Luminous

How do you explain something that comes from out of the Earth and makes our existence 'luminous'

Pink Lemurian Seed Quartz — Magic in the Mundane.

A time of Reckoning

I took this macroshot a while ago now. It came into our lives with the most Divine timing. A time of Reckoning - It's always a surprise to me what I find in these amazing Crystals.

I wrote what I felt from Pink Lemurian Quartz:

Rarely can you get to the central place and stay there but if destiny is fast and free, you do abide in the heart of creation and you never leave this spot.

A host of virtues and gifts are showered upon you as you hold this post with supreme impersonal self command. The most outstanding of these qualities is a faith and confidence in the powers that be, which can move any mountain.

Accompanying this trait is an unworldliness which orchestrates a threshold awareness and open door between worlds where you entirely live for the cosmic, the universal, the inner source spring and what you perceive along this path, is how everything goes out from here, over the world but everything returns to here, so the highest and the truest can once again be sparked and put into the shared stream and is known to be pulsatingly alive and self renewing in the most raptuous gesture of moving with what is asked.

Presence of Heart

The real heart of the matter is something not so easily talked about, something nearly embarrassing to some. In 2020 my goals were clear. Then COVID came along and the world changed. I continued to take photographs of crystals as part of my meditation and creating t-shirt designs in the hope that one day I would do this. These practices were probably the only thing that kept me going. I really had to look again at what the nature of Crystal Apertures is, what I do, what it's all about.

What do I do with these beautiful images of crystals? Something which comes out of the earth and makes my existence luminous. How do I move forward?

I promised myself not to get any new crystals until I had sorted this out. This is when the idea of Mystic Crystal Revelations came about. My friends scoffed at the idea of a brand and I received a lot of negativity regarding this, so I just kept it to myself during COVID and tried to work it out. I designed a logo and had the name registered in Australia and then it was real and I was forced to fill in the details.

I realised that my photography, Crystal Apertures, is a quality without a name, done by a creative. That a quality without a name cannot be made but only generated by a process, a creative process. That it can flow from your actions with the greatest of ease. There is something about crossing the visible with the invisible. A process that can only be found with a childlike heart during play, that place that is egoless. This usual and forward movement and easy integration had to evolve and be more defined, and the process had to unfold again.

It is not an artist expressing or recording feeling or emotion in a work of art – it is making something to generate feeling. In the end, it is the quality that each product can generate deep feeling in people that matters most. My unconditional urge was being given a huge reality check. Rather than flowing limitlessly into the next phase with no thought of consequences, I had to move ahead with a bit more caution, moving forward to where boundaries fall into place. What can I do differently than just have the photographic images and how far can I go.

The Mystic - Why this matters

In order to evolve it, it was a matter of building a living pattern language as a gate or boundary. These boundaries fell into place easily the further I investigated – it was a matter of going deep into the topic. Those of my friends who knew about business were not interested in helping, so I looked at what I had and used what I had written about this beautiful Crystal as a guide. How do I evolve a concept? I had to think of it as a relationship, where I had to look at a brand as object, applied to what I make, and that is something that is delivered in the moment. To hold this post, the three waves I found were brand as an object, the ability to write, and the idea and experience of Crystal Apertures.

I take macrophotography of crystals – it's a curiosity thing, it is like seeing the inside of them. What I find, as I go there, I find things within myself. That's how the name Crystal Apertures came about. A view through a window into a crystal. I had been doing this for a long time, had a generational history of work with crystals, so that faith and confidence in this world I had been given and written about can sometimes move mountains. At times this was the most outstanding quality when I doubted in my life.

Combining the two – Crystal apertures, looking through a window and revealing hidden landscapes within crystals, and combining the mystic – led me to Mystic Crystal Revelations.

The Pink Lemurian Seed Crystal Quartz the image at the top of this article, carries an understanding of polarities (yin/yang, male/female, good/bad, right/wrong). Its always a surprise to me, it's the nature of Crystal Apertures. - seeing the world through a different lense and integrating it into life but to do so with the presence of heart always asking why do you want to do this. The answer started with it has to be for those I love and now it is also for those we love.

With polarity as a focus, suddenly all issues had multiple viewpoints and by understanding these and integrating them a better overall whole could be produced, within and without. Accompanying this trait is an unworldliness which hosts or orchestrates a threshold awareness, an open door between worlds. So what do I mean by mystic? A mystic is an ordinary person who does ordinary things and experiences these moments of profound union with 'The Source'.

A natural mystic has an extreme affinity for nature, 'Mother Earth' – this includes crystals. For a lot of people with mystical inclinations, it's a felt relationship with the Earth, as a cherished loved one, as a relative. At times you entirely live for the cosmic, the universe, the inner source spring. It's about fully embodying our humanity and our relationship with the natural world, but that's still a mystical experience, because our separate ego self dissolves into the vast mystery of 'The One' – and I'm not talking about any one person here, those times are well and truly gone.

From inside out I had to look at outside in. From 'maybe I'll never feel that motivation again' I found myself in a quandary about these terms. From what I read, some say that a business will not succeed if you work from the inside out. The outside in is based on others' evaluation, so I had to look at my track record. I had to look at how I worked so I could be in the world, which was at times challenging. I had to look at intrinsic and extrinsic goals.

Money, beauty, influence – these are extrinsic goals. They are based on other people's evaluation and perception of us. They're the kind of goals that so many have based their careers around, climbing the ladder, seeking validation from peers. While extrinsic goals can motivate us into action, they do little to help our wellbeing, linked both to decreased flourishing and increased floundering like a fish out of water.

Intrinsic goals, on the other hand, are things we pursue because they are personally meaningful – things like personal growth and learning, building deeper connections with others, and living our values in our day to day lives. These are the goals that actually matter – that give us sustained wellbeing and happiness. Working with crystals is this to me.

These intrinsic goals can break us out of the hustle culture that so many feel, the goals that give us a sense of ambition without bringing us back to overworking and validation seeking. Where you don't think about wealth or status and can feel motivated at work without resubscribing to that hustle culture or turning our jobs into our whole personalities.

Most of us aren't used to this kind of goal setting. You can't reduce wanting to improve yourself and to do what lies in your heart to a SMART goal. No one will throw you a party when you achieve it, and your peers may not even notice it. And what you perceive along this path is how everything goes out from here, over all the world, but everything returns to here.

Often we have to do it because we know it's the right thing to do. We do things because to not do them is not even in our vocabulary. Sometimes we have to have the courage to be our instinctual natural selves in this world no matter what anyone else thinks about it. This life is multidimensional and we can all do not just one thing. So that the highest and the truest can once again be sparkled into the shared stream and known to be pulsatingly alive and self renewing, in the most rapturous gesture of moving with what is asked.

There is always something greater than the part we think we play. In the end, it is the quality that each product can generate deep feeling in people that matters most, giving them back the objective light of crystals in nature, a heart felt harmony that endures. A beauty found in crystals empowering all, not only for the understanding but for the making and remaking of living structures, not just to understand complexity in nature but to create a greater degree of life in the products we make from the static designs of these incredible Crystals. The nature of order but also the nature of life and beauty that came from Crystals.

This is how Mystic Crystal Revelations came about. Creating what must be: The Magic in the Mundane or rather the Magic of Crystals in everyday practical products adding positivity and a sense of wellbeing for everyone. 

"You don't have to know something to trust it is not random; authentic human work deserves to stay that way."

Thankyou for sharing this journey with me. If you wish to share a personal reflection,  please leave a public message in the comments directly below.

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With Gratitude,

Marie Foster