Everything You Need to Know About Healing Crystals and How to Use Them – Business Insider
Everything you need to know about healing crystals and how to use them
As a crystal healer, Lee sees herself as a spiritual, emotional guide. She uses crystals as tools to draw out weaknesses and facilitate opportunities for growth.
“[My clients and I] begin by talking about what is bothering them, what are their concerns, and where they feel like they need the most clarity,” Lee told INSIDER. “When they lie down and I begin placing crystals on them, they can see visions. Within these visions are stories or symbols and I help them unpack that information so that they can get improved, intense clarity in their lives.”
If you have a couple crystals lying around the house but have no idea what they’re called or why you bought them, that’s perfectly fine; you were drawn to them for a reason.
“Do you remember when you were a little kid and you would go to the beach and pick up pebbles? Innately, we picked up the energy of the earth because it was fun,” Askinosie told INSIDER. “And so this isn’t a religious conversation — believe what you want to believe, but our common denominator is the energy of the earth. And many people feel that they need to reconnect with that energy.”
Lee actually recommends choosing crystals without looking at their names or meanings.
“Sometimes if you look up one crystal, there’s about 30 different meanings attributed to it,” Lee told INSIDER. “So, say you see a crystal — a little tumbled pocket stone that you’re very attracted to. Take that stone and stick it in your pocket for 30 days or stick it underneath your pillow. Don’t read any information on it. Then, at the end of those 30 days, look up what people say that crystal’s about. See if you’ve felt that energy.”
“If there’s a crystal you are somehow really drawn to, it’s an energy that you need,” Lee said. “Some people say that it’s just aesthetics, but I’ve consistently seen people respond to the crystals that they actually need in their lives.”
“If anyone is like, ‘I don’t know where to begin,’ the best way to begin is just to find one that you like — whether it’s pretty, or it has a cool shape, or you like the color — hold it in your hand, and guess what? You’ve begun,” Askinosie told INSIDER. “It’s really that simple. I think a lot of people make it more complicated than it needs to be. It’s kind of like meditation; the only way to meditate wrong is by not meditating at all.”
Although it’s perfectly normal to select a crystal based on aesthetics alone — and there are plenty of places to purchase crystals online, if this is your chosen method — Jandro noted that touching and feeling a crystal can help you decide if that energy resonates with you.
“Don’t just get a crystal because someone else has it, or because you read that it could be helpful,” Lee said. “To me, that’s taking the power out of your own hands and out of your own experience.”
For Askinosie, a “starter pack” of crystals would include rose quartz, which “represents unconditional love;” citrine, which represents happiness and “looks like sunshine;” clear quartz, which helps with clarity; and a protective stone like black tourmaline.
“We try to keep it simple. Have a few — like four or five, you don’t need to go crazy — and get to know them, kind of like friends,” Askinosie told INSIDER. “You don’t need to bring more than five best friends into your life at one time because everyone needs a little attention. You want to get to know everyone individually and connect with them.”
Additionally, Jandro recommended selenite, a white and brittle stone, which she often wears as a necklace.
“We refer to it as liquid light. It really raises the vibration of energy when it’s around that atmosphere or environment, or especially when it’s on your person,” Jandro said.
Lee’s “starter pack” would also include rose quartz and black tourmaline, although she would add hematite to the mix, which she calls “the ultimate grounding stone.”
“When people are running around and they’re anxious about work, they’re anxious about all these different circumstances and they’re getting carried away with fear, what sometimes is happening is that they’re not very connected to the reality of their lives,” Lee told INSIDER. “So hematite is really important for getting people back into their bodies and getting them to see the bounty that surrounds us. And that lessens a lot of the fear created by our minds.”
Askinosie recommends holding a crystal when you feel the need for grounding energy — a simple technique that doesn’t need “any elaborate song and dance.”
“It just feels good. Why not? We’re human beings, we like to hold things and we like to connect,” she told INSIDER.
That being said, you don’t necessarily need to be touching a crystal in order to feel a connection to it.
“You can throw them in your pocket. Some people put them in their bras. You can put them on your desk or in your car,” Jandro added. “You want to have some kind of connection, whether you can feel it or just see it.”
If you’re sick of your daily routine and finding yourself in the doldrums, keeping a crystal in your office or wearing it on the subway can feel grounding.
“Crystals are the energy of the earth. It gives us something to hold onto,” Askinosie said. “I feel like so many people in New York City have responded to them because it’s not always easy, in a city, to connect with nature. By bringing a piece of the earth into your home or onto your desk, you are able to do that.”
Askinosie told INSIDER that the biggest misconception about crystals is when people expect them to “work” in a matter of days or even hours.
“People say to me, ‘I’ve had my crystal for two days and nothing happened.’ You’re right. It’s a rock,” she said.
“When you started your diet, did you lose 10 pounds in two days? No. It takes time. It takes consistency,” Jandro continued. “When you want to start working with a crystal or an energy of the earth, just be consistent. It doesn’t have to be crazy; take seven days and carry it around in your pocket or hold onto it before you go to bed at night.”
“The things that we keep simple are usually the things that we’ll actually integrate into our lives,” Jandro said. “We’re all busy people. There’s a lot going on. You want to make it a part of your life, not just one more thing you have to do.”
Healing crystals are not inherently magical, but they can act as reminders to harness your own inner strength and touchstones that fortify your sense of self.
“For me, it’s all about personal experimentation,” Lee said. “If you got a potato and I got a potato, the same kind of potato, would we necessarily make the same potato dish? You might want a baked potato and I might want French fries. It’s the same thing with a particular crystal’s energy; there’s a general way that the energy expresses itself, but what you decide to do with it is affected by your interests and how you want to set your intentions.”
Jandro and Askinosie also emphasized the importance of setting intentions with your crystals.
“If people think a crystal is going to change their lives, they’re going to be really disappointed. Because unfortunately, the only person who can change your life is you. So crystals are a tool,” Askinosie told INSIDER. “It’s not as if, like, ‘I have a crystal now and windfalls of money are going to be streaming down upon me.’ But it’s a reminder that, ‘hey, I am abundant, but what can I do now to harness that abundance?'”
Jandro notes that, when giving your crystal a job or setting an intention, it can help to also give it a clean slate to work with.
“They’ve been removed from the ground, other people have touched them, sometimes they’ve been shaped into spheres or hearts. So you should cleanse that energy,” she told INSIDER. “Putting the crystal out in the sun or out in the moon can help cleanse the crystal of that energy, so it will be ready for you to start working with.”
Crystals can help to remind us to prioritize our own needs.
“What happens when you get a crystal — say, for example, rose quartz — and you decide you want to heal yourself with love, you want to remember to do the things that are going to feed you and nurture you, it’s not that the rose quartz all of a sudden is going to give you all these blessings,” Askinosie told INSIDER. “You use it as a reminder: ‘Maybe I need to go get a massage. Maybe I need to turn off my phone and sit quietly and take some me time.’ That’s love; that’s self-love.”
“Crystals are a very powerful way to help you become more empowered because they remind you that you are worth it,” she continued. “They encourage you to focus on yourself and take time for yourself so that you can get on track with what you want to create in your life.”
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