Working with crystals

Lillie

I like stones, wether they are crystals from a shop or rocks off a beach.
When i occassionally get them I stick them on a shelf, or something like that.
Sometimes i pick them up and wipe the dust off and think how nice they are.
But that's about it.

Now here people keep talking about 'working with crystals' and stuff like that.
They talk about emotions and energies, even crystaline spirits.

And I have no idea what people mean, and it's doing my head in.
(I hate not to know things!)

So, can someone tell me. When you work with a crystal, what do you mean? What are you doing?
How can a crystal have an emotion? It's a rock.
I understand that everything, physically has a vibration thingy, cos that's how stuff is. Like an opera singer can (or is said to) break a glass with her voice when it hits the same vibrational pitch as the glass. But is this what people mean by vibrations? If it is then why is it significant? And if it's not then what is it that you mean?
And is this the same as energy?

And what is a crystaline spirit?
Like haunted rocks or what?

I ask these questions because I want to know what everybody is talking about.
I'm not trying to be funny or anything like that.
I would really like to know.

So, if anyone could explain it in simple terms, to someone who always thought that rocks were just rocks, however pretty they were, then it would be very kind of you.

Thanks.
 

nelsleep

Hi I see you haven't had any answers, so though I'd add in my bit, sort of as support to your real question.

I too am a little/lot naiive about the obvious amazing properties of crystals as discussed here on AT and have been following some threads with interest. What I can say is that there is definitaly an energy about them. A piece of Rose Quartz was in our house (I think it was left on a shelf from previous tenant) and my little boy (3 at time) played with it more than any of his toys and especialloy wanted to know it's right name, so I found out to tell him. It was a gentle sort of stone and just right for youth so no wonder he liked it. But working knowledge of stones?! I too have no idea but if any one can point us to a good book, or good thread on this site, that would be much appreciated.
 

lark

I'm no expert ..I just work with my stones on instinct.
I have a few nice stone books
The Crystal Bible
The Book of Stones
and Healing Crystals.... are my favorites.

I use stones for emotional and health things.
I am often drawn to a stone and then I'll try to look it up if I can, and see what the books have to say...but you also just get a gut feeling as to what your should use it for.

I have some little leather bags that I use to make up different stone tailsmans.
I have one in the car for safe travel
One hanging on my bed right now for a heath problem.
A bowl of stones for female stuff.
And I even have a Disfunctional Family Bag that I take with me to help me through those trying family visits. ;)

How do you "work" with stones?
Lots of different ways.
For instance if I have bad cramps I'll hold amber..or red coral to absorb the cramps...it's a vibrational thing for me like you describe Lillie.
Jet i use for my swollen ankle.

We have lately lost someone dear to us and I find myself reaching for my pink kunzite to wear on a long chain close to my heart.
The vibration makes me feel the comfort of love.
Just like nelsleep your little boy was drawn to Rose quartz...which is by the way is the best first stone to be given to a child for it's tender energy and motherly feeling.
You just go with your instinct to know that you are being drawn to the right stone.

I meditate with certain stones...Celestite, clear quartz, Selenite, Prehinite to name a few.

I use stones with my tarot cards...I put a Prehnite for psychic opening and a Chrysoprase for the ability to see the unusual in the reading... on top of my deck as it sits on my table.

I keep a big piece of Orange Calcite on my tarot table and let nervous first time clients hold it....for calming and an open mind.

I keep a piece of Citrine in the furthest left hand corner of the house from the front door... for abundance and wealth to always be drawn into our home.

I have a piece of Howlite above each door and in the four corners of our yard for protection from theft.

I wear a Black Tourmaline braclet for protection from negative energy.

Somedays I'll just sit and play in my big bowl of stones and remove those I feel connected too and lay them out around my daily reading on my desk.

Well, I'll shut up now, I could go on and on...

My crystals are really important to me and I use them in one way or another all day...and I realised as I wrote this I do it kind of unconsciously....I just am instictively drawn to them....for comfort and healing.

Oh about the spirit of a stone....for me it is like a personality...some stones feel gentle..some healing...some agressive..some trusting... ect.
And you know them when you feel them.
I give some of mine names based on those spirit of the stone feelings...but shhh don't tell any one! :shhh:
 

thinbuddha

I have dabbled with crystal gazing, and I think this is a very worthwhile form of meditation. I've actually just ordered a crystal ball (which sounds like utter lunacy to the thinbuddha of 2 years ago) So I guess you could call that "working with stones".

I'm rather conflicted about the whole idea of stones collecting power or providing protection- that sort of thing seems like fantasy (that's my knee-jerk reaction). I rather tend to think that the crystal scrying works for the same reason that any other type of meditative practice works..... But when I start to think through how the rest of my world view works, and I think about how stones (or other "inanimate objects") fit into that view, it makes me think again.... Maybe there is something to the whole idea of stones that harbor specific types of energies- perhaps keeping a crystal in your pocket offers something beyond the placebo effect.

-tb
 

nelsleep

That's great Lark (early riser & lover of daytime), big bowls of beautiful stones!! I can imagine the lovely energy your home must have from using the stones with all their different properties. Definitely have to get some of those books!

Can anyone answer a sort of overall view of what is the deal about clearing/cleaning/charging stones, that is often mentioned on this site too? Is it necessary, or is it like the practices around Tarot like making sure your first set is a gift and only having one set?
 

chrisam-crystals

each crystal has a vibrational signature which is unique to that particular crystal, and it is the vibration that it gives off when activated which does the healing work.

the trick to using a crystal is knowing how to tap into that vibration and getting it to do something....;)

this is where cleansing and charging come in to the story.

in life there is a positive and a negative no matter what it may be, and some stones will pick up negative energy and not release it - then you have to cleanse it.

(some stones can actually transmute negative into positive and these include citrine and kyanite, but there are many others so just read up on them in books or online.)

to cleanse a stone you need to either give it a good soapy wash, place it on a plant pot for 24 hours, put it onto a large crystal cluster for 24 hours, place it in the sun or moon for a day or imagine a pure white light engulfing the stone and releasing the negativity.

then you can either start working with it for a specific reason or you can "charge" it with a specific healing request - this is usually the thing that you do with a clear quartz crystal as it is the best stone to have, as you can program it to do anything and is handy if you don't have a specific stone to hand. ;)

just hold it in your writing hand and either speak in your mind to the stone or speak out loud and tell it what you want it to do for you.....simple as that!

people may scoff at using stones to help yourself but everything in life relies on vibration.....all objects are made from tiny atoms that are vibrating at a certain level in order to be solid or liquid or gas, and sounds at special frequencies can make you feel ill, scared, elated or even sexually aroused! lol

try keeping a crystal journal and note down which stone you are using, the times that you use it and any changes or feelings that you notice when holding or wearing them.....you may be pleasantly surprised. ;)

jue xx
 

Lillie

Thank you.
That is very interesting.

And it all makes me think hat maybe I'm doing some of this already.

I have a citrine which I keep in my purse, because i heard that it would mae sure it was never empty. (which it never is, because I also have a lucky coin in there which I never spend)

And I have a blue 'happy stone'. it's probably sodalite, and it's just a happy stone.
I don't know wether it's meant to be happy, or if it's just me.
But it is, it's a happy stone. No question.
And yeah, I know that sounds weird, but there we go.

I like the idea of 'working with crystals'. I really fancy saying to someone 'oh, I work with crystals!' It sounds so good and obscure and mysterious.

It don't just have to be crystals, though, does it?
It can be stones too?

Cos there are some things which are only ever stones, and then somethings which are crystals sometimes (faceted and/or pointy) and stones othertimes (rounded and with no corners on)
And it's all the same, is it?
They all do the same stuff?
Or are the facets and points important?
 

thinbuddha

Lillie said:
Cos there are some things which are only ever stones, and then somethings which are crystals sometimes (faceted and/or pointy) and stones othertimes (rounded and with no corners on)
And it's all the same, is it?
They all do the same stuff?
Or are the facets and points important?

I think that what make a crystal a crystal isn't the shape that the stone is cut into, but the stone itself. In other words, quarts is always a crystal- no matter if it is in it's natural (crystal shaped) form or if it has been reformed into a crystal ball, or a wine glass. At the same time, granite will never be a crystal- even if someone cuts it into a crystal shape, it is still a stone.
 

Lillie

yeah, that's what I thought.
Thanks.
 

ravenest

Good 'ol 'plain' stone is just as energized. There was a whole science in Egypt all about it. certain stone was used for certain things like parts of temples, shrines, etc. The stone was said to be alive and there was an art to selecting what stone to use in the field.