Bullhead City's Queer Sanctuary Takes Root

In the far northwestern corner of Arizona, just minutes from the Nevada border, a lesbian couple has turned a metaphysical shop into an unlikely hub for queer connection — drawing clients from across the country to a city where LGBTQ+ visibility remains sparse.

Mystic Energies Healing, a metaphysical boutique and wellness center offering tarot readings, Reiki, somatic healing and spiritual coaching, has grown from a small local venture into a destination with clients across the country. 

It originally opened in February 2022, but expanded three years later to a larger space and has customers from across the United States. Today, it blends a retail shop, classes, and healing modalities, including one-on-one coaching, both in-person and online.

For owners Nikolle and Christina Morrigan, opening the shop was about creating the kind of space they once needed themselves. They said their aim is to help others live their true lives — just as they’ve done.

“It’s a sacred space for healing, empowerment, and a place for people to come and feel like they’re part of a community,” Christina said.“The most important part is that they learn that who they are is OK and that they don’t have to strive to be something different. The bottom line is, I want people to be able to remove their masks, because society teaches us to wear so many (of them).”

‘Tarot helped save my life’

Christina admits that the queer community has little presence in Bullhead City, in the far northwestern corner of Arizona, about a 10-minute drive from Laughlin, Nevada.

One reason the couple put down roots there is that Nikolle’s family is there. She moved to Bullhead City from California in 1990. 

Christina relocated from Indiana in 2012, and they met in 2016 when Nikolle was assigned to Christina’s classroom as colleagues. (Nikolle was a special education teacher for 18 years; Christina was a teacher and autism coach.)

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Together, they have eight children and 13 grandchildren.

“My master’s is in applied behavior analysis,” Christina said. “I think that’s where we stand out a little bit. We combine spiritual with analytical.”

She said she found her spiritual path in Bullhead City, which led her and Nikolle to start the business.

“Mystic Energies was basically born out of my own health struggles and issues with codependency and depression and anxiety and feeling like I didn’t belong anywhere,” Christina said. “Once I found ways to heal myself, I wanted to heal others.” 

She began offering Reiki from her home and at yoga studios before the couple opened the business, and also offered tarot readings from her home as a tool for self-discovery, personal growth and healing.

“Tarot helped save my life,” Christina said. 

She uses it in one-on-one spiritual coaching and said tarot cards guide “shadow work.” The latter is a term coined by Swiss psychologist Carl Jung to describe a process that reveals parts of ourselves we deny—anything from trauma to gender identity to a passion for painting—and allows us to accept ourselves.

“If we’re rejecting and denying parts of ourselves, we can’t fully show up as our authentic selves,” Christina said. “Shadow work helps us realize who we truly are and why we’re here… and what makes us tick, what makes us act the way we do, our behaviors, our patterns, how we project on others. It’s deep.”

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The way she uses tarot isn’t about fortune-telling, but reading people’s energy.

“We have free will,” Christina said. “If we don’t like what the cards say, we can go out and make different choices and change the trajectory of our life…. It’s a good tool to help people see where they need to course correct.”

Crystals, classes, coaching online and IRL

Mystic Energies Healing sells crystals, tarot and oracle decks, loose-leaf herbs, tea blends, essential oil sprays, altar supplies, incense, statues of deities, Christina’s “spelled” bracelets (with different intentions and energies) and Nikolle’s hand-poured intention candles.

On top of a Facebook group where people can call dibs on items before they hit the shelves, there is also a monthly membership for $88 that includes an “embodiment” toolkit, which teaches about the archetype of the month from the tarot and how to embody it. 

But beyond the items they sell, the events at Mystic Energies Healing is what has drawn people to their store. 

“A lot of classes are held on Zoom, so you don’t have to be local to attend,” Christine said. At least half of their clients don’t live in the area.

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Brianna and Dani Guerrero, who married in 2022, attended new moon and full moon rituals, interactive tarot classes, and other events when they lived locally, and now that they live in North Carolina, they stay connected via Zoom.

She added that Dani took Christina’s one-on-one coaching, which helped her through a difficult time in her life.

“The shop has been influential in our lives, in our marriage, in our individual growth,” Brianna said. “It’s just such a welcoming place. And I think that it’s also a place where you can really learn a lot about yourself.”

Mystic Energies Healing

Address: 3750 Highway 95, Suite 105, Bullhead City, AZ 86442
Hours: Noon-6 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, noon-4 p.m. Saturday
Contact: magick@mysticenergieshealing.com;
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