Crystals

In times of uncertainty, many of us look for ways to be more mindful, to calm anxiety stress, so alternative therapies like crystal healing are coming to the fore. The concept of using crystals to heal has been around for centuries but, with celebrities such as Victoria Beckham speaking openly about their belief in the practice, it's had a more mainstream resurgence in recent years.

A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions.

Crystal healing is a type of alternative therapy that involves using gemstones to bring balance to an individual's life and mind. Crystals are said to have a stable and unchanging energy pattern, each with a unique frequency and energy field, or resonance, that gives them special properties.

The proposed healing benefits of crystals predominantly surround areas of mental wellbeing; including feelings of increased tranquility, positivity and focus, as well as enhanced immunity and pain relief. Individual crystals are also known to have their own special energies that align to different areas of your life, with their shape and colour - as well as their type - affecting their influence.

Crystals amplify and raise energy vibrations, whether this is for you, your space, your home or even your pets. They can make us more aware of our own energy as well as offering a helping hand to keep us present and in the moment. Perhaps in this manic digital age where distraction is everywhere, this is why crystals are having such a moment. They help support us when we are blocked, lacking in energy, feel slowed down or need calming.

There is evidence to suggest that crystals have been used in healing for around 6,000 years, dating back to Sumerians and ancient Egyptians. Nowadays the use of crystal healing relates more to the Buddhist and Hindu understanding of our ‘chakras’ (the energy centres in our body). Regardless, all of the different practices relating to crystal healing assign different properties to different types of crystals. The effect of each crystal changes not just with its type but also its shape and how it has been activated and cleansed.

This is where science and mysticism intersect: Crystals are millions of years old and were forged during the earliest part of the earth’s formation. I think of crystals as a timeless database of knowledge, because they retain all the information they have ever been exposed to. Crystals absorb information—whether a severe weather pattern, or the experience of an ancient ceremony—and pass it to anyone that comes into contact with them.

Scientifically, crystals are the most orderly structure that exists in nature, meaning they have the lowest amount of entropy (a measurement of disorder). Crystals are structured in such a way that they respond to the inputs of all different energies around them, so they oscillate, emitting specific vibratory frequencies. The way they are balanced, the frequencies they emit, and their ability to store a tremendous amount of information makes crystals essential to modern technologies. This is why there are crystals in computers, TVs, cell phones, satellites, and so on.

People have been attracted to crystals since the dawn of time for burial rites, divination practices, healing rituals, spiritual advancement, and even simply as decoration to connote power. Our ancestors intuitively knew that when worn, the energies of the stones would interact with the human electromagnetic field to bring about energetic changes. People gravitate towards vortexes (where energy is either entering into the earth or projecting out of the earth’s plane) like Stonehenge and Sedona because these ancient and massive magical rocks sit on top of energetic ley lines—making them, in effect, an energy portal or place of power. People choose to wear diamonds as a sign of binding two people together (diamonds are the most indestructible natural substance on earth), and adorn the crowns of royals with crystals.

Every crystal type has a different purpose, so it depends what you’re looking for. Some stones may be best used to heal the body or to tap intuition during meditation, while other stones are used in technology or as a part of building structures.

— @Hub_Precious_Stones