The desert has been regarded as a place of spiritual healing for centuries; the dry climate, natural springs, cavernous valleys and immense mountains attract yoga gurus, landscape worshipers and meditation experts alike.
Tucson is an ideal destination for those looking to explore spiritual healing opportunities, including shamanic, energy, reiki, crystal and more.
The city is located in the southern part of the state and rests in the middle of one of the most prominent vortices in North America, according to an article on Sage Goddess Online.
Tucson offers different places to go when seeking spiritual healing in the desert based off variety and services.
Shamanic healing is one of the “alternative healing” options in Tucson.
Heartstone Healing Arts: Shamanic Healing and Energy Medicine provides a multitude of spiritual healing services. Owner Celia Blackwood has been practicing reiki healing and shamanism for over a decade.
RELATED: UA Poetry Center’s Broadside Contest returns to campus
Blackwood offers a variety of shamanic services, such as the illumination process, extraction, soul retrieval, power animal retrieval and psychopomp. She also offers services in property clearing, reiki and flower essences.
The fundamental element in all of Blackwood’s services is energy. She said every person has an energetic field that can be hindered by negative experiences.
“Energy is really all about frequency and vibration, and when we are carrying or holding or experiencing really intense heavy, dense energies like grief or sadness or anger or worry or anxiety, the frequency and the vibrations of those energies are dense and low enough to get lodged in our system and become crystallized,” Blackwood said. “It begins to feel like a hole that you can’t get out of.”
Blackwood’s cleansing services are targeted toward removing these heavy, crystallized energies from a person’s energetic field in order to liberate the individual from these negative sentiments.
Blackwood said the majority of her customers are often dealing with a difficult transition in their life, such as disease, loss of a loved one or the end of a relationship.
During some of her healing services, Blackwood uses the positive energies of different natural elements, including crystals.
Tucson hosts one of the world’s most prominent gem and mineral shows, which began in 1955 as a simple presentation by a small group of geologists, according to Visit Tucson. The event attracts visitors from across the globe, including many alternative and spiritual healers shopping for crystals and minerals for their collections.
Tom Spann, a gemologist from Mineral Masterpiece, was one of the many vendors at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show.
In his experience, Spann said, the customers interested in the metaphysical properties mostly purchase gems, rather than minerals.
RELATED: Creating a festival; the people behind the scenes
“If you look at the literature of things that were preserved from 1,000 years ago, it almost exclusively would be talking about the gems and people wearing them as protection or for health,” Spann said.
Spann carries a variety of gems and minerals, including quartz, aquamarine, calcite and the one of the world’s largest turquoise formations.
Spann recalls one specific incident when a spiritual healer came in with her own crystal and carefully hovered it above the specimens she was interested in before choosing.
According to Spann, spiritual healers often use these pendulum crystals to gain insight into certain situations and decisions by asking it yes or no questions and seeing which way it begins to spin. The crystal works differently with every person. Usually, when it swings in a circle clockwise or counter clockwise, it means yes, and when it swings back and forth, it usually indicates no.
Although Spann himself is not interested in the metaphysical properties of the gems he carries, he said some of his best customers have purchased stones for spiritual purposes.
Felice DiAnna, another spiritual healer, has been a spiritual healer for over six years. Unlike Blackwood, DiAnna focuses on healing directly between people, without the assistance of crystals or other metaphysical mediums.
DiAnna works out of her office located on the east side of Tucson and offers three different types of healing services: reiki, reflexology and massage therapy. Reiki is a type of energetic healing originally from Japan. The process involves a practitioner guiding a customer’s energetic flow to remove negative energy and reduce stress.
In comparison, reflexology is one of DiAnna’s more hands-on approaches in which she applies pressure to specific points of a customer’s feet and hands to promote relaxation and healing.
DiAnna prefers not to incorporate any inanimate objects into her healing sessions because she believes energy must be transferred from the hand of the healer directly to the customer. All her services are aimed at reducing stress and pain, as well as promoting well being through prayer and positive energy transference.
If energy healing is not what you’re looking for, there are also psychic services available in Tucson, including astrology insights, spiritual life coaching and Tarot readings.
David Pujol is a junior at the University of Arizona and is studying journalism. Pujol has been practicing alternative healing for over six years. He offers services from crystal healing to tarot cards and psychic readings.
Regardless of the type of service, he believes alternative healing has abilities medical healing does not.
“I think more people should indulge and explore alternative healing, even if it’s just for something as simple as a headache,” Pujol said. “It helps you heal on a level that most people haven’t really connected with.”
Pujol does not have a formal studio; instead he brings his cards and crystals to classes and offers readings to those interested. He does most of his readings at the UA School of Journalism and charges anywhere from $1 to $5 per service.
Whether you are a yoga guru, landscape worshiper, meditation expert or simply a visitor looking for a new activity to try, Tucson’s metaphysical world has what you’re seeking.
Follow Daily Wildcat on Twitter
