We recently connected with Danielle Garrick and have shared our conversation below.
Danielle, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I see my mission as synonymous with my purpose. It is that which defines my existence in this world; the reason that I am here. Seems so clear to know or define my purpose just by reading that description, doesn’t it? However, that clarity was something I didn’t have for most of my life. I didn’t have it because I was hiding from myself. I did my best to fit in by fading into the background and operating on the programs of the paradigm I manifested into. Even though I was clearly aware that there was a part of me that was unsettled with that decision and didn’t want to, I ignored her. I did so because the influence of those programs was just that powerful in my mind. They were powerful because I gave them power.
I looped myself into a pattern of thinking which continuously silenced my magic within. And I now know it was all so that I wouldn’t bring too much attention to myself or make others feel uncomfortable within themselves. Continuously silencing the magic only created anxiety and methods of isolation and emotional numbing as I grew up. That part of myself that I was hiding from could not be contained by my coping mechanisms and I attempted for years to numb myself to ignore that fact. When she began to roar from within, my depression and anxiety would increase. She was frustrated, ignored, and diminished. My unclear self didn’t understand what was occurring, only that I felt hopeless and exhausted with this thing called life. I felt I had dug a hole so deep that the view of the sky was a pinhole.
And she continued to roar. Sometimes it came through as crying on the outside or laughing to myself, an inability to lift my limbs to get out of bed, or clubbing every night. Confusion, overthinking, and a strong desire to just be led to an abuse of alcohol, food, and marijuana. At least heavily influenced by them, ignoring myself could amplify with ease. Ignoring myself was ignoring my purpose, my mission. How could I find it, if I was coping and in a state of surviving through life? One of my favorite artists, Erykah Badu, has a song called “Didn’t Cha Know” on her second album “Mama’s Gun”. When it was released, I was in 11th grade, yet the lyrics remained with me always because they reflected how I felt about my life and my mission. I want to share part of them here.
Didn’t cha’ know, didn’t cha’ know
Tried to move, but I lost my way
Didn’t cha’ know, didn’t cha’ know
Stopped to watch my emotions sway
Didn’t cha’ know, didn’t cha’ know
Knew the toll, but I would not pay
Didn’t cha’ know, didn’t cha’ know
That you never know where the cards may lay
Time to save the world
Where in the world is all the time?
So many things I still don’t know
So many times I’ve changed my mind
Guess I was born to make mistakes
But I ain’t scared to take the weight
So when I stumble off the path
I know my heart will guide me back
I was off the path because I didn’t know who I was. I didn’t honor my power or even learn how to work with it and use it in alignment with my truth. I didn’t know my mission, so I didn’t know my purpose, and it took leaving the comfort of home and moving a few states away for that journey of returning to myself to actively begin. I had to get away because as an empath I was allowing my gift to control me rather than the other way around. I had conditioned myself to diminish by absorbing everyone else’s stuff. Especially, the women in my family. And that absorption began at the beginning as I observed and looked to them as the blueprints to follow in life. Interestingly enough, the magic within was never completely hidden. She would peek her head out so much when I was younger, yet I didn’t know how to share her with others so I kept her to myself. She would remind me here and there of pieces of their blueprint that I wasn’t to follow, but I didn’t let her thrive in my experience so she wasn’t able to help me see just how much of the other things I took on that I never needed in the first place.
But I am grateful for the experiences, the memories, and the journey I had to go on just to return to myself. The work I dedicated myself to on that journey was designed to heal me enough to see her standing in fullness. But that was not enough. I had to continue with that work to be empowered through her reflection from within as I gained the confidence to express that power outside of myself. And I did it one day at a time and with an internal drive from the lion within. The more I began to spend time with her and permit her space to expand, the more she began to show up in situations and show me my mission. I did this by imagining her, seeing her, feeling her, talking to her, doing things she likes to do, allowing her to express her emotions, and giving her those things she needed but didn’t receive. She showed me my mission by reflecting to me the ways in which I was serving myself and others through my work. The places I could now go without wanting to run and hide, the confrontations I was able to observe rather than react to, the people I began noticing were no longer around and the fresh faces who began filtering in, the coping mechanisms I slowly began to release and the value I began to see in the spiritual aspects of them. This is how she gave me the clarity I thought I would never have. And she began to guide me in how to share my work with others. I began to learn more about my mission. I began to find my purpose. I am a healer, a leader, a guide, a teacher, a coach, a metaphysician, an oracle, and a nurturer.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I am compassion and unconditional love expressing itself. Standing with confidence in who I am, I now share my work as my lion within walks gracefully beside me, yet she leads the way. Together we lead healers and empaths through various services to be grounded in their body, regulate their nervous system, shift into an observer within their experience, take a comfortable seat on their throne, and be fortified in their truth. I was given the name Crystalline Alchemist in meditation. As the Crystalline Alchemist, I offer sessions to support Crystalline Alchemy. What is Crystalline Alchemy?
As a spiritual being your physical body holds all of the information including traumas from your life experiences. This information influences your subtle energy body. Your subtle energy body includes your aura and chakra system, your mind, and your emotions. Alchemy is the work done to ensure the crystalline body, is vibrating at the highest frequency available. The physical body is like a crystal. It is not of a fixed geometric shape; however, it is made of crystals and has crystals flowing through some of its systems of communication. We know that crystals are programmable and they can absorb, transmute, and amplify frequencies. This is why it is imperative that the crystals throughout the crystalline body amplify high vibrations so that the energy is rippled out to one’s mental, emotional, and spiritual elements.
My work is shared through my entity, Crystalline Alchemy Wholistic Healing LLC. I am a Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Kemetic Yoga Teacher, Certified Reiki Master Teacher, and trained in The Art of Stillness Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy. You may join me on this alchemical journey of healing and expansion. But I must warn you, this is not for entertainment purposes. Only serious individuals need to inquire. To not only know your purpose, but live it requires dedicated work, a reevaluation of everything you think you know, and a willingness to feel all the feels as you fortify yourself.
I’m passionate about my work because I’m a walking testimony of its power. I currently offer weekly Kemetic Yoga sessions on the mat, Alchemy Breath Sessions, and Crystalline Alchemy Reiki Certification. Stop by and visit my virtual studio at www.crystallinealchemywholistichealing.com.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
My three would be: 1. Never ignoring my Power within
2. Following my inner tugs to go, stop, turn left, turn right, go back, focus forward, etc.
3. Understanding human anatomy and physiology
Why? Because the first two will always keep you in tune with you and the last one will give you an understanding of the many systems layered within your body and how the mind and body always follow each other through the nervous system. What I would like those who are early in their journey to take away from my sharing is that you must be comfortable being with yourself and grounded in your body. Take walks in nature alone without distraction, which means no music playing in your ears and possibly leaving the phone at home, so that you can observe the natural rhythms of nature. The Law of Correspondence supports that this alone will help you better understand your own natural rhythms versus the adopted rhythms you do have due to trauma and various life experiences.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
When I feel overwhelmed, I go out in nature and focus on her. If I can’t get out in nature, my number one tool is to tune into my breath. This is the one involuntary system of your body that you can voluntarily control to shift all other systems into ease so you can actually process your experiences.
Try this with me.
Close your eyes. Notice how you’re breathing. Then notice the sensations you’re feeling in your body with every breath in and every breath out. Now as you breathe in, say to yourself “I am breathing in.” and as you breathe out, “I am breathing out.”. Do this for 5 breaths in and out. Now take a slow deep breath in through your nose and open your mouth to release. Open your eyes. Now how do you feel?
Contact Info:
- Website: www.crystallinealchemywholistichealing.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_crystalline_alchemist/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgznQNdh5tbOEt7REou5iTQ
Image Credits
Crystalline Alchemy Productions
