Bazaars, Community, Organizations, Shopping, Suppliers

The Happy Sage Crystals

To all my dear Southbound readers: This is an announcement / an appeal for support / a coming-out of sorts for one of my (many!) side projects. The short story is that we’ll be selling crystal bracelets at the Zonta Bazaar this coming weekend, December 5 and 6, at Cuenca. The long story appears below. :)

One of our most popular posts on Southbound, surprisingly, was a feature on Joy Lim’s Charms & Crystals. We had originally thought we were the only ones interested in the power of crystals, but it turns out a lot of people want to know about it, and we were inundated with questions from readers seeking advice on what kind of crystals were best for them and what charms would turn their lives around. The author of the piece, my dear friend Shao, did her best to answer as many of the inquiries as possible, but then she became too busy to meet the demands (and believe me, there were some very demanding people commenting) of the readers, so we made an announcement that she wouldn’t be answering questions and making recommendations anymore; the comments still keep coming, though, a sure sign that crystals are still quite popular.

At the time Wria and I had time on our hands to start another project, so we put up a new website, The Happy Sage, and decided to move all the crystal-related stuff there (it’s not exactly regular Southbound fare). The site is still up, but it’s been sorely neglected since Wria and I started working on different jobs, and though I’ve long wanted to revive it, I can’t find the time to update it on a regular basis (I’m already struggling with Southbound, as it is).

One thing born of the interest in crystals is still alive today, though: a small business my friend Lods and I are running that sells crystal bracelets. I started making my own bracelets after I found myself seriously addicted to buying them from various shops—they were starting to be a drain on my finances, and sometimes I couldn’t find ones that worked for me. At some point in one’s experience with crystals, people graduate to choosing and designing their own crystal accessories, and that’s what happened to me. We started making combinations for ourselves, and realized that the products we created fit a need not yet being addressed in the market—they were relatively cheap (compared to the P6,000 price tags that came with some other brands) and not at all intimidating. Plus, we kept getting comments on the article with people saying they were broke, and we simply couldn’t encourage them to buy a branded bracelet worth a good 3,000 bucks without feeling guilty (my friend AJ put it quite practically: “If you’re worried about debt, pay your bills first before you spend all your money on charms.” Ouch. But true).

So The Happy Sage Crystals was born. The whole idea is that crystal therapy need not be exclusive or expensive, and it need not revolve around mystical mumbo-jumbo. If you’re a Feng Shui believer, then by all means, you can use Feng Shui to divine which stones work best for you; you can add a few charms that help you anchor your desires to receive protection, or a hundred blessings, or a life partner. But if you’re not, and if you find accessories with large charms and a hodge-podge of colors and charms a bit too out there for your taste, then our bracelets are an excellent alternative.

We study the properties of the different stones, select complementary ones that vibrate in the same range (in normal-speak, bring about the same purpose or end result), and put them together in bracelets that harness the power of the crystals’ energy and look good while doing so. We’ve found that harmonious stones tend to be in the same range of colors, and so we’ve managed to keep our combos pretty enough to serve as accessories but potent enough to bring about the changes you need to make in your life.

If you’re shy about your beliefs in all this new-agey or Fend Shui-ey stuff, there’s to need to broadcast that you’re looking for love (with the huge partnered mandarin ducks on your wrist) or scared of burglaries (with the horny rhinoceros) or trying to attract prosperity (with the requisite gold bars or pineapples). Not that we’re making fun of, or belittling these charms—hey, I have all the aforementioned items— we just know what it’s like to have someone say, “Look at all your lucky charms—are they working?” with raised eyebrows. If you’re not a hardcore believer and just trying these things out, it can be challenging to explain these things to a non-believer.

If you are a crystal fan, however, there’s nothing that precludes you from getting the benefits of our bracelets either. We don’t have too many rules for wearing them—while some practitioners require that you only use their bracelets, ours play nice with others. Our best (and loyal) customers are those who know their stuff—who buy crystals from serious shops in Chinatown and who actually practice crystal healing—and they use our bracelets either to supplement their own extensive collections or give as gifts to their friends.

As the tagline for The Happy Sage site says, we believe in a lighthearted approach to life. If something helps, then we encourage you to go ahead and try it, in whatever way works best for you. And we think you should always have fun with your solutions, which is why our bracelets are simple and fun to wear and mix and match with your outfits. We’ve gotten a lot of encouraging and inspiring feedback from our clients—and ourselves. Some success stories: a buyer who met her future boyfriend a week or so after getting our love combo; me getting a new job after making myself a prosperity combo, and getting out of a depressed funk after making myself a happiness combo (it’s called Good Morning Sunshine, how can it not cheer you up?); an officemate of a friend who passed a difficult qualifying exam after our friend gave her our learning combo; a friend who finds that our stressbuster combo calms her down and helps her manage her business without getting overly stressed and anxious; and my favorite, a friend who, on the same day she bought her prosperity combo, got a call telling her a long-awaited check was ready for pick-up.

So, what’s the point of this whole post? Two things: first, Lods and I have a booth at this weekend’s Zonta Christmas Carnivale Bazaar in Cuenca. Drop by and pick up a bracelet or two for yourself and get some for your friends while you’re at it. Please spread the word, too! And second, we’ll try to get the site updated regularly again, especially since we’re also now maintaining a site for the crystals, in addition to the must-have Multiply site where we keep photos and write-ups of our bracelet sets (as always, a work in progress). Please do visit both (the bazaar and the site). We’ll bring a bundle of Southbound stickers along, so if you say Southbound sent you, we can give you a few to stick on your car or your shop doors as a show of support for our community.

See you there and please spread the word! Thanks a lot everyone!!!

Tags: bazaars, projects, the happy sage, the happy sage crystals, zonta

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