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Hey all, I've decided to post a thread about Crystals and Magic; how crystals work, their correspondences to the colours and chakras and what some of the most common ones are useful for. If you have a crystal at home and have no idea what it's good for, pm me and I'll look it up for you. ^^

WORKING WITH YOUR CRYSTALS

TUNING IN: Hold a crystal in your hands. Look at it. Feel the weight and texture. Let the colour and shape speak to you. Close your eyes and feel the crystal. If you feel good at the end of this process, then this a crystal for you. If you do not feel so good, it may be worth looking into the properties of the crystal to see whether it is bringing up something that you are not yet ready to hear, or something you are avoiding. Come back to it later.

CLEANSING: Crystals need to be cleaned regularly. They are always at work in energy fields, in your home, office or on you. Crystals need to be purified regularly: daily or after each use if facilitating healing, and weekly or monthly if they have a decorative function.

Cleansing with water: Most crystals enjoy being immersed in the ocean. A dish of water and some sea salt dissolved in works just as well. Drop your stones in for an hour or so, then rinse under pure water, then place in the sun for re-energizing. Red, orange and yellow stones especially love solar energy. Lighter colours, especially white, prefer lunar energy to re-energize in.
OPALS SHOULD NOT BE PLACED IN WATER!!! They will dissolve!

Smudging: Hold the crystals in the smoke from a sage, cedar or sweetgrass smudge stick; or use incense.

Quartz Cluster: Stand the crystal on a large cluster of quartz or other energizing crystal for about 12 hours.

Visualization: Visualize a column of pure white or golden (or any positively coloured) light coming down to surround the crystal, cleansing and transmuting the energies. Hold that thought until the crystal energy shines out once more.

Special Cleansers: A few drops of Crystal Clear or other cleanser in the washing water or sprayed from an atomizer will clear any negativity and restore the energy of the crystal. Atomized spray cannot hurt delicate or easily crumbled crystals.

Salt: Delicate or friable stones that would be harmed by water can be placed directly into salt or rock salt and left there for a few hours to cleanse themselves.

PROGRAMMING: Select a crystal that resonates with the intention you have for it. When you have precisely formulated your intention, hold the crystal in your hands. Sit quietly and attune to its energy. When you feel totally in harmony with the stone, state your intention firmly and clearly. When you feel that the stone has absorbed its purpose, draw your energy away from it by putting it down and focusing your attention somewhere else.

CRYSTAL MEDITATION

How to meditate: Settle down comfortably with your crystal. Breathe gently, letting each exhalation be a little longer than the inhalation. As you breathe out, let go of any stress or tension you feel. As you breathe in, let peace flow with it. Allow your breathing to settle into a gentle rhythm. With softly focused eyes, look at your crystal. Notice it's colour, shape and weight as you are holding it. Allow yourself to wander into it and explore its depths. When you're ready, close your eyes and quietly contemplate the energies of the crystal. When you have finished, open your eyes. Place your feet firmly on the ground and take a few moments before getting up and moving around. To ground, use a smoky quartz or other dark crystal.

1. Rainbow Meditation: Start with red crystals and work your way through the rainbow, from red to orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and violet. This brings you to the highest crystal vibration, and a feeling of bliss, peace, or deep relaxation.

2. A Crystal Mandala- Take all of your crystals out and place them on a soft dark cloth or other material. Allow yourself to play with them, creating patterns and images. The movement of a mandala meditation may be more relaxing or easier to achieve than a sitting meditation. A mandala is a sacred picture often seen in far eastern practises of hindu or buddhist belief.

Okay, so it's a little later than I thought, but here are the crystals by colour, starting with BROWN, just like I promised. ^^

Fire Agate: Appearance-slightly irridecent, banded, reddish brown colour.
Properties: Strongly connected to the earth. Calms and settles energy, aids introspection. Brings inner problems and blocks up for safe and quiet examination, slowly and safely dispelling fear. Reflects harm back to the source so it may understand the effect. Strong sexual connection. Alleviates stomach and endocrine problems, treats circulatory disorders, central nervous system and eye problems and enhances night vision.
Position: Wear anywhere, especially on the forehead.

Amber:: Appearance-transparent yellow stone, sometimes wtih insects trapped inside. (Not technically a crystal, but still valuable when used as such)
Properties: Brings wisdom, balance, patience and promotes altruism. Useful healer, drawes disease from the body, aids tissue revitalization. Heals nervous system, promotes self-healing. Eases stress, neutralizes negative energy. Cleanses environment, body, mind and spirit. Aids depression, memory, decision making. Heals throat and throat chakra, kidneys, bladder.
Position: Wear on the wrist and throat.

Boji Stone: Appearance- Metallic-looking, smooth or with square protrusions. The round form is considered female, the square, male.
Properties: Grounds back into reality after spiritual activity. Protective function. Aligns spiritual bodies and chakras. Clears blockages, restores health.
Position: Hold or carry.

Hawk's Eye: Appearance- Banded, "hawk-like eye", darker in colour than tiger's eye.
Properties: Earth energy. Stimulating and energizing. Attracts abundance. Aids circulatory system, bowels and legs.
Position: Hold or place on the appropriate point.

Lodestone (Magnetite): Appearance: Dark and grainy (iron ore).
Properties: Aids telepathy, visualization and a balanced perspective. Conntect to the nuturing aspect of earth. Can attract love. Beneficial for the blood and circulatory system. Stimulates sluggish organs and sedates the overactive. Useful for sports injuries; relieves aches and pains.
Position: Place on the back of the neck and the base of the spine, or on an aching joint.

Smoky Quartz: Appearance- Translucent, long, pointed crystals, usually darker at the points.
Properties: Aids elimination and detoxification on all levels. Relieves fear; lifts depression, bringing calmness and positive thought. Useful for radiation-related illness, or chemotherapy. Aids acceptance of body, cleans base chakras. Aids virility. Grounds spiritual energy, neutralizes negative energy. Alleviates nightmares, manifets dreams.
Position: Wear anywhere, especially on the base chakra. Place under pillow at night.

Tiger's Eye: Appearance- Light brown banded.
Properties: Protective stone, shows correct use of power. Aids accomplishment of goals, recognizing inner resources. Brings clarity of intention. Anchors change into physical body. Integrates brain hemispheres, balances yin and yang energy, energizes body. Enhances psychic abilities.
Positition: Wear on right arm.

Topaz: Appearance- Transparent, usually yellow, pointed crystals.
Properties: Directs energy, soothes, heals, stimulates, recharges and remotivates, raising energy. Promotes truth and forgiveness. Sheds light on the Path, taps into inner resources. Brings joy and generosity, manifestations of good health. Cleans aura.
Position: Wear on the ring finger.

Sardonyx: Appearance- Banded dark brown
Properties: Associated wtih strength and protection. Increases stamina and vigor, aids self control. May bring lasting happiness in marriage, attracts friends, lifts depression. Heals lungs and bones. Brown sardonyx is particularly important in grounding energy.
Position: Anywhere.

RED CRYSTALS

Garnet: Appearance-Transparent or translucent deep red stone
Properties: Energizes and revitalizes, balancing energy, bringing serenity. Activates other crystals, clears negative chakra energy. Inspires love, stimulates controlled rise of kundalini energy. Treats spinal and cellular problems, blood, heart and lungs. Regenerates DNA. Aids assimilation of minerals and vitamins.
Position: Wear on the earlobes, fingers, or over the heart. For past-life recall, place over the third eye.

Jasper: Appearance: patterned or banded.
Properties: Supreme nuturer. Brings tranquility and wholeness, protection and grounding. Aids quick-thinking and organizational abilities, ability to see projects through. Aligns chakras, facilitates shamanic journeys and dream recall. Prolongs sexual pleasure.
Red jasper grounds energy, rectifies unjust situations. Aids dream recall. A stone of health. Strengthens circulatory system. Connected to base chakra, aids rebirthing.
Position: Place jasper on the forehead. Place red jasper on the base chakra.

Ruby: Appearance- Bright transparent gemstone or cloudy crystal.
Properties: Energizes and balances but may over stimulate, bringing up anger or negative energy for transmutation. A leadershipstone; stimulates the heart chakra and encourages following your bliss. Sheilds against psychic attack, promotes positive dreams. Aids retaining wealth and passion. Detoxoifies blood and body, treats fevers, restricted blood flow. Aids survival issues.
Position: Wear over the heart or on finger or ankle.

Aventurine: Appearance- Opaque, microcrystalline.
Properties: Enhances creativity, brings prosperity. Diffuses negativity, balances male/female energy. Helps see alternatives and possibilites. Promotes growth during first 7 years of life. Benefits thymus gland and nervous system. Balances blood pressure.
Position: Hold or place on the appropriate point.

PINK CRYSTALS

Kunzite: Appearance- Transparent or translucent, striated crystal.
Properties: Spiritual stone, produces loving thoughts and communication, radiates peace and connects to universal lovel. Dispels negativity. Induces deep, centered meditative state, enhances creativity. Removes obstacles to path, aids self-expression, removing emotional debris and allowing free expression of feelings. Helps adjust to pressure of life, can heal psychiatric disorders. Activates heart chakra, aligns with throat and third eye. Shields from unwanted energies, dispels attached entities and mental influences from aura. Strengthens circulatory system and heat muscle.
Position: Hold or place on chakra.

Rose Quartz: Usually transparent, but may be translucent.
Properties: Attunes to energy of unconditional love and heals heart. Calms and reassures, bringing about deep inner healing. Releases blockages from unexpressed emotions, opens heart chakra, soothes wounded heart and internalized pain. Helps those who have never recieved love to access heart. Aids positive affirmations for self trust and self worth. Teaches how to love oneself and encouraging self-forgiveness and acceptance. Aids physical heart and circulatory system. Said to increase fertility. Soothes burns and blisters.
Wear over the heart.

Pink Tourmaline: Aphrodisiac. Brings love in material realm. Provides assurance it is safe to love. Inspires trust in love, confirms acceptable to love oneself. Helps share physical pleasure. Disperses emotional pain and old destructive feelings through heart chakra; synthesizes love and spirituality. Promotes peace. Balances a dysfunctional endocrine system.
Place on heart.

YELLOW CRYSTALS

Cat's Eye: Banded or eyelike form of a Chrysoberyl.
Properties: Brings confidence, happiness, serenity, and good luck. Grounding stone, stimulates intuition, dispells negative energy from aura and protects it. Treats eye disorders, aids night vision. Relieves nervous headache and facial pain.
Wear on the right arm.

Calcite: Translucent and waxy.
Properties. Energy amplifier. Facilitates psychic abilities, channeling, astral projection, and higher consiousness. Connects intellect and emotions. Alleviates emotional stress, brings peace and serenity. Memeory aid, brings insight. Cleanses organs and bones, strengthens skeleton and joints. Golden or yellow calcite enhances mediation, aids astral protection, focuses concentration. Brings in spiritual light and knowledge.
Hold or place on the appropriate point.

Fluorite:Transparent cubic crystals.
Properties: Protective stone, especially on psychic level. Protects against computer and electromagnetic stress. Aids physical and mental coordination, counteracting mental disorder, increasing concentration. Grounds and integrates spiritual energies. Promotes unbiased impartiality, heightens intuitive powers. Rekindles sexual libido. Benefits teeth, cells and bones. Repairs DNA damage. Aids arthritis and rheumatism. Yellow fluorite enhances creativity, stabilizes group energy. Releases toxins.
Positions: Hold or place on the appropriate point

Citrine: Transparent crystal, may be cloudy.
Properties: Stone of prosperity. Attracts wealth and success. Brings happiness and generosity. Energizes and invigorates, increasing motivation and physical energy, activating creativity. Dissipates negative energy, promotes inner calm. Balances yin and yang energy, opens naval and solar plexus chakra, stimulates crown chakra. Cleanses aura and aligns etheric body with physical. Treats digestive problems, thyroid imbalance and circulation of blood.
Wear on the finger or on the throat.

Iron Pyrite (Fools Gold): Metallic, may be cubic.
Facilitates tapping into and unfolding unique abilities and properties.

Thanks for your very informative thread! I've used crystals in the past, kinda, but I never really used them with intent. They just kinda sat on my alter.

However, I kind of stay away from crystals now. To me, they feel too "new agey." I'm much more the tradional type. I'm not against them though. I know they can hold true power. In fact, they're common parts in watches, radios and computers.

"Quartz crystals have been in regular use for many years to give an accurate frequency for all radio transmitters, radio receivers and computers. Their accuracy comes from an amazing set of coincidences: Quartz -- which is silicon dioxide like most sand -- is unaffected by most solvents and remains crystalline to hundreds of degrees Fahrenheit. The property that makes it an electronic miracle is the fact that, when compressed or bent, it generates a charge or voltage on its surface. This is a fairly common phenomenon called the Piezoelectric effect. In the same way, if a voltage is applied, quartz will bend or change its shape very slightly."

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I rather enjoy my crystals and I both work directly with them and let them just sit and do their thing. I have about 200 stones in my room, about 50 of which are actually sitting out. Most of these are rather little. (pebble sized, really) But I rather enjoy the smaller stones- they work well for me and are very easy to carry on your person.

I was just given a lovely blue stone that when set on the second chakra helps in meditation. The guy who owns a small shop near my school gave me the stone when I couldnt afford the pendant I was looking at. Darned if I can remember what its called, though. I need to go back and ask. But it works fabulously.

I've always been rather drawn to amber, too. It just feels right to me.