it, among other things, she calls it the love stone. However, what happened 1 year later would really cement this. And there's a kind of obscure book by today's standards, but this author was, at least at this point, quite popular. Her name is Connie Church. She released a couple of books. Crystal Clear, which, if you bought it in the eighties, originally came, like, shrink wrapped with a clear quartz crystal to go along with it. So you could do all of the exercises in tandem with the crystal. And then as a sequel in, 87, so just 2 years after Catherine Bowman books Catherine Bowman's first book comes out, she puts out a book called Crystal Love. And, of course, it also comes shrink wrapped with a little piece of rose quartz. And throughout the book, she's constantly referring to this stone as your love stone. Not saying all rose quartz is the love stone, but all the self love exercises you're gonna do are with this stone, which is now your love stone. It theoretically could have been anything, but she wrote the book about rose quartz, and that's why it really just kind of became cemented in our collected psyche as the stone of love. And, I think I think that is a really nice entryway to talking about what rose quartz can do for us,
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    47 mins
  • Craft Your Own Magic | Cassie Uhl on Decentering Yourself in Your Magical Practice
    Oct 31 2024
    In this enlightening interview, energy and death worker Cassie Uhl chats to me about her new book, Craft Your Own Magic, which is all about cultivating personalized and ethical magical practices. Dive in now to hear about the transformative "tower moment" that prompted her to address cultural appropriation in her work and reconnect with her ancestral roots. Plus, learn Cassie's insights on building meaningful relationships with nature and her guidance on developing discernment in intuitive practices. This interview is a must-read for anyone looking to embrace the mystery of spirit and craft their own unique magical practice with an ethical framework. Disclosure: The link here is an affiliate link, meaning I may earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Yay! Catch the interview highlights here: Ready to Craft Your Own Magic? Watch the full interview now! Read the full interview about Craft Your Own Magic below! Ashley Leavy: Hello and welcome. I am so deeply honored to be interviewing today my dear friend Cassie Uhl, who is the author of so many phenomenal books, decks and journals. Today we are discussing her brand new book, Craft Your Own Magic: Reawaken Your Intuition, Understand Magical Correspondences and Create a Meaningful Personal Practice. Cassie, thank you so much for being here with me today. Cassie Uhl: Thank you, Ashley. I'm so happy to be here. Ashley Leavy: You have been on the show before, but would you mind introducing yourself and a little bit about your work, for those who are new to learning about what you do, and also because your work has changed a good deal over the past few years. Cassie Uhl: Yes, absolutely, it has so much in beautiful, beautiful ways. Um, yeah, I'm an energy worker. I'm a death worker. Those are two things that I'm really passionate about. As you mentioned, I'm an author, and those are the things that really inspire my work and my practice. And I'm a magic maker. Some might say a witch. That's a word I use sometimes, but I like to be out in the land, working magic with trees and flowers and water. That's also a big part of my my personal practice. Ashley Leavy: And I think all of those things really weave together in the work that you do. You see it come out in all these different magical ways, and especially in your writing and in your art, where there's this really deep expression of what you do. And I think the thing that struck me most about your newest book, Craft Your Own Magic is how deeply personal it is, and how vulnerable you are in those pages, and how much of yourself you share, but you do it in this way that is, I think, so different than what we often see in the healing space or the magic space. You're not sharing these parts of yourself to be like, and this is how it's done. You're very much sharing from this, like I said, really vulnerable place to say this is one way that it can look like. And you're often turning a question back on the reader and saying, 'What does it look like for you?' So I would love to know what inspired this approach to Craft Your Own Magic and what really got you started on the journey of creating and releasing this book? "I already had a really strong relationship with my guides and some of my ancestors, and it almost felt like they were really pulling and calling me to create something of my own. And in that moment, in the tower moment of all of that, it felt awful. But now today, I can look back and think, 'Wow, what a gift.'" Cassie Uhl: Thank you. I love this question. Yeah, Craft Your Own Magic is so different from my other books. And when I tell people that this is my first big book, it's my first book that's really got more me in it. And it still is really important for me to share in a way that's like, 'This isn't how you do it. This is how I did it.' And what really started that journey for me was, I would call it a tower moment, referencing the Tarot,
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    38 mins
  • Spiderweb Obsidian | Crystal Meanings, Magical Uses, New Moon Vibes & More!
    Oct 28 2024
    Join Adam Barralet, Ashley Leavy, Kyle Perez, and Nicholas Pearson in Episode #5 of the Crystal Confab Podcast as they explore Spiderweb Obsidian meanings and uses, including: Spiderweb Obsidian & the Scorpio New Moon Weaving Threads of Magic with Spiderweb Obsidian Getting to know Spiderweb Obsidian (and any stone) in just a week! Spiderweb Obsidian for discernment Tune in now and dive into the magical world of Spiderweb Obsidian! Crystal Confab Podcast Introduction: Are you just starting with crystals? Or maybe you have a whole collection but aren't sure how to use them? Join 4 crystal nerds, healers, workers, and lovers for crystal confab, a casual chat about all things crystals. Nicholas Pearson: Hello, and welcome to crystal confab, a podcast where 4 crystal experts come together to confab about a new crystal each week. Join Ashley Leavy, Kyle Perez, Adam Barralet, and myself, Nicholas Pearson, this week for our conversation about spider web obsidian. So how's everyone doing this week? Adam Barralet: I'm really good and excited to talk about an Obsidian, but a bit of a rarer Obsidian that maybe doesn't get as much attention as some of the others. Ashley Leavy: I'm really looking forward to this conversation also, because here in the northern hemisphere, we are getting, you know, well into the deep autumn, and I love this idea of this spiderweb obsidian kind of tying into our end of the year seasonality here. So I'm really looking forward to this chat. Kyle Perez: Me too. I am very excited, of course. This one, I had to do a bit of homework on. So I'm excited to share that. Yeah. Adam: So let's dive into it, Ashley. You know, as you do work move into the autumn time, you know, where is this crystal kind of really great for you at the moment? Ashley: Yeah. So for me, this stone is really about the interconnectedness of all things. If we think about a spider's web, it has each of these little strands that then get woven together and all connected. And I, you know, we can't help but feel a little ripple, a little movement in one area when there's something happening somewhere else. So we can see this on the microcosm, like in our own personal life, right? If things are a little, not quite on an even keel, we feel some choppy waters over here. We're gonna feel that in other areas of our life, but we can also really see and experience that on a larger scale when things are really out of balance and really out of alignment in the world, which they are, which they have been, which they will continue to be. We feel it. We feel it on the personal level. We feel it on the community level. We feel it on the global level, and helping us understand our role in that greater, you know, macrocosm perspective of things, I think, is where this stone really shines. So acting as a touchstone, a reminder to show up in bigger ways, not just for ourself, not just for our friends and family, but for our greater community, really showing up to be of service, to care for one another, to do our bit, to make the world a better place, I think is one of the things, one of the lessons that this stone really has to share with us. And this isn't, you know, just on the sort of mundane level, although it's great to show up and do those important acts. This stone also reminds us that we can do this on a magical level. So, you know, this could look like community service, maybe volunteering at your local community garden plot or something like that, but this also is in this space. So reminding us that our magical practice in whatever form that takes, our healing practice and whatever form that takes, isn't just about self, that it should be really rooted in community care, because everything is so interconnected, because those ripples go out so much further than what we can see. So that's one of my favorite things about the spiderweb obsidian.
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    59 mins
  • Crystals & A Card Spread for Insight at Samhain
    Oct 24 2024
    Samhain (pronounced the Gaelic way, SAH-win) is celebrated on October 31. This holiday marks the beginning of the dark half of the year here in the Northern Hemisphere and is the perfect time to hold space for ancestor connection, intuition, the thinning of the veil, death, introspection, rebirth, divination, and honoring the dead! It's a day to connect with ancestors and honor those who have passed on. Samhain is also an introspective time that can heighten intuition & divination, and call for meditation on death and rebirth. *If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, you'll be celebrating the festival of Beltane today instead of Samhain to keep with the seasonal cycles. The 3 Best Crystals to work with on and around Samhain are: Black Moonstone - A darkly reflective crystal perfect for promoting intuition and personal insight. Use it wisely when you're ready to ask big questions this month. Sangre Calcite - This deep red calcite is a powerful fire element symbol that makes it a great helper for vitality and motivation in the colder months. Howlite - This stone is associated with the world of dreams and that which lies "beyond the veil," making it a good complement for connection with ancestors and the spirit realm. More Samhain Crystals: Black Obsidian Bloodstone Black Moonstone Black Onyx Carnelian Hagstone Howlite Jet Red Garnet Red Sangre Calcite Shungite Smoky Quartz Snowflake Obsidian Set Up Your Samhain Ritual Altar! Samhain Symbols Ale or Mead Pumpkin Skull Besom or Broom Beans Cauldron Bat Key Squash Pomegranate Nuts Apples & Cider Bones Samhain Herbs: Angelica Catnip Cinnamon Mandrake Mugwort Rose Hips Rosemary Vervain Wormwood Samhain is Also Known As/Related To: Halloween All Hallows Eve Calan Graeaf Ancestor Night Third Harvest Final Harvest Day of the Dead Witch's New Year Sauin Bonfire Night All Saints' Day All Souls' Day Celtic New Year Open yourself up to the messages of illumination at this time of the Fire Festival with a Sacred Samhain Card Spread! This reading will cover 6 aspects of the Final Harvest and shift into the Celtic New Year with highly specific info to help you: Uncover hidden influences that are affecting the events in your life and navigate the thin, mystical spaces Hear messages from the universe specific to your unique spiritual path, intuition, and connection to your ancestors or guides Look into what you need to focus on now on your soul path by gaining insight into what to sow and cultivate now until the light returns Interpreting Card #1 What are you harvesting now from the energy of this past year? This card helps summarize your journey over the past year and what has ripened and is now ready for harvest. Think of all you've been working to grow and create in your life - now is the time to reap the rewards of your efforts and call in the harvest. Interpreting Card #2 What should you sow and cultivate from now until the time when the light returns at Imbolc? Now that you've called in the harvest and completed a cycle, what would you most like to sow the seeds of in this moment? What will serve you best in the coming year? The energy you focus on now will begin to show itself and come back to you in big ways by Imbolc. This card may hold some hints or inspiration on what to do next. Interpreting Card #3 What should you release into the darkness and burn away in the bonfire of your soul? What needs to be released at this time? And what is no longer serving you? What is potentially holding you back from all that you'd like to embody in your life? This card is here to help you recognize and accept the things that are ready to be let go so that you can create space in your life for things that will better ...
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    30 mins
  • Dioptase Meaning | Chariklo, Guides, Compassion & Divine Feminine
    Oct 23 2024
    Join Adam Barralet, Ashley Leavy, Kyle Perez, and Nicholas Pearson in Episode #4 of the Crystal Confab Podcast as they explore Dioptase meaning and uses, including: Dioptase & Chariklo Connecting with your Guides using Dioptase Cultivating Powerful Compassion with Dioptase Dioptase & the Divine Feminine Tune in now and dive into the magical world of Dioptase! Crystal Confab Podcast Introduction: Are you just starting with crystals? Or maybe you have a whole collection but aren't sure how to use them? Join 4 crystal nerds, healers, workers, and lovers for crystal confab, a casual chat about all things crystals. Ashley Leavy: Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the crystal confab podcast. We are really excited to share a lot with you today. We're gonna talk about some magic related to the crystal dioptase, which I personally really love. It's one of my favorites. I am Ashley Leavy and I'm here with my fellow co hosts, the amazing Adam Berlick, Kyle Perez, and Nicholas Pearson. So hey, everybody. How are you doing? Adam Barralet: Really good. Exciting to talk about a bit of a rarer crystal today. Ashley: Yeah. I know. We have so much crystal wisdom in store to share in today's episode. So why don't we go ahead and dive right in? I believe Nicholas had something to share to kick us off. Nicholas Pearson: Yeah. So it's not a secret that I really love copper minerals for folks who listen to be nerd out about rocks. They were like one of the first moments that I had in my journey of, like, learning about the geology and how the energy kinda synced up with it. It would be like I'd find a weird, unusual thing I'd never heard of before in my museum days, like cyanotrichite or something similarly odd, that I had difficulty sounding out and pronouncing, let alone remembering how to spell. And I'd sit and meditate and, you know, come up with my own personal experience and then go look it up and go, wow. This also has copper in it, and that's why it has this property that reminds me of this other thing and that other thing. So it was like one of those big light bulb moments. So I've always loved, like, the whole copper family. And, Dioptase, I find, like, really exceptionally sweet. There's a tenderness to it. Copper minerals are so connective and synergistic on their own, but there's something about it being like a copper silicate that makes it so much more expansive and radiant and luminous. And, some years ago when I was doing some, like, extra research on on copper minerals for, in bookstones on the Goddess, I found, like, these little threads that all fit together that kind of connect them to the divine feminine. You know, we've got the the word copper itself comes to us because of the island of Cyprus, which is cupros in Greek, which became cuprum in Latin, eventually copper in in English after making a few more stops along the way. And among among other great mythic things about Cyprus, it was a really historically important source for copper minerals and copper ore in the ancient world. It's also said to be more or less the birthplace of, the goddess Aphrodite or Venus. So, you know, when she first set foot on solid land after being born from the foam of the waves, it was in the island of Cyprus there in the Mediterranean. And so that place is, like, impregnated with her coppery-ness, if you will, in its local geology. But there's this really kind of fun thread that connects a lot of copper minerals to the divine feminine. In some Slavic lore, you occasionally find references to, like, either a copper mountain or a malachite mountain that's kind of the same as Mount Venus, which we find farther to the west in the European, like, witch lore that talks about this meeting place for magic, a connection to the witch mother, the witch queen, the queen of magic and mystery, the queen of heaven, and appropriately enough,
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    51 mins