17: There’s a Crystal in my Bra Right Now | Magdalena McClellan

Melissa Urban:
Hi, my name is Melissa Urban and you’re listening to Do The Thing, a podcast where we explore what’s been missing every time you’ve tried to make a change and make it stick. Today my guest is Magdalena McClellan, a personal friend and the one I most often choose to help me navigate my own energy work. Magdalena uses her intuitive gifts and various energy modalities to help you redirect your current life course to health, happiness, and spiritual fulfillment. She uses crystals and their properties as tools to help her clients tap into their truth, heal from past hurts, move toward energetic balance, and find deeper purpose.

Melissa Urban:
Today’s episode is not a Crystals 101. You can find all kinds of information about the various stones and their physical and energetic properties from any number of texts or Magdalena’s website. Instead, we’ll explore how we use crystals in our own lives, Magdalena’s philosophy on keeping it simple and not over complicating your energy work. And at the end, I’ll share the five stones I use the most in my own personal growth work.

Melissa Urban:
Before we begin our discussion, however, a history lesson. Crystals have been used as long as history exists in as many cultures as imaginable, from the ancient Sumerians to the Romans to the Maori to Native Americans, and have played a part in all religions. Cultures have used crystals, rocks, and gems in talismans and amulets for health and healing, for their mystical properties, and for decoration. In the 1980s, in the rise of the New Age culture, the use of crystals and gemstones began to reemerge as a healing method. Much of the practice was drawn from old traditions shared via books published in the ’80s or ’90s.

Melissa Urban:
As with any culturally significant practice, it’s important for those outside of that culture to appreciate, not appropriate. As a reminder, cultural appropriation is the adoption of the customs, practices, or ideas of one people or society by members of another typically more dominant people or society. And no, we’re not off the hook because just about every culture has a history with crystals. There are some practices, terms, objects, and plants that are spiritually and culturally significant to certain populations, like smudging with palo santo or crystal healers who manipulate chi within an appropriate religious background.

Melissa Urban:
To pluck those out without a proper knowledge of the history or context in which they were used and adopt these practices as our own is disrespectful. This is not a political correctness issue, this is about being respectful of our fellow humans. Sometimes in these lessons, analogies are helpful. So imagine this, a popular yoga teacher decides to hold a yoga festival on your loved one’s grave site because the location is just so beautiful. An event planner holds a birthday party in your community church because the alter is the perfect cake cutting Instagram opportunity. Or, a friend asks to wear your Purple Heart or Medal of Honor as an accessory at Burning Man.

Melissa Urban:
I think we’d all agree that each and every one of those situations demonstrates a horrific lack of respect for the meaning and symbolic nature of those sites or objects. We have to do the same when it comes to traditions outside of our own culture. And by we, I’m mostly talking about white people. I bought my first crystal from a shop in Sedona, Arizona about 10 years ago without asking the source or even knowing its properties. After discovering some people on Instagram and meeting Magdalena, a fellow Utahn, I began investing in crystals as a supplement to my own healing journey post divorce. That’s when I began to research their history, origins, and cultural significance.

Melissa Urban:
Since then, I actively seek information about these practices like crystal use, energy cleansing, and reiki, and I’ve always passed what I’ve learned along to Magdalena. We’ve had conversations about the practice of smoke cleansing, crystal sourcing, and cultural appropriation versus appreciation. She’s just as eager to learn and apply what we’ve learned as I am, though neither of us claim to be experts. I use crystals in my health and spiritual practices for energy flow, meditation, and intention.

Melissa Urban:
I’ve done research into the cultural significance of these rituals. I avoid those that hold significant meaning to certain populations, like the Native North American ritual of smudging with white sage. And I source my crystals from someone I know carries forward the same practices and conscientiousness. Sacred spaces are being desecrated by visitors leaving crystals in New Age offerings. Lands are being overmined with poor environmental practices and labor violations to provide for New Age capitalism. New Age festivals and ceremonies are decimating the fabric of sacred sites and disrespecting Native traditions and ancestry.

Melissa Urban:
It is important that we not co-opt sacred practices for our own. White people can implement crystals into our intentions, meditation, and spiritual practices in a way that appreciates, not appropriates. Except that some things just aren’t for us. Learn about the history and use of crystals, stones, and gemstones in the context of your heritage. Find out what your own ancestors may have burned for cleansing and use that instead. Ask your crystal dealer where they source from, and research any environmental, cultural, or labor implications of your purchase. And if they can’t or won’t tell you, move on. And please continue to educate yourself and be respectful of the cultures where these beautiful traditions originated.

Melissa Urban:
I appreciate Magdalena for her willingness to have these conversations, to look at her own practices and make changes where needed. Before we recorded, she told me a story about visiting a Native American festival here in Utah as a child, and desperately wanting to buy a headdress offered in one of the vendor’s stalls. Her dad told her, “No, that is for them, not for you.” An immigrant himself, he instilled in her a sense of reverence and appreciation for the culture, and she’s worked hard to ensure her work and offerings stay on the side of respect and appreciation.

Melissa Urban:
There’s a lot happening culturally in our country. People seem to be in a state of constant shock and anxiety. Meditation and crystals are one way I’ve found to mitigate my energetic highs and lows. This can work for all kinds of people across all kinds of culture, but to set out on healing practices without a mindset of appreciation is really missing the mark. Please keep this conversation in mind throughout the discussion and in your own practices with energy work. Now onto the conversation.

Melissa Urban:
Magdalena, welcome to Do The Thing. I’m so happy to be talking to you in person today.

Magdalena M.: I am so stoked, thank you for having me.

Melissa Urban: Yeah, we’ve been sitting here talking for like an hour about all kinds of things. But before we get to all the good stuff, the first thing I ask every guest is, what’s your thing?

Magdalena M.:
This, I mean, I could take an hour to answer this. But I guess if you boil it down, my thing is to bring people to their ultimate soul truth. To make them feel their best and highest self.

Melissa Urban:
I love that so much, and you’ve definitely done that for me. And a big part of your work is working with crystals. Tell me a little bit about crystals.

Magdalena M.:
I’m an immigrant from Poland, and we came to the U.S. when I was five. My dad came two years prior in search of a better life. We had breadlines and meat lines, and not enough healthcare there. So he brought us to the U.S. and he wanted to integrate us into American culture. So he brought ranch dressing, white bread, and ketchup, and he was obsessed. It was the land of cowboys and Indians. So needless to say, he was super into what Utah had to offer. There’s a lot of Native American culture here. So he would take us to pow wows and Native American festivals, and I remember waking up on Sunday mornings to the sound of the Native American station. And he never played this music at his auto body shop that he owned, and he never played it in the car. It was only on Sunday mornings when he would make breakfast. And this was not just a morning thing, it was in the afternoon, too.

Magdalena M.:
He would grab a glass of milk and a Kit Kat, and he would lay down and listen to this music, and I think it grounded him. And then he’d turn it off and we’d either go to Liberty Park or he’d drive us to Wyoming for these festivals. And I remember he would buy us trinkets and whatever the artisans had, and turquoise rings. I think it kind of started a fascination with spirituality that way, and tethering myself to earth energy the way I saw around me. That kind of started a different, I guess a different trajectory for me to kind of dive into what other realms of spirituality there were.

Melissa Urban:
Whether that was conscious or unconscious, I don’t know, but you are exposed to it.

Magdalena M.:
I liked it. It was cool.

Melissa/Magdale:
… exposed to this idea that there was something bigger than you, and that energy was connected and that it needed to be respected, and it was something to be revered, and it was personal. There’s another story, can we tell it?

Melissa Urban:
Yeah.

Magdalena M.:
Okay, I’m going to take it back to about seven years old. My dad took me to our first swap meet, and he was a mechanic, and he would go and try and find some car parts or whatever he needed to kind of supplement his shop. And he would set me free with a $20 bill, and I would go find pretty rocks and shiny things. And that kind of grew into I guess a collection.

Melissa Urban:
You found your first crystal at a swap meet? Did you know what it was?

Magdalena M.:
It was a little jasper arrowhead.

Melissa Urban:
Really?

Magdalena M.:
It was like nothing, you know.

Melissa Urban:
And what drew you to that? You were at a swap meet, I’m sure there were tons of toys.

Magdalena M.:
Well, okay, I guess I should go back to all of this. So I was a really weird little kid, I really was, and it was… I would write down my dreams starting, I don’t know, 9, 10, 11, because I thought they were… there had to be something to it. So I’d keep a journal of my dreams and I always collected rocks, and I’m talking any kind of rocks. I’ve always kept them, I’ve always had them around the house. And so now that I’ve got my own kids and my own life, crystals have become not just a core, but a place or a source of focus and meditation.

Melissa Urban:
So did you come about crystals just in that organic, authentic way? Or at some point did you start researching and studying kind of the different forms of stones and what they meant, and the energy they imparted?

Magdalena M.:
That’s a really good question. After I had children, I just kind of got tired of being anxious and nervous, and not knowing. So I dove into meditation, and then I dove more into crystals just kind of visiting metaphysical shops. And then I met a man named Jerry Marchand, and he is a crystal dealer in Massachusetts. He is also… he’s kind of like this mineral hound. I think he teaches at Amherst University, I think it’s University of…

Melissa Urban:
UMass Amherst maybe or something?

Magdalena M.:
UMass Amherst, that’s correct. But he would get a new shipment in and he would say, “Hey, what do you think of this one?” And I would ask him, “Well, tell me more about it.” And so he would tell me how the color got derived or where it’s categorized scientifically, and that sort of just snowballed into more.

Melissa Urban:
Finding out about these crystals from this mentor.

Magdalena M.:
Yes.

Melissa Urban:
And also coming from a place of, there’s something in my life that feels off balance and I want to try to use every tool in my kind of toolbox to get back into balance. How has that morphed into using crystals in your life today? What does your own crystal usage look like? How are you incorporating it into your life and the life of your family?

Magdalena M.:
As you kind of study properties, the pink stones, the prink crystals are more around the heart chakra, right? But there’s also a protective quality about them. So I would hold these crystals in… I’d hold them and just kind of exhale and see where they kind of took me in my thoughts or in my feelings, and then I would test it out in the home.

Magdalena M.:
So I would put a crystal, it’s a Himalayan pink quartz with some chlorite inclusions in the middle of the living room to see if it would make my little girls less annoyed with each other after school or whatever. And it kind of worked because in those rooms, they would read together or they would want to kind of congregate together. And then I’ve had daughters who have sleep disturbance, and I would use a stone just to kind of test it out under the bed or under the pillow or have them hold it, and it worked. And whether it was placebo or not, I don’t know.

Melissa Urban:
Well, did your daughters know that you were using these crystals for this purpose? Was it like, “Okay, here, I’m putting this in the middle of the room and now I’m going to observe your behavior?” Or was it all like, they didn’t know that there was something under their bed, and you were just observing.

Magdalena M.:
They did not know about the thing under their bed, that’s for sure, but… because they would’ve taken it out and played with it. But it was more like, “Hey, do you think this is pretty?” “Yeah, I think it’s pretty.” “Do you want to hold it?” “Yeah.” And then all of a sudden it’s in their lap, or my six year old’s got it next to her tummy, wherever she needs it. And she’s awesome, she’ll… I’ll walk in and she’s like, “I took everything out and it’s on the floor in a star.” And I’m like, “You’re gridding, you’re putting them where you need them.” So…

Melissa Urban:
Yeah, yeah. My son will do that as well. He’ll take the crystals that he has and every once in a while for no reason, no discernible reason, before he’ll go to bed he’ll say, “Mom, I need to arrange. I need to set up my crystals.” And I always let him of course. He might be stalling to go to bed.

Magdalena M.:
Maybe.

Melissa Urban:
But I’m always going to let him do this. But it’s really interesting that he’ll put them into a shape and occasionally I’ll text you and he’ll be like, “Yeah, he’s feeling very grounded. This one’s pointing towards the window and this one’s pointing towards the bed.” I think intuitively, he’s reacting to it in a specific way. I don’t think he knows what every crystal is supposed to do.

Magdalena M.:
They don’t need to know, and that’s a really great point because children don’t operate out of ego. We have to have the clearest, most beautiful piece to put on our coffee table. They don’t care, they just… it works.

Melissa Urban:
Yeah, yeah. So each crystal, you mentioned the pink ones kind of center around the heart chakra. I know I’ve got a nice bright blue one, and blue is kind of related to the throat chakra. Where’s the best place for someone to learn about what each of the stones, kind of how they I guess engaged energetically?

Magdalena M.:
So because this is a multi billion dollar industry now, not just a fad, you’re going to get conflicting information or you might get not enough. My favorite go to, and she’s amazing, her name is Judy Hall, and she wrote The Crystal Bible one through four I believe, and then there is an author by the last name of Philips. He’s got a great book. They all are pretty much, you know, the information coincides. So if it’s in writing, they kind of just play off of each other. You really can’t go wrong. But I would definitely dive into more of the literature than just what you see on the internet.

Melissa Urban:
So for me, it can be sometimes really helpful to know what a specific stone does. And I’m making quoting fingers, right? The energy that it imparts. I’ve got one in particular where I know if I’m public speaking, that’s the one that I throw on. Or if I’m in negotiations, that’s the one that I put on because I know it kind of helps me tell the truth from BS.

Magdalena M.:
Sure.

Melissa Urban:
But there are other times where I feel like I assign my own meaning to them.

Magdalena M.:
Perfect.

Melissa Urban:
There’s one stone where it’s like if I want to feel closer to Brandon, that’s the one I throw on my wrist. Or if I’m feeling like I just need to be a little bit calm and mellow like the ocean, I’m putting on a lot of light greens and blues. Is there a right way versus a wrong way to include crystals in your life?

Magdalena M.:
Absolutely, you’re spot on. Because Judy Hall is great, but what the hell does she know? If you’re feeling a certain way and you feel that way, great. She’s not the end all be all. And so these authors have provided kind of the blueprint or the bones, and it’s really up to you to take that where you need it. If a crystal opens up the throat chakra, it doesn’t necessarily always mean that attributes toward speaking your truth. It could be finding your voice in general, or maybe finding who you are. It’s really so subjective, so definitely yes. For the bare bones and the kind of basic information and where to find them, or what to look for as far as authenticity goes, books are great. But definitely you’re your last stop.

Melissa Urban:
And you sometimes get really specific with your uses. I remember an Instagram post you put up where you were like, “I’m going shopping and this is the stone I’m bringing with me because it helps me find the bargains.”

Magdalena M.:
Yeah.

Melissa Urban:
Tell me about that.

Magdalena M.:
So that’s abalone. I try it out. I, like I said, I’m a weird kid. I took it shopping to HomeGoods once, and I had deals. And I thought, there’s got to be something to this. Also, when I put it on, I think I read somewhere that the abalone shells will kind of help you with bartering back in the day, that’s kind of what they were used for. So I was like, oh, why not? I tried it, and every single time I go it’s deals galore.

Melissa Urban:
Yeah, I love that. And the way I use them, I’ve got actual rocks. I have physical crystals on my table right now, all of which came from you.

Magdalena M.:
I love them.

Melissa Urban:
And I’ve got some by my bedside and I’ve got some on my dresser. Occasionally I’ll throw one in my pocket, occasionally I’ll put one in my bra. I wear them on my wrist, you could wear them as an amulet or as a necklace. Is there any specificity to how you have these on your body or in your home?

Magdalena M.:
I mean, aside from eating them…

Melissa Urban:
Yeah.

Magdalena M.:
… they can go pretty much anywhere. But I think don’t overdo it because it’s just… I don’t know.

Melissa Urban:
Well, do you feel like you can… I mean, too much is too much. There have been times where I’ve gotten to the gym, started to go through my workout, because that’s the first thing I do every morning. And I feel off, and I look at my wrist and I figure out which one I need to take off, and I take it off and it’s better. Now again, I realize that to some people listening to this, they’re going to be like, “Really Melissa? Is your energy issue related to this one thing on your wrist?” But I can feel it, I can absolutely feel as I’m sitting there and putting them on what I need in this moment. And if something is off, I can tell that it feels off.

Magdalena M.:
Okay, so we’re going to open up a little bit of can of woo woo worms right now. When you tune in to your needs, when you tune in via the pieces that you wear, you’re actually tuning in to the higher self. And with these pieces and what they mean, and what they open up as far as chakra system goes, you are actually tapping into some maybe inadequacies, some needs, maybe some perforations within the auric field, or maybe some gunked up chakras that you need to clear. And it’s kind of like flipping the switch, so you’re absolutely spot on with that. If you’ve got them head to toe and all over your hat, I mean, there can be too much. Be mindful of it, and then it means more.

Melissa Urban:
You know, I have this weird rule. I don’t know, again, that I only… I never put on more than five at a time.

Magdalena M.:
There you go, perfect.

Melissa Urban:
And that came from absolutely nothing. It’s not like you told me that or I read that somewhere, but for some reason, and I usually don’t even wear five, or sometimes I’ll split them up on two different wrists. But yeah, this goes back to the idea that I don’t think you can do it wrong.

Magdalena M.:
Totally.

Melissa Urban:
I think that if you feel energetically off and you look at your wrist, and taking off one bracelet is more pleasing to you or feels more calming or more centering, or taking it from your pocket and sticking it in your bra makes you feel better, I don’t see why that… you shouldn’t do that.

Magdalena M.:
Right, and I guess what I’m saying about not putting 10,000 bracelets on, tune in to what you need.

Melissa Urban:
Well, and if you put them all on, there’s not a lot of intentionality there.

Magdalena M.:
Perfect.

Melissa Urban:
I’m incredibly intentional. So this is my routine. Every morning, people have asked me, I take every single bracelet I own, and let me tell you, my collection, thanks to you, is incredibly extensive. I probably own 50 different bracelets and a variety of-

Magdalena M.:
Don’t tell.

Melissa Urban:
I know, because you keep sending them to me and I love you for it. But I put them all out and I literally ask myself in that moment, what do you need today? And as I go through and I look at the colors, and I look at the shapes and I look at how bright they are, and I look at how much they sparkle, and I look at the size of them, I’m physically moving my hand over the pile. And I’m picking what I think I need and putting it on my wrist. And Brandon will attest, he’ll watch me do it. I’ll put one on, sit for a minute, take it off. Put a different one on, sit for a minute, move the order around. But I don’t know if in that moment it is because I’ve chosen the exact perfect crystals for my energy or because in that moment I’ve chosen to be so incredibly intentional about how to begin my day.

Magdalena M.:
Perfect, love it.

Melissa Urban:
I have had a couple say, “Energy comes in through one side of the body and out through the other. So you should wear what you want to project into the world on your right, or your grounding energy on your left.” I don’t even remember how it goes, but is there any truth to that?

Magdalena M.:
Okay, so I am a little bit of the practical application of energy arts. I try not to convolute it. I’m not going to be popular when I say this, but that’s okay. Wear whatever the hell you want because who knows what you need? They don’t know, they’re people, right? Whomever is saying, you know… But in meditating, I always draw in on the left, but I will also switch the direction of my flow or of the energy intake on my right as well to become balanced. So although it might be true for some, I say do whatever the hell you want.

Melissa Urban:
Yeah. There are times where the ones I put on my left wrist, because I usually, when I’m in pictures, you can always almost see my right hands because I’m taking the picture with my left, because I’m lefthanded. So there will be times where I’ll wear one or two on my left, and that’s the one that’s just for me that nobody gets to see. And usually it’s related to my love life or my son, it’s something I put on specifically for them.

Magdalena M.:
Cool.

Melissa Urban:
Sometimes I will throw, if I feel like I need a little extra grounding, the grounding one goes on the left. There’s no rhyme or reason behind it.

Magdalena M.:
Yeah.

Melissa Urban:
It’s just what I feel like I need.

Magdalena M.:
The intention is there, that’s it.

Melissa Urban:
Yeah, I think that’s really important. What happens when you drop a crystal and it breaks?

Magdalena M.:
Dun dun dun.

Melissa Urban:
Or your bracelet, you put it on and it scatters.

Magdalena M.:
Well first of all, you can send it right back because I will help you. I will hook you up. And then as far as crystals breaking, it was supposed to happen because it did. And I don’t know if you’ve… did you ever read that post I put? My daughters had this gorgeous elestial clear quartz, and they would tow it around the house and they would fight over it, and they would be in someone’s room one night and another girl’s room the other night. And one day in the kitchen, my youngest drops it, and it broke into three pieces.

Melissa Urban:
Oh.

Magdalena M.:
And they’re crying and, “Oh, I’m sorry, mamma.” And I was really mad, but whatever. And I said, “Great, now you guys each have one.”

Melissa Urban:
Right.

Magdalena M.:
So when it breaks, sometimes it needs to be in different places. When it shatters and you’re like, “Oh man, I really don’t know what I’m going to do with these shards of selenite.” Put it in a potted plant.

Melissa Urban:
Oh, yeah.

Magdalena M.:
Or, it’s done its job. Bury it, or I usually put mine in a potted plant.

Melissa Urban:
Yeah.

Magdalena M.:
Just to have a new home.

Melissa Urban:
I have a lot of crystals through all my plants.

Magdalena M.:
Yeah, and that’s not by accident. Sometimes things just break because it’s their time to break.

Melissa Urban:
Yeah. Usually it breaks because it’s in my bra and I take my bra off, and I forget that it’s in my bra, and it falls on the floor.

Magdalena M.:
Sure.

Melissa Urban:
Well, I know why I put crystals in my bra, but there is a whole movement. There are specific bras designed now…

Magdalena M.:
No way.

Melissa Urban:
… to hold your crystal, yeah.

Magdalena M.:
That’s amazing.

Melissa Urban:
Max and Vera makes a line that has a little pocket, I’m touching my boobs right now, where you…

Magdalena M.:
She is, I swear.

Melissa Urban:
… stick your crystal right in there.

Magdalena M.:
That’s awesome.

Melissa Urban:
Is there any reason that you’d want to put a crystal so close to your heart?

Magdalena M.:
I don’t do it every day, but there are times where I know I’m going to be in front of a group or in a situation where I will have to dig a little bit deeper. And that’s when it goes on my left side. If you’re going through a divorce, say you’re going through custody issues, or say you are grieving for any reason. Put that stuff in your bra, it becomes closer to the skin. It’s right within that auric field, it’s right within the light body and the physical body. If you need it, do it.

Melissa Urban:
Yeah.

Magdalena M.:
There’s also massage wands and all sorts of sex toys even made out of rose quartz these days.

Melissa Urban:
Oh yeah, I have heard about that actually. Didn’t it… Well, this is a whole other discussion.

Magdalena M.:
Pretty much.

Melissa Urban:
But didn’t…

Magdalena M.:
Sorry.

Melissa Urban:
… Gwenyth Paltrow sell like an $88 jade egg that you were supposed to put in your vajayjay?

Magdalena M.:
Yeah, that broke the internet.

Melissa Urban:
It sure did. But actually, that’s going to segue into a really good point which is please don’t buy your crystals from a chain store.

Magdalena M.:
Yes.

Melissa Urban:
Or Anthropologie, or Urban Outfitters, or Goop. There are some serious issues in terms of mining and environmental issues.

Magdalena M.:
Yes.

Melissa Urban:
And labor issues. Can you talk about where you get your crystals from?

Magdalena M.:
Yes.

Melissa Urban:
I know you’re really conscious of this.

Magdalena M.:
Now listen here, I am but a human so I am still learning and I have learned it’s just kind of uncanny that these things come from the earth, but we don’t know where from the earth they come from. So jade predominantly comes from Burma. I think it’s the Myanmar mine, I think. And The New York Times actually did a story on them, and it’s kind of being coined as the blood diamond, right? Mine. And there are serious repercussions about ethnic borders, and yeah, there’s problems.

Magdalena M.:
So for me, okay, so I’ve got a lot of friends. I’m not disclosing anything because I want to keep my business life, but there is a, the Middleville mine in Herkimer, New York. And I know how many hands it’s kind of changed over to. There are opal sites in Colorado and in North Carolina that I’ve checked in with. I also have a source in Thailand. Why there? Because Thailand borders Burma, but then it’s also really accessible to the Philippines. So the countries that have some extra sanctions, rules and regulations. Argentinean rhodochrosite, so Argentina. Spain, it’s got a lot of sound places for garnet, celestite.

Magdalena M.:
Canada is very astringent on its laws, and so the Philippines have actually implemented quite a bit of rules and regulations. So my contact in Thailand, I say, “Hey, is it Burma or is it Philippines?” And she tells me, and we’re honest with each other. I don’t sell jade, I also don’t sell citrine out of South Africa because there’s seven year old boys that are told to run and get it.

Melissa Urban:
Right, you’ve had to drop some suppliers.

Magdalena M.:
Yes, because I have.

Melissa Urban:
I see, yeah.

Magdalena M.:
And there’s also, I had a green moonstone that simply isn’t mined anymore because there needs to be some left. We can’t over mine it, so I don’t carry that anymore. And I had a distributor reach out, “Hey, I’ve got some.” But I know it shouldn’t be mine, and I guess that’s my call to make ultimately.

Melissa Urban:
Yeah, but that point is that you’re conscientious about it. There’s something really off about taking this thing that’s supposed to come from the earth that carries this energy, and it has these healing and magical properties, and then tainting it through the supply process.

Magdalena M.:
These aren’t renewable resources. They’re not, so let’s not get greedy. And my citrine bracelets online are more cloudy and they’re not as clear, but I’ll be damned if I go outside of my ethical values to go get the clearest one.

Melissa Urban:
Yeah.

Magdalena M.:
I just won’t do it, I don’t need to.

Melissa Urban:
Yeah, I think that’s…

Magdalena M.:
It works the same.

Melissa Urban:
… smart. And again, for all of us who are consuming and being really conscientious about appreciation and not appropriation, and these are the kind of questions that you have to ask. Where does your stuff come from? Where is the source? And there have been a lot of articles that I’ll link to in the show notes that have been kind of talking about this because the New Age movement just continues to grow. There’s more and more demand, which means there’s more of a market for capitalism for this, which means that corners are being cut.

Magdalena M.:
Totally.

Melissa Urban:
And that’s not the kind of system that we want to participate in.

Magdalena M.:
And it’s evolving, people are waking up. Have I ever purchased a citrine from Congo? Yes.

Melissa Urban:
Sure.

Magdalena M.:
And that was six years ago.

Melissa Urban:
Yeah.

Magdalena M.:
And I didn’t educate myself.

Melissa Urban:
Yeah.

Magdalena M.:
Now I do, and it’s not going to happen.

Melissa Urban:
I think that’s good.

Magdalena M.:
And so my advice also, if you’re looking for crystals, if the distributor can’t give you the country of origins, perhaps it’s time to look a different way. Because diamonds are regulated, I think this stuff eventually will be, too.

Melissa Urban:
Yeah.

Magdalena M.:
I’ts just a process.

Melissa Urban:
Yeah, that would be a very good thing I think for the industry. So, crystals aren’t no maintenance. Because there is an energetic transfer, you do have to occasionally clean them.

Magdalena M.:
Yes.

Melissa Urban:
What does that look like?

Magdalena M.:
So the clear quartz doesn’t really need to be cleansed. For your kind of energy buffer, sometimes I will spritz them with a little saltwater or even stick them outside for a minute. But selenite, citrine, even amethyst quartz, I don’t typically cleanse. I use them for cleansing, whereas I don’t sell malachite, but malachite really absorbs a ton of energy. So it would require more cleansing, I mean weekly in my opinion. So because it’s high maintenance, I just don’t even…

Melissa Urban:
Yeah.

Magdalena M.:
Yeah.

Melissa Urban:
What do you do to cleanse them? What are some of the options?

Magdalena M.:
So I actually, I have a friend who owns a garden center and she makes me some sage oil that we kind of put in a little diffuser or dispenser, and I’ll spritz it that way. There’s incense, you can use any kind of smoke whether it’s cedarwood. And then sometimes you can take your pieces and put them on top of a quartz cluster, and that will kind of [crosstalk 00:29:24]

Melissa Urban:
I have a selenate charging plate.

Magdalena M.:
Perfect.

Melissa Urban:
That I keep a lot of my stones on, yeah.

Magdalena M.:
Perfect.

Melissa Urban:
But then I also just stick them outside in the sun.

Magdalena M.:
Yes.

Melissa Urban:
And then the last, but look, I still have two on my table from the last full moon…

Magdalena M.:
Yeah.

Melissa Urban:
… that I just threw out there and let them charge overnight.

Magdalena M.:
Selenite is great. I try and look at all the ways, you don’t have to have a specific way. There are many ways to cleanse.

Melissa Urban:
Yeah, and is there a way for you to know that it’s time to do sort of an energy clearing?

Magdalena M.:
You’ll feel heavy. They’ll feel heavy, and for heaven’s sakes, take them off at night. You need a break and so do they. So if you take your stuff off at night, stick them in a little selenite bowl, you’re done, that’s it. It doesn’t need to be super complicated.

Melissa Urban:
When someone buys crystals from you, they buy a bracelet, they buy a stone, what do you do to prepare them to be sent?

Magdalena M.:
It’s so magical. Not really, it’s super simple. They are strung and they are… I give them a sort of physical clearing where I kind of do say a prayer over them, whether that resonates or not, it works. And then as I’m packaging them, they sit on a huge cathedral quartz the size of my thigh. And they kind of get ready, and as I am shipping them, even at the post office, I will send reiki and do a reiki prayer. And off they go into the bin.

Melissa Urban:
Tell me about reiki.

Magdalena M.:
Well…

Melissa Urban:
You’re a reiki practitioner.

Magdalena M.:
Yes.

Melissa Urban:
What is reiki? I know it’s energy focused.

Magdalena M.: Right.
It originated in Japan, and I guess if you boil it down, it is a way of sending and receiving energy either up close or from a distance. It can do no harm. It absolutely, I’ve seen it speed up healing. I’ve seen it open up people to the good and difficult situations. It’s just energy transference I guess.

Melissa Urban:
Yeah, and so you can impart that through the jewelry that you’re sending out.

Magdalena M.:
Absolutely, you can reiki your dog. It’s the best.

Melissa Urban:
Yeah.

Magdalena M.:
My dog won’t sit still. But my kids, when they can’t sleep or when they have a test coming up, I’ll sit them, and they usually lay face down on a pillow or kind of rub their back and send reiki through that. I think mothers or fathers, or whomever, that takes care of children can do that, can transfer the good vibes and the light to their kids.

Melissa Urban:
Yeah, I feel like I can do that with my son, absolutely. For sure energetically, and I have received reiki from you long distance, and it has been actually pretty powerful.

Magdalena M.:
Cool. They say reiki is kind of the gateway drug to other mediums, but I just think it’s just beautiful and super easy. It’s awesome.

Melissa Urban:
Yeah. So we have a lot of people in my community who are really open to improving their health and their habits, their relationship with food, leveling up, self growth and personal development through any avenue possible. And crystals could be a really good avenue to support, in conjunction with all of the other things that they’re doing, but where do you start?

Magdalena M.:
Well…

Melissa Urban:
Because I think even if I just go to your website, I get really… The first time I went to your website to order stuff, I was like, “Oh my gosh. There’s all this stuff. What do I need? What should I pick? Do I pick a bundle? Do I put my own stuff together?” What’s the best place for people to start?

Magdalena M.:
So I post about this a little bit, but honestly even just aesthetics. If you look at something and it seems appealing, then read about it on the site. I would honestly, beginner style, just grab a clear quartz. You meditate to draw on energy with the point up, and to dissipate anything you don’t want to have holding on, point down and go from there. There’s really no wrong way. People get hung up on terminology, or is this wrong, is this wrong? I believe in God and I think God put a lot of stuff on this earth, and it’s really just kind of up to us to see what works for you.

Melissa Urban:
Yeah, and I love that idea that it’s okay to look at aesthetic, to just look aesthetically.

Magdalena M.:
Totally.

Melissa Urban:
Like this blue stone looks really pretty, and then when I read more about it I’m like, oh all right, well it’s working on my throat and that’s something that I know is always kind of stuck, and…

Magdalena M.:
A lot of people get hung up on, am I doing this right? Well, I think you are.

Melissa Urban:
Yeah.

Magdalena M.:
There’s really no rule.

Melissa Urban:
Yeah, I love that. I love that. So the last thing I ask all of my guests is, what is one piece of advice you could give for someone who was ready to do the thing?

Magdalena M.:
So it has to be a one sentence answer?

Melissa Urban:
No, because some people-

Magdalena M.:
Okay, oh boy.

Melissa Urban:
Some people are like, “I’m going to tell you five things.”

Magdalena M.:
Oh okay, okay. Once you get rolling, even with buying a piece of furniture for your new office, or even just going to look at a leasing space, or starting that first page of your book. Once that happens, the universe responds in kind. And I believe the universe is a she, so I’m going to say she sees your intention, she sees your effort, and then it just starts right on through.

Melissa Urban:
I love it.

Magdalena M.:
Just start.

Melissa Urban:
Just start.

Magdalena M.:
Yeah.

Melissa Urban:
Yes, yes.

Magdalena M.:
You know what? Send Melissa some crystals.

Melissa Urban:
No, no, no. Don’t send me.

Magdalena M.:
No, no, no, no.

Melissa Urban:
I don’t-

Magdalena M.:
But that’s what I did essentially. I was like, “I know she’d love these.”

Melissa Urban:
I know you did. You did, and I’ve been super grateful. And I basically began using them in absolutely every area of my life. Everything in my kid to Brandon has bracelets now, and he’s got stones he carries. And they’re in my plants, and they’re on my shelves, and they’re around my bed, and I’ve worked them into every area of my life. And it makes me feel really grounded and centered and intentional, so I appreciate it. So where can people find more about you, and where can people look at your offerings and your good crystal stuff?

Magdalena M.:
Cool. So, MyMetaphysicalMaven.com is my website. You can reach me on Instagram by the same handle, MyMetaphysicalMaven. And I pretty much answer every DM I’m sent, so yeah.

Melissa Urban:
Wonderful. Thank you so much…

Magdalena M.:
You bet, anytime.

Melissa Urban:
… for talking to me about this.

Magdalena M.:
My pleasure.

Melissa Urban:
It was really fun. You’re going to get a ton of emails.

Magdalena M.:
Oh, God.

Melissa Urban:
And questions and orders, so get ready.

Magdalena M.:
Bring it on, universe.

Melissa Urban:
Before I go, I wanted to add to the conversation a little bit more in terms of personal guidance for those of you just getting started with crystals. As Magdalena said, there really isn’t a way to get it wrong, so you can just visit her site and see what speaks to you or what you’re drawn to. That’s a great way to begin. But you know how famous chefs will say, “Well if you’re new to cooking, just get these three kitchen knives?” That’s what I want to do for you here today. I want to share the five stones that I find the most helpful in my own energy work and meditations, and share why I love them.

Melissa Urban:
The first stone I wear almost daily is rhodochrosite. It’s a light pink stone, and it’s Magdalena’s favorite for self love and heart healing. I associate it with reclaiming my feminine energy and power. I feel like it helps me be brave, stand up to my fears, and helps me keep my heart open. I also lean on this one pretty heavily when I am processing the effect of my sexual trauma, so when trauma things come up or are triggered, this is the stone I lean on.

Melissa Urban:
The second stone I lean on heavily is rainbow tourmaline. It’s another basically daily wear for me. I associate this one with light grounding and energetic protection, but I feel like it also helps me keep my own energy fields clear. And it’s really pretty, it goes from pink to kind of like a smokey green, to darker more grounding shades. In Chinese culture, this stone is said to inspire healing specifically in the nervous system. And Lord knows, we could all use a little nervous system soothing these days.

Melissa Urban:
Right now, I’m also wearing my seraphinite often. It’s a beautiful forest green stone that’s said to stimulate the third eye or your intuition. Magdalena suggests wearing it during meditation when you’re at a crossroads, which I find super interesting because I’ve been seriously practicing giving things up to God lately with great success. And I’ve naturally been gravitating to this stone without realizing that she recommended this is the exact purpose that you might want to use it for.

Melissa Urban:
Now, I’m going to talk about smoky quartz. This is the one Magdalena suggested you start with in the episode if you were just going to pick up one stone. You can buy it in stone form or bracelet form. I tend to use bracelets more often because what I found is when I have the little stones in my pocket or in my bra, I tend to lose them pretty often where I kind of take better care of my bracelets.

Melissa Urban:
This smoky quartz is great for grounding, energetic protection, and in public spaces it prevents you from taking on too much of other people’s energy. I wear this one and my fire agate any time I do events or speaking engagements, especially if I’m hearing tons of Whole30 stories. I feel like setting this attention allows me to connect and empathize without taking everyone else’s energy home, which is something I want to do.

Melissa Urban:
Finally, herkimer onyx. This is a really pretty, thin, kind of delicate, very, very dark stone bracelet with a herkimer diamond in the middle. Not a fancy diamond, but it’s a really beautiful clear or euclased stone. This is my go to when I feel like I need serious magical powers. These are individually crafted, so no two are the same, and I feel like it brings me a direct connection to the universe while keeping me solidly grounded and safe.

Melissa Urban:
I only wear this one on my left side for some reason. I don’t know if it’s because I’m lefthanded or because I only throw stones on my left when I feel like I need a little extra boost. This one’s not an everyday stone because it feels very powerful and very heavy, and there are definitely days where I don’t need to feel this grounded. But when I need it, I feel like it lends me a kind of superpower centering.

Melissa Urban:
Now remember, as Magdalena said, there is no one right way. But I did want to share with you some of my favorites, although my collection continues to grow. And the length of time it takes me to pick my bracelets out every single morning with intentionality, yeah, that time is creeping up as well. Still, I really enjoy that ritual of choosing them, putting them on my wrist, and reminding myself as I see them throughout the day the intention that I set for myself in the morning.

Melissa Urban:
Before you go, please make sure you visit the show notes at Whole30.com/Podcast. I’ve added a ton of resources on crystals and appreciation, and I’ve linked the stones I’ve mentioned here. I would also love for you to share with me other people I should be following or learning from on the subject of crystals or energy work, especially if they have cultural significance to your heritage. Finally, I’d like to say a big thank you to Dr. Carrie Kholi-Murchison, Whole30’s director of diversity and inclusion. Kholi, thank you so much for helping me better understand cultural appreciation versus appropriation, and providing feedback on this episode.

Melissa Urban:
Thanks for joining me today on Do The Thing. Please continue the conversation with me at Melissa_Hartwig on Instagram, or leave me a voicemail at 321-209-1480. Do The Thing is part of The Onward Project, a family of podcasts brought together by Gretchen Rubin, all about how to make your life better. Check out the other Onward Project podcasts, Happier with Gretchen Rubin, Side Hustle School, and Happier in Hollywood. And as always, if you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave me a five star review, and invite your friends to Do The Thing. See you next week.