Are you flowing gently today? At the end of a long demanding week, it’s a gift to be able to exhale and come back to the essence within.

I’ve always known how to show up for others, how to be a friend and a nurturer. But like too many women, one of my great struggles has been to show up for and nurture myself. Fortunately the shifts that have taken place in my life in recent years have set in motion a learning curve that’s led me to approach myself in gentle ways, soothing ways that fill me up. I’ve understood that in order to feel loved and supported in my life, I need to love and support myself first. The deeper I drive into my spiritual practice and learn to apply various healing or empowering principles in my life, the easier it becomes to remember and honour my own worth.

Even so, I still have my off days.

We all go through rough patches. We’re faced with stresses, illness or various other life challenges.

We have those days where our shadows rise and we lose touch with our truth or feel disconnected from Spirit. You have those days where you forget how to be strong, or how to be compassionate with yourself. There are moments when you feel abandoned, stressed out and question why certain things are happening to you.

What I’ve learnt is that those very moments where you don’t know how to love youself are exactly when you need to be there for YOU in a bigger way, practise radical self-love and draw on Spirit for extra support.

For those who are open to working with crystals, one way to draw in the energy of love and light when you are stuck in the midst of struggle is to create a crystal grid for nurturing self-compassion. What I love about crystal grids is that once they’ve been created with a specific intention, they hold the vibration of your intention so that you or the person who you’ve created it for, keep on receiving the loving or healing vibes.

Few things carry the energy of love the way rose quartz crystals do. When I work with rose quartz, I always think of them as little light workers who’ve spent eons embedded in the Earth absorbing love’s vibration so that could share them with us some day. So they are the perfect allies whose energy you draw on for this crystal grid. Since I like to keep things simple, the grid that I’ve created is a very basic, but still very effective in my experience.

What you’ll need:

• Rose quartz crystals (I’ve used 8 in my grid)
• A photo of yourself
• A sacred space to lay the grid where it will not be disturbed

 How to Create the Crystal Grid

• Sit quietly, relax and centre yourself.
• Ask yourself: What do you need right now? Love? Acceptance? Peace? To feel supported? Listen to the answers that rise from you inner essence.
• Focus on the feeling that you want to experience. What does self-love or acceptance feel like? What does being nurtured or supported feel like? Tap into the energy of this feeling. Now set the intention to offer that to yourself through the crystal grid that you are creating.
• Lay down the photo of yourself on the surface where you are creating the grid and then lay the crystals one by one around the picture in a circle. As you lay each piece, visualise loving white light flowing from the centre of the Universe, through you and into the grid.
• When you’ve laid out the grid, spend a few moments focused on your intention and continue to charge it by sending love and white light energy to the grid.

You can keep the crystal in place for a few days or a few weeks depending on how long you feel you need it for. You can also add additional touches that resonate with you. I felt called to place two pink roses over my photo because they have a special place in my heart. They remind me to recognise my own inner beauty and to love and accept myself. Whenever you feel down or unloved, visualise yourself receiving uplifting love energy from the grid.

You can also create one for a friend or family member who is ill, going through a tough time or are in need in some way. Simply use a photo of them and use the same process to send them love and white light.

If you do decide to experiment with this, please to let me know what the experience is like for you. I’d love to hear from you.

May the love and wisdom of Mother Earth and Goddess keep guiding you to a place of light and healing.