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

How to Choose Metaphysical Crystals

YOU PICKED UP THIS BOOK because you desired to understand the power of crystals. Somehow, you have always known there was something to them, that they were more than just rocks, that they were indeed powerful and had great capacity to heal. But though you sensed all these things, you didn’t know how to recognize and feel their energies, so the idea of a crystal having healing powers often felt like a fantasy—something you wanted to believe in, but something you weren’t sure was even true. Yet even with all your doubts you still felt connected to them.

So you began reading this book, hoping that it would give you the answers you had been seeking. But as you read through the chapters, you discovered that this book did not have simple, straightforward answers or easy formulas you could thoughtlessly follow—nothing was clear-cut. Though you live in a world filled with flashy graphics, brief summaries, video clips, and other forms of informational instant gratification, this book asked you to shift gears and immerse yourself into a slower and more careful way of learning.

The exercises in this book have implored you to carefully and diligently comb through the details of crystalline understanding, and because of this thorough process you have been able to see that your hunches about crystalline energy were indeed accurate and that you did have a connection with the crystals that was real. You experienced that sensing and understanding crystalline energies was not an ability reserved for the select and gifted few but one that everyone has. But in order to get to this point, you needed a more thorough understanding of metaphysics and, more importantly, a more thorough understanding of yourself.

My purpose in writing this book was to help you understand and work with crystals in a way that truly empowered and healed you. Because you have taken the time to read through the chapters, complete the exercises, and expand your own intuitive capabilities, you now have a deeper understanding of the crystals.

You now know why stones conscientiously taken out of the Earth are in better condition both physically and energetically, and why they are pricier than other crystals that are more easily found in most stores. But you are also aware that while rare stones are more coveted, it’s actually the commonly available stones that are most energetically useful and needed. And you have learned about the different kinds of metaphysical crystals that are available and how you can work with them.

Now that you have all the necessary information to understand the nuances in stones, we can move on to how to choose your crystals.

WORK WITH CRYSTALS INDIVIDUALLY AND TAKE YOUR TIME WITH THEM

I know what it’s like to walk into a crystal shop and not want to leave without bringing a dozen crystals home. But buying many crystals at once is just like bringing home a large haul of clothing: Though you’ll add many new items to your closet, you’ll find that you wear only a few pieces regularly. Months later, when you look in your closet and see all the clothing you forgot you had, you will find that you are no longer in the mood to wear it anymore.

This same experience can happen when you are buying many crystals at once. After bringing them home, you will find that you will gravitate to one of them, and the rest will get put away with others you previously bought. Or you might bring many crystals home and work with them in a sporadic way, switching between them when nothing seems to be happening. You’ll keep bouncing from crystal to crystal, maybe even going back to the shop to buy more, because you still aren’t getting the healing energy that you seek.

When you get a lot of crystals at once, it can create a scenario that results in many superficial experiences that teach you little about the crystals’ energies. Your attention becomes fragmented when you work with too many crystals at once, and you won’t get a real sense of what each crystal does for you. Or maybe you will focus your attention on a few of your crystals, getting to know them well, while the rest of your crystals are ignored.

If you want the best experience with your crystals, focus on them one at a time. Take what you would have spent on many cheaper, little stones and buy one high-quality crystal instead. You will then be in a position to give one crystal your focused attention, which will make it easier to learn about its energetic capabilities and to see how its energies affect and heal you.

Taking the time to intimately work with your crystals helps you to clearly distinguish the differences in energy between them. Otherwise, if you work with several crystals at once without being able to distinguish their energies, you won’t know which crystal is actually helping you. This also may result in a more complicated and extended healing journey for yourself because of all the different healing energies pulling at you at once. But if you work with one crystal at a time, you are able to learn all the different ways you can use each crystal’s energies and how exactly these energies interact with you. And after you’ve gone through this process with each of your crystals, you will be in a better position to understand how to combine their healing energies in a more harmonic way.

Individually acquiring and working with crystals also allows you to develop a high-quality crystal kit. High-quality crystals have metaphysical energies that are more potent and beneficial to you in the long run. Instead of buying multiple cheap crystals for their separate metaphysical properties, take the time to find a high- quality crystal that resonates with you deeply on multiple levels. Over time you will find that you have a collection of crystals that you especially love looking at and that you profoundly connect with—crystals that you want to have with you for the rest of your life.

But how do you pick your crystals?

CHOOSING CRYSTALS BY POLARITY

You are attracted to crystals you need.

You may think you’re attracted to a crystal only because of the way it looks, but that’s not all. The patterning you see in the shape and color of the crystal is the physical representation of the patterning of energy within the stone. You are actually attracted to the crystal because beyond what you see are its energies, which you are resonating with. It’s just that the first way you connect with the crystal is through your sight.

When I teach my introductory crystal workshop, I tell my students to avoid reading the names or metaphysical descriptions of the stones in the space. Instead, I ask them to look around and see which stones attract them. Even without reading the descriptions or having seen the stones before, every person invariably picks a stone they need. Solely through visual attraction, they will always choose a stone that resonates with an issue they are most concerned about.

Conversely . . .

You are repulsed by the crystals you need too.

Saying a stone is ugly is like saying a kitten is ugly. True, there are kittens on the more beautiful side of the scale, and others on the more ungainly, but no kitten is ugly. Likewise, a rock may not be as pretty as other rocks, but how can a rock truly be “ugly”? Yet sometimes this is how people react to certain crystals and stones.

So if you do have an immediate ick reaction to a stone, it means that energetically, you need it. And you probably need the stone you’re repulsed by more than the stone you are attracted to! The reason why you find the stone to be ugly and repulsive is that it is resonating with the exact energies within you that need the most healing—but you are resisting it. You are avoiding healing this part of yourself, and it causes you to be visually and energetically repulsed by the stone. Otherwise, your reaction would be neutral, for you would neither favor nor dislike the stone. If you don’t resonate with a stone, you simply won’t react to it.

The funny thing is that everyone who works with a stone they are disgusted by eventually falls in love with it. Though it can take time, when people start experiencing how much their crystal supports and helps them, they begin seeing the crystal in a different way. Whereas before they resisted the energies that were produced by the stone, now they start to accept them. So as the person opens up to their healing, the stone begins to look beautiful to them.

You can try choosing a crystal using the polarity method the next time you walk into a crystal shop. Don’t read the signs with the names and metaphysical descriptions of the stones. Just wander around and notice which stones you are attracted to and which stones you are repulsed by. Then return to the stones you noticed and read their metaphysical descriptions. You may find the information very enlightening.

EXPERIMENTING WITH CRYSTALS

You can take the polarity method one step further by conducting this fun crystal healing experiment: Without learning about its metaphysical properties, choose a durable stone that can be kept close to your skin. It can be a pocket stone, some crystal jewelry, or any stone that can be slept with. For the next month, work closely with your stone. After a month, look up the stone’s properties and see if you have experienced any changes in your life relating to its metaphysical properties. You may find the results very interesting and a further affirmation of your connection with the crystals!

I dug up this kunzite crystal on my first rockhounding trip.

YOU DON’T ALWAYS HAVE TO BUY CRYSTALS

As I have previously explained, certain minerals can be found only in specific places in the world. In order for these crystals to reach you, they go through a series of middlemen before they end up at a crystal shop or rock show. But going through retail channels is not the only way of procuring crystals. With the intuition you have developed because of the exercises in the book, you will find yourself connecting energetically with rocks you unexpectedly come across. As you have learned, you don’t have to know the name of the stone or its specific metaphysical properties in order to work with it. So sometimes the best way of acquiring crystals is to pull them out of Mother Earth yourself.

Rockhounding is the amateur hobby of digging and collecting rocks from nature. It often involves traipsing through rugged landscapes, enduring harsh sunlight or inclement weather, and immersing yourself in absolute filth as you dig through dirt and mud. It is a hobby that is hard, exhausting, and totally fun. Getting an up-close and personal look at how minerals are found in the earth helps you see how crystals form, and experiencing how messy and difficult it can be to mine stones gives you a deep appreciation for those who do the work to bring crystals and stones to you. Following are a couple of great ways to begin your adventure into rockhounding.

First, there are many mines open to the public that allow you to dig for minerals or gems for a fee. Depending on the mine, this may mean you have access to water and sifting screens but have to pay for each bucket of dirt you sift through. Others will charge a day rate and allow you to sift through their piles of mine tailings (the leftover dirt from their mining operations) and collect any crystals they may have missed. At other mines, you pay for access to the site but have to bring all of your own equipment—including buckets, pickaxes, and water to loosen the dirt and clean your stones—but they let you dig and keep whatever you find. Though there are variations in how mines handle their fees, as well as the rules about what you can take from them and when, these are generally the different ways that fee-based mines like this work. Each mine will have specific kinds of minerals or kinds of rocks associated with it, depending on the geology of the land the mine sits upon. So while at one mine you might search for sapphires, another will have quartz, and another fossils. A website that lists these mining sites can be found in the resources section.

The second way to go rockhounding is to join your local rock and mineral club. Mineral clubs are found all over the world and are filled with passionate lovers of rocks. In addition to club meetings that showcase speakers giving talks on the scientific side of minerals, they put together field trips to go rockhounding. On these trips, clubs can get special access to private mines or permission to dig on land that belongs on someone’s claim. In my experience, I have found these rockhounders to be quite generous when it comes to sharing their knowledge. They often have insider information about rockhounding in their area, and going on club field trips with them is a great way to learn the tricks of digging up crystals and stones. Though they may be dubious about your metaphysical interests, as long as you enjoy getting on your knees, digging in the mud, and getting as filthy as they do, your devotion to finding crystals will make you a worthy rockhounding companion.

While in rockhounding you actively set out to search for crystals, you can also accidentally stumble across stones while outdoors in nature or during your travels. Hiking on a trail or walking on a beach you may come across a stone that mysteriously enchants you. As you swim in a lake, a stone in the water may catch your eye. Or sometimes, you will be minding your own business and a rock will outright hit you.

Long before I knew I was a crystal healer or knew much about metaphysical stones, I went on a trip with my friends to swim in a river. Cooling myself off in the water, sitting quietly as the brisk current rushed around me, I felt something smack squarely into my thigh. Before I even pulled it out of the water, I knew that whatever it was was meant for me. It wasn’t something that I had mindlessly picked up as I enjoyed the cool water, nor was it something I had searched for. I was clearly the target, as it hit my leg like a bull’s-eye.

Out of the water I pulled a tan coral-like stone. For many years thereafter, I guessed that what I had was fossilized coral. But because I didn’t know for sure, I couldn’t research its metaphysical properties in crystal books. What I did know was that this stone was meant for me.

Much later I discovered the stone was fulgurite, a mineraloid created by lightning striking the ground, vitrifying the soil into a fused mass in the shape of lightning. Its metaphysical properties resonated with intense and immediate change, and looking back, I realize it was shortly after this stone came to me that I discovered crystals were my calling and embarked on my grand journey to become a crystal healer.

At the right place and moment, the crystal I needed most appeared to me.

The most important crystals in your life may not be crystals that you’ve bought. They may not be stunning or identifiable as a unique kind of stone. In fact, they may look quite ordinary to everyone else. But the most precious stones you will work with can be the stones that you come across in nature, given directly to you by Mother Earth.

Before you take home any crystals or stones you find in nature, you must respect the rules of whoever owns or has claims to the land. In the United States, rules vary from location to location. Many federally managed public lands allow the collection of stones for personal use, but you’ll need to check with your local Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office for more specific information. Otherwise, if you’re on private property, make sure you have permission from the person who owns the land to collect any stones found on it.

PERSONAL VERSUS GLOBAL CRYSTALS

I often get asked, “Is it okay for other people to touch your crystals?” The answer is, “It depends.”

There are no fixed categories of stone ownership. But as you work with a stone, gain experience, and deepen your intuition, you’ll find that you’re better able to understand the stone’s intentions, and who and where the stone wants to help. The fulgurite crystal that came to me at the river hit me in such a way that I knew it was meant only for me. This fulgurite crystal is my personal stone, meant only for me to work with. I don’t let others touch it, but even if they did, it wouldn’t “ruin” anything.

Over the years, I have developed a strong bond with my personal crystals. As I have worked with them, I have gotten to know their energies, as they have mine, and together we create a dynamic of energy. We know and have worked with each other’s energetic nuances and this causes us to have a deeper resonance with each other. That’s why my personal hematite works more strongly with me than others do. For though other hematites have the same base metaphysical energy, they don’t have the same experience or bond with me as the hematite I work with at home.

Every once in a while, I might loan one of my personal crystals to my husband or a friend, but eventually the crystals always come back to me. Though others can benefit from the energies of my stones, like a favorite pair of broken-in shoes, my crystals will always “fit” me better.

You can also have crystals whose purpose is to be shared with others. Perhaps they are crystals to be shared within your family or crystals you use to foster community and cooperation at work. Or perhaps they are crystals you use with your healing work. When crystals are specifically chosen (or specifically want) to be used for helping others, they are global crystals whose energies are meant to be shared.

You may find that your crystals want to move from one category to another. Perhaps a personal crystal becomes a global crystal, or vice versa. Maybe you loan a crystal to a friend and realize that they actually belong together. Then, out of love, you may choose to release guardianship of the crystal to your friend. For sometimes you will be attracted to a crystal just because you are the right person to help the crystal get where it needs to go, to help bring it to the place where it can project its deepest healing.

CHOOSE FOR YOURSELF FIRST

Remember, the best way of helping others is to focus healing on yourself. And you do this by making yourself your priority and taking care of yourself first.

If you are going to work with crystals, choose them with intention and care. Invest in the crystals that support your own journey of healing; work with them, and allow them to help you.

As you heal, you will raise your own vibration. And because you are energetically connected to every other being in this world, raising your vibration means that you are raising the collective vibration of the world too. Thus, the act of healing yourself benefits everyone else.

So indulge in your own healing so that you may refill your own reservoirs of energy, and then keep going so that you can share the extra that spills over. Use the assistance of the crystals. They have been waiting eons to help you.

“As above, so below; so below, as above.”

—Hermes Trismegistus, Emerald Tablet

Faden Quartz