My Crystal Journey- How Flower of Life Stones Came to Be
My journey in loving stones and crystals truly began in the Summers I would spend with my Granddad Snoke, a Geological Professor at the University of Wyoming. Each summer we would go to Wyoming to visit them, and each year as I got older he would teach me more and more about the geology of the beautiful mountains around us. I would always want a scoop from the gift shop “bag o rocks”, and I still to this day have a few pieces remaining from my first collection.
(My Granddad Art Snoke, my little brother Jack, and me at Yellowstone National Park)
Fast forward to the age of 20, I truly began to practice, learn, and collect crystals for metaphysics. I would spend hours in the metaphysics shops of Salt Lake City, learning and reading about each stone, and slowing growing my own collection. In summer of 2016, I moved back out to Colorado, where my partner at the time worked at a rock shop in Canon City, Colorado. We began to collect together, and one day ventured into a shop in Salida, Colorado called The Crystal Shop. And that’s where my true learning and passion began, the day I met Paul Martin.
(The Giant and Famous Amethyst Portal in Paul's Shop)
Paul had been the proud owner and collector of his own shop since the 50’s. He began in New York City at the peak of the New Age of Aquarius, and gained a huge following in the metaphysical community in the US. He then moved to Colorado, where I met him, and had own his shop for 20+ years on the downtown strip of Salida. I would spend hours in his shop, listening and learning metaphysics, geology, and getting to see and experience crystals on a level I had never thought possible. I met hundreds of crystals that would stoke the flames of wanting to work with crystals, and people who had some of the rarest minerals in the world. His shop was filled with museum grade specimens, to beautiful carvings, and wonderful specimens.
(Paul Martin in front of his Amethyst Portal)
Paul quickly took us under his wing and allowed us to even begin working in his shop with him. From there, I spent 8 months learning more about crystals and metaphysics than any book could give me. My first piece I ever bought from him was an amazing Quartz with Fluorite and Hematite, which to this day, is one of my prized pieces of my collection.
(My first piece from Paul)
Due to the circumstances of a very negative relationship with my partner at the time, when he and I split, and I left Salida, my relationship with Paul was left silent. And to this day, I still hope he knows that he was truly the beginning of my love for crystals. Despite a lot of the struggles I had, and trauma I had to overcome, crystals were always my companion through my journey. Over the next couple of years, I continued my own personal work, healing work, and collection.
Fast-forward to early 2020, after a long conversation with my now husband Brandon, he and I decided it was time for me to follow my passion of crystals into my own business. I began taking pictures for social media, and posting here and there when I had time on my days off from working at the pet store I was a manager at. Later that year, my health took a sharp decline, and after working myself into a physical and emotional hole, I decided to leave my job at the pet store and look at truly beginning Flower of Life Stones and working for myself.
I began to buy inventory with spare income we had. Quartz flats, amethyst, palm stones, spheres. I slowly gained more inventory, my main goal being to open a physical location after Covid had stopped being a huge impact on Brick and Mortar stores.
(My first wholesale order I made!)
After a sudden move, we moved into a much larger home with a basement, and I realized that, instead of taking the BIG leap into a physical shop, I should start with doing Live Sales on Instagram. I planned out my first live sale, promoted it to my small number of followers, and that July evening of 2021, hoped for the best.
And now, the rest is history!
You all have changed my life in more ways than I could have imagined. To being that young 20 year old with her small collection, to a proud business owner at age 28, these past few years have healed so much of the worthiness barriers, child self, and lack of “success” I felt like plagued my life. You all have given me such bigger meaning to having a crystal business. By getting to help you, laugh with you during lives, and by creating a community of people who just love to be together, I have been blessed with an opportunity most people don’t.
To all of my customers who have been with me so far, I appreciate and love you more than I can say. To many more years of growth, amazing crystals, and learning my friends!
Thanks for taking time to read my crystal story.
With much love,
Katie
Owner of Flower of Life Stones