to think that crystals really do heal the mind?!

[woodentop123]

This is intended as a fun/interesting discussion!

I have a friend who is very spiritual and loves crystals. I've always been open minded (to most things!) and thought I'd have a look at purchasing some myself.

I think crystals are incredibly beautiful so I'm naturally drawn to them and I do feel like they're working when I meditate with them. Does anybody else use crystals... if so may I ask which ones and what for? Or has anybody had negative experiences?!

Would love to hear your stories and especially your suggestions!

If you don't believe in healing crystals I completely understand! If we were all the same we'd be boring! Please still feel free to comment but without hate or prejudice!

Good news kalinka pot noodle does indeed contain 'good' energy. But only if you eat it...

Holding it, lovingly or otherwise, in your hand while you meditate will NOT help.

mouse can that method be used on children too?

Pluviophile - someone who loves the rain. I find it refreshing and peaceful.

I'm not so sure M3lon. I find all the joy in holding and looking at a pot noodle pot. I find actually eating it somewhat of a let-down. Perhaps I should meditate with them more and eat them less?

I had one in the last few months, after about a decade without them. Once I ate it I remembered why they are not therapeutic for me.

I am glad they work for others though.

I don’t think people would tell someone their religion is a load of rubbish but it seems like people are happy to tell someone their less mainstream belief like crystal healing is.

Well they both work in the same way and I'm aware that these kind of beliefs can be deeply held. I might think they're nonsense but I don't say they're nonsense unless someone starts saying they're objectively true. My religious friends are aware that I think it's cobblers but I love them anyway.

Religion has wormed it's way into politics, schools, research, law... it's not harmless.

well X-ray crystallography is a key technique in drug discovery (I study crystals for a living, in a research lab).

Indeed...I used to be a crystallographer, nowadays a lot of the work I do is based on the crystal structures of proteins. This is where the real healing power of crystals lies!

It's a plus they're so beautiful - both graphics of crystal structures and lumps of minerals. I highly recommend a good wander round the cabinets of a good geological collection.

But I’d have thought the rocks that cooled slowly such as rhyolite would have more energy?

As crystallisation is usually an exothermic process, and slower cooling generally yields more crystal and less amorphous material, I'd have thought the slower cooled rock would have less energy. And indeed, the idea that crystals are in some way sources of 'energy' is bollocks. What they are is beautifully ordered systems, low entropy. If that thought delights you, enjoy.

@woodentop123. I’d not be convinced. There’s at least one commenter out there that is of the opinion that the supply chain is so muddied that no purchased crystals are ethical. Ask them the precise origin of the stones you are interested in - the actual mine. I doubt you’ll get an answer. I’ve had similar responses from vendors but when you push they go quiet.

Crystals are beautiful, but I wouldn't take that very vague PR response as a given. If it were ethical presumably the company would be shouting it from the rooftops all over their website and providing certificates of source and endorsement, since ethically sourced is such a marketing boon these days.
Crystals are very often a by product of the mining industry, for obvious reasons. This might create a (flawed imo) argument mean they are 'technically' ethical in some sense in that the crystal company did not mine for them personally, but will purchase profit and supoort from the existing mining system. Ethical mining does exist of course but is not the norm and certainly isn't going to yield cheap stones of any kind from random websites. Specimen mining by hand is also environmentally fairly sound, but that really is about it. You cannot yield a quantity for wholesale for strip mining easily or cheaply though. Industrial mining and strip mining are environmentally damaging and often go hand in hand with slave labour and poor working conditions, as most people are aware.

With that being said, pretty much everyone on here will have crystal in their mobile phone. Quartz is usually the material of choice as it generates a charge under exerted pressure. Ditto television receivers and some watches, and so on. We are presumably all deeply complicit in the web of conflict materials. Buying fair trade on occasion does not absolve you, should you wish to believe you are operating on morally higher ground and is often problematic in its own right. The statistics regarding profit to the producer relative to consumer price paid are easily available and make thought provoking arguments as to the differences between fairness as billed, and gwnuine equity.

Tangent aside, I couldn't get to a place of meditation holding a crystal with thoughts of the above in mind, even if i think theyre lovely and 'work'. If its about the enrergy they hold, it surely isnt positive in those circumstances- by product of unethical mining, snapped up by an opportunist to turn a profit on to a wealthier consumer.

Ok I would seek further info on where and how exactly your crystals were mined and by which companies, and in tuen who owns those,if it concerns you.

Do crystals have any benefit on the mind? I don't know, but I'm pretty sure they don't do it any harm.

“I don't know, but I'm pretty sure they don't do it any harm.”

Believing in bollocks is incredibly harmful.....

Granite is radioactive so I'm fairly sure some can have a deleterious effect!

More prosaically, handling crystals which include toxic ions (lead, arsenic, many heavy metals) wouldn't be among my top 10 harmless activities. Look but don't touch unless you know what it is.

Thanks errol that answers my question!.... so it's a load of bollocks then?

Yep... more aesthetically pleasing perhaps.

Apart from the serious science, I'm put in mind of this quote from Douglas Adams:

'Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?'

@BertrandRussell, you should know. You talk enough of it.

You seem to go out of your way to be as rude as you possibly can to almost everyone here.

A placebo isn't intrinsically wrong, but if it comes at the expense of proven medicine then it becomes dangerous.

We all have little thing that aid our mental health and general wellbeing, but I would not prescribe a course of playing guitar, or going for a job to someone with a serious mental health issue, or physiological problem.

Those promoting crystals in some pseudo-scientific manner are downright misleading folks and it's a travesty.
Nothing wrong with liking them. Plenty wrong with outright bullshitting people about their powers of healing.

I used to like crystals but am lucky enough to live near a beach and get my jollies from sea glass, shells and stones, highly ethical and more organic (and it’s free).

Gathering shells and stones from beaches is harmful to the environment so it isn't that ethical.

BertrandRussell rude? I've never seen that from him/her.
Opinionated - yep (and it's a good thing!), but rude? never.

Can I ask how the whole charging a Crystal in moon light thing works (for those who believe). The moon is just reflecting the sun, why do crystals need charging in moon light and what does light do to them? I’ve never understood but don’t like to ask friends

“You seem to go out of your way to be as rude as you possibly can to almost everyone here.“

“Almost everyone”? I must up my game! . Actually, i’m hardly ever rude at all. You must fit into a very specific algorithm......

Hey guys thank you for all of the comments! So interesting to read!

May I just remind though the intention of this post was to be fun and/or interesting! It’s really important to remember (before you comment) that none of us here are saints and are each probably guilty of either buying a product or service not knowing it had an unethical background. That doesn’t make it ok but it certainly doesn’t mean people need to be spoken to like they’re selfish, inconsiderate and don’t care about the world.

If you’re really against crystals that’s for another thread. Why waste your time talking about something you don’t enjoy or think is “bollocks”?! That’s crazy to me.

The moon is just reflecting the sun, why do crystals need charging in moon light and what does light do to them?

"Anyone could be a witch at midnight, she’d thought, but you’d have to be really good to be a witch by noonlight." (Pterry)

Moonlight is witchier innit.

I like crystals. I sculpt crystals. When DS is a bit older, I want to grow some with him as my grandpa did with me. As woo goes, it's one of the less harmful strains I suppose.

My experience with crystals is that the buggers are impossible to clean. My amethysts are downright dusty!

Perhaps because people feel passionate about not seeing people ripped off via faux-science?

I'm not at all comfortable with the ethics of those who claim quite specific healing properties of crystals. That's not a problem with crystals it's a problem with some people.