CRYSTAL CONNECTION FULL
CRYSTAL CONNECTION PLUS

Fifteen- and 30-minute sessions run from $22 to $55. The Fall Healing Psychic Fair takes place on Saturday and Sunday, October 21 and 22, from 11 a.m. The store is located at 116 Sullivan Street in Wurtsboro. No doubt, IвЂ™ll be back.Д¬rystal Connection is open Thursday through Tuesday in September (closed Wednesdays) from 11 a.m. I may not yet be a believer, but curiosity and intrigue have taken hold.

CRYSTAL CONNECTION PLUS

I have more questions now than when I first came in вЂ“ plus my recorder is acting funny. IвЂ™m feeling a little agitated, lightheaded. вЂњI want people to be well and happy,вЂќ Ogden says. Visitors can experience a gong bath and crystal tuning fork therapy, chakra reading, oracles and Akashic record navigating. Ogden talks about the upcoming Psychic Healing Fair and the handpicked and certified practitioners who will be on hand to offer Reiki energy healing, tarot, aura photography and intuitive readings. We sit on a cushioned bed at the altar-end of the room, where you can lie down and be surrounded by crystal energy. A whole shelf holds large quartz crystals mined just a few miles away, in Ellenville. The storeвЂ™s inventory includes both rare and common samples, from tiny bits of amethyst, rose quartz, citrine, hematite, fluorite and carnelian to the hundreds of other unearthed rocks, some shaped and smoothed, others in a raw state. The one-time church is filled with light and color. Ogden tells me that crystals are living things, that they have grown in the depths of the Earth and have something energetic to offer us. It takes a bit of quieting the discursive chatter, a bit of letting go of skepticism, to sense whether one of them might enhance an individualвЂ™s well-being. With a wealth of anecdotal and experiential information about how crystals have been used to promote healing and renewal of body, mind and spirit, Ogden encourages visitors to touch the stones that they find attractive. I was sleeping right over all these crystals!вЂќ

CRYSTAL CONNECTION FULL

He gave me a three-by-three-foot collectorsвЂ™ box full of specimens, which I kept under my bed. вЂњAnd my dad, who was an antiques dealer, was also into crystals.

вЂњMy grandfather carried a crystal stone in his pocket,вЂќ he says. It was after becoming immersed in the fascinating world of crystals that he recalled a childhood connection.

A chance meeting with enthusiasts at a gem and mineral convention altered that path, and soon he found himself in Wurtsboro.

Ogden left his home in Newburyport, Massachusetts to attend the Culinary Institute of America, thinking that good food would be a worthy livelihood for his ambitions. Our bodies are made of minerals and we need them,вЂќ Ogden explains. It isnвЂ™t magic, he says, but it is miraculous вЂ“ something you have to engage with to experience.

Some might make the hair on your arm stand up and youвЂ™ll feel tingly. He invites people to get out of their intellectual ways of thinking in order to really feel whatвЂ™s going on in response to holding and touching different crystals. Ogden sees his job as welcoming visitors to Crystal Connection so that they might simply feel the energy of the sacred space and touch samples of this vast collection of crystals from all over the world. Co-owned (with Tim Bracci) and run by Travis Ogden, itвЂ™s more of a holistic experience than a store, although every one of the thousands of crystals, stones, gems, geodes and other unique tchotchkes are for sale. Travis Ogden (above) and Tim Bracci restored a former Methodist church in Wurtsboro to create Crystal Connection, a retail emporium featuring minerals from around the world, including specimens of Ellenville quartz laced with iron (see below).ДЄn old Methodist church building on Sullivan Street in Wurtsboro houses Crystal Connection.

Crystal connection