Our Magical History Tour:
Celebrating 20 Years of Crystal Visions

The journey began in late 1988 when we began a search for a rose quartz pendant. We ended up in Weaverville, a "long way" from here… far enough away that we thought maybe this is what we were meant to do. Open a metaphysical store that is. How does one do that, we wondered. With the thought already creating, Spirit brought the answers. We met some women who knew where to buy crystals, gems and jewelry and we decided we would do our market research at Smiley's Flea Market. In 1989 we rented a booth space for about 3 months. So began our learning and doing.

One weekend a man named Blake came by and said "you have to meet the crystal lady, Pam McMahon," so we called her up and the rest is history. Pam guided us along in crystal lore, supplied many of the items we sold, became a lifelong teacher, sister and friend, and for a time worked at Crystal Visions.

In the spring of '89, a very small space came available in the building next door (where Second Sight was located) and Blair's mother, Wylma, agreed to let us give a real store a go. Display cases "magically" became available for us, Pam introduced us to New Leaf Distributing, and we were on our way! Before we opened however, Kay Blackwell came in and said, "you need a logo" - let me design it for you. Thus unfolded the mountains and the crystal that have represented us for 20 years. Our logo has matured with time, given its current look by Josh McMahon, Pam & Don McMahon's son, and loved along prior to that by our good friend, Janet Moore.

In about 1993, having expanded as far as we could in the first space, through synchronicity our current location came available at just the right time, and in we went. The office was located where the buck stove sits, and at the other end we had a small meeting room. Sandwiched between was our store. That space served us well for about 3 years.

In about 1993, while Joan was alone in the shop, Iris Williams walked in and gently and warmly said she was "meant to work here." Joan had experienced one mind-blowing (isn't the first always that way?) reading with a psychic, and had been to one channeling session.  We regularly heard amazing accounts from customers and friends, and were learning extraordinary things from books we carried (remember, this was before the World Wide Web!), so with an open heart Joan sat down with this complete stranger to listen.  With strength and gentleness, Iris then proceeded to tell Joan about her life, how she had gotten to where she was, and about her friendship with a man who'd just crossed over from AIDS.  Iris let Joan know that he was ok – and that opened up the world of Spiritualism to us.

Iris offered readings in Crystal Visions and classes on psychic development. At one of her classes we met Sherry Chambers, one of the smiling faces you see at the counter at Crystal Visions, and a long-time Spiritual intuitive.

Iris advised us that a woman from England would be coming to work at Crystal Visions, and we should let her. So, when someone we barely knew said she'd like to bring a British medium to Crystal Visions, we said ok – and in 1994 we met Lillian Edwards.

On the first day we booked readings with Lillian we didn't quite know what to expect. We quickly learned to expect to be astonished, and to this day people continue to tell us that things she said then are still coming true! It was Lillian and one of her guides, Suman, who suggested in '96 that we enclose the back porch to make a private session room. We still use that space today and call it the Green room. At that time we also flip-flopped the location of the office and expanded the store space to include what had been our office and meeting space. After a few months of missing our meeting space we opened up our old store space to become "The Meeting Place" which held many different types of gatherings, including our first Psychic / Intuitive Fairs. We have Ken and Dee Burke to thank for that, as they were very encouraging and actually ran them for a number of years.

In 1998 Blair's dream of having a used bookstore was realized when we opened Second Sight Used Books with William and Betty Endres. Again, we found ourselves without a meeting room but wanted to grow that opportunity to buy and sell used books. Eventually we decided to take a leap of faith and really expand. Cathy Easterbrook designed a magnificent plan for us that included the amazing acoustics we've found in concerts from great musicians such as Pam and Don McMahon and Richard Shulman. Renovation work began in 2000 and we opened up our new addition in the spring of 2001. At that time we also developed our Garden area, as we like "to take it outside" for fairs and activities such as our annual Weave the Web Festivals and Garden Parties.

Over the years we've had the honor of hosting presenters such as Lillian Edwards, Page Bryant, Lee Carroll with Kryon, Dan Chesbro, Jani King with P'Taah, Barbara Marciniak, Ted Andrews, Belinda Dunn, Yolanda Martinez, Jaraan Onai, Rainbow Eagle, Wind Daughter and many other wise and wonderful people – too many to all be named.

Our true blessings come from our dear friends have been here though thick and thin. When we first started having readings on Friday as well as Saturday, Jackie and the Angels and Sherry would sometimes have no clients all day, but they persevered with us and now we someone offering readings every day!  Along the way Emily Smoke became a fantastic friend and we have come to gratefully rely heavily on Emily and her husband, Jim.  To our delight other members of our exceptional volunteer staff, Virgina Hollowell, Betty Boswell and Cyndi Vickers, are part of our circle. Amongst their many contributions, their indomitable spirits help make our intuitive arts fairs run smoothly.  Teri Sferlazza and Margaret Hurt have also helped tremendously at key points and have our utmost thanks.

Our "core regulars" - intuitives and energy workers Sherry Chambers, Jackie and the Angels, Lori Mannella, Steven Evans, Sandra Sullivan, Coburn Gardner, Ethel Crites, August Worley, JanET Ledder, Sandra Gelinas, along with our occasional readers and energy workers Diotima Mantineia, Suzi Johnson, Julie King and Sheila Rogers have been instrumental in the unfolding of Crystal Visions.

And, of course, our fabulous front-desk crew make it all work, cheerfully assisting you when you come in to Crystal Visions – Sherry Chambers, Lori Mannella, Steven Evans, Jane Starwalker, & Sandy Stork. Though Melanie and Pam have moved on to other activities, they, too, were vital members of the staff for many years.

Thanks to our Vision, our Guidance, our many Blessings, and innumerable friends named and unnamed, Crystal Visions has been steadily shining the Light, and offering spiritual tools and resources to you, our dedicated customers, for twenty years. We give everyone our heartfelt thanks and look forward to continuing the journey.

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin,
Blair & Joan