Divine Dragonfly is a LGBTQ+ -friendly store offering crystals, healing herbs, incense, oracle and tarot cards, candles and jewelry. Owners Michelle Davis-Hardy, Audie Hardy and Barbara Deery strive to make the space inclusive and welcoming.

Davis-Hardy didn’t believe in the healing properties of crystals until five years ago. “I had been struggling with mental health issues,” she recalls. “My daughter and her wife hid crystals around my house without telling me. I noticed that I started feeling better, I was feeling happier and my outlook on life had improved.”

After becoming a firm believer in crystals, Davis-Hardy developed a passion for learning about their metaphysical properties, such as how and why they work, as well as how to source them ethically. Seeing a need in the Lancaster area for a store that offers sustainably sourced crystals, herbs and sage, she opened the Inspired Dragonfly boutique as a home business for two years before opening a 900-square-foot warehouse and showroom space on Rohrerstown Road in January 2020. That May, in a new, 3,800-square-foot location christened Divine Dragonfly, the team began teaching customers about why crystals can be much more than just a pretty rock, harnessing invisible energies to aid in well-being.

Davis-Hardy says the name Divine Dragonfly reflects the way we are all on different levels of our own unique path. “We get customers that had never purchased a crystal. We also have those that walk in and bring information to us, teaching us things that we didn’t know,” she says. “We like to meet people wherever they are on their journeys.”

The curated selection of crystals is hand-selected from gem shows and mines. David-Hardy explains, “Some mines use child labor or unethical labor practices. Many of these mines are located in Colombia, Brazil, Madagascar or Indonesia—countries that don’t provide for or take care of their employees. We work with mines that provide medical care to employees at no charge.”

Davis-Hardy believes that crystals hold energy, so if a customer tries to work with a crystal that has been forged in an unethical way, such as by child labor, users might not achieve their healing goals. She says, “When you’re trying to heal your energy, you want to make sure your crystal has been handled property and goes through all the proper channels. Crystals have become a huge industry, and people are looking to make quick profit from them. That is not what we are about.”

The energy from crystals is claimed to interact with the body’s “energy field”. Davis-Hardy uses one crystal as an example, advising, “Amethyst is good for self-love and breaking down barriers that we put up. When you meditate and hold amethyst in your hand or carry it in pocket, you remind yourself that you’re working through those barriers that you placed.” Lepidolite, a lilac-gray-colored balancing crystal, contains lithium. Davis-Hardy believes that when lepidolite is held in its natural form, it can help relieve anxiety and depression.

She observes that every crystal possesses different energies, and each one promotes healing differently. What works for one person might not work for another. Education is a large component of Divine Dragonfly, and patrons can view the metaphysical properties of their in-store and online purchases on a mobile app. The store plans to host events and classes featuring reiki, tarot card reading and other classes focused on healing.

There was a time when Davis-Hardy wanted to be a psychologist. Now, she says, “I get to help people, but in a different way. I love helping people that feel lost, and then see them walk out feeling like they have a better handle on things.”