This blog has been coming for a long time. Writing it has been hard because this blog is the Community Exit Sign we come across on a highway that tells us our exits. This is the first of two in the city of “That’s A Wrap!”
The EPJ Floral Wraps are coming to an end. We start with the new release of the Mini Wraps. I am excited for their last dance, but a touch of sadness comes with the end of an era.
In 2010, the Wand Floral Wrap began to be created. Over the next year, many short wraps were added, and the flower design became another EPJ Signature piece.
Unfortunately, several knockoffs started making the rounds. I know that the path of the higher self should be the road walked, but I didn’t take it well. Sure, this had happened countless times, but this one had an added layer. I think it was because many people I called friends bought them and even bought them wholesale to sell in their shops. I always thought that being a shop curator should be more about making a place where amazing things could be found. Not selling anything you can get your hands on for money. Many people showed who they were during this time, but we live in a time where honor is dead and money is king. I separated myself from many of those people because that is not the energy I want in my circles. Some of them are sweet, and some of them are kind, but I have rules. These rules are called “How to be the Luckiest of Lucky.” Befriending those without some sort of standards is a way to be unlucky.
I have always believed that things without soul or purpose except greed bring bad juju to sellers and buyers. They pollute their energy and the energy of buyers who may not know what they are selling. I couldn’t believe the excuses from people I knew.
“The knockoffs are $5.00.”
“Babe, they were selling them for 40 cents per unit if I bought 300. You think I am gonna pass that up?”
People want the design, but they don’t want to actually pay for it. They want a carbon copy of an imitation. It’s the equivalent of wanting a culture but not the struggle. It’s all for show.
These were two excuses I wrote in my journal from people I knew. What is a “unit?” Is that where we are at? A unit? Great. Mislabeling a talisman or an amulet is an issue in this world… but now we are down to a “unit?” There were times I was ready to tap out. I get it; not everyone believes what I believe or works, feels, and knows energy. Some don’t care. But what happened to being a decent person? Not buying knockoffs from junk manufacturers. Not buying stolen designs? Oddly, I watched these same people buy them for 40 cents a “unit” and mark them up 100 times their wholesale price. I was floored. We sometimes live in worlds of ghosts.
Tears are in my eyes as I write this like the wound is fresh. It became ridiculous how many people once posted their EPJ Original Design Wraps to those posting the knock-offs. The knockoffs grew and grew. It got out of control, and I tapped out. I had already been through lawsuits with larger companies and had settlements. It is draining. It begins to take its toll. So, I quit making them. My energy could be used elsewhere, and I needed time to re-energize and consult my higher self, as opposed to the self that was sad.
It wasn’t that no one had ever wrapped a crystal before—that is silly. It was the fact that my exact flower design was being replicated and sold “by the unit.” The people telling me to “get over it” were also a part of the problem. I had to see it for what it was—masking dropping to the floor and revealing to me who I was really talking to this whole time. I also learned who was not like that. I found some beautiful people during that time.
In 2017, after some rest, I was back with a fresh batch of wands. The issue was that people kept sending me messages with photos of the knockoffs. It’s wild when people constantly do that. You know they are trying to help, but it hurts more than anything. I had to request they stop sending them because there were too many to count.
“My enemy shot an arrow and missed, but you picked it up… walked over to where I am and stabbed me with it.”
This is when you limit the access to you. Sometimes, that access means shutting off the faucet that flows to many things. The art draws the water was the first. Sometimes, social media can be a lot. So, once again, I stopped making the wraps.
Too many people have requested them not to let one last round come about, so I have decided to make two last rounds. The Minis will be available on September 20th, 2024, and the Wand wraps will come sometime next year. These will be the last ones EPJ ever makes.
One day, long after I am gone, I hope someone comes across the original design and the knockoff in a vintage shop or estate sale. I hope they hold them side by side and know the truth.
Thank you for loving the wraps and thank you for supporting small businesses. It always will mean the world long after we are all gone.
