Meet Virginia Joy Musacchio | Founder of Stillpoint Aromatics, Master Aromatherapist & Educator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Virginia Joy Musacchio and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Virginia Joy, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
The real factor behind my success is simple: I don’t pretend.

Stillpoint was never meant to be a polished wellness brand. It grew from the same place my own healing grew — honesty, intention, and a deep respect for the plants and the people who come to work with them. I’ve been through enough in my life to know that authenticity isn’t a strategy. It’s a survival code. And I run my business the same way I live: real, direct, awake, and unwilling to cut corners.

I source every oil myself, directly from distillers I know and trust — people who grow their plants with sustainable methods, without pesticides or synthetic additives. Nothing is poured ahead. Everything is intentionally formulated to order, in its own timing. That level of integrity matters. People can feel it the moment they open a bottle.

But if I’m being completely honest, the heart of Stillpoint comes from my story — the losses, the years of grief, the trauma, the rebuilding, the long road back to myself. I don’t sugarcoat any of it. And people resonate with Stillpoint because they recognize something human in it. Something true.

So the “factor” behind my success isn’t branding.
It’s alignment.
It’s intention.
It’s staying grounded in who I am and what I know.
And it’s trusting that when you build something with integrity — people feel it.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
At the heart of my work is a simple truth: I help people come back to themselves.

I do that through essential oils, through bodywork, through energy medicine, through teaching, through grief work, through the intuitive skills I honed in eight years of mystery-school training, and through the years I spent studying the body — emotionally, physically, spiritually, and chemically. I have a Master’s in Education, I’m a massage therapist and bodyworker, I’m a distiller, and I’ve devoted decades to understanding both the science and the soul of plant medicine.

What sets my work apart is the way all of these worlds overlap.
I don’t see an oil as just chemistry.
I don’t see a body as just muscles and fascia.
I don’t see grief as something to fix.
And I don’t see intuition as something separate from intelligence.

Everything I do is interdisciplinary — plant medicine, hands-on work, somatic awareness, vibrational healing, and education all happening at the same time. That’s the part of my work I am most proud of: it meets people where they are, not where the industry wants them to be.

How I got here wasn’t easy.
My professional path grew out of my personal one — out of loss, out of trauma, out of having to rebuild my life more than once. I didn’t learn resilience from textbooks. I learned it from surviving. And that lived experience shaped how I work with others. It’s why I teach the way I teach. It’s why I listen the way I listen. It’s why people feel safe with me.

The biggest challenges were never the trainings or the certifications — those I devoured. The hardest part was learning to trust my own sight, my own pace, my own way of working. The world doesn’t always make room for people who blend modalities, who speak truthfully, who don’t fit in one box. I had to carve my own lane.

The lessons along the way have been clear:
Stay awake. Stay honest. Stay willing to unlearn.
And don’t abandon the parts of yourself that make your work what it is.

What I want people to know about my story is this: I didn’t build a career by choosing one path. I built it by following the threads that kept pulling me forward — the plants, the body, the psyche, the invisible world, the healing relationship, the grief journey, the desire to understand what makes us human.

My work is a weaving.
And every day, I’m still learning, still unlearning, still listening.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my best friend came to visit, I’d want them to experience Sedona as she actually is — the land, the quiet, the color, the frequency, the food, and the places where something inside you rearranges itself without warning. That’s the week I’d give them.

Day 1 — Land, Arrive, and Let Sedona Hold You

We’d start soft.
Coffee or a smoothie at Synergy to ground.
Then a slow walk through Tlaquepaque — art, fountains, tucked-away courtyards that ease you into Sedona-time.

Lunch at Hideaway House — open views, warm food, a perfect welcome.

After lunch, we’d take a gentle drive through the red rocks — not rushing, just letting the land introduce itself. Maybe stop near Chapel Road or by Snoopy Rock — something quiet, rooted.

Dinner at Mariposa — exquisite food, beautiful atmosphere, the feeling of sinking into the evening.

Day 2 — Sacred Ground + Vortex Energy

Sunrise at Cathedral Rock — not climbing, just sitting in stillness.

Brunch at L’Auberge, right by the creek — one of the most peaceful places in town.

Then to the Amitabha Stupa & Peace Park — a place of true presence. We’d walk the paths, circle the stupa, breathe.

A visit to a vortex site — Bell Rock or the Airport Vortex — each with its own unmistakable pull.

Afternoon jeep tour with Pink Jeep or Earth Wisdom Tours — letting the land open up deeper.

Dinner at Szechuan in West Sedona — delicious, grounding, local.

Stargazing afterward — Sedona’s night sky always has something to say.

Day 3 — Stillpoint + Creek Medicine

Morning at Stillpoint Aromatics — oils poured to order, intention, frequency, a moment for the plants to do their work.

Then up into Oak Creek Canyon — picnic, toes in the water, the canyon walls holding you in a kind of natural sanctuary.

Dinner at Up the Creek in Cornville — one of the best hidden gems around.

Day 4 — Jerome Adventure

A slow drive to Jerome — old mining town energy, ghosts, art, history.

Lunch at The Haunted Hamburger or wine at Grapes.
Wandering, exploring, laughing — Jerome never disappoints.

Dinner back in Sedona at Picazzo’s — organic food, great drinks, easy vibe.

Day 5 — Hiking + Internal Work

Morning hike through Fay Canyon — quiet, powerful, perfect for inner work. The canyon feels like a private conversation with the land.

Lunch at Pump House Station.
Afternoon at Red Rock Crossing or Red Rock State Park — both places reset the mind and body.

Sunset at Airport Mesa — expansive and unforgettable.

Day 6 — Body + Soul

Breakfast at Coffee Pot.

Then a morning of bodywork with me — because if you’re visiting Sedona and you’re with me, your body is getting on my table. This is where things shift — the reset, the release, the unwinding.

The afternoon is slow: poodles, porch, wandering, whatever feels good.

Dinner at The Hudson (if we haven’t already been earlier in the week).
If we have, then wine and dinner at Vino di Sedona — relaxed, delicious, and one of my favorite spots.

Day 7 — Farewell to the Red Rocks

Breakfast at Mesa Grill at the airport — open views, simple and lovely.

A final slow drive through the red rock back roads — the quiet corners most visitors never see.

A stop at a rock shop for a stone that chooses them.

And then we end at Rachel’s Knoll — one of the most breathtaking, soul-level overlooks in all of Sedona. A perfect closing note to the week.

Sedona isn’t just a place.
She’s a frequency, a conversation, a state of being.
And a week like this lets her speak.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are three women whose presence runs like a quiet current beneath everything I do — my mother, Stella; my mentor, Sharon Turner; and Dr. Joanne Cacciatore of the MISS Foundation.

My mother was my first experience of unconditional love. She died when I was twenty, but the echo of her love has stayed with me for forty-two years. It’s woven into the way I sit with people in their pain, the way I understand grief not as a wound to fix but as a doorway we learn to walk through. Her absence shaped me, but her love shaped me more.

Sharon Turner was the one who taught me how to trust myself.
Eight years in her mystery school — and under her clairvoyant training — changed the architecture of my life. She didn’t teach from a pedestal; she taught from presence. She trained my sight, my intuition, and my integrity all at once. Sharon pushed me to speak truth without performance, to stay aligned without shrinking or inflating, and to trust the information that moves beneath the surface of things. So much of Stillpoint — the honesty, the depth, the reverence — comes directly from what I learned under her wing.

And then there is Dr. Joanne Cacciatore.
Doc walks with grief the way some people walk with prayer. Training with her has been one of the most transformative experiences of my life. She taught me how to hold space without needing to fix, to listen without interrupting someone’s pain, and to honor the dead and the living with equal respect. Her work re-shaped how I show up as a healer, a counselor, and a human being.

Stillpoint exists because of them.
My work carries their fingerprints, their teachings, their courage.
Every bottle, every class, every conversation — it all carries the threads they placed in my hands.

This is my shoutout.
To the women who helped me grow a life from truth, intention, and love that doesn’t die.

Website: www.stillpointaromatcs.com

Instagram: @stillpointaromatherapy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joy-musacchio-51916874/

Twitter: https://x.com/StillpointAroma

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PureAromatherapyEssentialOils/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/stillpoint-aromatics-sedona

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@stillpointaromatics1403

Other: www.theschoolatstillpoint.com