The Crystal Tree
Yvonne Gonzalez-Baez
submitted 5/4/05
About a year ago, Jean invited me to participate in the Dream Scouts Program. At that time, though, my life was a turmoil and couldn’t get organized enough to participate. Now, Jean –persistent and hopeful as she is- invited me to be part of the iMAGE project. Again, I read about it and made the link to the Dream Scouts. My mind started running, realizing how everything was coming into place, just like puzzle pieces. For me, both are part of the same: a myriad of coincidences in one that had made the miracle in the other. The threads of this tapestry called “life” intermingle in such a form that now I just can’t put it aside with the excuse of “not having the time” to share it. All the coincidences are screaming at me.
The magic began with the crystal tree and what it resembles in my own life experience:
I didn’t know a thing about crystals until I stated working at the Institute of Depth Psychology in 2001. Before that, I only had the tradition of writing my dreams down on a diary, with no apparent reason whatsoever. But during my training at the Institute I remembered a dream I had about a year before that. It had to do with Crystals. In the dream, I encountered a teacher who was telling a friend of mine how to make a face sculpture. I approached them and said to my friend: “The face needs is more air”. Her teacher turned around to see me directly in the eyes. With astonishment, told me, pointing her finger straight to my forehead: “You will work with crystals”.
About a year and a half later, I had the opportunity to go to an International Dream Conference in Boston. There, while in a session, out of nowhere I recalled that dream and saw the face of my friend’s sculpture teacher, the one who told me that I was going to work with crystals. I realized that IT WAS JEAN’S FACE! I must make clear that Jean and I had been in touch only through the Internet by quite some time, but just met physically at that conference. When the dream came to my mind, her face reappeared clearly!
I promised to look for her right after the session I was attending was over. When it finished, something drew me to the computer lab to check my e-mails first. Five minutes later, I realized that the person sitting next to me, also checking her mails, was Jean! When I turned around and saw her, a sense of amusement spread throughout my whole body. I didn’t even need to look for her! So with no hesitation, I interrupted her: “Jean, do you know anything about crystals?” –I asked her-. She immediately said: “yes, why?” The only thing I could articulate was “I need to talk to you”.
She invited me outside so we could talk peacefully. We sat under the shade of a beautiful tree, which immediately became my crystal tree. I told her about my dream, and mentioned that I knew nothing about crystals. As the good teacher she is, listened carefully, saw me with a grim that I interpreted as “you have finally arrived” and out of nowhere started teaching me about crystals. Just as the saying says: “When the student is ready, the master appears”.
“The first crystal you will need to work with is yourself” – she began-. “You ought to see your own life from different facets, as in a crystal. You will better understand life and other’s circumstances, with no judgment when you understand that there is many ways to see the same thing. Once you realize that your life works that way, you will become more patient, more lovable and more empathic of others. But first you need to do that with yourself. Once you are ready, the crystals will come to you; you won’t even need to look for them”.
My mind was running nuts. I couldn’t make sense of what was happening and how was it happening. She was giving me my first crystal lesson, coming out from a dream I had two years before, now all taking place in a dream Conference! I felt exhausted, very heavy. I needed to rest and give time to sink it all in into my system. First I went to grab something to eat before going to take a nap, but suddenly, after lunch, all the heaviness left my body! Therefore, I decided to go to the next session. It was about Dreams and Shamanism. Before I could even realize what was going on, the presenter was putting on the floor some crystals. Each of us had to choose the one we felt most attracted to. Like magic, the session turned out to be a ceremony to ask the crystal to be with us, to help us in our dreams, to be part of us in our every day life! Just as Jean said, my first crystal was coming to me, without me even asking for it! And I hadn´t even started to practice with my own life as a crystal!
Back at work in Mexico, I received a phone call from a newly formed alternative medicine school. They wanted to invite me to their opening workshop. It was about a new massage therapy… And guess what: it was given with crystals! I couldn’t believe it! Not only did I attend the workshop, but resigned from my job at the Institute and started giving massages and crystal therapy to those who asked for it.
When Jean invited me to be part of the Dream Scouts Program, I read about it and realized how much it resembled many aspects of my life:
Those of you who are in the Dream Scouts or know about it, would recognize that:
- It is a Scouts´ project.
- It has to do with a healer from Guadalajara.
- It talks about a kid who lived in the D.C. area, close to Adams Morgan.
- Deals with dreams… and most specifically: Crystal dreams.
In my own life,
- Mexican girl who got the highest insignia for the women’s troops in the Country: The Phoenix.
- Then I moved to Guadalajara to finish my High school and begin my college degree.
- Eventually, due to a kidney transplant, I moved to the United Stated, specifically Maryland, where I was able to finish my Bachelor’s Education in Business Administration. . During the summers I worked at the Embassy of Mexico, in the Washington, D.C. area. Adams Morgan was my favorite place to go.
Back in my homeland, Mexico, after I married and procreate a lovely daughter, I started moving into the Dreams field while working at the Mexican Institute of Depth Psychology.
I was amazed at all these “coincidences”, but with no time to write about it. Now, 18 months later, I received from Jean this invitation to be part of the Life Little Book of Magic in The iMAGE project. When I got the connection of both the Dream Scouts and this project, I realized it was my time to share, my time to become part of the magic!
Yes, things happen for a reason. Coincidences do exist in a way far beyond my understanding. Life is full of mysterious threads that intermingles form one life experience to another, from a dream, to a place I lived at, a job I cherished, a wonderful woman I met and the different facets of a crystal. That is why life is like a crystal tree: so diverse and yet it all comes from the same root: Our conscience.
Yvonne Gonzalez-Baez
