The Crystal Workshop: A Journey into the Healing Power of Crystals - Azalea Lee 2020

Developing Your Own Relationship With The Crystals

THERE ARE ESSENTIALLY TWO WAYS of understanding the metaphysical properties of crystals. The first is to read what others have written. Numerous crystal books and online resources exist that list crystals and their metaphysical properties. With a little research, you can find thousands of crystal descriptions for many different stones, from the very common to the ultrarare.

Although this is a quick and easy way to access information, it comes with some serious caveats. The biggest issue is that it’s someone else’s information. Relying on this method means that you are fully dependent on someone else’s interpretation of crystalline energy. But not all people who channel crystals have the ability, integrity, and/or humility to accurately communicate a stone’s metaphysical properties, and instead they may disseminate inaccurate or faulty information about the stones. Another issue is with stone availability. While some mines have such large quantities of a particular mineral that it remains in constant supply, other stones can be found only in one small geological pocket, so the specimens are limited in quantity. Since the supply of crystals is unpredictable and constantly shifting, many crystal encyclopedias end up referencing stones that have, over time, become very difficult to find. The downside to this is that a crystal seeker may read about a stone and become fixated on it, believing that the specific crystal is the only way to access a certain type of metaphysical support. But the stone they seek may now be so rare and in demand that they are unable to find it, or if they do, its price may be out of reach. Without the stone, the crystal seeker fears they will never be able to get the support they need.

So what do you do?

Try the second (and best) way of understanding the metaphysical properties of crystals: Develop your own intuition with the crystals.

By developing your own intuition you’ll discover that you already have a deep and profound connection with the stones. Instead of relying on someone else’s description of a crystal, you are able to channel information about the stone yourself. You will find you are neither dependent on someone else’s experience of a stone, nor are you limited to the stones that have previously been written about. You can then discover the metaphysical properties of any stone you encounter, including the thousands that have had little to nothing written about them. Thus you will also be able to bypass the problem of needing a specific stone, for you will be easily able to find other stones that can help you equally, or even better.

But like taking the training wheels off your bike, this method requires a big leap of faith—and lots of practice. You may be wobbly at first, unsure of the information you’re channeling, but with practice you will be able to rely on your own intuitive strength and balance to support yourself. And this book has been written to help you gain the strength to do just that.

THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT

Before you begin the journey of developing your crystal intuition, let me share with you a parable:

A group of blind men surround an elephant. As they touch it, they tell each other what they feel an elephant is. One man describes the elephant’s trunk, while another tells of its thick legs. A third speaks about the elephant’s ears, while yet another talks about its tail. None of their descriptions are quite the same.

Although in the parable each blind man describes the elephant a bit differently, none of them is wrong in their description. They each have described their true experience of the elephant. It’s the same when one intuitively connects with the crystals.

You may not pick up the same information that someone else picks up about a stone, but this does not mean that your personal experience is wrong. Like the blind men in the parable, who are each positioned at a specific part of the elephant, the unique harmonics of your energy cause you to be “placed” at a different perspective than anyone else. The information you get from the stone may not describe the “whole elephant,” but you are able to describe the energetic part of the crystal you’re closest to.

While my job as a crystal healer is to understand and to help communicate to others the larger picture of a stone’s properties (the “whole elephant”), you need to know only how the stones work for you. The perspective you have on the crystal, and the intuitive information you get from it, is not an accident, for you are in the exact position to pick up the information you need about the stone. As time goes on and as the harmonics of your energy deepen and evolve, more information will be revealed to you—especially as you continue working with the same stone! And though you will draw your own conclusions about each crystal, as you compare notes with others you’ll be interested to find that you’re picking up on the same themes—though sometimes on different tangents. Your friend may experience the “trunk” while you get the “tail”; but though each of you is experiencing the energy from a different perspective, the information will connect together. You both may have to work with the stone for a bit before you pick up enough details to see the overlap, but the overlap is there.

POTATO VERSUS POTATO

In addition to being positioned in a way that allows you to receive the information you most need, the energy of the crystal collaborates with your unique energy. Let’s return to a cooking analogy to help you understand this concept:

Q: If we both had a potato, would we cook the same potato dish?

A: Not necessarily.

Maybe you’re in the mood for mashed potatoes, and I want some french fries. Or maybe you want a potato salad and I want some crispy potato tacos. Though it’s the same ingredient, it can be used in a multitude of ways. Ditto with crystals!

Each and every crystal has different potential depending on the interaction of the crystal’s energies with your own energy and predilections. As in the cooking analogy, you may start with something easy, like making a lot of mashed potatoes. But as you become more comfortable and confident, you’ll begin trying other recipes that intrigue you. With experience and experimentation, you’ll discover exactly what kind of potato dishes you enjoy most. This is the same process you’ll go through to develop your personal understanding of each crystal.

SURPRISE YOURSELF WITH WHAT YOU ALREADY KNOW

The development of your crystal intuition will be a lifelong process (well, actually, technically, it’s already been a multilife process), so you shouldn’t worry about immediately understanding the complete properties of a stone. Your most important and primary job is to learn how each crystal works for you so you can understand how it can help and heal you. So take a leap of faith with your intuitive abilities. As long as you try your best, you’ll surprise yourself with how much you already know.

Manganoan calcite is an example of a mineral that will exhibit a different color under UV light. Above, it is shown under natural light; at right, fluorescing under shortwave UV light.

Double-pointed quartz crystals with petroleum inclusions. Petroleum fluoresces under UV light, highlighting the bubbles of methane trapped within the liquid.

Believe Your Truth

People often gravitate to religion because the rules provide a framework by which to orient themselves when navigating the vagaries of spiritual life. Having these guidelines to lean on absolves people of deciding what is spiritual or not, as it is predecided for them. Because religion also makes it easier to determine right from wrong, it gives people something concrete to measure their spiritual devotion against. Thus religion is spirituality with a handrail.

In contrast, what is simply called spirituality is the personal connection to divine energies without codified rules. It means discovering how spiritual ideas agree with you and not depending on any person or teacher to demonstrate how spiritual principles work. Instead you rely on your experience to lead you to the truth. This is the more challenging path, for it requires you to figure out every last detail of your spirituality on your own. You may still follow the guidance of a spiritual teacher or way-shower, but ultimately you are the one who has to decide if the information they share strikes true. And this is far more work than if you had just followed someone else’s rules.

In the metaphysical genre, you will find teachers and teachings of all kinds. Some will be “handrail-heavy,” others not so much. The key to knowing if you’re on the right path for you is determining if what you learn and practice makes you feel better. This will be not a momentary feeling, but a feeling that persists over time. You will also find that you have moved toward a state of greater contentment and peace. But most of all, you will feel a richer, more encompassing feeling of love.

Another thing you will notice when encountering spiritual information that is right for you is the experience of resonance. You can often hear people saying things like “That rings true,” “It reverberated in me,” or “That struck a chord in me” to illustrate an experience of profound response. Though they may think they are using these words metaphorically, they are in fact feeling the information moving through them. Though what they describe is a sound, it is technically also a vibration; and because vibrations have specific frequencies, what they are ultimately trying to say is that they have experienced a deep, internal response to the vibrational frequency of the information they have encountered.

When experiencing resonance, you feel it in several ways. First, a deep sensation stirs within you, intensely touching your emotions and heart. Then, something about the information “clicks” and the moment feels distinct, as if for an instant time is standing still. Altogether, there is a sensation of something traveling through all layers of your being. Sometimes you will experience the resonance physically, with a sudden rush of goosebumps and chills traveling through your body. But in every instance, it feels as if you have been struck like a bell—and in many ways you have.

If something generates this feeling in you, it means the frequency of information is resonating at the exact same pitch as the vibration of your soul. The “truth” within the information is resonating with the “truth” of who you are. This is something that can happen only when you and the information are on the same wavelength; otherwise the information will not connect or make sense to you. And because it resonates with your soul, it also means that you are resonating only with information that is spiritually true, or at least the layer of information you need at this moment of your spiritual growth.

Thus it is possible to get this feeling of resonance with information you have previously encountered. Though you may not have responded to it before, you do so now because your vibrational frequency has evolved to a place where the information can now resonate with you. The words will be familiar, but your experience of them will be completely different, as if you have never encountered them before, though you know you have. The experience of resonance can even happen with information you know well but that you are now suddenly understanding on a deeper level.

It is this feeling of resonance that is the truest way to determine if the information you are learning is right for you, for it means your soul has responded to the information’s frequency. But each time it happens, it is a moment of enlightenment—literally where more “light” is able to enter your soul. And as you continue in this process of enlightenment, your energy becomes “lighter” and connects you closer to Divinity.

This is why you don’t need anyone else’s handrail. For within you, you have the most capable, amazing, wonderful barometer of truth—your soul. So as long as you pay attention to it, it will always be there for you, directing you to the path of spiritual learning that is best for you.