Crystal healing is a popular topic nowadays. From boutiques and stores that carry a huge variety of crystals and gemstones to individuals who carry crystals in their pockets for different purposes. What is behind all of this?
Formally, crystal healing is an alternative medicine practice that uses crystals and other stones to aid in the treatment of some ailments and in the prevention of diseases. In other words, holding crystals or placing them on or near your body can promote physical, emotional and spiritual healing. Crystals supposedly do this by positively interacting with your body’s energy field, or chakra. While some crystals are said to alleviate stress, others purportedly improve concentration or creativity.
Crystals have existed on earth for millions of years. They’re a tool which work the energy field to absorb, focus and direct energies. As a result, they act like tuning forks, helping bring harmony to the energy field of the human body.
As of now, nobody really knows how crystals work for energy healing purposes. However, the widely accepted view is that crystals and gemstones carry different types of energy that can be beneficial for people.
In fact, crystals and gemstones are formed over millions of years under a lot of pressure and heat. They usually come from cooling magma or evaporating water in enclosed rock formations. The energy it takes to create even one crystal is very intense and creates a purer element (diamonds are pure carbon).
These pure elements, having been intensified naturally, influence us by interacting with the subtle energetic-body and refracts our energy back to us in a different way. This is akin to when a crystal breaks down light into rainbow colors. In turn, we reabsorb that energy, which can help us. Therefore, crystals help us access what we already have. They act as energy purifiers and amplifiers.
Each crystal has its own physical properties of absorption and emission of energy. The way the atoms are structured differs from crystal to crystal and is called the crystal lattice. Depending on the shape of this lattice, the atoms in the crystal can absorb and emit energy of a certain wavelength and vibration. Consequently, these physical properties cause the crystals to be able to affect our energetic fields and chakras. If one of our chakras is low in energy, using the right crystal can work in a re-energizing way.
The colors of the gemstones exhibit some generic inherent properties. A quick summary of the effect of the different mineral colors is as follows:
Interestingly, each person has seven chakras, each one linked to a specific set of properties and a specific color. When there are deficiencies in one or more chakras, it is always a good idea to use crystals of the same color as the chakra(s) under treatment.
There are numerous crystals, each one with particular properties. Among the most common ones are:
Crystal healers help match crystals to specific ailments and people. They not only understand the innate properties of many crystals, but also spend time understanding the person and the ailment to do the best matching possible.
It is fair to say that as long as we have existed, we have had an affinity with stones and crystals. The use of talismans and amulets dates back to the beginnings of humankind. Beads carved of mammoth ivory have been excavated from a grave in Sugir, Russia, dating back 60,000 years, as well as contemporary beads made from shell and fossil shark’s teeth.
The first historical references to the use of crystals come from the Sumerians, who included crystals in magic formulas. The Egyptians used Lapis Lazuli, turquoise, carnelian, emerald and clear quartz in their jewellery. While the Ancient Egyptians used crystals for protection and health, they also used them cosmetically. Other uses were to honor the deceased by including crystals in burials.
The Ancient Greeks attributed a number of properties to crystals. As a matter of fact, many of the names we use today are of Greek origin. The word ‘crystal’ for example, comes from the Greek word for ice as it was believed that clear quartz was water that had frozen so deeply that it would always remain solid. The word amethyst means “not drunken” and was worn as an amulet to prevent both drunkenness and hangovers.
In addition to historical references, crystals and gemstones have played a part in all religions. the Bible, the Koran and many other religious texts mention them frequently. The book of Exodus mentions that the origin of birthstones is the breastplate of Aaron. In the Koran, the 4th Heaven is composed of garnet.
In Europe, from the 11th century through the Renaissance, a number of medical treatises appeared extolling the virtues of gems and stones in the treatment of ailments. Authors included HIldegard von Binghen, Arnoldus Saxo and John Mandeville. There are also references to stones with particular qualities of strength or protection. During the Renaissance the tradition of using precious stones in healing was still common.
In 1609 Anselmus de Boot suggested that any virtue a gemstone has is due to the presence of good or bad angels. Other prominent individuals casted doubt on the benefits of crystals, mainly rooted in religious arguments. Thus, in the Age of Enlightenment, the use of precious stones for healing and protection began to fall from favour in Europe.
In the early part of the 19th century, a number of interesting experiments were conducted to demonstrate the effect of crystals on subjects who believed to be clairvoyant. In one case, the subject claimed to feel not only physical and emotional changes when touched with various stones, but also to experience smells and tastes.
More recently, in the 1980s, with the advent of the New Age culture, the use of crystals and gemstones began to re-emerge as a healing method. Much of the practice was drawn from old traditions. Books by Katrina Rafaell in the 80s, and Melody and Michael Gienger in the 90s helped to popularize the use of crystals.
These days there are a large number of books available on the subject, and magazines and newspaper articles frequently feature crystals and minerals as a topic of interest. Crystal therapy is no longer viewed as the domain of alternative culture, but as an acceptable and more mainstream complementary therapy.
Crystals can help heal everything from migraines to anxiety and beyond. Healing crystals can also accelerate meditation practices and align the chakras. There’s no limit to the types or level of healing one can get from the right crystal in the right application.
There are essentially three primary ways healing crystals can transform one’s energy and resolve imbalance:
At the moment there are no education, accreditation or standards to become a crystal healer. The practitioner can develop knowledge via self-teaching, some courses or by learning from a more experienced practitioner.
There are, however, some associations that provide some groups and associations that are more popular than others. They provide educational materials or classes, which you can use as reference when you are searching for a practitioner. These associations include The Crystal Academy of Advanced Healing Arts, The Association of Melody Crystal Healers International and Amethyst Rose Healing Arts.
As with divination practitioners, when you look for a practitioner, keep the following points in mind:
A crystal healer provides two different functions: crystal consultations and crystal healing.
Consultations generally address specific questions and help the user pick a crystal based on the desired goal and the person’s own energy. Crystal healing consists of selecting the appropriate crystals for the person and his/her ailment and placing them on specific areas of the body for absorption.
In a standard healing session, the crystal healer will conduct an intake interview to understand the person and the ailment. The healer then will pick the appropriate crystals, which will match the individual’s energy. The practitioner will then lay the crystals along the key chakra line of the client’s body to aid in balancing the energy field. In many ways, the experience is similar to a Reiki session, although crystal healing involves contact between the body and the crystal.
If you have a crystal that resonates with your individual energy, you can harness the benefits of crystals in other ways, which include:
It is necessary to occasionally cleanse and charge your crystals too. To do so, you can soak crystals in cold water before laying them in the moonlight. You can also nest them on natural salts.
Here are five interesting facts about crystals:
Quantum science has shown that everything that surrounds us, including ourselves, is a seething mass of energy. We know that every particle has an impact on the particles that surround it and this affects the energetic formation of our surroundings. As humans we possess an electromagnetic field known as the Aura. In order for our physical body to remain in a state of health, the molecules in the aura and physical body need to resonate at the base frequency that is healthy.
When the base resonant frequency of our body becomes imbalanced, problems start to develop. Crystal healing is a modality that brings the vibration of the body back into harmony and thus improve a condition related to disease or discomfort. In crystal healing, the energy within the crystal comes close to the patient’s energy field and used to influence the vibration of the patient’s energy field to bring about healing. While different cultures have used crystals in slightly different ways, the common threat is that, throughout human history, we have used and revered crystals.
