Welcome back readers. This week we have something extra special! We have a team - Let's meet Chris, Samma, and Dea. They work with spirtual dealings, reiki, arts and crafts. Below we will dig in and learn a little bit more about each of them!
Firstly, tell me a little bit about you got started.
Samma (Alias Graviera): At 14 years old I started making Guitar pick necklaces & consigned them at a local music store. When I was 18 I started making purses out of Military uniforms when my family was stationed at Fort Carson. I saw other Army wives with cool bags & I thought to myself I can do that too! I made one & strangers would approach me & ask me where I got it. From that point on my friends convinced me to start making them. I started "Enduring Freedom Designs" making purses in 2009 & to this day it is still a strong running company for me. Fast forward to my late teens, early 20's I had a very hard awaking in the metaphysical world. I saw a tarot deck at my friends metaphysical store, I didn't buy it right away but, I couldn't get the deck out of my mind. So I went back to get it. From the second I got my deck I was a natural at Tarot. I had a friend convince me that I needed to do it for more then just my friends and she kind of put me on the spot at a party which threw me into doing it for strangers. During that awaking I had lost a significant amount of friends to tragedies that were unforseen. Vision & long conversations started in my dreams. At first I just thought it was my subconscious grieving. Then it started happening when I was awake. I could hear the voices of my lost loved ones. I could see them in the corner of my eye. Eventually I could see their aura. Originally I thought I was crazy. I had absolutely no control over it. It wasn't just my friends I could hear but others as well. Walking into a graveyard was definitely an overwhelming experience when this first started happening. Eventually I met another witch who explained that I was a medium and taught me how to control it. While learning how to tune in to what I was hearing I also connected with my Deities as well which helped turn me into who I am now. After that I was asked to do my first craft show with all my talents from Tarot and Reiki to the purses and the art I make. Since then I have traveled all over Michigan doing events.
Chris (Alias Lochlann): I've always been out in the wild since I was young. Always camping and hiking around Colorado where I grew up and went around and summited most of the 14neers (mountain that's peak is above 14,000 feet). I've always had a need to take care of the Forest and open spaces anywhere I went just had something always telling and guiding me to maker sure it's clean and beautiful to be enjoyed. I've recently gotten into making tea for helping calm and relax the body and mind as well as assist with astral travel or lucid dreaming so other can connect with their higher selves. On top of that I make walking sticks that I attach charms to that provide protection or help ground you as you are in nature.
Dea (Alias River): How I got started.
I never thought of myself as a creative person but living with Graviera awakens stuff in you that you don't know is there. I joined the military when I was 18 and the most creative thing I did for 12 years was revamp programs that were already in place but weren't working very well. When I got out in 2013 I thought I wanted to be a psychologist. After graduating with a BA in psychology I started looking for Masters programs but none of the shoes fit right. I thought about social work and school counseling but even after enrolling in a masters program for school counseling I realized after two classes that was not it and dropped out. I was lost for quite a few years so I went back to dental thinking maybe the military was what I didn't like about dental. It was not. While I was working in the civilian dental sector I start getting Reiki as a way to cope with pain and find my life path. When Graviera came to visit once I can't remember what was going on but I felt really strongly that Reiki would help her. It did and she decided to pursue it so much she can teach others now and that is how I learned reiki. I've felt called to want to help people since I left the military and none of the avenues on conventional paths felt right. Reiki allows me to help people as a light worker that doesn't tie me down to a specific set of rules I don't necessarily agree with and would probably be overwhelmed trying to stay in those boundaries. I am also being called to try my hand at art and other creative ventures that I never thought I would be good at so living with an artist inspires art as well.
How long have you been doing your trade?
GRAVIERA: I come from a family of entrepreneurs. I starting my own business at 14 and have become a jack of all trades. I've been sewing since I was little. My mom taught me. I graduated from cosmetology school in 2019 but have been doing hair since 2016. I've been involved in the metaphysical since around 2010.
LOCHLANN: Only for about a month now actually. I've just started making my walking sticks and I'm continuing to work on the amounts needed for my teas.
RIVER: I have been doing reiki for about 2 years. My method is a bit unconventional which I suppose should be expected from me by now. I don't just realign chakras I try to remove trauma and heal wounds from within. I have been able to help clients with mania, bi polar, deep seeded fears and have been able to give temporary relief to physical pain like carpal tunnel and fractured knee pain. I am hoping the jewelry I am going to start making will help people with some of these issues when I am not there since I will put my energy into the items. There are other things I'm thinking about but haven't started steps to doing those yet.
Have you had any struggles along the way?
GRAVIERA: Struggles come with anything anyone will ever do in their life. I have been told I wasn't good enough to be doing what I do because I didn't turn profit immediately, I've been told to get a real job because, I'll never make it with my hobbies. I started a company for someone else and without a word was blocked and deleted from access to everything I did for them with no explanation or communication. I've been betrayed by "friends & business partners", I spent a lot of time and effort trying to help someone else and let myself fall in the process just to have to pick myself up and start over. But, when stopped listing to the negitive and stopped letting other people get in my head telling me I can't, I got rewards for my effort. When I stopped listing to the people who didn't believe in me and stopped letting anxiety cripple me I started having success. So, yes there have been struggles and times I wanted to quit but, had I quit I would have lost myself. Nothing is worth losing yourself, especially because of people that don't believe in you.
LOCHLANN: I've been through plenty as has others on this planet. Struggling builds us back up through challenging us in many different ways. I lost my father when I was young and he was the one who got me out in to hiking and camping. I had been told that I'm not smart and I'm to simple minded to do much of anything in society. I let those struggles pull me down but, over time and with the right people I pushed on and built myself up better than I was.
RIVER: I have. I think struggles are on par for most. Mine have mainly been with confidence and going through the dark night of the soul. Having to shed who you have been for most of your life to become someone new so you can do what you are meant to do as a better version of yourself is scary and sometimes painful. And I don't like pain. My dark night has been going on for years and I'm still going through it but at least now I'm no longer hiding in the dark crossed roads waiting for a purple cat to show me my path.
When did you first notice you were able to connect with spirit?
GRAVIERA: This sounds weird but as a child Hades was my best friend. I never told anyone that. I, at one point pushed it into the back of my mind thinking it was just childhood imagination like Santa Claus. But, when I got my Reiki training they had us sit down and listen for our Reiki Guides. When I closed my eyes I had a vision of Hades and Persephone. They were the ones that not only wanted to reconnect with me but also were the ones that taught me the most in Reiki. How to remove the negative from someone and replace it with positive energy and put people's chakras back together to the right direction. Not everything is how people perceive it. Dark and light go hand and hand. To bring light into someone you need to understand how to dance with darkness. I work with many deities now. Greek, Norse, Celtic, Egyptian, Primordial, They are all real. They have helped me through the most difficult times of my life. Organized religion is what broke me in my life. But my Deities are what balanced me out. Because of them I was able to stop drinking, I used to suffer from Mania and depression, I used to wish I would get hit in the head so hard I could just live out my days in a coma. But once I found my Deities I could see and hear them. They picked me up, healed me, and I'm stronger then I ever have been because of them. It was a long journey that didn't happen over night but they healed me and nothing will ever change my beliefs because of the proof I've seen and results that stabled out my life because of them.
LOCHLANN: Only recently after a very eye opening experience did I actually embrace my connection more on a spiritual level before it just was a calling it felt like to take care of the plants and animals around me. But now after being told by Deities on what I can do and how I'm more connected and aware of how to serve them where I'm needed. With Cernunnos's help I've been more aware of where to help animals and take care of their environments.
RIVER: I was walking to bike shop with a friend when I pasted by a Wiccan shop. I felt instantly drawn to want to go in. Ever since then I have been drawn to learn about the Native Americans, shamans, druids, Celtics and norse mythology, Chakras, witch craft, there is a profound history on this planet of people and cultures reaching out to connect with spirit. I connect best during reiki and meditation. I feel the healing loving energy of source pass through my body into the planet I envision the healing loving energy pour into the core until it overflows and it keeps flowing until it reaches through ever layer of the planet to the crust then it crests the planets surface and keeps going until encircles the planet and all the atmosphere with a healing white light loving energy. Then I connect my root chakra to the planet and feel the loving warm healing from Gaia below. I work with many deities now, Posideon, Brigid, Hermes, Panacea to name a few. But I still connect with Gaia and universal energy they were my first and will always hold a special place in my heart.
Graviera you are definitely a jack of all trades, when was your first realization that doing reiki, and tarot were you calling?
GRAVIERA: Let me answer your question with a question. Do you ever go through such dark night of the soul that when you come out it you feel like a completely different person? You have grown and changed so much you feel like your old friends are no longer on the same level as you? Or how you have lost interest in the things you used to love because the pull of there being something MORE out there is too strong? Have you been able feel if it is a healthy change or a issue developing into your awakening? Once someone wakes up to a new level of who they are in the metaphysical world, one shouldn't feel like every aspect of their life has to be thrown out or changed. Sometimes that change is good but, sometimes it just needs balance or release of negative energy. So when you lose interest in the things you love I want you to ask yourself do you feel like this is a balanced change? Were those things unhealthy? Or are you letting go of too much. There is a such thing as jumping in the deep end with no life preserver 🛟. Do you feel alone like you need guidance? I started doing this because there are no therapist to help people like us. It's either Christian based or someone wants to shove drugs down your throat because we aren't what religion and society view as acceptable or normal. I did this alone in the beginning. It took half my life to find my tribe the ones that understood what I see, hear, and do. I do this to help people figure out what is causing the imbalance so you can move forward without becoming the Hermet. To help them find their way forward with advice so they don't have to do it on their own like I did. One should never give up their whole life for the metaphysical. But one shouldn't ignore the metaphysical either. There is always a need for balancing both or you can find your self alone and lost. I can't tell you when I started, the journey is so long to pin point when and where would be very difficult. But the point I guess would be is here I am and that's all that matters.
You also make essential oils, wood burning, walking sticks, and jewelry, could you touch a bit more on that and talk about how you go into making your art?
GRAVIERA: Our essential oils I make with River the oils are based on the Deities we are connected with. We are able to hear and connect directly with them and their energy to make an accurate oil to connect with the Deity you are looking for. Wood buring is something I watched my mother do as a child. One day I was looking for different ideas for products & I decided to try it myself. I started making Ouija boards and it kind of grew from there. Purses started from when I was an Army Wife on Fort Carson. I touched on that already. Jewelry has just always been a hobbies of mine since my first company Pickless when I was 14 making Guitar pick jewelry.
LOCHLANN: I only started with my walking sticks recently after going on a hike and thinking and discussing it with my partners and the Deities that I can make something from the branches provided by the trees when they fall off. So I took some home whittled them down sanded them and stained and sealed them added the charms after and started having them available for purchase at craft shows.
RIVER: I will talk with deities that I am making on oil for. There are a lot of oils now that are made with the deities name and they do not like how they smell so I try to work with them as best I can to make a scent they approve of that they can connect with. Then I ask them to put their energy into the oil so the person buying it will be able to connect with the deities. I am also going to be trying to make jewelry that will focus on healing certain chakras. Chakras are quite complicated energy centers that can affect people in profound ways and they may not even know that is the problem. Reiki can expensive for some so I am hoping my chakra jewelry will be a alternative for starting the healing process.
Is there anything else you would like to share with my readers?
GRAVIERA: When someone tries to discourage you from starting your own business telling you that you can't or you'll never make it. Don't listen to them. Prove them wrong. It is hard. It will take years to balance it is time consuming, you need commitment and dedication, you WILL have rough patches but it's worth it because it's YOURS.
LOCHLANN: If you go out on a hike and see some trash pick it up. It'll make any of the earth deities happy. You wanna help the animals around the area learn the foods they eat as in seeds and grains and spread some of that on a hike or volunteer with a group to help injured animals. If you see a pond, lake, or waterway of any sort with trash or a oil slick get a net to clean the trash and notify a park ranger or the department of natural resources about the oil and mess.
RIVER: Spirituality is not a dirty word. Being awake is not sailing the world in a yacht or living in abject poverty. Being awake is seeing things for how they really are and not being blind to the ugliness. Spirituality is connecting to a higher power that will help you to make the physical impact on this pain filled planet in a way a spiritual entity can not. Doing your part may be something as simple as growing plants or teaching children. Or you may be called to clean the oceans or stop human trafficking. Whatever your spiritual calling is do not be afraid of the words and labels. Human has a great ability to shoot themselves in the foot by twisting things to seem bad when they are not. As long as you do harm to none do as you are called to do.
What is the best way for people to reach you/book/buy art?
Metaphysical:
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/EnduringFreedomDesigns