For centuries humans have been working with crystals. Civilisations all over the world have embraced crystals into their everyday lives. Crystals have contributed to the modern world. They have been used for protection, religious tools, meditation, medicinally and more.
Thousands of naturally occurring crystals have been found on Mother Earth, that's a lot to choose from! So how do we know where to start or which crystals to work with / buy?
It can be very overwhelming, but hopefully this guide will give you some tips so that you can feel confident when choosing your crystals.
The most important thing for you to remember is that there are no rules to choosing and working with crystals. Whatever you feel is right for you is what matters most.
Follow Your Intuition
Intuition definition - the ability to understand something instinctively without the need for conscious reasoning.
This means choosing your crystals based on what you are drawn to in that moment in time, not for any other reason such as their healing benefits.
Using your intuition gives us space to energetically connect to the crystals that are meant for us.
There are several ways to go about this, but be aware you don't have to put pressure on yourself to feel intuitive.
A simple way to begin is just looking. When you are on a crystal website or in a crystal shop, start by scanning the crystals visually and take note if any are standing out to you. If you are at a shop, or choosing what crystals of your own to work with also try picking a few up, feel them and see what you notice. A colour, shape or texture might stand out to you.
These are signs that a crystal is calling to you and choosing you.
You might not even have a reason at all and you may just know straight away by looking. Keep this in mind when selecting crystals, as it is the most simple and powerful way because you are allowing yourself to be guided by your intuition and the crystals themselves.
Sensing Energy
Another useful way to choose crystals with your intuition is by energy sensing.
This can be done in a few ways, but remember everyones intuition is unique and all of us interact with energies in different ways. Let's talk about scanning, not with our eyes but with our hands.
Close your eyes and take a deep breath, try to clear your thoughts.
Hold your left hand about 4 -5 inches above the crystals and slowly scan over them.
When scanning with your hand, look out for sensations of coolness, warmth, tingling, pulling or a breeze.
Nothing is wrong if you don't feel any of these things, your intuition is special and unique to you and constantly evolving.
Buying Crystals Online
With browsing crystals online, and live sales this can be very overwhelming you may wonder if you can still use the methods above.... the answer is yes you can!
Our intuition and connection to crystals expands further than time and space and still exists when we are looking at a screen.
My top tip would be when shopping online, to get to the page of a website where you can "shop all products".
Close your eyes, and take a few deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth to clear your mind.
Without selecting filters and/or sorting through the products just scroll and look. See what crystals are calling out to you.
Write them down, create yourself a Wishlist as you go.
Once you have viewed all the listings you can go to your list and make your choices based on which ones are calling to you most.
Be sure to trust yourself and do what you feel comfortable with.
Recognising The Language Of Crystals
Another way to explore sensing the energies of crystals doesn’t need to be used to choose your crystals, these are just a few things that might happen once you start getting into buying and working with crystals.
These are things that happen when you aren’t looking for crystals at all, and they may happen over time. I always know that I’m picking up on a crystal's energy when it starts showing up where I don't expect it to.
Seeing it online, someone talking about it, having people tell you about it or using it themselves. Maybe seeing the colour of that particular stone often or random thoughts of that stone coming into your mind.
These are all important messages to notice or pay attention to, especially if it’s the same crystal each time and if it happens frequently within a short period of time. Crystals can also show up in dreams or specific names of crystals may just pop into your head out of nowhere.
This is another way the crystals can call out to us. It doesn’t always mean that we have to go and buy that crystal. Maybe just look into the properties and see if its resonates with you and your current circumstances, or maybe the piece we already own is asking to be worked with.
Looking out for things like this and acknowledging them helps to build intuition and connection to crystal energy.
Metaphysical Properties
An alternative way to choose your crystals is by reading about their healing properties. This is a great method to use if you are looking for a particular energy to work with. Books and online resources are great things to use to research crystals to see which will benefit you most with what you are wanting to focus or work on in your life.
There is a lot of crystal information out there so I encourage you to go to a few different sources to get the most out of your crystal research and see what resonates with you most.
Most of the time crystal properties overlap with one another. For example, there are several different crystals that enhance creativity or help protect our energy (and several crystals even help with both of these things). This is where I suggest going back to the intuition method and ask yourself this question: which of the grounding crystals available are particularly calling to me?
To simplify and perhaps make things less overwhelming, you can also try thinking about crystals in terms of colour. For example, blue crystals are generally good for communication and red/brown crystals are generally good for grounding.
Try to remain open to other crystals that might speak to you when you go to purchase your crystals after doing your research. Sometimes a crystal that isn’t on your list will stand out to you, and that’s okay! Your intuition might be stronger when you’re around the crystals themselves in person, so be open to your list shifting a bit.
Your intuition and connection to the crystal is what matters most, and something you read in a book or online might have resonated with that author in a particular way, but that doesn’t mean it will for you too. Trust yourself and your intuition!
Lets Go Deeper....
Now let’s talk about some details when it comes to choosing your crystals. Once you know what type of crystal you want to buy, how do you know which exact one to get? What shape? What size?
How do you know you’ve chosen the right one? This is something I’m very passionate about and even struggle with as a person who loves to collect crystals and feels connected and drawn to so many of them.
What Shape Should I Buy?
If you’re new to buying crystals, buying tumblestones is a great way to get started. They are small and affordable and perfect for feeling out the energy of a stone before buying it in a larger piece.
If you are open to buying any shape or size, check out next weeks email where we deep dive into all the different crystal shapes. It’s very helpful to learn about the different crystal shapes and their meanings, but ultimately, this is another one of those things where your intuition knows best and what I encourage you to follow when you choose your crystals.
Does Size Matter?
Yes and no, it depends on your intention. It’s true that the bigger the crystal the more energy it puts out, but that may only be needed or desired for certain situations. For example, if you want to incorporate a specific energy in a room, you will want to have a larger crystal for it to have an energetic impact in the space.
However if you are just working with the crystal personally or are wearing it, it’s truly more about the vibration of the crystal and your energetic connection to it that matters. Larger crystals are beautiful but they aren’t as easy to carry around, and if you want to have the crystal energy on and around you as much as possible, a smaller crystal or jewellery is the way to go.
Crystal Indecision
So once you know the type of crystal you want how do you know which one to get? There are customers who know right away which crystal belongs to them and those who are torn between several different pieces of the same crystal.
There are so many different things to talk about in regards to this so I’m going to just mention a few things and what I do to help make deciding easier. If you are fascinated with minerals and geology and are interested in collecting for the sake of just collecting crystals and you’re also interested in collecting them for their healing powers (like myself) it can be really overwhelming to see so many cool and unique pieces that are all special in their own way, and it can make deciding which to get very hard.
After years of collecting crystals I’ve learned that it’s very important to go with energy over looks, at least for me. While I still greatly appreciate both of these qualities and prefer to find pieces that have both, I have never regretted making the decision to go with energy over looks. It’s important to mention, though, that there is nothing wrong with choosing your crystals only based on looks or only based on energy or whatever else.
It’s very normal for people to not feel crystal energy, especially physically and especially at the beginning of their crystal journey, so don’t feel like you have to choose your crystals solely based on this. Remember, it’s all about your intuition and what feels right to you.
A good thing to do is to go with the one that catches your eye first, think of it like love at first sight, but with crystals.
Even after going through all the options to see each one, more often than not I end up with one that caught my eye first.
If you’re still stuck, try holding them in both hands and focus on the physical feeling and comfortability of each crystal. Consider the shape, size, and just generally how it feels in your hand. Personally I love when a crystal fits perfectly in my hand and when it’s perfectly smooth, that is a huge thing I consider and look for when I choose my crystals.
You can also use the hand sensing method and hold your hand over each crystal and see if you feel a pull towards one or the other. Crystal indecision can be frustrating and overwhelming, if none of these things are working for you maybe step away and clear your energy and come back to it another time. It shouldn’t feel stressful or forced, so take that into consideration when you cant decide.
How Do You Know If You've Chosen The Right Crystal?
This is something very special and unique to each person, but there are definitely a few things you might notice or experience when you’ve found the right crystal.
You might feel pure joy radiating from your being.You might feel physical sensations like warmth, coolness, vibrations, tingling, or an increase in pulse just to name a few. You might not want to or be able to put the crystal down because it just feels so right in your hand.
You might not have any words to describe what you're feeling or why you know it’s the right crystal for you, just a sense that it belongs with you.
Does all of this matter?
Do all of these details like shape, size, intention, and everything else even matter? Can you just know what you want, pick one at random, buy it, and be done with it? Personally, I feel like there is a deeper sense of connection when you allow the crystals themselves to be part of your selection process and take the time to tune into them and their energy.
There are several ways to choose the right healing crystal for you, but ultimately there are no rules to follow when doing so, and what matters most is how you feel and what feels right to you. Consider your intention, and be open to what your intuition and the crystals say to you.
Select your crystals by using your intuition, reading metaphysical healing properties, or by matching them to chakras you want to work on. Don’t overthink it and have fun tapping into your intuition and seeing what the crystals have to say to you.
Crystal Towers & Points
The energy of a crystal tower is directed upward and out. Wherever they are placed they produce a very focused and directional energy that affects the area around it as well as any other crystals that are nearby.
Crystal towers are excellent to use in the center of a grid to focus its intention and energy.
Meditating holding a tower will allow any blocked or stagnant energy to flow again and help you reset and feel more energised. You can do this by focusing on the energy you feel in the crystal tower - what is the direction it's flowing? Where can you feel it in your body? Is it cleansing and releasing energy or bringing in new energy, or both?
You can try visualizing the energy moving out or into your body, flowing through and clearing each of the chakras from head to toe.
A few of my personal favourite ways to use crystal towers is putting them in my workspace, for example, fluorite crystal is especially good for desks or offices due to their ability to aid in focus and concentration, I like to think that the fluorite crystal points on my desk are providing me with sharp and direct energy to help me focus on whatever I’m working on.
Crystal Spheres
Crystal spheres release their energy from all sides, expanding to an entire room evenly. Their energy has an innocence to them and they bring a playful, whimsical element to our lives.
Spheres provide us with an overall feeling of stability, harmony, and unity since their crystal energy is very balancing. The circle resembles the circle of life, and brings in life force energy and wholeness.
You can try rolling a sphere where you have pain or tension in your body. Spheres are excellent for releasing pent up energy stuck in the body.
Clear Quartz, and Selenite are perfect to cleanse other crystals or different areas in your home. Holding a sphere in each hand during meditation for harmony and connection to life force energy.
Crystal Clusters & Geodes
Crystal clusters and geodes have strong vibrational energies due to having many points combined together. Geodes, unlike clusters, have all of their terminations located on the inside. They are typically rounded and show no sign of crystals on the outside unless they are broken in half. Sometimes geodes are cut at the base so they can be displayed standing up. Each little point within a geode emits its own energy, making the inside of the geode very powerful and perfect for charging or cleansing tumbled stones or small crystals.
Clusters have points of all different shapes and sizes that typically terminate in different directions. Each cluster is special and unique in its own way, no two clusters are ever the same.
The points in a cluster vibrate together harmoniously to bring positive energy and transmute negativity in any space they are in. They can also help us feel more energized mentally and physically as well as helping us with decision making.
Your can use clusters and geodes to cleanse your space. Place in your sacred space to bring positive vibrational energies and remove negative ones. Clusters can also be used for protection with any magic or divination work such as tarot, scrying, or channeling.
Meditate in front of a cluster to raise vibrations and achieve higher states of consciousness. Some clusters work perfectly as jewelry holders - place rings on the points, drape bracelets or necklaces over the cluster. Not only is this a beautiful way to display your jewelry, but it will also cleanse and charge it if it is a piece of crystal jewelry. Place other crystals inside or on top of your cluster. Sometimes clusters can perfectly hold spheres or other small crystals.