Crystals and their Benefits - A comprehensive roundup of some of the most popular crystals.
From https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/guide-to-healing-crystals
To help you get started, we compiled a comprehensive roundup of some of the most popular crystals.
Clear quartz
This white crystal is considered a “master healer.” It’s said to amplify energy by absorbing, storing, releasing, and regulating it. It’s also said to aid concentration and memory. Physically, clear crystals are claimed to help stimulate the immune system and balance out your entire body. This stone is often paired with others like rose quartz to aid and enhance their abilities.
Rose quartz
Just as the color may suggest, this pink stone is all about love. It’s said to help restore trust and harmony in all different kinds of relationships while improving their close connections. It’s also claimed to help provide comfort and calm during times of grief.
It isn’t all about other people, though. Rose quartz is said to also encourage love, respect, trust, and worth within one’s self — something we could all use in this day and age.
Jasper
This smooth crystal is known as the “supreme nurturer.” It’s said to empower the spirit and support you through times of stress by preparing you to fully “show up.” It’s claimed to protect you from and absorb negative vibes while promoting courage, quick thinking, and confidence. These are traits that are extra helpful when tackling important issues — which is exactly what this stone may be good for.
Obsidian
An intensely protective stone, obsidian is said to help form a shield against physical and emotional negativity. It’s also said to help get rid of emotional blockage and promote qualities of strength, clarity, and compassion to help find your true sense of self. For your physical body, it may aid in digestion and detoxification while potentially helping reduce pain and cramps.
Citrine
Bring joy, wonder, and enthusiasm to every part of your life with citrine. It’s said to help you release negative traits from your life like fear, and in turn help encourage optimism, warmth, motivation, and clarity. It’s also claimed to enhance mindful qualities, like creativity and concentration.
Turquoise
This blue crystal has powers that are said to help heal the mind, body, and soul. Generally speaking, it’s seen as a good luck charm that can help balance your emotions while finding your spiritual groundings. When it comes to the body, it’s said to benefit the respiratory, skeletal, and immune system.
Tiger’s eye
If you’re in need of a power or motivation boost, this golden stone may be for you. It’s said to help rid your mind and body of fear, anxiety, and self-doubt. This can be beneficial for career aspirations or even matters of the heart. Tiger’s eye is also said to help guide you to harmony and balance to help you make clear, conscious decisions.
Amethyst
This purple stone is said to be incredibly protective, healing, and purifying. It’s claimed it can help rid the mind of negative thoughts and bring forth humility, sincerity, and spiritual wisdom. It’s also said to help promote sobriety. Sleep is another claimed benefit of this stone, from supposedly aiding in insomnia relief to understanding dreams. Physically, it’s said to boost hormone production, cleanse blood, and relieve pain and stress.
Moonstone
Known for “new beginnings,” moonstone is said to encourage inner growth and strength. When starting fresh, this stone is purported to also soothe those uneasy feelings of stress and instability so you’re able to move forward successfully. It’s also claimed to promote positive thinking, intuition, and inspiration while bringing forth success and good fortune.
Bloodstone
This powerful healing stone lives up to its name. Bloodstone is claimed to help cleanse the blood by drawing off bad environmental energies and improving circulation. Mindfully speaking, it encourages selflessness, creativity, and idealism while helping you live within the current moment. It’s also said it can also help you rid yourself of feelings of irritability, aggressiveness, and impatience.
Sapphire
This blue stone is one of wisdom and royalty. It’s said it can attract prosperity, happiness, and peace while opening up the mind to accept beauty and intuition. As for physical health, this stone is claimed to also help heal eye issues, cellular levels, and blood disorders while also easing depression, anxiety, and insomnia.
Ruby
A red standout, this stone helps restore vitality and energy levels. This can help improve things such as sensuality, sex, and intellect. It’s also said to help bring self-awareness and the realization of truth to one’s mind. Rubies were used in ancient times to help remove toxins from blood and improve the overall circulatory system.
First things first: Identify what you feel you’re missing before looking into what stones can provide you. This will help you indicate what’s going on within yourself before depending on outside sources.
From there, just let your intuition choose what’s best for you. Whether a crystal catches your eye or you can feel a physical pull toward one, your inner subconscious will help guide you to the crystal that’s right for you. Once it’s pick out, you can create the connection you need.
When you first bring your crystal home, you’ll want to cleanse away any negativity it may have picked up. You can hold it under cold, running water from a tap or rinse it in a natural source of water. Either way, be sure the water is cool, not warm or hot.
Add a bit of sea salt to the cleanse or burn sage to really help it get rid of unwanted energies. You can also leave it out to dry in morning sunlight or full moon light to let the light filter through.
It’s not just about their physical care, though. For crystals to work their magic, you mentally have to remove the negative energy or skepticism you may have about their capabilities. It’s important to respect what they can do for you.
Crystals are pretty, mystical, and they capture the imagination. They just might be one of the most popular trends in alternative medicine.
It’s believed by some that holding crystals or positioning them on various areas of the body can give physical and mental benefits. The idea is that crystals interact with the body’s energy field, creating balance and alignment.
Many people use crystals for stress and focus, while others believe that crystals have the power to heal physical ailments and illnesses.
How much truth is there in the theory that crystals have the power to heal the body?
Let’s take a look at crystal history, lore, and the science behind them to answer that question.
Crystals are a group of minerals. Very simply, they’re beautiful, semi-rare stones — some are clear and some have bright colors.
Jude Polack, founder and director of bewater, a company that sells crystal-infused water bottles, explains there is a long history of crystals being used for well-being.
“Archaeological finds show that amber was in use for protection and well-being as far back as 10,000 years ago in the UK,” she says. “Records from Ancient Sumer show that crystals were used for prosperity and health.”
In Egypt, Polack notes that multiple stones were used for medicinal and ritual purposes, including:
- lapis lazuli
- turquoise
- carnelian
- emerald
- quartz
According to Polack, Leonardo da Vinci reportedly kept a gemstone on his desk, claiming, “Amethyst dispels evil thoughts and speeds up thinking.”
Some in the alternative medicine community believe these stones have real healing powers.
One common belief is that crystals interact with the body’s energy fields, also known as vibrational energy. The idea is that crystals can redirect and re-channel energy flow with their unique energetic vibrations, helping to unblock areas of the body or energy field that have become “stuck.”
“Crystals have potent healing powers, and when we touch them, healing is immediately activated,” says cosmic energy healer Eva Antoniadou.
As the crystal vibrations interact with the body’s natural energetic frequency, the body is said to be left feeling focused, relaxed, and clear.
“Crystals absorb energy from pressure and movement and convert it into an electronic frequency,” says Polack. “It’s this frequency, unique to each type of crystal, that users are relying on when working with crystals, and given that many pain and anxiety relief devices work on similar principles, we do believe they can help in these areas.”
Methods of treating pain and other disorders with electrical current include:
- radiofrequency ablation (RFA)
- electronic muscle stimulation (EMS)
- transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS)
- transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
Compared to these therapies, any frequency a crystal might emit would be infinitesimal.
When it comes to the science, there’s almost no evidence to support crystal healing.
Two researchers, the brothers Pierre and Jack Curie, conducted a study in 1880 and found that changing the temperature of crystals and putting pressure on them could create electricity.
This is known as the piezoelectric effect. It’s used in technology like:
- microphones
- quartz watches
- inkjet printers
- sonar
- medical implants
The work of the brothers Curie suggests that holding crystals may have a minor effect on the body’s energy levels, though whether that effect can produce healing power is still up for debate.
Another study by C.C. French on crystals and healing was presented at two international conferences in 1999 and 2001 but never published in a peer-reviewed journal.
In the study, 80 volunteers were given either real crystals or fakes. Six participants reported feeling nothing. The rest reported feeling a change in energy.
In other words, the knock-off crystals were just as effective, which suggests that the placebo effect was working its magic.
As psychologist Richard Wiseman told The Telegraph at the time, “It is suggestive that the power of crystals is in the mind instead of in the crystals.”
Even some people who work with crystals hold the belief that the real power of crystals lies in the
Polack, for instance, believes that crystals work through a combination of the placebo effect and by creating changes in energetic frequency.
“A combination of placebo, which is powerful in itself, and the previously mentioned energetic properties of certain crystals certainly seem to have a real impact on the body,” she says.
If you’re thinking about adding crystals into your wellness routine, it’s important to be realistic about what they can do and what they can’t.
Mental health disorders
Crystals are sometimes called on to support mental health conditions, like anxiety or depression.
There’s no scientific proof that crystals have any significant effect on energy, emotions, or mental health. Don’t replace medical treatment for anxiety, depression, and other diagnosable conditions with crystals.
Instead, use them to create a sense of being grounded and centered while also following your doctor’s or psychologist’s advice.
Plus, if you feel that crystals are helping, it’s always worth using them, even if it is just the placebo effect at play.
Crystals can provide support, not treatment.
Improving mood or outlook
Crystals can provide support when you’re feeling down or stressed too.
Just as they can provide support for mental health issues, crystals can help you boost your mood. They can be used as a tool to invoke feelings of:
- grounding
- connection
- spiritual meaning
- purpose
- a sense of something greater than yourself
This likely has more to do with your relationship to the crystal rather than the crystal itself.
Pain and illness
While some crystal practitioners believe that crystals can help with real, physical ailments, there have yet to be any scientific studies to support this theory.
“We never advise using crystals to treat illness or injury, although there certainly are many who do,” says Polack.
While using crystals likely won’t hurt you, follow your doctor’s guidance when it comes to physical injury, chronic pain, or illness. The more support you have from different modalities, the better. That doesn’t mean crystals can’t be one tool in your toolbox.
By combining the placebo potential of crystals with the scientific evidence behind meditation, the two can work together to create a positive effect.
A 2021 review noted that mindfulness meditation (MM) had a significantly larger effect on alleviating military-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) compared to control conditions.
A 2021 study of 53 adolescents in an inpatient psychiatric unit found that MM was an effective and relatively immediate intervention to lower anxiety. The study also found MM to be especially beneficial for symptoms of psychosis.
If you believe that crystals make a difference, adding them to your meditation practice is likely a winning combination. If you feel unsure or skeptical about crystals, just skip using them and meditate instead.
All in all, taking a moment to hold a crystal may affect your energy in some subtle, barely measurable way.
More importantly, it will invite you to slow down, breathe, and focus your mind on one thing. This meditative practice in and of itself will likely help you feel more at ease.
Try it
There are lots of ways to meditate with crystals. Here’s one option:
- Cleanse and charge your crystals before using. One method is to place them in sunlight.
- Ground and connect to your body with deep breathing.
- Set an intention for your meditation, and “ask” your crystal for support.
- Quiet your mind and focus on your intention for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Close your practice by thanking your crystal and returning your attention to your external environment.
Some studies show that crystals have the power to create an electrical charge, but that’s about all the evidence shows.
While it’s unclear how much this affects your energy field, it’s clear that many people believe that they benefit from using crystals.
“Ultimately crystals are, in our experience, as individual in their potential effect as the person using them,” says Polack.
We may never know for sure whether crystals help us through energy or through the placebo effect. Still, as long as you don’t forego medical care, crystals may be a helpful addition to your wellness practice.
Last medically reviewed on September 17, 2021
https://www.healthline.com/health/healing-crystals-what-they-can-do-and-what-they-cant#takeaway
