The Apophyllite and Quartz Consciousnesses answer your questions about crystals, including how to shop for them, where to keep your crystals, and a simple way to start working with them.
Just in time for the holidays, here's a mailbag of crystal questions from readers. Answers have been provided by the Apophyllite and Quartz Consciousnesses, in partnership with my crystal skull, Evianna. We aren't able to get to all of your questions here, so we've saved a few for another time.
Have a question about crystals or how our reality works? Use the form at the bottom of this page to send it in. We'll try to answer it in a future post.
What's the best way to choose a crystal to work with?
It’s really a matter of paying attention to your intuition. Pay attention to odd thoughts of crystals that you wouldn’t normally have, or to repeated mentions of a crystal, or repeated sightings of specific crystals. Perhaps you walk into a crystal store and notice a specific crystal right away. In each of these instances, that’s the universe communicating with you—letting you know that crystal may be a good partner for you right now.
Here are a few tips when shopping for crystals:
If you’re looking for a specific stone, you may be confronted by a whole bowl of them. Don’t pick them up one by one. Instead, stand quietly without engaging with them, and pay attention to the very first one that catches your eye, or perhaps the one that your eye keeps returning to. That’s often the one for you.
If you’re drawn to two stones of the same type, hold one in each hand. The one that wants to work with you will often feel more comfortable, or warmer, or a little heavier. It will just feel, at a gut level, a little more “right.”
If you aren’t looking for something specific, pay attention when a stone kind of “grabs” you. You see it from across the room, or the light hits it in a special way, or you just feel something in your heart or gut when you first see it. Trust what surprises you
Is it a problem to keep crystals next to each other?
Not generally, no. Sometimes an individual crystal will want to be in a specific place. If so, it will generally let you know that. You’ll just feel like you want to put it in a certain place.
But in most cases, you can place crystals quite close to each other with no ill effect. However, you will need to clear these stones more often. That’s because each stone will pick up energy from its neighbors as well as from its environment. Clearing a stone will reset it back to its sovereign self.
You can clear a stone using smoke, moonlight, salt, or reiki, according to your preference and the stone’s needs. Some stones can be cleared using water, but water will damage some stones, so be careful when using water around your crystals.
Do crystals have specific purposes?
Yes. First, understand that the stones were seeded on Earth (and throughout the universe) for a purpose. Each of the individual stone types—turquoise, kunzite, etc.—has a range of missions or purposes.
However, when the individual stone breaks off or is mined, it chooses a mission for itself from that stone type’s range of missions. So, you can have two different stones of the same type that have completely different missions, but both missions will be some aspect of the overall stones type's portfolio of missions.
In general, the Crystal Consciousness and the stone itself will somehow engineer the energy so that the individual stone ends up with a person or in a place that will allow the stone to pursue its mission.
Is it wrong to remove a crystal from its natural environment?
Not generally, no. Walking along and seeing a stone and feeling like you should pick it up and take it with you is generally a guided action. You are meant to work together.
There are exceptions to every rule, however. Some stones will not want to leave their natural habitat because that's where they can best complete their missions. There have been instances in which a stone was actively pursuing its mission in that place on the planet when someone picked up the stone and took it home. When this happens, the stone will try to let that person know that it needs to be returned. But in many cases, there's no other way for a crystal to pursue its mission in the world without being taken from its natural environment.
However, we would ask that humans treat the Earth with respect for what she gives: Take only what you need; and take in a way that does the least amount of damage to her. Much harm has been done to Gaia by mining. Gaia will protect the really important places if she has to.
We would hope that people would be sensitive enough to recognize when a crystal wants to be with them and when a crystal wants to stay where it is. We realize that not everyone is at that place right now, so we would ask you to set an intention to be more sensitive to the frequencies around you.
Set an intention to be more sensitive to the wishes and guidance of the stones so that you can partner with them more effectively. If you pick up a stone, try to be aware as to whether that stone wants to be with you. If you sense that it does not want to be with you, honor that feeling and put the stone back where you found it.
Do crystals have friends?
Yes, of course. We are as alive as you. We interact with each other the same as you. We may not have the same emotions you have, but we do resonate more deeply with some than others.
When you have a sense that two crystals want to be near each other, what you may be seeing is a partnership. That can be considered a friendship. Consider Alison's citrine and tsavorite garnet: these two stones partner together to help her manifest. They do that because they are alike in terms of mission and outlook. They have found that their frequencies are complementary.
So yes, it is possible for stones to be what you think of as friends. So, if a stone indicates to you that it wants to be placed next to another stone, by all means, honor that request.
Is a crystal in its rough state more powerful than a polished crystal?
No. In fact, that's too simplistic a way of looking at crystals. A crystal that has been cut and polished into a specific shape may be much more powerful than a crystal still in its rough state. And there also are crystals that are exceptionally powerful in their rough states.
Polished or rough, all crystals have missions and seek to accomplish those missions. But there are other factors that determine how a crystal operates in the world. Depending on the crystal, mass can have an effect. And so can the intention for the crystal when it was polished. Was it cut and polished to create a tool? Was it cut and polished to create something reminiscent of the natural world, say, a skull? Was it cut and polished to allow it to fit more comfortably in the user's hand? Intention can have a significant effect on how a crystal works and what it can do.
Crystals cut and polished in a specific configuration can power spaceships or preserve the records of an entire planet. Would you say these crystals are less powerful than their brethren who remain in their natural states?
There are people who believe that a crystal in its natural form is a truer statement of what a crystal should be and is therefore stronger. Some may be feeling the way the natural angles of the crystal allow energy to be directed. A crystal with a point will naturally direct energy through that point; a round crystal will generally direct energy outward in all directions. Others may be experiencing the difference between a vibration that has been refined with a specific intention and purpose and one that has not. We’re not here to argue with anyone’s reality. We’re simply saying that crystals are a complex subject, and one that humans don't fully understand.
What advice would you give someone who is new to working with crystals?
Choose a crystal that speaks to you, that you connect with on a gut level. Then hold it in your hand while you meditate. That is the simplest way to work with a crystal for someone who doesn't have much experience with crystals.
This is so helpful!