How Do I Use My Crystals!

“How do I use my crystals!”

I used to say this all the time.  I would go to the mineral shop, choose a pretty stone, come home, look at it, feel a little lost, put it on a shelf, look at it, feel a little lost, put it in a drawer, forget about it, donate it to Goodwill.  I still think of the amazing huge rutilated quartz I tossed in a box of cast-offs about ten years ago.   If only I had known I could wear that quartz when feeling disempowered and it would support me to feel whole in the face of the unknown, such as at a job interview or speaking to authority.

Eventually, I bought a few crystal books as reference, but, honestly, they overwhelmed me.  And why, I would ask, do all of these rocks end in -ite?  It makes it incredibly confusing to remember what anything is called!

…And then I started meditating with my crystals and everything fell into place.   See, once you tune into the ‘vibe’ of a stone, you really don’t need to know what other people consider their uses to be, or even their scientific name.  You start to understand instinctually what a rock is good for.

Meditating with a crystal is easy, even if you don’t meditate.  Sit quietly with a rock, close your eyes, see what happens to your energy level after about 5 minutes.  Do you feel more connected?  Do you feel restful?  Do you feel empowered and energized?  One of the first things I notice when I hold a crystal is a tingling in my hands and then an overall pulsation through my body.  Sometimes I get tingles up my legs.  Once in a while I get an idea that seems to arrive out of the blue.  These are all the effects of the rock I’m working with.

Here are some ideas to get you started working with crystals:

1. choose a pair of the same type of rock.  You can hold one in each hand during meditation.  This gives balance to the experience, and increases the likelihood you’ll feel the rock’s vibration.
2. add crystals into a practice you’re already doing regularly, such as
   1. meditating
   2. during savasana at the end of yoga
   3. bathing (double-check the rock you bathe with is not friable)
   4. day dreaming over a cup of coffee
3. start with crystals that are known to be high vibration so you’re more likely to feel their effects.  Some of these are:
   1. moldavite
   2. lithium quartz
   3. morganite
   4. phenacite
   5. tibetan tektite
   6. tibetan quartz
   7. nirvana quartz
   8. boji stones

Once you’ve tuned into the joy of using these stones, you might decide to go off the deep end and start collecting.  That’s what I did.  I have a very large collection of ‘beginner rocks’ — these are less expensive, smaller, usually polished stones.  These are wonderful to keep in your pockets, or to lay next to your computer or in your reading corner.  You can touch them as you go about your business.  I keep some of these in the ‘ashtray’ of my car.  I keep these little friends in just about every place I know I’ll be sitting and thinking.  They are a lovely support.  Polished stones are a delight to the touch as well.

Eventually, if you really love rocks, you’ll start going for the more intense pieces.  These are larger minerals, more rare, beautiful pieces of art.   I keep some of these specimens in the space where I do healing work.   You may start drilling them to wear as jewelry or sleeping with them under your pillow or on your bedside table.

There are a few other things I like to do with my collection.  Before a client arrives for a healing session, I allow myself to instinctually pull out a series of rocks and place them in a beautiful silver bowl.  I think of this as a mineral bouquet.  They are quite lovely to look at even if the client doesn’t touch them or use them therapeutically.  They generate a lot of supportive energy during a healing, regardless.  You can make a mineral bouquet in the entryway to your home or by the bed or in a guest room when someone comes to stay.  Some nice rocks for greeting and welcoming are:

• rose quartz, clear quartz, peridot, amethyst, green calcite, apophyllite

Finally, one thing to experiment with is using crystals as an elixir to be ingested.  I have written about this in detail in a previous post.  It is important to be cautious when making an elixir because some rocks are actually dangerous to take internally.  However, you can infuse water by placing a glass vessel filled with rocks in the glass you’ll be drinking from (I use a quartz test tube). This works nicely.  A good elixir for easing the mind and body at the end of the day is:

• lithium quartz, lepidolite, blue calcite, herkimer diamond

Enjoy!