We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Crystal Kelly. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Crystal below.
Hi Crystal, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.
The way I got my first job was by putting myself out there after a few years of practicing and learning! I shared on instagram about some of my experiences as I went along my healing journey and what I was learning as I grew expanding into myself and my gifts. I made a webpage called Surrender to Soul and started offering intuitive readings online as a service. I also went to festivals to do readings, was hired to do readings at birthday parties and at retreats, friends and past clients referred me, and every time I did a reading my connection with myself and with my gifts and confidence that I was going in the right direction continued to grow.
I was so nervous when I first started sharing about offering intuitive readings just because it was a new experience for me, I hadn’t done anything like that before where what I was doing was just coming from me, and then selling myself too! I had been a full time mom raising my two young kids for ten years, and then my previous job experience was always working for others. It was a big step for me to share “Hey this is something I love, that I have grown into from deep life experience and growing, and I’m good at it. Hire me!’ While doing something new on my own did feel a little scary, at the same time it came from a place of sharing something I truly loved, so it really just felt like the most natural next thing for me to do. There was no NOT doing it. It was happening and I surrendered to it.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I came into this line of work through events that stemmed from hitting a low point in my life in 2019. There’s an inspirational quote I saw recently that said, “It’s all woo woo until you’re brought to your knees.” I was in an unhealthy marriage with 2 young kids and was struggling with what to do. I had a feeling to google “meditative yoga” in my area, and I saw the name of a Kundalini yoga studio listed in my area. I didn’t know what Kundalini was and I hadn’t been to many yoga classes before, but I followed this feeling and went to check out a class while my daughter was at preschool. I sat in the back corner of the room and cried through the whole entire class. I had been in the process of deconstructing the Mormon religious beliefs of my childhood that I realized were hard on me with a lot of shame and guilt, and was daring to look for another way to see in the world. In that yoga class I felt calm and safe in my body, and I felt a loving connection to my soul that I had not felt in a long time. I continued going to these classes for a year, and when the studio offered a 9 month long Kundalini yoga teacher training course online I signed up. We had weekends where we meditated for long periods of time, the longest was 8 hours! This practice really helped me learn how to connect with and move energy in my body, and while in meditation to be able to recognize the voice of my own soul, finally able to clearly hear what it was truly saying separately from all my fear and pain.
In 2020 while I was leaving my 11 year marriage (and while the world was in lockdown!) I was going through a major spiritual awakening and I was shedding and leaving so much of my old life behind I became obsessed with everything healing and self discovery. I studied Human Design (a cross between the chakras energy centers in the body and astrology) and learned about the way my unique energy was meant to be used in order to better serve me. I learned I was a 1/3 emotional projector. Someone with lower physical energy but my gift and purpose being how deeply I see and can guide others. Someone who is meant to explore, study, and experiment with life and then teach others about what I learn through it. This all felt so true to me.
Around the same time I also came across information about Astrology Birth charts, and I couldn’t get enough of it!! I bought several books and started studying everything I could find about it online (hello google!) I had my own birth chart read from several different astrologers, and continued studied everything I could learn about my own birth chart EV. ERY. DAY. over the next couple years. It was so supportive to me in my journey and so VALIDATING! The ways we are told we are too much or not enough, turns out this is what my energy looks like! This is how I was born and these are the ways the stars are supporting me in where I’m heading and growing! I took some online courses from some Astrologers who I really resonated with and started practicing reading charts of my friends and family.
In 2021 I went to a spiritual women’s retreat in Joshua Tree and met an instant friend who introduced me to opening the Akashic Records. She asked me to open her records for her right there, and I was nervous! I’d heard of this before, but I’d never considered opening them for myself and I wasn’t sure if I could. She encouraged me that I could, that this was an energetic library that everyone has access to, I just needed to practice and to trust myself. I closed my eyes and opened her records using the prayer she shared with me, and was able to give her a message based on what I saw and felt. I opened my own records as well that weekend and I saw myself sitting on a lotus flower, and that my head was an elephant’s head! I saw that every time I blew my trunk, gold coins came out of my heart. I continued practicing and opening the Akashic records, and I took several courses from women who were professional readers and gained a certification after completing an Advanced Akashic course. I eventually wrote my own prayer to access the Akashics and have used this to do readings for many others.
During 2021 and 2022 I received my Reiki level 1 and level 2 certification after having several healing experiences receiving reiki, and feeling a connection to the powerful healing energy I felt. I also studied and practiced Tarot card readings and gave those to friends and family, and eventually I came to realize that it didn’t matter what method or modality I used; yoga, meditation, Reiki, Astrology, Akashic Records, tarot or other divination tools- I could connect and receive and give guidance intuitively.
What’s funny is I have always been intuitive and connected to a higher power but didn’t realize it! Having grown up in the Mormon religion I attributed the experiences I had to having “the spirit” with me, something that was taught to me as a spirit outside of myself that guided me only if stayed worthy of the privilege to earn it, and that this Spirit It would leave me if I was not behaving righteously. So intuitive guidance was never something I had seen as being an innate part of who I am. After leaving those beliefs behind and moving towards a more integrated understanding of myself I reframed my experiences as my own and came to accept that I have intuitive gifts. That I should trust that everything I am interested in is for a reason! Everything I was drawn to for my healing was completely foreign to me and outside of my comfort zone at first, but I knew that doing what I had always done in the past did not leave me feeling better and kept me disconnected from myself, and so I continued studying and practicing everything that drew my interest. And every time I did, I felt more like me! I felt more in tune, more capable, and more trusting of my own intuition, and felt more connected to myself and something bigger than me at the same time. It felt like remembering something that was being unearthed in my soul!
I believe we are all intuitive and that we are connected to something bigger, but that our painful experiences and beliefs of the past keep us from knowing this about ourselves. I think as we all heal and we can help each other remember and offer support when needed along our way. I am passionate about helping others be able to see themselves, to remember who they really are, to connect with and be able to recognize and follow the voice of their own wise inner guidance: their soul. I’m happy to remind them and reflect that back to them on the path of self discovery.
The readings I offer sometimes surprise people with how personal we can get, often people get emotional at the messages of clarity and support. Before every reading I say a prayer to set my intention to be a clear channel and to deliver messages that will be most supportive to this person at this time. And then I trust whatever I see and hear and feel for the client and deliver the messages. One of my favorite experiences doing a reading was this girl wanted a reading about her career, (and we did eventually get to the questions about her career in the reading) but immediately upon opening her records I started to receive messages from her baby in spirit telling her to get ready because she was going to have a baby in 9 months! I was kind of nervous to tell my client this! I am not a doctor and this was no small news. But a few weeks later she messaged me and said that yes she confirmed she was pregnant! I have now had enough experiences like this to where I have learned to trust that what God and the Universe wants to share in support of the client will come through in a way they can receive it.
I offer Astrology birth chart, Akashic Records, and Tarot intuitive readings. Most people who book these readings are curious about their life purpose and life path. Sometimes they are going through something difficult or are in a transitional time in their lives and are drawn to these readings for extra support, clarity and guidance. That is what I offer. I am not someone who will leave you feeling afraid and needing to keep coming back for something outside of yourself. My whole goal is to help you feel as supported as possible for what you’re going through and help you see your own gifts and strengths that you came into this world born with, fully capable to make it through and do what you’re here to do. To help you realize that who you are is meant to be. That you have a reason for being here and that everything you have been through has been leading you to your purpose and to the person you are becoming.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
What helped build my reputation within my market has been me sharing my process as I went along. I brought people with me on my healing journey and shared pieces of it over the course of a few years. I shared what I was learning, what classes I was taking, I shared things I found interesting and experiences I had as I was developing more into my gifts. I starting offering sessions for trade and for friends and family, and then friends of friends and others started to book with me. I started asking for people to write reviews about their experiences having a reading with me and then I shared those reviews online. I worked with several readers and healers in my field who were further along than me and learned from them, and eventually they came to me for a reading and shared about me with their online followings. I have been gradually growing and getting my name out there as a consequence of a natural succession of things. The more I have lived out my growing and learning experiences and shared about it, the more people have begun to trust me that I not only know about what I’m doing, but I’ve also lived it.
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
I think the most important or most helpful thing to know for succeeding in my field is that there is no competition. I believe that if I am authentically sharing who I am and what I believe and the way that I do things, the right clients will be drawn to me. There are many spiritual/intuitive guides and healers out there in the world who offer similar things to what I do. And yet there is no one who does it in the way that I do. No one with my unique life experiences and challenges that I’ve walked through to come out on the other side with the widsom and perspective I’ve cultivated. No one who translates the messages in the language the way that I see, hear, feel, and speak them. I know that if I am drawn to work with someone or with a specific modality, then there is something there for me. And I know that’s how it works for others too! Instead of trying to convince people to book with me, I want people to trust themselves and their gut and their curiosity and their intuition. . I want you to come to me only if you feel drawn to me and my work. Above ALL, I trust myself and I want you to trust yourself. Trust yourself. Trust yourself. This is how I feel like aligning with success happens for everyone all around.
Contact Info:
- Website: surrendertosoul.com
- Instagram: @iam.crystal.kelly