Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Leigh Kutner.
Hi Erin Leigh, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
*Trigger warning: I talk about mental health struggles as well as terminal cancer. Please read with care.
It’s not surprising that I became an entrepreneur, but I didn’t guess I’d become a spiritual healer and an artist, too! Running someone else’s business or my own seemed like a likely destination for me, a natural leader. I didn’t know that I’m on the autism spectrum or that I have ADHD until my mid-30’s, but something in me knew I wasn’t cut out for the nonstop grind of law or politics, areas I was drawn to and would likely have been good at. My gifts and interests hadn’t been nurtured much in my chaotic home growing up. I still knew deep down that I was meant for something very specific and important, but I didn’t know what it was well enough to even choose a major as an incoming college Freshman. I was good at writing, musical, outgoing, very creative, and driven, but I was mostly driven to be successful enough that I didn’t have to rely on my parents. I saw them as more harm than good to me, and my ambitions centered mostly around making enough money to be independent from them as soon as possible. I think more than anything I dreamed of a peaceful life. That’s as far as I could get my dreams to go. I now know it’s extremely challenging to dream big, to explore your true self, and decide what you want from the world and what you have to offer the world when your home environment doesn’t feel safe.
I went in undeclared, but I eventually chose a marketing major when I attended Stetson University in Deland, FL, where I received a bachelor’s degree in business administration. I settled on a marketing major because I’m good at it and I saw how I could ultimately use it to sell myself. I never saw myself working for an advertising agency or even in the marketing department of a cool business. Part of me always felt like marketing was a form of manipulation most of the time, something that didn’t sit right with me. I wanted to use what I learned about marketing to tell my story. I wanted to be seen, understood, and appreciated for the amazing and gifted person I knew I was, and my degree gave me the tools to grab people’s attention so that I could do just that. I had mentors in the business school who gave me an internship in resume writing and career building, and that really solidified how I wanted to use what I’d learned at Stetson. I wanted to sell myself.
I didn’t have any long term goals after college. The main goal was getting out of Florida and away from my family. I took a good job before graduation with Sherwin-Williams Paint Company, one of the best companies to work for at the time with excellent benefits and growth potential. A few years later I found myself in Birmingham, AL with my high school sweetheart (now ex-husband) in an absolutely dreamy, beautiful home on 3 acres of wilderness. I loved the nature surrounding us and the freedom from my family drama. I did, however, find work to be a lot, especially at the rate I was climbing and the ambitions I had. It was both physically and mentally demanding on this neurosparkly gal, whether I knew I was neurosparkly or not. I thought I could recover from all that had happened to me and just live a normal life, but I didn’t know that when you’re raised in chaos and a lack of safety, calm and safe feels like a threat. It’s not normal to you. It’s like a room that’s uncomfortably quiet. So what did I do? I blew it all up. I won’t go into the details, but suffice to say that I destroyed the life I had and had to start all over.
This was totally unlike me, the overly responsible honor student, and was clearly a sign that I needed help. I sort of always knew I needed help I wasn’t getting. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety before I graduated from high school, and I sought a lot of help from the counseling center while at Stetson. The drama never stopped, though, I didn’t understand what it was doing to me, keeping me in a perpetual state of fight or flight, and there was no chance ever to recover. Even for the 6+ years I lived in Alabama I couldn’t avoid it completely. My younger brother was struggling with addiction problems, and I felt such guilt for leaving him behind to continue to suffer through our parents alone.
Leaving my best friend and partner of a decade was impulsive and honestly pretty dumb at the time. He and his family had been my only constant and support for a long, long time. I entered some dark times then. I wasn’t able to work anymore to support myself, and my mental health got worse and worse. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and put on a ton of medication, all of which really harmed me physically and wasn’t doing a thing to help someone who didn’t have bipolar disorder at all. I was a terribly traumatized, neurodivergent woman with complex PTSD and no clue what was wrong with her or how to get better. I had no choice but to move back home to Florida where I lived with my mom for a while.
I got better, but I wouldn’t say I figured out what exactly was wrong (or that I got the love, support, and understanding I needed). I think I just realized that I had no choice but to move forward regardless (and that my mother and I wouldn’t survive living together for long). Perhaps I accomplished as much healing as I was capable of at that time. I wasn’t better, but I was better than I was. I was managing and doing the online marketing for a neat little consignment furniture store near my mom’s house when I met my husband, Jeffrey. Like a lot of hurt people, I mistakenly thought that all I needed to do was find the right person and start a family. That would solve all of my problems and make me happy, right? Spoiler alert: I was totally wrong. Luckily Jeffrey was also quite broken and had the same misconception, so we trauma bonded hard; getting married within a year of meeting and having our son a little more than a year after that.
I’ve made so many mistakes in my life, but I don’t regret a single one, nor do I beat myself up for them anymore. I was doing the best I could at the time, every single time, and all of my mistakes are part of my lore and have given me the gift of loads of lessons. In June 2018, when my son was born, I didn’t yet know I was suffering from C-PTSD (or what it was), I didn’t know I was neurodivergent (or what it was), I didn’t know I was queer, (or still couldn’t admit it to myself) and I didn’t know what I wanted from my life aside from motherhood; I really didn’t know (or love) myself at all. The universe saw fit to help me figure all of that out, though. The very same week that I found out I was pregnant, my younger brother and only sibling was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer called Ewing’s Sarcoma. He fought for 18 months, but in March 2019, when my son, Corbin, was only 9 months old, I lost my little brother to cancer. He was 28 years old when he died; a father, a talented musician and chef, and studying to be an astrophysicist.
My parents, who had really always failed to be there for me, certainly couldn’t be there for me as I became a new mother and lost my brother, for they were losing their son. My in-laws had been slowly increasing their attempts to control every aspect of my life, which was greatly hurting my marriage, and my husband, who wasn’t coping well either, was struggling with alcohol abuse. I had never felt more alone or more desperate to improve my circumstances. I didn’t know much, but I knew one thing for sure: I did NOT want my son to experience the childhood and life that I had experienced. I didn’t want him to ever feel unloved or alone. I didn’t want him to ever wish he wasn’t here. My brother was the only person who really understood what we’d been through and how we struggled, internally and outwardly, and with him gone it suddenly felt completely intolerable not to get better. He would never know the peace I was seeking, but I was going to figure it out for myself, in honor of him and for my sweet boy.
I found my way back to a path I tried to start down a few times in my life previously, the path of a Pagan witch. I was raised in a conservative, Christian town, and even when my parents weren’t “being religious,” they for sure subscribed to the fear and hate that so many use religion to justify. My senior year of high school I began studying mysticism and paganism, even buying myself a tarot deck that I treasured, but my mom found it and confiscated it. I’d been shamed for my curiosity, hurt by my parents and by the church, and that led to me becoming totally spiritually closed off, considering myself agnostic for more than a decade. I didn’t really have any spirituality to speak of, until these life events and my studies led me to a massive and powerful spiritual awakening that changed everything.
Once I read about what empaths are, I knew I was on the right track and I dove in head first. I quickly started doing yoga and meditating, using tarot cards to explore my subconscious, and crystals to heal my trauma. I devoured everything I could read about paganism, witchcraft, and shadow work, and it all felt so intuitive. It felt more like remembering than learning. I could finally see that I’d been waiting for someone else to save me, but that it was always me who would be my savior. I wouldn’t have to do it alone, though. I’m not alone, but connected to everything, including the rocks, sticks, birds, grass, and every spirit that had ever lived or will. I began to spend quality time with myself, sitting in front of my altar, forgiving myself and learning to love myself for the first time. I’d always loved rocks and minerals, and I’d always seen them as little friends, not inanimate objects. Witchcraft gave me an explanation for so much I’d felt but hadn’t been able to explain, it gave me the tools to connect to myself and my inner world, and it gave me a map to my self love and personal power. I immediately began to feel like I had control over my life, maybe for the first time ever. I also immediately began to dream bigger and consider my purpose in this life.
During a particularly challenging period of healing, where I was meeting wounded and neglected parts of me and trying to listen to what they had to say and give them what they needed, I had a profound experience. I felt a goddess speaking to me, telling me that I was fulfilling my purpose and that I’m so guided and protected on my path. I know, I know, I probably sound totally crazy, but that’s ok! I don’t know, maybe it wasn’t a goddess. Maybe it was my highest self guiding me, or even my future self. I definitely don’t know much of anything for sure, but I do know that I’m not crazy. I had a powerful spiritual experience, and I’m not ashamed of it. Whoever she was, she told me that I’m here to learn to love myself, forgive myself, and heal, and then I would help others to do the same. She said that in healing myself I would inspire others, including my son, and that would be my way of helping to change the world; starting with breaking generational cycles of trauma in my family tree. She said that learning to love ourselves and others the best we can is what we’re all here for; there’s nothing more important. I sort of felt like I already knew all of that, but I walked away from that encounter knowing it to my core. It’s guided me in difficult times and in making important decisions ever since.
Over these years of becoming a mother and truly facing my healing, I was also becoming increasingly burned out. I had gone from working in an office full time to teaching virtually from home, and I was frequently completely overwhelmed by motherhood and all of the responsibilities I was faced with. The problem with learning to love yourself deeply is that you start making big decisions for yourself; to better love and protect yourself. Sort of slowly and then all at once I decided I was discarding the expectations the world, capitalism, my parents, my husband, and everyone else had for me. I was starting a small business, and it was going to be focused on sharing the tools that had helped me on my healing journey; specifically healing crystals and tarot readings. The insights I gained from using tarot and oracle cards to explore my inner world and face the parts of me I’d found difficult to face was profound. I could see the way focused use of a particular crystal would transform me in a fairly short period of time, especially when worn, like in jewelry. I’d always loved making jewelry, I had my degree in business, I was a natural at all of the witchcraft, and it had lit a lil fire within me. So in October of 2021, Lil Shop of Light & Love was born, but not born to make money, born to make a difference; a difference in me and in the world! I thought, what better way to keep myself on my healing path than to make it my whole life, including my business.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It’s definitely not been a smooth road, but how boring would that be, right? There must be people who walk smoother paths than me, but I don’t think life is supposed to be easy. What would we learn then? Most of my struggles in starting and running my small business have been health or finance related, but I also struggle with maintaining focus with so many interests and projects I’m passionate about, too. I find it difficult to find a balance between how driven I am and how easily I become burned out as a neurodivergent mother. I appear very “normal” or high-functioning to most people, but that’s just because I heavily mask. At home, though, the mask comes off and I have meltdowns from the overwhelm I was suppressing while out in the world. I have difficulty with executive functioning and I suffer from low energy and fatigue associated with POTS (one of my chronic health issues) making all of the adult demands in a day an awful lot for me. Sometimes just basic care for my kiddo and myself is all I can manage in a day. Especially because I was such a late bloomer, I have to constantly reassure myself that there’s plenty of time so that the sense of urgency doesn’t take over and run me off the rails. I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be and there’s plenty of time for me to achieve my dreams.
Starting in late 2023, I had tell myself that extra in order to convince myself to take off almost a year of running my small biz for my health. I have autoimmune disorders and other chronic illnesses that I attribute to the 30+ years I lived in fight or flight; unable to feel safe in my body. The more I healed mentally and emotionally, the more aware I became of the toll it had all taken on my body. It was so hard to let go of the growth and momentum I’d created to focus on learning to care for myself properly, but I knew it was the only way my dreams would be sustainable. Last summer, just before I started tip-toeing back into running Lil Shop again, I studied and was trained in the healing art of Usui Reiki. I wanted to be able to offer more options for healing to my clients (as well as friends and family), but more importantly I knew the self-healing I could give myself would be life changing. I knew that I would likely experience an uptick in my psychic and intuitive gifts based on all of my research, but I had no idea it would also crack my creativity wide open. All of which, by the way, was excellent validation that taking time off from growing my business to care for myself and grow spiritually was well worth it and the absolute right thing to do.
I’ve always been musically gifted, and music has always called to me. I’ve been playing cover songs on my acoustic guitar since I was a young girl, but I rarely ever shared it with anyone, and I never dared to write my own songs. The more I healed, though, the more I felt like writing and performing music of my own was meant for me. I couldn’t avoid it forever and not find myself regretting it eventually. I’d been brave enough to play some open mics over these years of healing and blossoming into my true self, but it wasn’t until being Reiki attuned and dedicating myself to almost 2 full months of intensive, daily self-healing sessions that I finally started to write my own music. It’s the coolest thing I’ve ever done, aside from making my sweet boy! My songs are inspired by my witchy self-healing journey, and I absolutely love them. I’ve also discovered, in the healing of my perfectionism and discovering of my hidden creative side, that I love to draw and paint, too! I didn’t think I could do any of these things, but the truth is I just never let myself before.
So what now? I thought for a short time that maybe I had to give up on trying to grow my lil online shop into the community and healing space I imagine it to be some day in order to pursue my passion for music. I couldn’t be a small business owner, a healer, a mom, AND an artist…not being chronically ill and neurodivergent. No way, right? Yes way!! I’m determined to do it all, all that’s for me that is, at my pace, and regardless of money. Period. My small business doesn’t really help us pay the bills much yet, especially as non-aggressively as I go about it. We don’t hustle over here anymore! It’s not aligned with how I want my life to feel, and I mostly just reinvest everything my lil shop makes so that it can see a bigger future. I also lovingly write a free, weekly publication on Substack, hoping to pass along some of the wisdom and insights I’ve gathered along my journey thus far (but you can support me as a paid subscriber if you want and it’s super appreciated).
I’m confident I’ll eventually be releasing my first album or EP, something I refuse to rush but greatly look forward to, but we all know artists don’t make a dime doing that. I’m also slowly working on hand-drawing a cute lil crystal oracle deck that I think the world needs, something that I hope to have available for sale some day. So how do you make any money, Erin?! Is that what you were wondering? Surely we don’t survive off of just my husband’s restaurant manager’s salary in this joke of an economy. Why, I’m also a humble dog walker and sitter! Small business owner, healer, mom, artist, AND dog walker, that’s correct! Tucked throughout my day, in between momming, writing, creating, healing, and dreaming, I take care of the pups and kitties that need care in town! It’s just one more way I’m a born lil entrepreneur. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to let go of the dreams, even if they don’t make lots of money yet, but our family greatly needed me to have some steady income. Healing and realizing I’m autistic came with realizing a lot of limitations, but it’s also come with realizing a lot of gifts, too. Working with animals has always been a gift of mine. I swear I understand and feel understood more by animals than people sometimes. They bring me an easy joy and I feel like I do the same for them, so caring for them has been something I’ve been able to consistently do, even in the really hard times. I’m immensely grateful for everything in my life, but definitely the ways I’ve managed to make a living over these years of healing. Sometimes I don’t know how we’ve stayed afloat, but I’m so grateful that we have.
What I’ve decided is that I don’t have to do any of it the way anyone else has or would. I don’t have to give equal amounts to each project or beat myself up if I don’t feel like working on one thing for a bit. I don’t have to have goals to get rich at any of it either. I can just do what lights me up, what I feel like I’m here to do, with ease and joy, and just trust that the universe will provide what I need like it always has. Do we live paycheck to paycheck? Yes, we mostly do. We have a lot of debt we just keep paying down, we haven’t been on a vacation of any sort in years, and our savings wouldn’t even cover one of our cars breaking down. But rather than letting that make me feel panicky and add pressure, like I need to be discovered or go viral, (the way I for sure used to think), instead I choose to see it as we’ve always had EXACTLY as much as we need, so there’s nothing to fear. I feel so supported, both by my real life family and friends and by my ancestors and spirit guides, in pursuing what I know is meant for me. And so I am; with as much love for myself and joy in the process as I can find!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Lil Shop of Light & Love (lilshopoflightandlove.com) is a shop for witchy self-healers, specializing in hand-picked and ethically-sourced healing crystals, crystal jewelry handmade on silk with magical intention, and thorough, intuitive tarot readings for healing and growth. Also, as of April 2025, distance Reiki sessions are now available from Lil Shop of Light & Love! In addition to a great menu of tarot readings to choose from, you can now also choose from several options for Reiki healing that you’ll receive right in the comfort of your home. There’s even options for tarot and Reiki combined or for a monthly Reiki healing subscription, so you can stay consistent in your healing efforts. I offer a free consultation if you’ve never experienced Reiki healing before and want to be able to ask questions and get comfy with it up front, too.
Crystals have always been cool, if you ask me…and history. Haha! For real, though, the popularity and desirability of crystals, both for their aesthetic appeal and for their use in healing and protection, is anything but a new fad. That being said, they are definitely in a highly-favored era right now, so finding crystals isn’t super hard these days. You don’t have to go on any perilous journeys or anything. Just because crystals come from the dirt, though, doesn’t mean we want them karmically dirty to use in our healing work. Finding pretty crystals isn’t terribly difficult these days, but trusting that those crystals will make it to your hands by ethical means is much more challenging. That was my first order of business when I decided to open a crystal shop.
My crystal necklaces and bracelets are handmade with so much intention. I select each material so carefully. It all has a reason and a story. Even the sandalwood beads I use in my crystal malas have a whole, beautiful back story. I use natural silk for most of my pieces because silk is known to hold magical intention very well. Each knot was placed with healing intention in mind. Silk cord is also soft, has a lovely drape to it, very few people are allergic to silk, and it’s very strong. The style of my healing crystal jewelry is rather minimalist. They’re equal parts classy and witchy, and I think most of my pieces are quite gender fluid, looking perfect on guys, gals, and non-binary witchy babes alike. I have a lariat design and a choker style, both are adjustable. As an avid beach comber and lover of the Goddess Aphrodite, I decided to add a special collection in my shop called The Sea Witch Collection. The jewelry in this collection feature natural sea shells collected by me from the shores of Titusville, FL. Some of my favorite necklaces I’ve ever made have been those containing a perfect lil sea shell alongside a gorgeous crystal. The Sea Witch Collection also features some special, handmade runes, used for divination and made from sea shells, and my unique sea witch mystery boxes, perfect as a gift for a landlocked witch who longs for the ocean!
I remember vividly the first crystal necklace I ever bought for myself to help me on my healing journey. It was a dainty piece of Black Tourmaline on a rose gold chain. It felt like a new, dear friend was making its way to me, and it was so sacred and significant to me. I’m not just selling things to people. I’m sending pieces of their path to them; little companions for fellow healers’ journeys. I see it as an absolute honor to be trusted to be a part of your healing journey, and I do my very best to make sure you know that when you engage with my lil shop, even though it’s currently only online. Packing orders is a ritual, and I want it to feel like a special ritual when you unpack your order at home, too. Each crystal or piece of jewelry is cleansed and then each is charged with Reiki as well as an intuitively written affirmation. I reach out to your spirit, just like I do when I’m reading tarot for someone who’s not in front of me, and I ask what the crystals they chose most want to help them heal. From that short, meditative exchange and my knowledge of the crystal’s energy, I write an affirmation just for you. Each order also includes a scoop of my small batch Light & Love Mix, made from ethically harvested herbs and crystal chips and made with the intention to bring more light and love into your life. I think my customers can feel the loving energy of the little ritual that happened just for them when they open their package of healing goodies from Lil Shop of Light & Love. That’s certainly my goal. I want others to know that they can heal their hurts and that they’re not alone.
Something else that sets my witchy lil shop apart is the quality photos you’ll find of the actual pieces you’ll be receiving. I hand pick as much of my inventory as possible, and I truly kind of fall in love with each piece. I see myself as their foster momma with the privilege of caring for them until they go off to their forever homes. For every single crystal, I take photos and videos of the actual piece that you’ll be purchasing and give you as much information as possible, including the size, weight, the country it was ethically sourced from, and, of course, its healing properties. It’s rather tedious, but it’s a labor of love. Maybe it’s my autism talking, but I can’t imagine having a shop and doing it any other way. You need all the deets! I know I do! I’m fortunate to live near Orlando where there are quite a few very cool witchy shops to visit in person, but not everyone is so lucky! Some people live in towns where a witchy crystal shop is the last thing you’ll see popping up on the corner any time soon, and I want them to get to have a semblance of the wonderful experience of spending time in your favorite witchy store.
Which is why I created a pretty cool (and I think pretty exclusive) shopping experience at Lil Shop that you can book totally for free and with no purchase requirement of any kind! I call them Crystal Dates, and they’re virtual video shopping sessions, one-on-one with me! It’s basically a fun lil FaceTime with my crystals and me! When I first launched Lil Shop of Light & Love, I was doing weekly live crystal sales on Instagram Live. It was wonderful and so fun. It really showcased my personality and my vast knowledge of crystals, both the spiritual properties and geological and historical facts. I love talking crystals, and boy was that an outlet! I would pull tarot/oracle cards for guests on the live if they wanted, we listened to music, sipped a beverage, and it was very entertaining, fun, and effective at driving sales overall. The problem was that I was completely draining myself doing them for hours on end, and not every single week was very well attended. So sometimes it felt like a lot of work and not much to show for it. I liked the way some of my suppliers offered wholesale clients the option of video shopping one-on-one, and I thought, “Why not offer that to my customers?!” So I do! For people who don’t have a local crystal shop, I think it’s a close second to shopping in person, and even for people who do have a local shop, I feel like this is a very neurodivergent friendly way to shop. Although I’m only online for now, you can occasionally find me at local vendor events, and I’m also available to read tarot at your next party! It’s always a hit. If you are local here to the Orlando area and are interested in an in-person tarot reading or Reiki healing session, please reach out to me!
My mission for Lil Shop of Light & Love is sharing the self-healing tools that have helped me on my journey in a beautiful & intentional way, while maintaining ethical & earth-conscious business practices & a personal touch. I find consumerism and capitalism to be totally icky, if you want the truth, so I try to make my business as anti-business and as personal as possible.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I think there are huge changes coming for the crystal industry. There are definitely minerals mined right here in America, but the majority hail from places like China, Brazil, Canada, Madagascar, Africa, Indonesia, Mexico, Afghanistan, etc. The current political climate is greatly impacting global trade which is and will continue to affect the mining and acquiring of crystals, especially those that are sourced through ethical channels. The prices will absolutely be increasing, and what’s most concerning is that all crystals, and I mean ALL crystals, take a trip to China on their journey through the bowels of capitalism. Crystals are most prevalent in areas where there was a ton of volcanic activity millions-billions of years ago, like in China. Because they’ve always had an abundance of crystals, they’ve become the experts in polishing, shaping, and generally processing crystals. For this reason, regardless of where a crystal is mined, it probably visited China before making it to the shelves of a crystal shop. It’s cheaper and more efficient to have it done there than to develop the equipment and train the labor force to do what the Chinese already do so, so well. Since the current regime here in the US is dead set on destroying our trade relations with the entire globe, but especially with China, I can’t imagine we won’t see the industry negatively impacted.
All of that said, I’ve been struggling for a while with the fact that I don’t want to be contributing to the ickiness of consumerism with my business. I know that I have no choice but to make money in the system that I currently find myself in, but I just can’t help but want to resist the norms as much as I can and find ways to attract the abundance I need and the ease I deserve without sacrificing my values and my fight against fascism, patriarchy, and capitalism. I personally spend very little money on things that aren’t needs. When I do it’s almost always a gift, a very special splurge, or a very intentional effort to support a small business or artist. I can’t help but think of that when I’m making a necklace for my shop or pricing a new crystal beauty I’m adding to my inventory, “I probably couldn’t and wouldn’t buy this from me. I’d want to, but I wouldn’t.” Then again, that’s easier for me to do now because I bought a lot of tools and treasures over the years for my healing and spiritual practice before my beliefs evolved to where they are now.
I do still occasionally find I don’t have something I need, like the amber bracelet I felt called to purchase recently to help my confidence. Although I choose as often as I can to be grateful for what I have rather than investing in having more, and although I’d prefer if everyone was more thoughtful with their purchases, special, ethical lil shops like mine, shops with a soul, need to exist for the occasions when we do need something. If not, where will we turn? Amazon? Ew. That’s why I decided, despite my doubts and feeling conflicted at times, to continue forward through my discomfort with having to be all sales-y and operate within this totally corrupt and failed capitalist system. I’ve set the intention to attract customers who feel like I do, who shop and spend intentionally and with care for the earth and for our future.
What I’d really like to see for the future of the crystal industry, as well as for the spiritual/witchy community in general, is more swaps! I know at the Spiral Circle Bookstore in Orlando they do clothing swaps and book swaps from time to time, and I’d love to create and add to community where we do lots more of that. I would never say that we should do without healing crystals. I think they were gifted to us for a reason, but I think that we’ve been harvesting them and hoarding them with a very colonialist, capitalist, command and conquer mentality. Too much earth is being taken from the earth, y’all! Maybe the industry could slow down a tad, and we could begin to share amongst us what we’ve already taken from Mother Earth? I think our indigenous leaders would say that we shouldn’t need to possess so much. If we see crystals more as friends than as resources to amass, I think we’d treat them differently and interact with them differently, like everything we share the earth with. I’ve slowed way down on my consumption of tarot and oracle decks, too, but I adore them. They’re art, and I don’t think collecting and appreciating spiritual guides disguised as art is ever a bad thing either. However, I do think being able to swap and trade what we maybe aren’t connecting with as well could help cut down on our consumption and waste overall.
Some day, when my son is older and in divine time, I hope to have a physical location for Lil Shop of Light & Love. I see it as being a spiritual community center, somewhere you come not just to shop, but to learn and to connect. I want the space to feature workshops and classes from local spiritual leaders and healers, yoga classes, Reiki circles, group meditation, and for local groups/clubs to be able meet there. I’d also like there to be a permanent space for and culture of swapping and sharing resources. I’d love for it to become a source of abundance for my family and for my community, and I want it to be a part of the resistance. I’m an activist, too, by the way, something else I do passionately whenever I can. I volunteer, speak out, and protest in every way I can, and I’d love for Lil Shop to hold space for convening of fellow revolutionaries and for building the kind of community that we need to fight the tyranny that’s taking over not just our country, but the world. I know it sounds hokey, but I truly believe that we can heal the world by healing our individual hurts, and I hope for Lil Shop of Light & Love to contribute to that healing being done in community, not alone.
Pricing:
- Tarot Readings for guidance along your path – ranging from $25-$80
- Distance Reiki Healing – ranging from $20-$70
- Adjustable Crystal Bracelets on Silk – average $33
- Adjustable Crystal Necklaces on Silk – average $55
- Book a Crystal Date (1:1 virtual shopping) – FREE!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lilshopoflightandlove.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/lilshopoflightandlove
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/lilshopoflightandlove
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lilshopoflightlove
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/libraleighmusic
- Other: https://witchytherapy.substack.com
Image Credits
Erin Leigh Kutner
