Crystals may appear to be the newest wellness craze, but they aren't. Healing Crystals has been practiced for millennia and has been utilized as a type of medicine. However, in today's world, you might be thinking, "What are crystal healing stones, and how do they truly work?" as you gaze at these gleaming, multicolored rocks.
To begin, the term crystal comes from the Ancient Greek word krustallos, which means "ice" as well as "rock crystal." "Technically speaking," Yulia Van Doren, creator of Goldirocks and author of Crystals: The Modern Guide To Crystal Healing, tells TZR, "crystals are formations that develop when biological matter is subjected to a geological event, generally including fire or water."
Mother Nature can create crystals in a variety of ways, according to Colleen McCann, a self-described (and trademarked) Energy Stylist, founder of Style Rituals, and author of Crystal Rx. "Some are formed when pressurized molten carbon quickly cools — enter everyone's best friend, diamonds — or when a liquid solution evaporates, we get amethyst, 'The Energy Vampire Slayer,'" she tell
"Crystals are unique tiny powerhouses of energy, transformational vibrations, and boundless magic," adds Van Doren, referring to how they're actually made. "You carry a small bit of Earth's history in your palm when you touch a crystal," Heather Askinosie, co-founder of Energy Muse, tells TZR.
According to McCann, "crystal healing is intertwined through the threads of some of our most historic civilizations." "Crystals have long been employed in healing by the Mayans, Incas, ancient Egyptians, Australian Aborigines, Native Americans, Celtic Druids, and others." However, the crystals they employed differed, owing to the fact that crystal therapy is subjective. While some crystals are classed as "healing," any crystal may potentially be classified as a healing stone. "Choosing the correct crystals — your "Power Stones" — is all about feeling a strong connection with them," McCann explains. "Pay attention to your gut instincts."
Which Crystals Can Help You Heal?
Most crystals may be used for healing, as you've just discovered, but there are a handful to look out for, explains designer and crystal specialist Ariana Ost to TZR. Although all of these stones are valued for their general beneficial energy benefits, each one has its own distinct property.
Quartz
This transparent crystal is generally referred to be an illuminating stone since it symbolizes power and reflects light. If you only have one choice, Ost advises quartz. Even though it's one of the most common crystals on the world, it shouldn't be underestimated; after all, there's power in numbers.
Shop Stone: Rose Quartz are stones that have a pink
The baby-pink stone is frequently associated with tranquility and the enhancement of all sorts of love, including self-love, unconditional love, and love for others. "For each crystal's potential, there is no one-size-fits-all description," adds Askinosie. "Rose quartz, for example, may be used to heal one's heart, whether from heartache, sadness, or poor self-worth – and it can also be utilized to attract love to oneself," she explains.
Citrine
According to Ost, this yellow gemstone is like sunshine, attracting riches and joy. It's good for boosting self-esteem and confidence, as well as tapping into happy and bountiful feelings.
Amethyst
Rest, intuition, and deep sleep are all aided by this plum-hued stone. Experts believe it has the ability to lull you into a serene frame of mind while also reducing anxiety.
Pyrite
Iron Pyrite, also known as "The Ultimate Manifestor" by McCann, is sometimes referred to as "Fool's Gold" because it resembles gold to the untrained eye, yet it is far from silly. "Traditionally associated with riches, pyrite has a super-male aura, making it ideal for channeling our inner divine masculine for confidence, willpower, persistence, and getting things done," McCann explains. "This stone appeals to the design junkie in me since it grows in perfectly shaped squares."
Black Tourmaline is a kind of tourmaline.
With its pitch-black hue and matte tone, the silicate crystal may appear to be nothing more than a bit of charcoal, but it's actually rather strong, according to Ost. It has a reputation for being protective and warding off negativity, absorbing energy like a charcoal filter.
What Is The Best Way To Use Healing Crystals?
First and foremost (and this is critical), working with crystals does not need any specific expertise or skill. According to Van Doren, "there is no right or wrong method to use crystals in your daily life." Do you want to put an amethyst on your desk? Using rose quartz to anchor your yoga mat? Do you have an opal under your pillow? "Fantastic," she adds, adding, "if you feel like doing something with your stones, do it." "Your most precious magic is your intuition; always listen to it and trust it." With that in mind, Van Doren has a few suggestions to get you started on your crystal adventure.
Decorate
The simplest approach to begin incorporating crystals into your daily life is to crystallize your living areas. Put them wherever your gut leads you (just be mindful that certain crystals fade in bright sunlight).
Meditate
Spend some time alone with your crystals to strengthen your bond with them. Try laying quietly for a few minutes with a crystal on your heart chakra (middle of chest) or third eye chakra (between eyebrows), breathing in and out softly.
Sleep
According to Van Doren, absorbing crystal energy while dreaming might be especially powerful. For healing and guidance while you sleep, place crystals on your nightstand and/or under your pillow, mattress, or bed frame.
Bathe
To make bathing an even more delightful self-care practice, try adding crystals to the water. "Tumbled stones are the ideal bathtime companions," Van Doren advises, adding that only water-safe crystals should be used.
Skeptics' Crystals
Do you have any doubts? Science is on your side. Crystal healing was researched in 2001 by academics at the University of London, who determined that there was "no evidence that crystal healing works over and above a placebo effect."
However, research has demonstrated that the placebo effect is quite real – and extremely potent. "I think that the world we live in is manifested by our ideas, words, and deeds," McCann adds. "If someone told me that a certain stone represents personal strength, and every time I look at it, that notion pops into my brain, I'm changing the way I think about myself and the frequency of the energy I'm emitting into the world." Even if you are not a believer in metaphysics, the object can serve as a metaphor for your own manifestations."
If the skeptic inside you is still insistent, Ost offers looking at crystals as an option. "Nature offers many therapeutic aspects," she explains, "so incorporate crystals into your house as easily as you would bring home an indoor plant." "We all know that indoor plants may help filter the air, give therapeutic benefits from being surrounded by greenery, and improve our mood. "We are inherently drawn to items of nature, so bringing crystals into your house is as instinctive as gathering rocks from the seashore or planning a special trip," explains Ost. Tags: body, bracelet, health, amber, life, chakra, tumbled, shop best chakra, best used energy, treatment, beauty body, protection,
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Even though I know they don't do anything, I like healing crystals.
That's all fine. If I'm being really honest, the only reason I became interested in healing crystals was because they're beautiful and sparkly. I wanted a carefully picked collection of jewels on my nightstand—as well as in a singing bowl and strewn about my desk—to help me balance my frantic New York City energy and lighten my heavy mood.
It all began with rose quartz, which was said to aid in all problems of the heart. It's not only about your connections with people; it's also about your relationship with yourself, which I'm always working on. They were also millennial pink.
The blush-pink stone originally caught my eye in some of my favorite yoga classrooms. I couldn't help but pick up a palm stone, and then another, and then, well, a LOT more healing crystals from there when I learned they could cure my heart chakra and fix my horrible lack of self-esteem. Rose quartz turns out to be a gateway stone, and I became addicted.
So, what exactly are healing crystals?
To be honest, I'm not sure. According to the Chopra Center, many stones have healing energies that align with imbalances in one of the seven (or nine, or thirteen) chakras, or spiritual energy centers corresponding to nerve bundles, major organs, and our "psychological, emotional, and spiritual states of being." When these energy centers are misaligned or obstructed, energy gets stagnant, which can manifest as physical sickness or throw you off emotionally, according to millennia-old theory.
"The use of a crystal's vibration to impact the human energy field is known as crystal healing. Crystals act as a healing conduit, allowing positive, healing energy into the body while pushing out negative, toxic, disease-causing energy "Audrey Kitching, a crystal healer and the founder of CrystalCactus.com, where her chic packaging magnified my obsession with pretty crystals by a factor of ten million.
I was ready to go all-in on crystals after getting a bottle of her Rose Quartz Venus Love Bath (I'll be a romantic to the bitter end, not sorry) and loving the hell out of the two soaks the jar offered. I decided I could need all the healing I could get, given all the messed up things going on in my life right now (from migraines and anxiety to stomachaches and a never-fully-disappearing eating problem).
The big hunks of amethyst in each of the three rooms at the local yoga class drew me in, so I went there next. According to Kristin Petrovich, author of Elemental Energy and inventor of the crystal energy-infused Sjal skincare brand, amethyst is helpful for cleansing and detoxifying, as well as improving one's own intuition and feeling of spiritual freedom.
So I went out and got a piece of amethyst for myself. According to Petrovich, pure quartz, the universal "white light" of crystals, is the most significant crystal to have on hand since it is a conductor of energy that may enhance the energies of all other stones. Because of its colorlessness, it may also be substituted for any other stone in any healing ceremony, she says. I also got citrine to make me happier, black tourmaline to center me and keep my at-home technology from going berserk, and aquamarine for my throat chakra to help me express myself more clearly.
If I were to count how many stones I have right now (which I can't because I'm getting a pound of raw rose quartz and a pound of tumbled moonstone on the way for some sexy, feminine AF bath time), I'd say I have about 25 nice pet rocks. Some are smooth and tumbled and were Amazon Prime'd because to my need for fast fulfillment, while others are raw and chosen at local stores after spending too much time looking through the spiritual offerings—shout out to Sacred Waters in LIC and Maha Rose in Greenpoint.
Then there's the rest of the stuff you should probably have if you're going to get into crystal healing: a smudging kit (with options—more on that later), essential oils, incense, spiritual objects, mala beads, a Himalayan salt lamp to help "detoxify" everything (which I fully understand is a load of nonsense), and way too much more I shouldn't tell you about. For example, I paid $30 on a beautiful glass pyramid to exhibit my less-than-$30-each crystals. I've definitely spent a few hundred dollars on my entire crystal habit by now, but you know, I'm not the sort of lady who makes compromises. I go all out when I fall in love with a passion or take on a task. I'm not a big fan of balance, which is perhaps why healing crystals are ideal for someone like me.
Healing crystals may be utilized in a variety of ways, including carrying them, setting them on chakra points, soaking in them, and even drinking crystal-infused water.
You may use a number of (yes, questionable) ways to get the most out of your stones. Kitching tells SELF, "Everyone will gravitate towards the particular crystal route is ideal for them." "You could bathe with them, put some under your pillow, use them to meditate on certain issues, include them into cosmetics and body products—the options are virtually unlimited."
Petrovich believes that the therapeutic properties of crystals may be extreme: when she first started studying crystals and got a fever, she placed a geode coaster on top of her head, and after a while, she felt better "started experiencing a rush of energy and pressure in her skull. I started to feel better. Moving out, for example."
I couldn't locate a doctor who would certify that a geode could cure a fever, and I doubt you'd be able to find one who would ever recommend amethyst for a headache, despite Petrovich's personal and professional belief in crystal healing. Indeed, a 2009 study published in the journal PLOS One looked at the efficacy of various traditional medicines, home remedies, and alternative treatments and concluded that there is "no evidence that these treatments ever worked, nor any suggestion" that they might work when it comes to "the 'healing' power of crystals." Harsh.
But it doesn't stop Petrovich, or other crystal healers, or me, from believing—or at the very least giving it a try. I was more than willing to lay a whole slew of amethyst stones on my face to see if they'd help me. I get headaches regularly (unquestionably from stress; I'm a bundle of nerves and deadlines), so I was more than happy to dump a whole slew of amethyst stones on my face to see if they'd help me. The purple stone is linked to your third-eye chakra, which is related with headaches when it is obstructed. (Reductress once cracked a hilarious joke about healing crystals being freelancers' health insurance.)
thus the last time I had a bad headache, I sat down on the couch, wrapped myself in my warmest blanket, and placed an amethyst squarely on my third eye, with others gathered around the actual source of discomfort, my left temple. According to Petrovich, it takes around twenty minutes for the stones' energy to start interacting with your own, so give yourself plenty of time, at least 45 minutes. I'm not sure if it was the Williams-Sonoma warmth, the power of a power sleep, or the gemstones themselves, but my headache was gone 75 minutes later. I couldn't believe how clear-headed I was knowing how awful the pain may get.
There are products infused with amethyst that are meant to help with headaches, such as Aquarian Soul Headache Magic Oil ($14), a rollerball packed with essential oils, amethyst, and quartz crystals.
You may use crystals to produce an elixir for bath water or put them in spring water to drink in addition to laying them on. Use whichever crystals provide the advantages you're searching for. So, if you're a heart-chakra, rose-quartz romantic like me, you've got yourself a rose quartz elixir on your hands. (Thus the Amazon order I mentioned previously.) If you do this, make sure it's not a stone that's toxic when wet, like malachite (a green stone for the heart chakra that I just keep near me when I'm bathing with my millennial pink babes), or one that's too soft and will flake, like selenite (a stone that's used to provide mental clarity for the crown chakra).
Crystals have naturally made their way into a variety of income streams, including more fashion and cosmetic goods than even I can keep up with. I'm wearing a rose quartz pendant necklace from Ani & Alex, as well as moonstone, self-esteem-boosting rhodochrosite, and soothing white howlite bracelets manufactured locally. There are crystal subscription boxes, such as Crate Joy's Mystic Muse Box ($45/month, cratejoy.com), as well as curated options, as there are with everything these days. Spencer Pratt, of MTV fame, has become a crystal collector (and a friend), as well as offering his own 5-Piece Starter Metaphysical Crystal Kit ($25, innervisioncrystals.net).
And don't even get me started on the plethora of New Age-inspired cosmetic products. We've seen geode-inspired liquid highlighters from drugstore brands, such as Pacifica Rainbow Crystals Liquid Mineral Strobe Multi-Use Highlighter ($13), as well as niche skin-care products like Terra Essentials Sacral Chakra Roll-On ($11) and Kora Organics Heart Chakra Aromatherapy Oil ($48). The rose quartz and aromatherapies linked with the heart chakra inspired the organic rollerball, which is part of Australian model Miranda Kerr's skin-care company; she allegedly keeps the stone next to her bedside and in her purse. Miranda, Miranda, Miranda, Miranda, Miranda, Miranda, Miranda, Miranda, Miranda, Miranda
And, as if I wasn't already simple or millennial enough, I found a bottle of rosé wine just in time for the summer holidays, whose entire idea was inspired by—you guessed it—rose quartz, from varietal blend to bottle design. SAVED 2016 Magic Maker Rosé, which costs about $20, is incredibly refreshing. It's similar to a rose quartz bath.
To employ healing crystals, they must be "charged" and cleansed on a regular basis, which necessitates the use of a separate toolset. That's not to say I'm complaining.
Crystals, like my laptop or iPhone (or Donald Trump), have a finite quantity of energy and must be recharged when they run out. They don't have a lightning plug, though. Kitching states that you can charge stones before utilizing them by leaving them overnight beneath a full or new moon, submerging them in a glass bowl of spring water, or burying them in the earth overnight. However, my preferred method, and possibly the most New Age, is to smudge your stones.
Smudging is the practice of immersing your stones in smoke from a herb or wood—usually sage or Palo Santo—in order to absorb and dispel unwanted energy. You may also use incense or dried herbs as an alternative. Try smudging lavender on a piece of sodalite, placing it on your third eye, and sleeping down for an hour if you're anxious. You'll be able to thank me afterwards.
Smudging reminds me of a guitarist retuning his instrument before a performance, but with smoke and crystals. When I cleanse mine, I open the window to allow negative energy out while watching the smoke drift over each stone and because my spouse doesn't like the scent of sage.
You may argue that I am wasting my money on pet rocks because there is no scientific proof that my gorgeous crystal collection does anything other than catch the sunshine during the day. That, however, is not how I view it.
Listen, there's no way these things have enough energy to repair anything other than a couple hundred dollars burning a hole in my pocket. They do, however, make me feel better. I'll keep malachite and quartz in one pocket and a swarm of millennial pink stones in the other when my heart is crushed. I also pinch my smooth set of red jasper stones when I'm feeling unstable. I enjoy transporting them. I also enjoy taking showers with them. Once my bulk order of rose quartz and moonstone comes this week, I'll be able to construct even more beautiful baths.
Is it possible that these stones, baths, elixirs, and other such remedies are genuinely helping me? I'm not forcing them to do anything, but I am forcing them to do stuff. My fascination with crystals has led me to adopt a variety of contemplative, spiritual practices, which coincidentally complement my hippie-dippie (although slightly ditzy) attitude. As I studied more about the chakras and the different disciplines currently linked with them, such as reiki, yoga, and meditation, I became significantly more self-aware of my own feelings, behaviors, and reactions. The crystals have undoubtedly strengthened existing healthy habits while also introducing a few new positive spiritual ones: I've started reading tarot cards everyday and setting monthly aspirations with each new moon. Essentially, I'm forcing them to perform their magic on me, which they can only do if I decide to take care of myself. You know, the strength of my own opinion? You have to believe it.
Do Crystal Actually Work, as You Asked?
If you're familiar with alternative medicine, you've definitely heard of "crystals," which are minerals (typically quartz) or fossilized resins that are said to have health-promoting characteristics.
Crystals are supposed to aid physical, emotional, and spiritual healing when held or placed on the body. Crystals are said to achieve this by interacting positively with your body's energy field, or chakra. Some crystals are supposed to help with stress relief, while others are said to help with focus or creativity.
Surprisingly, just a few traditional crystal investigations have been conducted. However, according to one study from 2001, the potency of these minerals is "in the eye of the beholder."
80 respondents filled out a questionnaire meant to evaluate their level of belief in "paranormal" phenomena in the study, which was not published but presented at the European Congress of Psychology in Rome. After that, the researchers instructed everyone to meditate for five minutes while holding either a genuine quartz crystal or a fake glass crystal.
Following that, the participants were asked questions regarding their feelings while meditating with the stones. The actual and phony crystals both created similar experiences, and those who scored high on the paranormal-belief questionnaire reported more sensations than those who dismissed the paranormal.
"We discovered that many people claimed to have strange feelings when holding the crystals, such as tingling, heat, and vibrations, provided we'd briefed them ahead of time," says Christopher French, a psychology professor at Goldsmiths, University of London. "In other words, the stated results were caused by the power of persuasion, not the crystals."
The placebo effect has been shown to be quite potent in several studies. "Though individuals believe a therapy would help them feel better, many of them will feel better after receiving it, even if it is proven to be therapeutically useless," French adds.
His point of view is what you'd expect from a scientist. And, sure, it's nearly probably correct to argue that crystals don't have any of the magical health benefits that users attribute to them.
However, the human mind is a strong tool, and it's more difficult to assert categorically that crystals don't work if "work" is defined as offering some advantage.
"I believe the public and medical community's impression of the placebo is phony or dishonest," says Ted Kaptchuk, a Harvard Medical School professor of medicine. However, Kaptchuk's study on placebo reveals that it might have both "real" and "strong" therapeutic effects. While Kaptchuk hasn't studied crystals and won't comment on their validity or anything related to alternative medicine, he has written that a therapy's built-in placebo effect can be considered a distinct aspect of its efficacy and that placebo-induced benefits should be promoted rather than dismissed.
Many doctors believe in placebo's effectiveness. According to a 2008 BMJ research, almost half of the physicians polled said they used placebo therapies to benefit their patients. Even if neither was indicated for the patient's symptoms, a doctor would usually offer an over-the-counter pain medication or a vitamin supplement. The majority of respondents thought giving placebo treatments was morally acceptable, according to the authors.
Of course, holding a crystal isn't the same as taking an Advil, and don't expect your doctor to suggest crystals at your next appointment. Existing study says they're similar to snake oil in terms of traditional medicine and evidence-based science. However, studies on the placebo effect imply that people who believe in snake oil may benefit.
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