A Spotlight on Richmond's Holistic & Alternative Wellness Community
At The Blue Lotus-RVA, we are committed to supporting the skilled and gifted practitioners and business in our local community. This month, we showcase Judith Kohnen, a passionate teacher and healer, and the owner of the Clover Hill Holistic Arts Center in Chesterfield, VA. Judith is certified in Spiritual Counseling, Healing Touch, Reiki, and other professional healing arts (with a background as a registered nurse), and is best known as an instructor for intuitive and mediumship development. Judith is a professional intuitive and medium who is committed to helping others tap into their own innate gifts through various metaphysical classes and workshops offered at her holistic center. An authentic teacher of personal growth and development, she is a valuable asset to Richmond's holistic and spiritual community.
It is our sincere privilege to share her story with you.
Presenting...
Judith Kohnen
Certified Spiritual Counselor, Psychic/Medium, and Mentor at Clover Hill Holistic Arts Center
Judith has always been dedicated to the well-being of others, and after more than 30 years experience in healthcare environments, she feels most at home in the natural healing arts. Her past years as a registered nurse has served as a great asset to her knowledge and education of mind and body issues. Her ultimate goal is in serving with a compassionate and personal commitment to the empowerment of others.
We sat down with Judith to learn more about how she discovered her passion and to find out what we can do to develop our intuition.
TBLRVA: So, tell me a little bit about what got you interested in studying intuitive development and spirituality in general?
Judith: I've always been a nurturer, which is why I became a registered nurse, but nursing became too profit-oriented for me. My spiritual journey started while I was still a nurse, and after having a tarot card reading by a woman in California. The reading was incredibly accurate. Everything she said was happening in my life at that time, and everything she predicted through the cards came true. I was just so fascinated and curious by her knowledge through the cards that I went home to Virginia and made it a project to learn how the cards worked. I did a lot of research and read a lot of books by Edgar Cayce, Ruth Montgomery, and other metaphysical authors. I learned that everything is energy and through energy is how the cards worked. I attended conferences at the Association for Research and Enlightenment in Virginia, Beach (A.R.E.), and other places for training and education in these areas. I’ve studied with Donna Eden, Caroline Myss, James Van Praagh, Robert Brown, and many others. My most valuable studies came from my teachings with Psychic/Medium Lisa Williams. I naturally became drawn to a more holistic way of helping others.
TBLRVA: So, with regards to your nursing career, when did you realize that you weren’t happy being a nurse in such a profit-oriented organization?
Judith: Well, things started happening to me physically. I began having problems with my legs and knees. I even had paralysis for a time. I really felt the Universe was trying to show me that I was meant for something else. I worked as a hospice nurse before I decided to leave nursing altogether. I realized what I really wanted was to help others live, and to guide them in finding happier lives. I’d seen so much as a nurse, saw so much suffering, I was ready to do something more fulfilling.
My metaphysical studies brought me to discovering energy healing. I spent a few years training to be certified in Healing Touch and Reiki, but also took classes to learn massage and other healing modalities. I delved into some automatic writing, inspirational writing, and anything else that assisted in my spiritual growth.
I have earned a ridiculous amount of certificates! One day I realized that I had all this knowledge, but wasn’t sharing it with anyone. To keep my own spiritual growth going, and too, with the hope I might share some of my knowledge, I established the Clover Hill Holistic Arts Center.
Attendance was low at first, but I continued to meet with like-minded people as I could, broadening my knowledge of Tarot along the way. Just before opening my holistic center, things started to zoom after joining a tarot website, biddytarot.com, who offered her followers a chance to do readings for each other for practice. No pay, but helpful feedback in return from people I didn’t know – a great chance to read for those who were not family or friends.
Within six weeks, I had read 100 people! I was so busy that I had to take my name off the list because I had a waiting list of two or three weeks.
One of my last readings came from a woman who asked: “Is my daughter okay?” I’m asking myself “is this girl alive?” thinking I don’t do this type of thing, just tarot cards. I emailed her back and asked if she could expand a little bit. She replied only that her daughter passed away three years ago. I did the reading, even though I didn’t really know what I was doing, yet I connected to the situation with this little girl. When I received feedback on how I did, I learned that I was right-on with many things. I thought, wow, this is so rewarding. How neat would it be to learn to be a medium? The crazy part came the very next day, within 24 hours, for there in my mailbox was an A.R.E. pamphlet announcing a workshop weekend with Medium Robert Brown, all about learning mediumship. That's when my path began to turn toward mediumship and I realized I could do more than just intuitive readings and healing sessions for others. I enjoy all facets of what I do, whether it’s healing work, intuitive readings, life coaching, mentoring, and mediumship.
TBLRVA: So, tell us about your intuitive & mediumship development group and what inspired you to start it?
Judith: Well, after the A.R.E. (in Virginia Beach), I was looking in Richmond for places where I could practice mediumship because everything seemed to be in Virginia Beach. I reached out to a medium I knew in Virginia Beach and she connected me with someone in Richmond who was also interested in developing mediumship. We met up one day and decided to start our own group. We started out as a small group for about three or four years. Some came from areas like New Kent County, Williamsburg, and other areas that were far away.
It wasn’t until I signed up on Meetup.com did my attendance grow. What used to be about 4-5 people went quickly to more than a dozen. Today, I've got over a thousand meetup members, and at least 50 or 60 who come to my Mediumship & Intuitive Development Circle on a regular basis when they can. Thank goodness they don’t all come every weekend, though I have some that do. I have people that come from Williamsburg, D.C., Fredericksburg… just everywhere, which is amazing to me.
TBLRVA: So, for people who don't have access to a group like your Mediumship & Intuitive Development Circle but are interested in developing their intuition,what are some of the things they can do to develop their intuition on their own?
Judith: The first thing I always tell everybody is that intention is everything, and we're all energy and we are able to connect with energy. All we have to do is have the intention to do it. There are essential things I feel everyone should do. Loving and releasing past angers and resentments is one major way to raise one’s vibration. Learning to be in the present moment is another important element of increasing your intuition. That’s one reason why meditation is helpful. Our thoughts seem to always be thinking about the past, or about our future … everywhere but the present moment. Meditation is about focusing on the now. It’s a good way to quiet your mind so that you can listen to the messages that are coming through. I tell people if they would just be present for one week, I will guarantee that their intuitive ability will spike up! It’s just a fact. I tell people, for example, when we’re going down a street, and we’ve been going down that same street for 10 years, we really do not realize things we have missed all these years. But when you start to pay attention, you realize that, “oh, I didn't know that house had a purple door,” or “I didn't know that beautiful tree was there.” Yet it’s been there all along. When you start noticing things and being in the moment, you're going to find your intuitive ability increasing.
Another thing for anyone trying to develop their intuitive ability, I always say you've got to learn to have more love because that's the essential number one. Love is a very high vibration and that's what we want to do, we want to raise our vibration. That's how we're going to tap in and really be more in tune with our self.
Protection is also important. We can pick up stuff in our aura like picking up lent. Our aura is really like the immune system to our chakras and to our body, so we want to keep it cleansed. The stronger it is, the better. The more love you have, the stronger your aura will be and the more protected you'll be as well.
To learn more about Judith and her work at Clover Hill Holistic Arts Center, visit her website at www.cloverhillholisticarts.com. You can also join her Meetup group: Mediumship & Intuitive Development Circle at https://www.meetup.com/Mediumship-Intuitive-Development-Circle/.
Judith is also a multi award-winning author!
Check out her books by visiting Amazon.com (links below).
BOOK AWARDS ... * NABE Pinnacle Book Achievement Award (Summer 2014) * Indie Reader's 2014 Top Indie Books (2014) * Shelf Unbound Notable Indie Book, Romance (2014) * 2015 Gayle Willson Award of Excellence, Single Title Finalist * eLit Silver Award for Best Romance (2015) * 2017 Beach Book Festival, Best Romance (2017) * 2017 New York Book Festival, Runner Up Best Romance * 2017 Hollywood Book Festival, Honorable Mention * 2017 Book Excellence Award, Finalist Best Romance * 6th Annual Beverly Hills Book Awards, Best Romance (Dec 2017)
* 2018 Bronze Medal eLit Award, Best Romance * 2018 Paris Book Festival, Honorable Mention, General Fiction * 2018 Wind Dancer Films Winner for Possible Film/TV * 2018 Bronze Medal Readers' Favorite Internat'l Award, Best Comedy
To learn more and to purchase, visit:
BOOK AWARDS (so far!) ...
*2019 Book Excellence Award, Finalist Best Romance
*2019 National Indie Excellence Award, Finalist Best Romance
To learn more and to purchase, visit:
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