For a while I’ve been tossing around some ideas about what to do with my ever growing collection of gemstones and crystals. I tend to keep them divided up in two large-ish wooden boxes, one for my smaller tumbles and one for my druzy crystals, clusters, and points. But after seeing some nice pictures of other people’s crystals out and displayed on Facebook I thought “why not bring the kids out to play?” I usually keep them put away {with the exception of a Spirit Quartz cluster and a special palm piece of labradorite} because I don’t want them to get dusty, dirty or faded. Some stones will fade from direct sunlight over a period of time {typically those that are semi-transparent, especially quartz stones}. I have a really nice piece of druzy amethyst that was in one of the windows of my office and the whole side that was facing out the window is a pale lavender and the other side a deep plum purple. So I was a bit concerned about bringing them out and putting them in a place that would be in the light, but I thought at least a little time out won’t hurt.
My very heavy basket of stones…if you want to carry it be sure to use both hands and pick it up from the bottom! That sucker is deep and heavy!
When I first decided to seriously start studying crystals, leading to my becoming a certified crystal healer in 2009, I never had visions of spending my day placing crystals on and around people and taking them through guided meditations and breathing exercises. I really just wanted to get a better idea of how to work with the crystals outside of magic, which really was the only way I knew how to use them. But even there, I felt like most of what I’d learned from books and even from other magical practitioners was very lacking and in some cases just flat out wrong.
I always had this feeling that there was a lot more to working with crystals than just running them under some water and then carrying them in your pocket. I mean, maybe the actual act of working with them was that simple but there was certainly more to the process than that. I also just knew that somewhere in there all the books and things I’d heard and learned was missing something. Science!!
Around the time that I really got into crystals in a curious way I was getting more and more into the science side of the magic. I was reading and studying more about physics, quantum mechanics, and other geeky things that would cause most people to look at me and declare “That’s not Witchcraft!”
“Like hell it’s not!!” That’s about all I could say to that! To not understand science is to not truly understand a damn thing you’re doing with the practice of Witchcraft and magic. If your thing is to just do whatever it is that makes you feel warm and fuzzy, then that’s fine, but you’re truly missing the real how’s, why’s, and keys to making magic that will change your life and the world.
But that’s not what this post is about…that’s just something I had to get out. 🙂
Though, in a way it ties in. Whenever I bring up the subject of crystals I see a lot of people talk about these very nice and sweet new agey practices and ideas about how crystals work, but sadly many of them are just fanciful notions of crystals. Like the idea that if a crystal breaks it’s “dead” and you need to get rid of it because it wont work anymore. Or the idea that a crystal must be “charged” or programmed in order to work. And {one of my favorites} that the best way to cleanse a stone is to smudge it with sage or incense.
None of those things are true because scientifically they don’t hold up. And as I’m always saying you can’t ignore science in favor of magic because they aren’t two separate things. If I was going to learn to work with crystals, really work with them, I was going to learn the science behind them and I was going to dive in more deeply. As I did that I started to take care of my stones differently as well, which is why they tend to stay tucked away or wrapped up.
But today when I shared my crystal basket picture a really great question came up about how do you remember what crystal is which, especially if you have ones that look very similar.
That’s a great question and I have simple{ish} solution for that!
Ok, first, you just simply have to really learn your crystals. Getting some books on crystals that have clear pictures of each stone that’s talked about is a HUGE help. Three books that I highly recommend for that purpose:
The Crystal Bible by Judy Hall
The Crystal Bible 2 by Judy Hall
The Essential Crystal Handbook by Simon and Sue Lilly
Look through them and get to know your stones. There are some stones that can look very similar to one another until you learn the subtle differences. Jet and onyx can look similar until you get familiar with the shiny finish that onyx usually has over jet. Sodalite that doesn’t have a lot of white in it can look a lot like lapis lazuli if the lapis doesn’t have a lot of visible pyrite in it. Raw aventurine and raw emerald can also be confused if they are both a bit on the dark side. So getting to know the subtle differences is important.
I mean…if you look at this picture of these four stones, can you tell them apart? Or do they all just look like quartz crystal?
But there is a little trick, a little exercise and record keeping that you can do to keep your stones straight and avoid a crystal conundrum. {Only one is a clear quartz and only two are actually quartz.}
Grab a marker, a piece of blank paper, a ruler, your crystal books or your computer, a pen, and your stones. OH, and a camera!
Line out your paper to have boxes with a small line at the top. Make about 9 boxes on a page.
Now get your crystals, a pen, and your crystal books or a laptop together:
Next place once stone in each square. Depending on how many stones you have to identify you may need more than one sheet, or you could just do nine at a time and do this over a period of time.
Now it’s time to start identifying those stones! Using your books, the internet, whatever you have, write on the lines above the stones what they are. Don’t know or aren’t sure? Put a question mark, an asterisk, or something to remind you that the name you’ve given it still needs researching or that you just don’t know what this one is yet.
Then, in the best lighting that you can get {doing this in natural light is always best} take pictures. You can take a wide shot like this one above and then take more detailed pictures of a block of stones together.
My lightning and the method I used to take these pictures weren’t ideal, but you get the idea. Do as I say, not as I do. 🙂
When you do this you’ll have a record of not only what angelite looks like, for example, but what YOUR angelite stone looks like. Then you can crop out the individual squares in photo editing software to have individual pictures which you can add to a record keeping sheet!
I LOVE using these sheets! When I first started seriously using crystals I made something similar to this and then expanded my record keeping to this exact sheet below. You can then file them or put them in a Book of Shadows or a three ring binder to keep track of your crystal work and study!
Want to try this out!!
Download the record keeping sheet and square grid sheet below!
Download the Crystal Record Keeping Journal
I LOVE this idea, thank you!! So, if I don’t need to cleanse my stones with sage, do they need cleansing at all? And also, how can something be “self-cleansing”, don’t understand the science behind that.
It’s not that they are “self-cleansing” it’s just that many of the ways that people talk about cleansing crystals really doesn’t do anything. Because, in truth, they don’t need “cleansing” they need to be “retuned”, sort of like an instrument that has been played so much that it starts to get out of tune. Crystals work because of their vibrations and their vibratory rates. Their dominant oscillatory rate (DOR), their most natural point of vibration, is what effects us. Crystals work in healing, and even in magick, through the process of entrainment. When two vibrations come in contact with one another the strongest vibration is the one that dominates all the others around it. When a crystal is at it’s DOR it has the ability to raise and change our own vibrations. So for example, if you’re feeling sad or depressed you might carry, hold, or wear a rose quartz crystal. It’s vibration and the level it vibrates at will be higher than your own rate of vibration at that time. By holding or wearing the stone on your body for a period of time you’ll start to feel your vibration rise which tends to play out in you feeling lighter and a little happier. That’s because your vibration has entrained to the vibration of the crystal.
So, again, when it comes to crystals it isn’t “cleansing” that they need, although a washing of your stones, if they can be submerged in water, is never a bad thing, but it isn’t going to do the best job and it isn’t going to bring the stone back to its true DOR. Incense and smudge don’t do this either. In both cases, water and smoke, you’re working with negative ions. The negative ions will certain cleanse the stone {in what we might say is “negative energy” attached to it by removing a build up of positive ions} but the vibration isn’t really going to change. The best way I have found is to place the stones on a table {you can do this with more than one stone at a time} and hold a singing bowl or a bell in your hands over them and give a good ringing or the bowl or bell. This sort of shocks the vibration of the stones and as they react to the bowl’s vibrations they come back to their own DOR.
And also on the note of vibration, the larger the stone, the wider it’s range ofd vibration. So if a stone is only a small tumbled piece it’s best used for direct healing or for carrying in your pocket for something {in fact, if you’re using them for healing, tumbles are really best placed right against the skin}. Large pieces like the kinds that you might keep out on a table top, something that might be a large geode for example, or anything that is maybe 6 inches or bigger in width, can work on a whole room well because the range of its vibration will be bigger. This is one of those times when bigger really is better. 🙂
Stones always need to be retuned eventually. I always do this with mine when they’ve been sitting around for a while and then I want to work with one or before I’m going to use them for a healing session or to make a crystal grid. I also do this before and after they’ve been used for any kind of magick.
Wow, that’s fascinating! Thanks so much for your thorough reply. So, I’ve been putting my stone bracelets on my citrine bed for nothing then, haha. I’ve always wondered about the science behind crystals, but I can’t find much on it, do you recommend any books? I have Judy Hall’s bibles and Melody’s book but I haven’t seen much in there on the how and whys of crystal healing/work.
Thanks for the tip on the singing bowl, I’m going to try that!
Honestly your best bet is to do some reading on geology. Most books on crystals that are aimed at healing, magick, and other new age related audiences don’t cover the science aspect and typically throw out science all together. Two books that I do like which you might find interesting {and which don’t ignore the science side of things} are “Vibrational Medicine” by Richard Gerber and “The Book of Stones” by Robert Simmons and Naisha Ahsian.
Thank You for the post.. I was the same Tracy asking yesterday. i sorta used your method already but without pictures. i kept them each in little bag labeled what it is and how it is used in simple terms. Then i have documents folder i keep that list my stone with a bigger description of its use and cleansing it. But like most i used the smudge, salts, or moon light for it. Thank you so much for taking time to answer my question. i will now add picture and be able to put them out along with not worrying about the kids touching them. I hated to tell them NO! cause i would rather they be interested in them but i didnt want to cleanse them all the time so it was easier to keep put up. Have a great weekend . Blessings to you
Thank You for the post.. I was the same Tracy asking yesterday. i sorta used your method already but without pictures. i kept them each in little bag labeled what it is and how it is used in simple terms. Then i have documents folder i keep that list my stone with a bigger description of its use and cleansing it. But like most i used the smudge, salts, or moon light for it. Thank you so much for taking time to answer my question. i will now add picture and be able to put them out along with not worrying about the kids touching them. I hated to tell them NO! cause i would rather they be interested in them but i didnt want to cleanse them all the time so it was easier to keep put up. Have a great weekend . Blessings to you
Great post, lots of interesting info.
I was just wondering though how you reconcile the mining processes of crystals with their use in healing and magic? As I understand it mostly what we use for healing is often the ‘waste’ from the gem industry (especially in the case of tumble stones) to that end I now only use crystals I’ve had for many years (before I really researched them and found out about the mining) or locally found stones and rocks.
There is a lot of misunderstanding about the mining process of crystals. The mining of crystals, which is part the process of mineral specimen mining, is not done the same way that industrial ore mining or gemstone mining is done. Gemstone mining (mining for things like diamonds and rubies) and ore mining (metal mining for things like aluminium, gold, copper, and so on…including coal) is done quite differently. And oddly, when it comes to the products of these kinds of mining processes we seem to not have much of a problem with them and sort of see them as socially acceptable. Conflict Minerals {which you can do a Google search on to see more about but which includes gold and many minerals used in computers, cell phones, and other electronics that we use every day} are a bigger concern when it comes to damage to the earth as well as human rights issues.
The stones that we commonly use in healing and magick are a result of specimen mining which does not involve the process of strip mining and very rarely involves blasting. If any blasting is done it’s usually very shallow, only a few meters into the surface, and is only done to be able to more larger rocks out of the way. Most crystals are mined from old mines that were originally being used for ore or gemstone mining and the collecting of crystals and minerals comes either after the fact but a whole different bunch of people {usually working to dig the specimen’s by hand to cause less damage} or minerals are mined before the ore or gemstone mining just because it’s a source of additional revenue.
Specimen mining has no direct environment impact because it doesn’t involve the heavy blasting or chemicals used in gemstone or ore mining. Specimen mining also isn’t the same as commercial mining which involves mining on a large scale where as specimen mining is a much smaller operation.
If it’s environmental impact that concerns you, more damage is done to the earth by deforestation, factory farming, and urbanization than specimen mining. But for people who are uncertain or truly concerned about any impact on the earth by using crystals, purchasing stones from estate sales or getting things that are sold from private collections is best. And naturally looking for things which are local.
It’s the entire ‘industry’ that I’m wary of – there’s a lot of misconception and downright lying in the healing industry as well.
The specimen mining is still at a very very low paid leveland conducted in developing countries – exploiting their resources because they can get away with dismally low pay.
There is also no way that all the various minerals and crystals in your average new age shop come from those sources, the industrially mined waste for example will also be diverted to where they can make a buck. Not to mention the various dying and heating that goes on to change something into something it is not.
If we go round any given crystal shop we can pick out what are essentially the same mineral being sold as two different things – which they are obivously not. Most people don’t understand that the citrine they are using quite possibly used to be amethyst before someone decided they could sell citrine for a higher price. You have to look hard at smokey quartz to pick out the natural ones – to take two examples.
IMO the ‘healing’ industry itself is unethical for many of the above reasons and more.
Don’t get me wrong I love working with the crystals I have but I don’t ever now buy any new ones I stick to what I can find that has come to the surface naturallly. ALL of the required energies are there without the ethical worries.
I definitely think that if you have that level of concern and are that unsure of where the stones are coming from then you should just do what you’ve been doing.
As for stones being what they say they are, that has always been a concern. Citrine is a fantastic example. True citrine is much more rare and almost all commercially sold citrine is heated amethyst. But they are still used in healing and magick because the heat application, whether natural (which does happen) or manmade does change the composition from one stone to the other. Citrine is quartz with a different amount of iron deposits and the color is a result of those deposits being irritated. This is also what gives us the stone ametrine, amethyst and citrine combined as one stone. True citrine, if I remember right, is only found in Brazil and because it is much more rare and not as easy to mine, it isn’t.
But again, it goes far beyond that. You need to be sure your amethyst, rose quartz, or aquamarine aren’t just dyed quartz, which isn’t at all uncommon. Turquoise is also often just dyed stone and not true turquoise. There are ways to test stones to know if they are what they supposedly are (scratch tests, heat tests, etc) but honestly most healers don’t concern themselves with that, which I agree is an ethical problem. But then most “crystal healers” I’ve ever come to know don’t know the first thing about the science of crystals, geology, or where their stones come from let alone care how that impacts what they do.
For me, personally, it does make a difference which is why I have taken the time to learn and study crystals and working with the. To the extent I have and continue to do. I am less paranoid (for lack of a better word…and not implying you are) about how they are sourced knowing what I know about the specimen mining industry. I agree that not everything is so transparent but I don’t believe at all that there is some conspiracy or cover up about how it’s “really” done, or anything like that. If a stone is hard to mine or minimally available it’s also far rarer to find and much harder to acquire…and there are usually more common stones that can be used in its place.
I think each of us has to follow our own heart and path when it comes to using any natural item in magick and healing. Many of these same issues can also be applied to herbs and oils. I think it’s fairly safe to say all rose oil we commercially purchase isn’t pure rose oil and is either synthetic or extremely diluted with carrier and fragrance oils. It’s extremely expensive to produce true rose oil so most people use what they can get and it isn’t pure. But that doesn’t stop people from using it. Most people anyway.
Hello!
I loved this post 🙂 You have inspired me to go through my collection 🙂 I don’t have a basket, but I do have a red heart box that I saved from Valentine’s Day. Would be perfect for this 🙂
Also, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but on your Record Keeping Journal sheet you have Maigckal down instead of Magickal
Glad you liked it, Heather!
Thank you for your excellent eye and proofreading skill. 😉 It’s all fixed now. Thanks!