General Tips

Included here are some general tips we’ve come to recognize as especially useful for working/playing with minerals and crystals. The terms stones, minerals, and crystals are used interchangeably for simplicity. More details can be found in the individual stones sections.

Cleansing

Crystals easily retain the energetic impressions of those who have handled them. To avoid connecting to influences that may be unappealing (whether originating in yourself or others), it’s always a good idea to clean your crystals when you first get them and to clean them during continued use.

Lots of methods can be used for cleaning but one of the simplest and most effective is to get some sea salt and put it into any disposable container, (like a paper bag). Cover the crystals and minerals in the sea salt for at least 24 hours after which the bag and salt should be thrown away. Experimentation is the rule here. Find out what works best for you.

The Buzz Test

To determine if you’re sensitive to a particular mineral or crystal hold it in your palm for several minutes. If you experience a vibrating feeling like static electricity, or a feeling of heat, or of cold, or a magnetic like attraction and repulsion, then you’re most likely feeling the mineral energetically. Pay close attention to the particular character of each feeling you have while holding it and shortly afterwards. With practice you'll determine if you're sensitive to a particular mineral, what its qualities are, and most importantly whether you have an affinity with it.

Intensity

Contrary to common opinion the strength of energetic sensations emanating from a stone or crystal is not the reason one should get the crystal or work with it. There are a great many things in the world that can cause intense but also destructive experiences.

Likewise, having an affinity for a mineral or stone is more a matter of your particular energetic balance (or imbalance) and how the mineral can help you to change these.

Stones and crystals can be enjoyed for their beauty, but when they’re handled too frequently for whatever reasons they can also cause imbalances both energetically and physically. Some stones may simply be too powerful for you. No judgment of oneself or others should be attached to this in any way. Upon reflection it should be clear that one always has to start from where one is. Expectations and pretences as to what that should look like will always act as hindrances. It’s simply better to find out what is the case and then set goals for discovery.

Speaking practically, if too much pressure is felt in various parts of the head and body then one has most likely overdone it. If one lies awake at night unable to sleep then one has also probably overdone it. Reduce use. Take a shower or long bath to siphon off and smooth out excess energy. Try Epsom salts in the bath as they often help to neutralize an excessive energetic charge.

Breathing Exercises

There is a subtle relationship between the physical breath and the energy body. We strongly advise against practicing vigorous breathing exercises while working with minerals. This can easily cause damage to the energetic body. If done at all, conscious breathing exercises should be done very very gently. In general the breath should be softly natural and regular but not weak.

Willing Goals

We feel it should be kept in mind, that while crystals can help open up new energetic perceptions, they don't accomplish this in a vacuum. Directed practice is very important for developing any skill that can be relied upon. Crystals are tools with many specific uses, but clear goals, and right application are equally important. We offer some approaches here but the question always comes back to what you determine is true for you.

For example, it’s not hard for anyone to conceptually realize that vaguely defined goals often produce murky results. After all this can be witnessed in the day to day physical world. But setting clear goals is extraordinarily hard when we first start working with the living energetic worlds, since we can't physically see them. We have to start learning how to experience the energetic worlds energetic sensation by energetic sensation while avoiding jumping to conclusions.

The continued focus and energy one brings to meditation depends the most on one's sense of self. If for example, one's sense of self is not flexible enough to change as needed, stagnation may result. On the other hand, if there are no clearly defined goals, common bricks may be taken for gold. While this is trite for the physical world, in the energetic world we have to rely on new and completely unfamiliar senses different from physical sight for example.

As a result, thinking one has exhausted the nature of the meditation experience is one of the most common mistakes. Typically, the hardest part is at the beginning, because we are then like the three blind men who attempted to discover what the unknown creature in front of them was.

One blind man held a long and wide leg and immediately pronounced it to be a pillar for a palace. The second held a long thin tail and pronounced it to be a rope. The third held its trunk and said the creature was obviously a snake. But for someone who can see in the physical dimension that creature is immediately known as an elephant.

Explorations / Setting a Focus

As energetic tools crystals have a great many uses. They are a mystery waiting to be explored. But speaking practically we use minerals to learn how to focus our meditations. Our recommended goal is to start by becoming sensitive to the differences between the workings of life and the non-living. Explore the relationships between the living and the records of life.

Exploration of the worlds of pure life needs a focused approach and we've found the following to be the best overall mindset in setting out. The particular words don't matter as much as the intent of the approach, so evolve your own.

'I am about to explore another dimension extending from this physical one. It's a dimension that is already there but which I have largely been unconscious of since birth. I recognize both pleasant and unpleasant surprises are the lot of every explorer, whether in the physical world or in the non-physical ones. I will approach this discovery with courage but also with respect and awe. Under no circumstances will I allow what I experience in the other dimensions of existence to disrupt or disturb my daily waking life in the physical, since besides other things, the physical is also my springboard for spiritual exploration.'