Question from a reader:

“You mention crystals for healing. Do they really have properties that can be helpful for healing? I’m so skeptical of that and wonder if it’s a scam to get us to make some people wealthy. I don’t like spending money and won’t spend it unless I can see/validate it’s usefulness, but I’m still keen on your opinion on how and why they work. I’ve not seen any scientific research around the idea.”

I love your question and I haven’t had a chance to really talk about crystals or crystal healing much on here, even though it’s something I do on a regular basis.

I can really only speak from my personal experience with crystal healing as well as that of other healers whom I know work with crystals regularly. I’m sure other people will have very different opinions, but…

I do believe that there is validity to crystal healing, though perhaps not as potent as what the kids on TikTok will have you believe!

I’m a pretty energetically sensitive person, and I use marijuana as a plant medicine for trauma work. When I do, it makes me hyperaware of my own energy and the energy of things around me. When I take an edible and handle crystals, I can feel their inherent energy, and when I use them as part of my trauma work, I can feel them, energetically, in my energy body wherever I have them placed, and I can feel how they focus and direct the flow of energy through my energy body.

One time after taking an edible, I was handling two different crystals at once, one in each hand, and could feel two very different, distinct vibrational sensations coming from each one. It felt like the two hemispheres of my bran were vibrating at different rates, corresponding to which cyrstal I was holding in which hand. I switched hands and the sensations switched sides. Trippy!

(It’s also important to note that everything has energy, but it’s not always that potent. When I handle tarot cards, I can feel them as well. I think this is partly from intentional, regular use and crystals can act much the same way.)

So the general idea is that crystalline structures help store, amplify, and transfer energy and information. Silicon crystals and quartz crystals are used in computer chips and radio transistors. Graphene crystals are used in solar panels. If a crystal can do this in general, it can also do it with the energy currents in your body.

You won’t find much, if any scientific evidence of this, though, mostly because science probably won’t ever directly study it. It sounds too ludicrous to the materialist mind. If it does happen, it will be because they will trip across it while studying something else, and only then will they begin to explore it. If it is of any significance, I do personally know two trained geologists who quit their jobs to pursue energy healing using crystals.

A lot of articles on the internet will talk about the benefits of keeping crystals in your pocket all day and what not. I have personally not found any benefit to this and only experienced results when using crystals very intentionally and with a conscious focus, which most people will not do. And having said all of this, you do not need crystals to do this kind of work. They are a tool, nothing more. You can do it with intention alone.

All of this aside, crystal mining (as any mining) has a huge impact on the environment and since they have become popular, that impact is exploding.

It’s important to look for sustainably-mined crystals and be conscious about why you want them. The onus for this also does not necessarily only fall on the individual. Wholesalers and shop owners need to be diligent about where they are sourcing form, and mining should be regulated by the government to prevent environmental depletion.

I have some large pieces that double as home decor, but I also use them regularly in my own healing practice. I also tend to frequent gem shows and buy crystals from personal collections whenever i can, meaning these were crystals that were mined ages ago and can be given “a new life” as it were. Additionally, when I decide I don’t need a crystal anymore, I try to gift them to people who will use them but otherwise might not be able to afford them.

A lot of crystals end up in the trash. Many in my collection were gifted to me, sometimes by people who mined them themselves (there was a crystal mine not far from where I used to live), or were crystals I found myself (out in Utah), or were something I picked up out of things my step-daughter was throwing away! I also save crystals that are included with things like candles and repurpose them.

It’s important to note that people gifted me around 15-20 crystals and I was finding them randomly long before I ever actually purchased one. There’s something to be said for items that find their way to you in this way: if people are giving it to you or you randomly find it, perhaps you’re meant to have it for a reason. I’m not saying that’s your cue to go out and buy a thousand crystals, I’m saying that perhaps that’s an excellent way of obtaining them sustainably: the things like this that are meant for you will find their way to you.

Learn more about the environmental impacts of crystal mining.

Thanks for being here,

Ash

 

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