T. Darlene Cheek

Healing with crystals is something that absolutely everyone can do. It is easy, convenient, and inexpensive. Crystal healing corresponds with aura, chakra and energy work. I have a wonderful book called Crystal Medicine by Marguerite Elsbeth, who was taught how to use crystals in her own healing work by a Shoshone Medicine Man. Most of the information I'll use for this article comes from that book. This book covers energy healing in a way that anyone can easily understand and apply to their lives, and has beautiful pictures of different stones.

Ask anyone at all if they have a favourite gemstone... or even a favourite colour. That colour will correspond to something that is important to them in the life... something that makes them feel reminiscent... something that makes them smile... but why is that? Remember in the early years of school being taught about primary colours? That is a very basic concept of colour and/or crystal therapy. Every colour has a vibrational frequency, thus the vibrations (or energy) of a stone create the colour. So... if your aura is also vibrating and creating a colour, then when a needed colour is brought into your auric field (that colour having its own vibration) it will change the vibration of the energy field around your body and balance the chakra centres which also have corresponding colours.

The important thing to remember when using crystals is that there is no "right" or "wrong" way to use them. Sometimes, you will have a feeling that a specific crystal should be used... always go with your gut instinct. When you pick up a stone for the first time, you are instantly changed... your energy blends with the energy of the crystal and changes your vibrational frequency, or your energy, within the body... and YES, you can feel the energy... just close your eyes, and place the stone in the hand that you write with... wrap your fingers lightly around the crystal... and allow yourself to feel it's energy... focus on it. You will start to feel a tingling, pulsing, warmth or something similar from the crystal. You may even feel a negative or a positive energy.

Once you learn to feel the energy of crystals, you will possibly be interested in learning to read the aura. By reading someone's aura, you can tell if that person is sick in some way if you see dark spots, "holes", or some type of inconsistency. You may see these aura deficiencies in an area relating to the chakra areas or colours. This will tell you which colour needs to be brought into the energy field of the body to heal it. If you are seeing the aura while bringing the crystal into the field, you will actually see the changes. With a little practice, this is actually very easy to do! If you'd like, you can also start practicing aura reading on plants, animals, trees... just use your imagination.

How do you read the aura? Stand a person in front of a white background (a white wall or even a hung sheet will do)... make sure the lighting is natural (no bright, direct or shadowing light)... stand about 8' back from the subject... focus your gaze just past their left shoulder at face level... defocus your eyes (your eyes may water slightly)... you may at first only see a gray "fuzz" outlining the person's face and shoulder... you may see colour... whichever you see, just pull your focus out a bit so that you can see the entire body... you will see an energy field, gray or colour, surrounding the entire body at that point. This may take some practice, but if you work at it for about 10-20 minutes a day (starting slowly at first) for a month, you should become quite adept at aura reading. Around this time, you will start to see the variances that point to illness.

How do you find the right crystal? When first trying to chose the right stone, you will want to pick one that you are drawn to... then you will feel it's energy using the technique mentioned earlier... you will know if it is the right stone. After you bring your crystal home, you will want to cleanse it of the previous user's energy by laying it in salty overnight or using a cleansing spray or mist. There are lots of books, including Crystal Medicine, that teach you which stones typically heal which areas of the body along with different cleansing methods, traditions, etc. For the end of this article, I want to introduce you to some crystals and their uses...

Malachite, is one of my favourite stones. You'll notice its beautiful green colour. Green is the corresponding colour for balance and healing, associated with the thymus chakra, located at the heart centre, near the physical heart. Malachite may induce feelings of sympathy and compassion... it can restore vitality and energy. When used for healing, malachite will absorb negativity, and will have to be cleansed after each healing use. I have found green stones to be very cleansing for the blood, possibly because of its association with the heart. Green stones are also said to bring money (associating colour)...  

Amethyst is also one of my favourites and is very useful. Amethyst is a type of quartz crystal. In history, Egyptians used amulets of amethyst to induce dreams and visions. Amethyst, being purple, is associated with the Crown chakra which brings about your spiritual consciousness. It is able to control harmful behaviours, sharpen the mind, increase memory, alleviate emotional sensitivity, and strengthen the immune system. It calms an overly passionate nature and also absorbs negativity from the environment. Amethyst is versatile in that it can heal physical, emotional and mental illnesses.

The second stone pictured on the page is Clear Quartz. Clear quartz is what your typical crystal ball is made of. In modern technology, science has actually proven that crystals have energy... examples of this are radio transmitters and receivers, computers, and even the quartz watch... all of which use the quartz crystal for its electromagnetic energy. Clear quartz is so versatile that almost every spiritual practitioner, including every field from Shamans to New-Age healers, has a clear quartz crystal in their medicine pouch. This stone amplifies the energy of other stones. It also accelerates the healing process, removes energy blockages, aids the nervous system, brings one back into contact with themselves, and helps just about everything else imaginable. Everyone should have one of these stones.

I hope this introduction to crystal healing has brought you to a better understanding of the healing powers of nature.