So you’ve collected your crystals and you have a nice little bag of stones that you have cleansed and charged for healing and various forms of transformation and manifestation.  What do you do with them next?  You can use them in elixirs and remedies or you can use them for meditation, but what about healing?  Is there some specific way you should work with the crystals or is there a preferred method of working with them?  We can work with crystals in so many different ways to do healing but one very popular way is laying them out on or around the body.  You can also lay them out on a specific surface as well, such as an altar, to be used for charging objects, sending energy and so on.  Often called crystal grids or crystal layouts, these methods of working with the stones can be tricky in the beginning but it’s important to remember to let both the stones themselves and your own intuition to guide you as you work.

A crystal grid and a crystal layout a somewhat different, and for our purposes here we’re going to define them differently in order to make it a little easier to talk about and work with these different processes.  A crystal grid is a specific geometric positioning of a number of crystals with the intention of creating a specific energy field.  These are also sometimes known as a crystal matrix or a gridwork.  Crystal grids are typically placed in a specific or significant place in the home or other space designed to draw certain types of energy to the area and then project that energy out into the space. A crystal layout can also be known as a crystal net and refers to the laying of crystal on or around the body to work as aids in healing by directing specific types of energy in and around the body.  An easy way to try and remember the difference is to think of how crystals are laid out onto the body anywhere they need to go rather than in certain shape (although, this is a somewhat inaccurate statement as you’ll see, but roughly it helps to remember the difference).

Because this subject is so expansive, we’re going to cover crystal grids this week and next week we’ll talk about crystal layouts.

When working with a crystal grid, think about the type of energy you’re looking to draw to you and your space.  Let’s take the example of a metaphysical bookshop looking to draw financial prosperity.  A popular cr

ystal grid for prosperity and abundance uses the shape of the infinity sign to draw on the idea of always having what you need and then some with the cycle of prosperity never ending.  The stones uses are stones with energies tied to money, career and attraction such as citrine, amber, and dark green aventurine.  The citrine has strong anchoring energy and carries a strong attracting energy, so this gets placed in the center.  The other stones are altered in the pattern to create the infinity symbol and create a flow with the center stone to project and draw on the energy of prosperity.  This energy radiates out to where the grid is placed, so the shop owner may want to place it somewhere in the center of the shop to radiate out all through the same or they may wish to put it up at the front counter to attract people toward the cash register so they will spend money.

Making a grid is quite simple.  It is extremely important to remember that, when creating a crystal grid, where it is place is where it needs to remain while it is in operation.  This means that you need to pick a place where it can be left alone, untouched and without having to be moved.  So be mindful o

f small hands and paws being able to get to where you place your grid.  Begin by picking stones that all work with your general intention.  For example, if you’re working on a grid for love, pick stones that all connect with love and attracting love.  You don’t need a large number of crystals; start with something small like 8 stone grid but try to stay under 12 stones with one larger center stone for 13 total.  You’ll also need a clear quartz point to activate the grid.  Cleans and charge all your stones, taking your time doing so, and charge them for the intention of drawing love and attracting loving energy.  When you do this, if a specific stone is going to have a specific job in the grid, address that.  An example of this would be if you use pink calcite and you specifically want this to attract love of the heart or a heart chakra connection between you and others, where as the rose quartz you might use is more intended to draw a general loving energy to you.  Let your stones know what exactly you need them to do.

Next, pick were it will go and lay out the stones.  There are many different patterns out there to work with.  One of the basic forms that I like is the square formulation.  This is a grid often used in harmony with the directions, but I like using this for things like relationships because it directs the energy out to all corners of the Universe.  The way that this format is traditionally used is to place a center stone, like a clear qu

artz cluster or ball, into the center and then the four stones on the outside would be related to the elements with double terminated clear quartz wands connecting the directional stones to the center stone or single terminated ones, using two for each corner stone, one point energy to the center and one pointing energy from the center to the corner.  Then you would need four single terminated stones to go around the outside edges to flow the energy through your outside stones.  Now, you can work with just small stones of your choosing instead of crystal points if you wished.  Again, create what you feel drawn to here letting the stones and your intuition guide you.  The key to to keep in mind that you want to energy to flow and connect so all the stones need to be connected to one another through another stone.  So, as my example, I’d use the above to create a love grid by using the following:

• One large rose quartz in the center
• 4 pink calcite or 4 green malachite stones at the corners
• 4 double terminated quartz crystal wants in the center
• 4 single terminated wands for the outsides.  These I would place with the points going in a clockwise direction with the idea of this being a direction to draw and create energy, but if you felt that anti-clockwise was better, then you can use that direct.

Next you need to activate your grid and for this you need another charged crystal point.  Before you begin take a few moments to focus your intentions and create a simple affirmation that you will repeat while you activate the stones.  Using our example of a love drawing grid you could say something like:

I empower this crystal grid to draw loving energy and loving people to me.

Now take your charging crystal and hold it a few inches above your center stone.  Take your time with this and feel the two connect.  Feel the center stone send it’s vibrations into the energy around you.  Once you have felt this connection, begin to state your affirmation and being to trace the grid with the charging crystal starting from the center out.  You want to repeat your affirmation with intention while you draw the grid, creating a connection between all the stones.  This may mean having to go over it several times and in several different ways in order to create a flow.  There is no number of times you have to do this in and you can take as long as you feel you need to in order to feel that everything is connected.  Continue to repeat your affirmation as you do this.

When you’re done, place your charging crystal next to your grid and you may want to jot down your affirmation because you need to recharge your gird every 24 hours.  This is a great thing to make part of a daily meditative practice since you do need to ground and center and get in the right frame of mind to work the grid.

Crystal grids can be used for so many things, from drawing customers to a business, healing for yourself or a friend, or to add energy to a spell.  You can create a small crystal grid on your altar when casting a specific spell in order to help draw and send out certain kinds of energies to aid the working along.  You can create one to honor the energy of a specific deity or to mark a certain energetic transition during the Wheel of the Year.  Really the uses are endless.  There are some shops that sell pre-drawn crystal grid cloths that you simply place the stones on in their designated positions, or you can look online for websites with images of grids that you can print out and use.  Or you can just lay them on a plain surface.  Whatever you do, do it with intent and do it from a place of harm to none.

Next week we’ll look at working with crystal layouts and placing stones in formations on the body for healing and drawing energy.