Customers of Exquisite Crystals are looking for crystals for any number of reasons. Co-owner, founder and crystal consultant John Van Rees Sr. says crystals are exquisite accents for a home and can be healing, too. “They can make the home feel much more inviting, more loving. Cluster crystals, versus single-point crystals, are good for family harmony. We used a manifestation crystal, one within another, to help us hearken our first business with confidence. Some people use them in jewelry so they are with them all the time, to help with anxiety, shyness, anger, grounding, all kinds of problems,” he says. “Whatever’s wrong, there’s a crystal to help.”
Name: John Van Rees Sr.
Residence neighborhood: Hazel Dell.
Business name: Exquisite Crystals, 619 Barnes St., Vancouver (in the West Barracks; look for the “Dental Surgeon’s Office” sign), 360-573-6787, www.exquisitecrystals.com and on Facebook.
Age: 65.
Personal background: I grew up in Iowa, but sometime in my early years — maybe during social studies in elementary school — I learned about the Pacific Northwest, and in my heart I have always wanted to be here. I had been working for a shoe company and moving around quite a bit when my family and I finally moved to Oregon 36 years ago. When we landed at the airport, I knew I was home.
How you got started in your business: I was working for Target in retail management when I left to become a minister. During that process, I took a class on psychic development, which gave me the tools I needed to learn the language of psychic reading. I was managing and doing readings for a New Age store in Portland, and it was here that I learned that I really loved working with crystals and minerals. I became the buyer for the store and, subsequently, a professional psychic. As a way of giving back to the world, I also did prison ministry for four or five years teaching meditation and spiritual practice to inmates.
