We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Crystal Castorena a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Crystal, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

Two years ago on January, Friday the 13th, with tears in my eyes and peace in my heart, I took a risk on myself and my future by stepping away from my career as an educator and stepping into my role as an intuitive facilitator. It was a decision that I went back and forth with for at least a couple of years but one that I never thought would have been possible. I always envisioned myself retiring after my lifetime career as an educator. I always believed that all my hard work and degrees had to be used at its full capacity and stick with this career path that I had chosen for myself. Although I loved teaching adults with disabilities, and seeing them blossom into independent and productive members of their communities, there was still something missing in my life. I had always been highly intuitive, having deep spiritual experiences as a kid, and when it resurfaced into my life, there was no looking back. I did worry about whether this was the right choice or not for my family, if I was making a mistake financially and what the long terms effects of this decision would be. But ultimately, I knew in my head and in my heart, that this was the best decision that I could make for myself and that all would turn out well. And it did. Seeing the growth in myself, in how I show up for myself and others, in how much more patient, gentle, loving and connected I have become have been worth it. Now, I still teach, but now I teach others how to bring healing to their grief, their lived experiences and to their future.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Since as far back as I could remember, I had been connecting with Spirit, seeing them, hearing them, receiving information that I would have not known if I hadn’t intuitively received it. As I got older and into my teen years, I started to push it away, in fear of my experiences and the thoughts of it being something scary and dark. As an adult, signs and synchronicities began to show up in abundance and finally I decided to look into connecting with Psychic Mediums, Energy Healers and Curanderas that I felt drawn to learning from and being guided on how to work with and align myself with healing practices.

As I was learning, I received so much loving guidance and support from my husband and together we began to tap into our creative skills and make jewelry and art. We originally started by making tarot card holders and grew that with creating wood crafted jewelry. The jewelry imagery stemmed from what I was learning, connecting with and became a addition to my spiritual practice. The jewelry is inspired from Mexican Indigenous symbolisms, queer representation and spiritual concepts. Every piece of jewelry has an intention as well as every art piece that I create. When I began to share this art online and in stores, I started to expand my reach to community that was looking for support and guidance in their own healing journeys. I currently offer Psychic Mediumship readings to connect to your loved ones in spirit, tarot card readings and energy healing sessions. While I offer these as private sessions, I also host a variety of community events for anyone who is looking for building a community support system. Some of the events I offer are book exchanges and book clubs, tarot circles, mediumship circles and vending events. I love to share with others my healing art and share resources for anyone in need of additional support. What I am most proud of in all of this work is that I get to give back to my community through forms of fundraising for organizations and for the scholarship that I began to help teen parents receive financial support when enrolling in higher education. As a former teen parent, I know how important it is to have community support and the financial means to take care of yourself, your children and your future. I want to help teen parents remember that all of their dreams and hopes for their future are still possible. A portion of the proceeds from my products and sessions go towards funding this scholarship.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

My husband and I learned very early on in our relationship that we bring out the creative sides of ourselves that had always lived in us. Separately we had our own creative skills and together, we taught ourselves how to put that to work and learn new skills in the process. As we planned for our wedding, we decided to DIY as much as we could. We bought a Cricut and a Glowforge laser printer and decided to teach ourselves last minute how to use these machines. Once we did, we couldn’t look back! All the inspirations and ideas became reality. We created tarot card holders, engraved our digital art into wall decor, earrings, candle holders and more. We tested so many types of woods, paint supplies, metals, etc until we found the supplies that stood the test of time and that helped bring our art into its vibrant final product. I love being able to attend events and gatherings and see the art that we created being worn and.or displayed!

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

When deciding to put our products out for purchase, we originally thought about going on Etsy. As I started the process, I got overwhelmed with all of the steps I needed to do in order to post even just 1 product. My husband looked into Shopify and used a premade theme that we could input our products into. Once he handed it over to me, I taught myself how to use it by following along to video and written tutorials from Shopify and other sources. Once I got the hang of it, I loved creating products, blogs and really putting in the time and effort to create a website that encompassed all of the hard work, love and dedication that was poured into it. While I am still learning all about how to market the website and improve the SEO, I love the ease of use and being able to see the growth in my own personal platform.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://meliponacollective.com
• Instagram: melipona_collective