MANSFIELD — Mychal Deeb stood beside the massage table. On the lush orange blanket sat seven crystals, each representing a different chakra.
Deeb, a licensed Reiki practitioner, uses crystals and ethereal white singing bowls in her energy work.
According to Deeb, each stone possesses a unique energy that can be transferred to different chakras in the body. The stunning blue Angelite can help awaken one’s spirituality. The variegated moss agate stimulates the heart’s emotions.
“These stones are able to work passively. Technically, they’re working on you, just because you’re standing near them,” she said. “I can take them and I can use them more actively to work on your energy if I wish — but I won’t unless you ask me too.”
Consent is very important at Spark of Light, the Reiki practice Deeb co-owns in Mansfield. Spirituality is deeply personal, so Deeb and her partner Viktoria Miller don’t do any energy work without a visitor’s permission.
Spark of Light celebrated its grand opening Wednesday. The practice exists as a place of discovery, where the curious can go with questions and learn. In addition to Reiki and energy healing sessions, Spark of Light also offers educational workshops and a book nook, where guests can sit down and read about various spiritual practices.
There’s also a small shop that has crystals and hand-made gifts for sale.
Other services include past-life exploration, chakra balancing, soul retrieval, energetic shielding, root-cause exploration and intuition development. Guests can also learn how to better communicate with their spiritual guides — whether they’re angles, ancestors, animals or fey.
The goal for Deeb and Miller is for customers leave equipped with knowledge to pursue the spiritual realm on their own.
“We love to have people come out for Reiki, but we don’t want to be your eternal solution,” Deeb explained. “We want to be a spark of light. We don’t want you to be the lantern you have to carry with you forever.”
“You have a spark of light within you. We want to help you grow so that you don’t need us.”
Both women want Spark of Light to be a non-judgmental, pressure-free zone. They aren’t bothered by skepticism, nor are they afraid to be themselves.
“You should know that we’re weird,” Deeb said. “You don’t gotta believe what we do, but we believe it.
“We like to joke that energy work can be as Woo-woo as you want (or don’t want). You decide what you believe and that’s the beauty of it.”
Miller and Deeb believe Reiki is compatible with both religion and science. They point out that Reiki is used in combination with medical treatment at the Cleveland Clinic.
The clinic’s website states Reiki can relieve pain and tension, foster tissue and bone healing and stimulate the immune system.
“It can be whatever you want it to be,” Miller said. “A lot of people find that they get into Reiki and they deepen their connection to their religion.”
Their passion for Reiki and energy healing comes from personal experiences.
Miller’s journey began during a time of mysterious illness. She couldn’t eat anything without intense pain afterwards. Doctors couldn’t explain it.
Then Deeb offered to give her a tarot reading. Miller figured it couldn’t hurt to try.
What happened next stuck with her. Miller recalls seeing a woman from a past life telling her she loved her. It began a spiritual journey of healing.
“Reiki saved my life,” she said. “I was able to start eating again.”
Miller said the healing went beyond the physical realm.
“Learning and engaging with my soul, figuring out some of my past and learning how to work through old traumas has literally made it so I understand myself,” she said.
“I know who I am these days and because of that, I feel like I’m just living a lot fuller a life than I was before.”
Both women say the road to enlightenment is a windy road. Part of the difficulty lies in trusting one’s instincts and intuition.
“We struggled with that a lot initially because we didn’t have anybody to confirm it for us,” Deeb said. “It’s why the sense of community is so important to us at Spark of Light. We didn’t have any and we thought we were losing our minds.”
“We want to demystify what Reiki, because there’s so many misunderstandings.”
Spark of Light is open by appointment only at 409 Lexington Avenue. For an appointment, text 419-565-4746 or send a Facebook message.
