Page 17

Emily Bond

Sort of Seeing Someone

“Goooooood morning, Chicago! Thank you so much for tuning into Windy City Today. I’m Mal Tucker and as you know, this is my co-host, the one and only Antonio Serrano. We’ve got a great show for you this morning, don’t we, ’Ton?”

“We sure do. With Halloween coming up, we’re dedicating one segment a day to celebrating ‘The Magic in our Everyday Lives.’ To kick things off, we’ve got special guest, Chicago’s very own, Moonie Miller, founder of Moon Batch Apothecary.

Did I say that right, Mal? Ah-pah-theh-cary.

That’s a new one for me. Anyway, let’s bring her on out, shall we? ”

The stage manager standing beside me whispers that’s my cue to head toward the brightly-illuminated set, which includes a white leather sofa and a glass-topped coffee table with fresh flowers and three mugs on it.

Thanks to Shereé Jackson’s job as a special correspondent, and after consulting with Yas, I got asked to join the hosts of Chicago’s most well-known daily talk-show, Windy City Today , just days after MBA went live.

With each step I take toward the set, my combat boots squeak against the polished floor. I hope the sound guy isn’t pissed but it sure beats the high heels that the producers suggested I change into moments before going out.

I take a seat and flatten out the skirt part of my dress. I went with the outfit I bought for my birthday in OB. Today is the perfect day to rock the black, long sleeve skater dress with a contrasting white collar. As much as it sounds like it, I promise I don’t look like a nun.

“Welcome, Moonie. It’s a pleasure to have you.”

“Thanks, Antonio. It’s a pleasure to be here.

I have to admit, I’m a little nervous. This is my first time being on television,” I say, unsure if I’m supposed to be looking at Antonio, Mal, the studio audience, or one of the five cameras pointed at me.

“You’ll tell me if I have lipstick in my teeth, right? ”

Antonio laughs, although I cannot identify whether it’s genuine in nature.

From my standpoint, my question isn’t a joke.

Hair and makeup wasn’t thrilled when I procured my tube of Blood Moon after the makeup artist suggested a brighter pink to soften my ensemble.

I just want to be sure the dark lipstick stays in place.

Speaking of, this lip color has become my signature—just like Yas suggested.

Against my skin, which is growing paler by each day that I no longer have a California zip code, it pops as an easy way for my newfound followers to know they’ve come to the right account on Instagram, which—asYas explained—is the credibility they need to place an order on my website.

And considering how well MBA is doing after launching, I am convinced there are super powers in this tube.

I put it on, and suddenly I am capable. In a moment like now, when I may not know how to ace a television interview, wearing this lipstick makes me feel like something within me does.

“So this is your first interview since Windy City Today ’s Around-Town contributor, Shereé Jackson, posted about you on her Instagram feed?” Mal asks in her signature show business voice.

“It is.”

“An exclusive! Aren’t we lucky.”

Antonio picks up a stack of flashcards from the coffee table, clears his throat, and begins to read from them.

“In case you’ve been living under a rock, such as a rose quartz crystal , Moonie Miller is the magician behind the infamous Moon Batch candle collection, which is currently topping the Chicago Tribune ’s list of fall must-haves.

Plus, ourvery ownShereé Jackson says she’s the real deal when it comes to resetting your energy and making it work in your favor.

So tell us, Moonie, how does it feel to be regarded at just twenty-six years old as the shaman of Chicago by one of the biggest influencers in town? ”

I can feel my face flush as the first question rolls off Antonio’s tongue.

I know that whatever he read was written by producers to gas me up as the end-all, be-all #girlboss of the spiritual world, when in reality, the only difference between me and an Esty store owner selling knitted Bernie Sanders dolls out of her basement is that I crossed paths with Shereé Jackson.

“I owe it all to the power of social media,” I begin.

“Before meeting Shereé, I sat somewhere between a naysayer and a novice. But she encouraged me lean into it. The next thing I knew, I found myself getting more in touch with the moon and leaving my ‘oh-this-is-silly’ hang ups at the door. The lesson hereis it’s never too late to realize you have a special talent that deservesto be discovered.

I’m just lucky thatShereé helped me make that happen quicker than most.”

“Wow. I just love a good right-place, right-time story of meeting someone who changes your life,” says Mal.

“Now I want to talk about your talent for a moment. How did you realize you had a special connection with crystals, energy, the moon? Or, with a name likeMoonie, was it just written in the stars? That is your real name , right? Moonie?”

“It is. And regarding my name, I want to clear something up since I have gotten a few DMs about it: in no way does it indicate I’m a member of the Unification Movement Cult, who just so happen to call themselves ‘Moonies.’ The real story is, my parents conceived me in the connecting room of a motel in Moon , Wisconsin on the way back from a family road trip to the Upper Peninsula. ”

“How about that for a fun fact?” says Antonio, clearly unprepared for that quip.

“And as for how I learned about my connection to the moon in the sky—not the Moon in Wisconsin—well, it’s new for me.

But I spent the last two years living in Ocean Beach, California, which is a small, eclectic neighborhood in San Diego.

So it’s no wonder that I found myself living amongst a bunch of, well, loveable weirdos.

And some of those loveable weirdos were my neighbors, best friend, boss, and landlord.

They’re the ones who originally introduced me tocrystals and smudge sticks—and how the powers of all that get amplified depending on where we are in the moon cycle.

Back here, I met Madame Angeline of The Energy Shoppe in Lincoln Park.

She’s who I credit for pointing my powers in the right direction.

And now, she’s my exclusive purveyor for sage, crystals, and candle wax, which are the foundations of some of the best-selling items on my website. ”

“What a journey,” Antonio remarks. “Sounds like you have a lot of good people in your corner.”

“Yes. And I’m so grateful for all the connections; everyone who dropped everything to help make MoonBatchApothecary.com a legit overnight success.”

“Well kudos to you and whoever your web designer is, because they made you look like a spooky spin-off of Joanna Gaines,”Mal says. Antonio looks lost at the comparison, and I’m right there with him.

“It says here your site has been visited over half a million times since your launch,” reads Antonio. “What do you make of all that traffic so soon?”

“That there’s a void for all-things energy related in Chicago, which is where the bulk of my site hits come from.

Primarily, energy work is something that’s only validated in certain geographical areas—places that have populations who are open to believing in that kind of thing.

But in the Midwest? Not so much. People here are very black-and-white about things.

If you can’t put it in a spreadsheet and extrapolate it, they don’t want to know about it.

But I’m changing that. One order at a time. ”

“Slow and steady wins the race,” Antonio comments. And I agree. Although nothing really has been slow with MBA.

“Would you mind walking us through some of your products?” Mal asks, looking down at the coffee table. While we were talking, I hardly noticed a producer came on stage and set out a few things.

“Of course. These are my signature crystals: rose quartz, rutilated quartz, Tiger’s Eye, and red jasper.

Sure, there are tons more crystals out there and someday I hope to carry a full line of them.

But I’m a one-woman show who is just getting started.

And I also make it a point to pre-charge my inventory.

So, for now, I’m just focusing on the ones I find most impactful. ”

“Pre-charge? What does that mean exactly?” asks Antonio as he picks up the rose quartz and inspects it like it’s a dead bug.

“I do a general intention ritual for wellness on all of them. So when they arrive to my customers, no matter what their skill or interest level is with crystal healing, the rocks allstart from a good place. If they want to do their own energy work on them, they can simply rinse the crystal under warm water for sixty seconds ahead of the next moon cycle and it’s considered a factory reset. ”

“And what about this green bushel of…what is this, thyme?”

“Not quite, Antonio,” I say. “That’s a white sage smudge stick—especially useful in metropolitan cities where people are constantly moving to new apartments and condos and need to cleanse their space before settling in.”

“Can I get a few of these for my wife’s walk-in closet? That thing is one hell of a haunted house!”

Mal and Antonio laugh as I wonder at what point I should fake like I think they’re funny, too.

“And what about this?” Mal asks. “This is your crème de la crème, right? The ever-so-coveted Moon Batch Candle?”

“Yes, this is my signature product,” I say, picking up one of my candles.

“It’s a twelve-ounce, hand-poured soy wax candle, so no two are exactly alike.

In it, are pieces of crystals that have been charged by the moon.

And they come in differentvariations, so customers can choose the crystal that reflects the specific energy healing they are seeking at that time. ”