Hello!
I love the vibe you are trying to create for your website, and I would absolutely love to help you out with it.
I see you are trying to find someone that can do a "custom design", and I have experience in HTML5, CSS3, along with some JavaScript. These are the building blocks, amongst other things, for a "custom" design. I enjoy making websites from scratch because of this reason.
I have experience with web design software such as NotePad++, Komodo IDE, and PhotoShop. The ideas you have are great. Having too much white makes the design seem empty. Although you don't want to overwhelm the page with too many elements, contrasting or otherwise, it's good to fill in those gaps and make it all flow. When I think of spirituality, mysticism, etc. I see deep purples, blues, the gold and silver as well. Leaving the text black with some type of colored background (or opaque) might be of interest. I can do circular pictures, along with any other picture shapes you desire. The menu can possibly be hidden or sticky depending on your aesthetic.
Definitely would want to focus on the theme throughout the entire blog first, that way it all fits cohesively together. Then I would go ahead and design it for you, and modify/adjust until something fits what you are looking for. After it's a perfect match, we will get it registered to a domain and voila!
If you think I'm the match, I'm only a message away!
Thank you