Crystals have been in the lime-light ever since celebrities such as Shirley Mcleane and Cher have come out of the closet and admitted they were "New-Agers". However, along with this public scrutiny, has also been a whole bunch of misconceptions. The most common of which is that a person just wears a crystal like jewelry or carries it and it works like some kind of instant stage-magic or prestidigitation. This, of course, is not the case. To get the full effect of "Crystal Power" in your life means, as with so much else, that you must put into it what you take out of it. So here are a few simple guidelines for those of you who plan on taking this subject seriously.
If the piece you are choosing is for a specific purpose; i.e. for healing, or to enhance your psychic abilities, or for meditation; it will help if you keep that purpose in mind while you are selecting the stone. An interesting phenomena often happens to people who are just going into the gem and mineral healing or psychic work. Most people start off with clear quartz, because it has the most applications. They go into a store or a gem show to purchase a clear quartz and find themselves drawn to all kinds of other "rocks" (as the collectors call them) too. Many times they bring a bag of various mineral specimens home with them. Later they look up the stones in one of the many reference books on this subject, only to find the stones they were drawn to are exactly the ones they need to deal with issues or illnesses that they need to work on.
The very first thing you need to do when you first get a crystal is to "clear it" from the imbalanced energies of anyone else who has touched it. Crystals "work" because of their piezoelectrical field. Researchers in Kirlian photography and other subjects have long shown us that the body is surrounded by a field of electro-magnetic energies, which psychics call the AURA. People who have studied this subject tell us that Crystals help us by attuning their piezoelectrical charge to the charge of our auras. So we must first remove the charges from the stone that come from other's handling of it.
This is done by leaving the stone in sea-salt (available at almost any health-food store) for 3 days. The only time you will have to use this technique - which is drastic - to cleanse the stone is when you first buy the stone.
The reason I say the technique is drastic is because it erases ALL of your energy from the stone too, so the stone has to be rebonded. (explained later) This piezoelectrical effect of the stone is the same reason that quartz is useful in making computers, telephones, watches, and in other electronic devices.
First of all, you can run it under COOL - no extremes of temperature PLEASE - water in your sink for several minutes, while visualizing (intensely imagining in vivid detail, from a meditative or extremely relaxed state) all imbalanced energies leaving it. You can also leave it in mugwort (an herb) for 2-3 days buried carefully. You can also place it in a flowerpot with an african violet plane, but you should know that if it has been used to clear any serious imbalance of energy, there is a good chance the plant will die.
The stones should also be re-charged about once a month or after every use. For other stones, direct sunlight is not such a good idea as it can fade the color of the stone.
You can get the reflected energy of the sun by placing them in the moonlight during the waxing of the moon. (from one day after the new moon through the night of the full moon) They can also be charged by surrounding them in a circle of quartz points that have been charged by the sun, with the points of the crystals facing inward toward the stones being charged. Another method is to purchase an amethyst or quartz cluster and place the stones on it. A cluster is a specimen with several individual crystals on it. Oh, and if you charge the stone by a circle of crystals, be sure they have been cleared and charged themselves before using them to charge anything else. The circle should consist of at least 4 points, but 8 is best. These stones used for charging do NOT have to be large at all.
And if you are using the crystals in healing, be aware that they are NOT meant to replace the care of a competent health professional - but many people find them a useful adjunct to it.
I don't know of if any of my previous posts on crystals and their various
uses got through so here is a partial re-post. If there is any interest
I can continue the thread. If not I'll drop it.
Quartz crystal is one of nature's miracles. Silicon dioxide (SiO2) in crystalline form possesses a quality known as peizoelectricity. When squeezed and released, there is created an oscillating frequency which recurs at a precise rate. It is this quality of oscillation that has made possible a great deal of modern technology. Quartz crystals are used in all telephone, radio, spacecraft guidance, satellite communications and computer systems. Simply speaking, the crystal is capable of receiving, sending and holding energy. It is uniquely a tool of communication, and as our age is an age of communication, it might, in fact, be called the "Age of Crystal".
In psychic terms, quartz crystal expresses identical properties, being used as a psychic sender, receiver, and holder of various types of energy. The crystal is usually placed in the left hand for receiving, the right hand for sending, and either hand for holding. The mind is focussed, as in any state of deep meditation, and mental energy is directed into or through the crystal. Quartz crystal has been used since ancient times and in nearly all human cultures as a psychic tool. Its particular focus of usefulness has been as an amplifier of energy in the work of psychic healing. Crystals have also been used as explorative tools, held while meditating, or placed beside the bed or under the pillow while sleeping. Many people report increased remembrance of dreams, a sharpening of inner vision, greater groundedness, and enhanced self-awareness by using crystals in this way.
Crystals have traditionally been worn for any or all of the above mentioned reasons, but, perhaps the foremost reason is simply that of beauty. Perhaps no other stone so expresses not only the perfection of the mineral world and mother earth, but the potential perfection of human consciousness.
Some of the Ancients probably used some types crystals as storage devices not unlike our modern computers. Such as the Mitchell-Hedges crystal skull investigated by the Hewlett-Packard crystal growing labs in Santa Clara Ca in the 70's. Among other things the HP labs confirmed the skull was carved from a single piece of quartz with a high degree of technology and precision to get the light refracting qualities of the finished piece. HP doubted it could reproduce the skull even with all the modern technology available in the 70's due to the fragile nature of quartz. Lab techs documented hearing strange sounds and seeing strange visions in the crystal. Several of which were even photographed! This was from no nonsense scientific types with absolutely no interest in the crystal's mystical properties. While at the HP labs in the late 70's on other business I saw part of the report. It made interesting reading.
The first and most important part of charging a crystal is choosing the crystal itself. (That is another story, if you like, I can post some of my notes on crystals & stones and their specific uses) For most general uses, Quartz is the best one. For specific use, there are many others. I have found that Diamonds are useful in storing Positive energy, and Zircons for negative energy. If you have a specific purpose in mind, please consult one of the many fine tables of crystal affinities.
There are many, many ways Programming or charging crystals. You can use, visualization, Ritual, meditation or any combination of the three to charge the crystal.
By using visualization you can get a clear idea of the program that you want for your crystal while in a meditative state put the crystal to your forehead or third eye and project the desired program into the crystal. Remember that the colored crystals vibrate to the specific color that they have -- so program them accordingly. Clear quartz crystals can be programmed for any job you wish them to do but the colored quartz are job specific.
Using Pranayama and other forms of breath control are an alternative method of charging crystals with energy channeled through you. Music combined with Pranayama breath control or other forms of ritualistic breathing are usually an asset. This can be even further enhanced by use of incense & Ritual.
Pranayama, simply, is control of breath. Most forms amount to hyperventilation or subventilation. The basics are; take four quick inhalations, filling the lungs. This should be over the space of about one and a half seconds. Then exhale in four short bursts, again over one and a half seconds. Repeat as necessary. The first few times this is done, I recommend you desist after about one minute. Over the course of time, this can and should be increased, but until you are used to the effect this gives, a shorter time is suggested.
Now that you're in the mood, take the crystal in your right hand (left hand for those of you who are lefties). Visualize a door within the heart of the crystal. Until this visualization is firm and steady, wait. Then open the door. Behind it you should see a store of diffuse energy, which varies with the type of the crystal. Some crystals, usually the inferior ones, have little or nothing back here. These are generally not good to use.
Close the door, but keep it in mind. That was just to check on its energy. Decide which energy you wish it to house. Usually only one will be needed, such as for talismans and storage of energy for later use, but in some cases, such as a divination tool, more is suggested/required. DO NOT TRY THIS ON YOUR FIRST ATTEMPT! YOU WILL FAIL! The energy you will be handling is powerful, and trying to handle more than one world at a time is strenuous. Trying to handle all three, plus personal and other energies, is straining to the limit. As with all other bodily systems, an ability used beyond its capacity will overload and break or refuse to perform, as with a man trying to lift 300lb barbells on his first try at weight lifting.
Now, the fun part. For the three major energies, I find there are certain ways of drawing them that are easiest on the practitioner. For Positive energy, try it like this: Form a cone with the base connecting to your skull in the region just between and above your eyebrows. "suck" the energy (visualize it as you will, I use a light, golden yellow) into the cone, then through a tube into your brain. The visualization on this is a bit tricky, but it can be done.
For Earth's or ground energy, visualize a "hose" going down into the Earth from the base of your spine. This hose should ideally connect with the center of the Earth, but some people simply cannot conceive the distance involved with that, and can therefore not visualize it. Go as deep as you can, with time, you should improve. I "see" this energy as a ruddy, glowing red, as with magma. Use what works. Draw this energy up the tube, then through your spinal column into the brain.
Now, the Negative energy. Place the feet together (if they already are, so much the better! It means this isn't uncomfortable for you, as it is for me.) and visualize a siphon, with the hose connecting to a cone connecting to your feet, about two inches in diameter, one inch on either foot. Then, on the other end, a hose entering a black, inky void (or whatever color you perceive negative energy to be). One last connection: another hose running from that area of your feet to the previously mentioned area in the skull. This aligns nicely with the Chakra theory that the column connects all the major power centers of ones body. If you know this system, so much the better! Draw the energy through the siphon (sometimes visualizing the bulb on the siphon squeezing helps) into the feet, then into the skull, then into the brain.
Other objects you wish to draw energy from, use the door analogy/visualization given above (for powerful things such as the Tarot, I see it as a gate or a door. Again, whatever works for you), and draw from your use-hand. If you plan on using that object again, take only a token amount of energy, and DON'T FORGET TO CLOSE THE DOOR!
Draw the energy you need, then draw from the crystal. Take it in your use hand again, open that door, and take out the energy, and bring it to the brain. Generally, I use the hose again, connecting to that spot in the skull, but this one generally runs INSIDE your body, such as along the arm bones, then up the neck bone. Mix the energy up. If it helps, visualize a cosmic quisinart or whatever. If it won't mix, like oil and water, you have failed. This crystal will not hold this energy. Give up, put back the crystals power, ground yourself (later...), and try again later with another energy. Once you've achieved the mix, refill the crystal. Sometimes, the energy won't go back in. This usually means you've put too much of the energy you're using in, and not enough of the crystal's own energy. Bring it back to the brain, and remix. How do you refill the crystal, you ask? Switch hands on the crystal, then visualize that handy hose again, but this time flow backwards, through the door. There will come a point, especially early on in your practice, that the crystal is full when you have energy left over. Slam that door and ground yourself (later...), don't overfill it! Doors have their bursting point, and that's a wonderful way to destroy a good crystal.
Ok, it's later. You've finished the job at hand
but have all this energy left! There are many ways of grounding energy,
use the one you are comfortable with (I know I keep saying that, but it
bears repeating). A simple one is simply grounding it. Take that handy-dandy
all-purpose hose again, connect it to the base of the spine, and thence
into the Earth. Flip the switch to reverse, and push that energy out! Be
careful not to drain yourself as well!