The Tucson Portal Story

— Chapter 1

This Is the Moment I Wait For All Year

Hi my friend,

Once each year, something very special happens in my world.

The portal is open now. ✨ Enter the Crystal Sun Portal

The global mineral family gathers in Tucson — miners, collectors, curators, healers, old friends, new allies — and for a short window, the rarest stones on the planet emerge into the light. Material that doesn’t belong to the internet. Pieces that carry stories, lineage, and unmistakable presence.

I’ve been walking this path for over 30 years now.

My first Tucson show was in the winter of 1994.
I was younger, curious, and already deeply in love with stone — though I had no idea then how much this relationship would shape my life.

Every year since, I feel the same quiet stirring:
It’s time to go listen again.

Not just to the stones ...
but to you, my clients and customers, the people who are ready to live with more awareness, more heart, and more alignment with their deeper purpose.

This year, I’m opening that listening space to a small circle of people.

I call it the Tucson Portal — a once-per-year opportunity to work with me directly as I source living stones with intention, discernment, and decades of relationship.

There are three doorways open right now:

🜂 Crystal Concierge — for those who want to stand inside the sourcing process with me, in real time

🜁 Personal Crystal Curation — for those who want stones chosen specifically for them

⭕ The Crystal Sun Cycle — a year-long initiatory path of stone, plant, sound, and alignment

You don’t have to know which one is for you yet.
You only need to feel the moment.

If you’ve ever trusted my eye, my care, my energy, or my presence around stone…

If something in you is ready to live more consciously, stay connected to how you truly feel, and walk in closer alignment with your greater purpose…

If you sense this season of your life is asking for something deeper and more grounded…

The portal is open now.

I’ll be sharing more in the coming days — stories, memories, and pieces of this long relationship with the mineral kingdom — but for now, I wanted you to be the first to know.

✨ Enter the Crystal Sun Portal

— Chapter 2

A Double Rainbow Over the Desert Inn

Hello,

I want to tell you about the first time I ever arrived in Tucson.

It was January of 1994.

I had left New Hampshire in the middle of winter, trying to outrun an ice storm coming down from Canada. I stopped in New York to pick up some jewelry to sell on the road, then went on to Philadelphia, where I ended up snowed in for three days with a friend while the storm passed.

When the roads finally opened, I drove south to Floyd, Virginia, to stay with friends of José Argüelles in a small community of single-wide trailers and earth lodges: artists, musicians, and healers. A woman named Star Root painted the “Sky People” (Wandjina) on everything she touched. Her husband was built like a circus strongman and traveled with Sun Bear, the Ojibwe elder and founder of the Bear Tribe Medicine Society.

My car refused to start the morning I was supposed to leave.

It wouldn’t start for two weeks.

I had no money.
The community took me in.

I stayed, did breathwork and bodywork sessions, helped with chores, and on the twelfth or thirteenth day we held a community breath circle— about thirty of us breathing together, then eating, talking about the Earth, her cycles, the 13-moon calendar, and living in harmony with the cosmos.

The next morning my car started as if nothing had ever been wrong.

I said my goodbyes, drove west.

A stop in Arkansas.
A muddy day digging crystals in Mount Ida.
Then five long days across the country toward Arizona.

As I came into Tucson on I-10, the highway curved north. I kept seeing signs: Gem Show.

On impulse, I pulled off and drove to a place called the Desert Inn, famous for having "the world's largest heated outdoor pool".

As I parked, a huge double rainbow arched over the entrance and the Gem Show sign.

I sat in the car, took a deep breath, and knew:

I am home.

Inside the hotel, the halls were alive— every room another world of crystals from every corner of the planet, people smiling, moving, greeting each other like long-lost family.

The stress of the storm, the money, the car, the uncertainty… it all dissolved. I had followed my guidance, and it had brought me directly to my people.

That was the moment I realized I was learning to listen in new ways: with my hands, my body, my subtle senses.

In Shiatsu, I had learned that treatment is always diagnosis, and diagnosis is also treatment. And standing there, I could feel that the mineral kingdom itself would become one of my great teachers.

I was 35 years old.
I had already spent years learning how to live with presence, with an aligned mind and heart. And standing there in Tucson, I knew my real journey had just begun.

That was the beginning of a conversation that continues today. Thank you for being here with me.

We've opened the portal to you this year...

✨ Enter here

— Chapter 3

Learning the Language of Stone

Hi,

When I think back on my early years in Tucson, the first thing I feel is gratitude.

I met Melody at the Desert Inn in January of 1994.
I also came to know Bob Jackson, whose room was always next to hers. Over the years, we kept finding ourselves in the same places, season after season, as the Tucson world unfolded around us.

That summer, north of Phoenix, I hand-dug about 200 pounds of a rare agate that I named Purple Sage Agate. In September of that year, I brought most of it to the Denver Gem Show, where I sold nearly all of it and gave Melody and Bob some of the finest pieces— along with the story of how it came out of the land.

Within that very first season of knowing them, Melody included me by name in the acknowledgements of her book, Love Is In The Earth: A Kaleidoscope of Minerals (Updated).

She included my name again in the ’96 Pictorial book, and later quoted me in her humorous recapitulation of her adventures on the mineral trail in Love Is In The Earth: Reality Checque (On The Level?).

That recognition came at a moment when I was still finding my footing in this world, and it meant more to me than I probably knew how to say at the time. It encouraged me to lean in— not just to the stones, but to the life, the people, and the path that was opening.

In 1995, I was spending my days working part-time in my friend Bob Simmons’ room at the Pueblo, Heaven & Earth, while the Desert Inn remained home base for many of the finest Brazilian mineral dealers in the world.

Tucson back then was a grand circus: as many as fifty shows running at once, each hotel its own universe. The Desert Inn itself was a beautiful wreck— once a hot spot for Hollywood celebrities like John Wayne, the featured "world’s largest heated outdoor pool" had been sitting empty for years. In 1995, the ceiling of our showroom collapsed under the weight of water from a flood above. Not long after, the hotel was condemned and many of those dealers migrated to the Pueblo, where I would keep a room for the next five years.

Through all of that, Melody and Bob were steady.

Bob was a curmudgeon and a wizard. He loved minerals, had little patience for people who lived only in their heads, and if you could hang with him, he was a wellspring of knowledge and kindness. I loved Bob.

Melody carried something rare.

She rode a motorcycle, smoked cigarettes by the case, held a Masters degree in mathematics, and spent her days supervising nuclear engineers inspecting facilities in Colorado.

She had been transformed by life, and she wore that wisdom openly.

When we saw each other across the room, the twinkle that turned into a full, open smile always melted my heart. With her, I felt seen. Recognized. Like I belonged. She was a big sister to me. I loved her, and I still miss her.

They didn’t teach me with lectures.

They taught me by how they lived.

They slowed down.
They listened.
They let the stones speak.

They showed me how to listen to customers.
How to let stones choose their people.
How to guide someone gently when a stone was calling them.
They placed stones in my hands, on my body, and let me feel their presence.
They showed me that being energetically sensitive isn’t something to hide... it's a gift, and a responsibility.

I was young. I was learning.
And I was watching what stewardship looked like.

This is the lineage I carry into Tucson now.

It isn’t about collecting.
It’s about listening, honoring, and helping people remember their own relationship with the living world.

That’s what the Tucson Portal is opening this year.

If this resonates, you’re welcome to step inside.

Until Next Time,

✨ Enter the Tucson Portal

— Chapter 4

What the Tucson Portal Actually Is

I’ve been receiving a few thoughtful questions over the past couple of days, and they all point to the same question:

“I’m intrigued… but what exactly is the Tucson Portal?”

That’s a fair question. So let me share a bit more context.

The Tucson Portal isn’t a program, a class, or a one-size-fits-all offering. It’s a once-a-year window that opens when I prepare to return to Tucson— the place where the global mineral world gathers, and where much of my own path with stones began.

When the Portal is open, I’m actively sourcing.
I’m in conversation with long-standing relationships.
I’m listening— for myself, for my work, and for the people who choose to step into that process with me.

One practical question that’s come up a few times is about how the pricing works, so I want to name this clearly:

One of the Uruguayan mineral dealers at a wholesale only show.

Imagine 30 venues where every room on the first and second floors is home to a different vendor from somewhere on Earth!

If you choose Personal Crystal Curation ($1,111) or the Crystal Concierge tier ($2,525), that investment includes the stones I purchase for you.

There isn’t a separate sourcing fee followed by another bill for the crystals themselves. Those offerings are designed so I can source intentionally, choose what’s right, and bring the stones home as part of the same exchange.

It’s also helpful to know how sourcing in Tucson actually works.

I’m purchasing at wholesale-only shows that are closed to the public and only open to established buyers. Many of the people I buy from are miners or direct importers I’ve known for years.

Because of that, the stones I acquire are often priced far below what most retail stores ever see — simply because of where and how they’re sourced, and the relationships involved.

Inside the Portal, there are a few different ways to participate:

Some people want personal crystal curation— stones chosen specifically for them, based on an intake and a shared sense of what’s needed.

Some want to be inside the sourcing process itself, working with me more closely as I move through Tucson.

Others are drawn to the Crystal Sun Cycle, a longer arc of alignment with crystals, herbs, sound, and intention that unfolds over the year. This will be truly exciting, as I'll be collaborating with Master herbalists and other stone medicine practitioners and creating a container that will be able to hold and foster your personal work throughout the year. I'll say more about this when I get back from Arizona... thanks for being patient! (It will be worth the wait 🥳😃😇)

What all of these paths share is this:
They’re relational.
They’re intentional.
And they’re guided by listening rather than urgency.

If you’re feeling curious but unsure where you might fit, that’s completely okay.
Many people begin with a question or a conversation.

You can explore the Portal here and see what resonates:

✨ Enter the Tucson Portal
https://crystalsunportal.com/pages/✨-enter-the-crystal-sun-portal

And if you’d rather reach out directly, drop me an email. I read every message.

— Chapter 5

Who the Tucson Portal Is (and Isn’t) For

As the Tucson Portal has been opening, I’ve been paying attention to the kinds of questions and messages that are coming in.

They’ve helped me feel into something important.

This work isn’t meant for everyone— and that’s intentional.

So I want to share a bit about who this Portal tends to resonate with, and who it may not be the right fit for.

The Tucson Portal may be for you if:

• You value relationship over speed.
• You’re drawn to stones as allies, not accessories.
• You trust discernment and listening more than algorithms or trends.
• You’re comfortable letting things unfold through conversation rather than checkout pages alone.
• You’re sourcing for yourself, your home, your practice, or your work — and you care how things are chosen.
• You’re in a season where alignment matters more than accumulation.

Mariana I've known since she was 5 years old.

Now she runs the business! One of the finest Brazilian mineral dealers in the world.

This may not be for you if:

• You’re looking for instant gratification or volume buying (although I can do that in certain circumstances).
• You want to compare prices across tabs and carts.
• You’re primarily interested in trends, flips, or fast resale.
• You’re not interested in conversation, context, or relationship.

There’s no judgment in that, it’s simply a different way of engaging with stones.

What I’m opening through "The Tucson Portal" is relational by design.

It involves listening, timing, conversation, and trust on both sides.

If you’re reading this and feeling a quiet yes, that’s usually enough to begin.

And if you’re unsure which path fits, or if you simply want to ask a question— you’re always welcome to reply to this email or reach out directly.

I’m happy to talk.

You can explore the Portal here:

Enter The Tucson Portal