Yesterday I shared my thoughts and process on the idea of cleansing vs. retuning crystals and the whole process of clearing a stone so that it is in the best shape possible to be used for healing and spiritual work.  It’s an important step when you’re doing anything with crystals, whether that’s making gem elixirs {which is what kicked this all off}, doing crystal grids, magical work, whatever.  Always start with cleared stones. But this begged the question in yesterday’s comments – what about programming a crystal?  Well, that’s something else entirely so rather than try to give all the deets in the comments, I thought a whole new post would be ideal.  So let’s go!

“Programming”, much like the term “cleansing”, is something that I think is largely misinterpreted in the spiritual community.  The idea that a lot of people have with crystals and stones is that you have to tell them what to do, program them if you will, in order for them to work.

 

{I couldn’t help it, had to throw a little Dwight in there.}

 

As I mentioned yesterday, crystals have their own strong, natural vibration which helps in determining what they are ideal for.  How we know this is based on research, experiments, and trial and error over the years and the experiences of how we find our own energy entrains and reacts to that of a specific stone.  {Again, if you missed yesterday’s post you might want to go back and read that so this gobbledygook makes a little sense.}

We also know from yesterday that crystals do not absorb energy and their ability to change their vibration to resonate with lower vibrations is a tricky thing and doesn’t really happen.  Crystals will always return back to their dominant oscillary rate {DOR} in time or we can help it along with retuning.  It takes a lot of energy to change the vibration of a stone because their vibration is much more stable than our own, which easily falls into resonance with other vibrations.

Knowing this I find myself often asking this simple question:

 

[fontpress type=”webfonts” name=”Cabin Sketch” size=”18px” lh=”19px” color=”#000000″]Are we wasting our time trying to “program” or “charge” crystals?[/fontpress]

 

My answer:  Yes and no.

Yes, we’re sort of wasting time in most cases because not only are we going to have very little effect on the stone like as I’ve explained, but also because the stone’s DOR will always come back and essential knock out any vibrations we try to instill in the stone.

However, there is one instance where we CAN program a stone for a short time.

 

[fontpress type=”webfonts” name=”Cabin Sketch” size=”18px” lh=”19px” color=”#000000″]You CAN program quartz crystals.[/fontpress]

 

Quartz crystals are the only crystals that can truly be programmed and it all has to do with the fact that they contain what is known as piezoelectric properties.

 

[fontpress type=”webfonts” name=”Cabin Sketch” size=”18px” lh=”19px” color=”#000000″]Let’s geek out for a sec…[/fontpress]

Piezoelectric means electricity resulting from pressure.  Something that has piezoelectric properties can hold a degree of accumulated electrical charge caused by stress or pressure.

These items are also subject to what’s called the Piezoelectric Effect.  This is electricity that is produced when mechanical stress or pressure is applied to certain nonconductive material, such as quartz crystal.  It’s when an external electrical energy field {the stress or force which creates friction or tension} is applied to crystalline materials {the quartz} and energy is produced.

What does that mean for working with crystals?  It means that you can  program quartz crystals by squeezing them {creating the stress} while directing your intention {the outside electrical field which is your personal energy and vibration} into the quartz.

Because of the piezoelectric properties of quartz crystal your intent and energy when applied to the crystal can change and affect the crystal’s vibrational frequency.  When you’re squeezing the stone and activating the electrical currents in the stone the crystal becomes more receptive to frequency adjustments, i.e. you imposing your energy and intent.

But here’s the thing – it doesn’t last long and you have to be super careful in how you use and store the crystal after it’s been programmed since it will easily lose this frequency change and return to it’s DOR.  When you program a crystal you need to reprogram it regularly based on how often it’s used.

 

[fontpress type=”webfonts” name=”Cabin Sketch” size=”18px” lh=”19px” color=”#000000″]Programming You Quartz[/fontpress]

Any kind of quartz can be used for programming.  That means rose quartz, amethyst, citrine, smokey quartz, and so on.  However the best and most ideal to use is clear quartz crystal.  If you use a different type of quartz you’ll only want to use it for programs relate specifically to their existing frequency and ideally whatever their strongest vibrational use it.  That means using amethyst for intuition rather than love or protection.  Clear quartz is like working with a blank slate and it can easily be programmed for anything.

The steps and process for programming your quartz is simple:

1. Pick your crystal and retune it.

2. Determine your intention and what you want the crystal to actually do.  Create a simple, clear, direct positive affirmation stating that intention.

3. Work in sacred space so that both your energy and the energy of the environment is as clear and as highly tuned as possible {that means smudge your space, remove distractions, and take a few minutes to meditate before working}.

4.  Hold your crystal in your dominant hand {the hand you write with} and squeeze while stating your affirmation out loud {speaking creates vibration which will help with your programming}.  While doing this be very clear about what you want by seeing it in your mind {visualize} and drawing it up in your energy {feel it}.  As you squeeze the crystal the electrical current that is generated also helps to increase your own energy and the two come together easily.  Repeat your affirmation as many times as you feel intuitively drawn to.

5.  Then clear your mind and release all your visualizations and thoughts.  Hold the crystal up to your heart chakra and visualize Divine Source energy {white light} coming down through your crown chakra, down your spine, then back up your spine to your shoulders where it goes down your arms and into the crystal.  You can also visualize this more simply by visualizing the light coming into the crown and out through the heart into the stone {I prefer energy running techniques so I like using the first visualization}.  Allow your intuition to guide you as to when your stone is programmed from here. 

[fontpress type=”webfonts” name=”Cabin Sketch” size=”18px” lh=”19px” color=”#000000″]Storing Your Programmed Quartz[/fontpress]

This is super important if you want your stone to hold the program that you have given it.  You must keep it put away, out of sight and reach of others, and you have to be really careful how it’s used.  It should only be used by you because your energy will still resonate with the program and it wont disturb the vibration of the crystal too much.  Someone else touching it or even looking at it {remember Heisenberg’s Principle of Observation from high school science?} will cause the crystal to lose the program and start to synch back with it’s DOR.  Your crystal will need to be reprogrammed regardless, but this will help preserve the program longer.

Keep your programmed crystals separate from other stones and each other.  Store in boxes or wrapped in cloth and out of sight.

Create one program per crystal.  That means just one affirmation and one intention for each crystal.  You can always program multiple crystals for different uses.

Use the crystal ONLY for the purpose it was programmed for and use them only when you need to.  The more a programmed crystal is used the more it’s energy is “moved around”, for lack of a better term, and the sooner you need to reprogram.  On average most programmed stones need to be reprogrammed about once a month if you want to keep using them.

 

[fontpress type=”webfonts” name=”Cabin Sketch” size=”18px” lh=”19px” color=”#000000″]The long and short…[/fontpress]

• You can program crystals but you can truly only program quartz crystals.
• Crystals don’t need you to program them in order to work and should only be programmed for a very specific need.
• Ideally just let your stones do what its natural DOR intends it to do and pick your stones accordingly.
• Programmed crystals need to be reprogrammed regularly but with proper care and conservative use they can hold their programs for a little while.

 

[fontpress type=”webfonts” name=”Cabin Sketch” size=”18px” lh=”19px” color=”#000000″]Have more questions about crystals?  Share them in the comments![/fontpress]