Ultimate guide to crystals and stones - Uma Silbey 2016

Energy Work with Colored Stones

In every aspect of our crystal work we will find color a useful tool to work with. We can add the color component to our work not only through the use of different colored stones and gems, but also with the use of other colored materials as well as with visualization techniques.

Every color has a certain appearance and vibrational pattern that can evoke certain emotional and psychological reactions. The power of any color can be amplified, stored, and transmitted, especially when coupled with a clear quartz crystal. Any color that is placed in physical or visualized association with the clear quartz crystal automatically causes the clear quartz to vibrate harmoniously with the color to some degree. If we use our focused intention to charge our clear quartz with color, actively sending the color into the clear quartz, then the clear quartz, now programmed, will vibrate with the qualities of that color. How strongly the clear quartz acts as that color is determined by the strength of our focused programming.

When I first started teaching and writing about how to work with quartz crystals back in the late seventies, there was very little information available about the energetic properties of stones. Now there are myriads of books printed that list hundreds upon hundreds of colored stones and their uses, based primarily on channeled information. However, although attributes are listed for a particular colored stone, we are very rarely told how to actually use the stone beyond meditating with it. Furthermore, if we were to acquire all of these stones, we could probably fill a small warehouse with them; and if we tried to memorize all of their listed attributes, we would probably find it to be nearly impossible. So, when speaking about the different types of crystal shapes, colors, and markings, rather than trying to memorize what the different colored stones are good for, it is far more effective if we can actually sense or feel them. When we can sense or feel the powers of the varying colored stones, it will, in turn, let us know how to use them in each moment that we are with them. Also, it is most effective for our work to be able to learn many other ways to use them beyond meditation.

Just as there are many uses listed for the colored stones, there are many systems that can be used with them, which can be confusing if we are trying to figure out which one is the best to use, especially if we have yet to build our sensitivity. Some of these methods of incorporating color and colored stones have already been described in the pages of this book. Other ways of using them will be suggested in the following pages.

Whether referring to colored stone attributes or to systems of working with them, as said before, it is ultimately most effective to learn how to sensitize ourselves to color and then use it on the basis of our own experience. Each situation in which we do our crystal work is unique, requiring us to use our own inner wisdom and sensitivity to act in the most appropriate manner. We not only use our clear crystals differently each time, but color and colored stones as well. If we have to use a particular system rather than our own sensitivity, we don’t have the ability to respond uniquely in each occasion. We then have to work in terms of generalities rather than specifics. For example, if we know that a green or pink stone is good for the heart center, we won’t be able to intuit a time that the heart area seems to need cooling and, therefore, calls for a pale blue stone, nor will we be able to discover that the lungs in that general area may also need the help of a yellow colored stone. Instead of using the colored stones that are most helpful, we will automatically use the pink or green that is usually associated with the heart center. This won’t be harmful and will stimulate the heart center itself, but it won’t help as much as if we were able to be sensitive to the exact situation and, therefore, the exact colored stone to use. This is why the sensitization and stone harmonization practices explained earlier are so important to our success with stone and crystal work.

This is not to say that we shouldn’t read and learn about what others have channeled or discovered about different colored stones. This information provides a good starting place for our work, much like knowing someone’s astrological sign doesn’t tell us everything about a person, but provides us a good place to start. If we try what is suggested as uses for one particular colored stone or another, and then test our results, then we will know if that stone is a good one for us to use. However, we may find that the colored stone isn’t always appropriate for the uses we discovered so far in our work. We may pick up the colored stone, intending to use it in ways suggested, to find that it isn’t what is needed in this particular case, or we may find that the uses others have suggested for a type of colored stone sometimes work for us, but not always with every stone of that type. For example, if a turquoise is suggested as a way to rid ourselves of headaches, we may find that only some of the turquoises work in that way some of the time. Again, it is best to keep an open mind, try what is suggested, and see if it works for us in the particular situation we are in.

Sometimes uses for colored stones are suggested that are much too simplistic for the problem they are purported to solve, and instead we need to address the deeper underpinning of the problem with a variety of stones and methods. For example, amethyst is sometimes said to aid in sobriety, so one would think that having an amethyst will help us become or remain sober. Perhaps carrying an amethyst will help us to remember our resolution not to drink, but more than likely we will need to address the deeper issues that support this addiction. For example, perhaps someone drinks to feel courage in social situations or to fill an inner sense of emptiness. If so, it is perhaps more helpful to use a red stone, such as a ruby, to help bring a sense of power, while at the same time using crystal gazing to discover the root problem underlying that sense of disempowerment, and then upon identifying the root problem, using the appropriate stone that most seems to address it. Or, rather than using amethyst, we might use a stone that is good to help open the heart center, while at the same time using our clear stones and visualization techniques to realize the deeper cause of the empty feeling. Perhaps the person was abandoned as a child and feels unwanted. If so, stones and practices that address the sense of abandonment, like the nurturing qualities of green stones, might work better. (When doing healing work, however, if we don’t know what stone to use, amethyst is the best all-around stone for any kind of healing.)

When we work with color, it is important to not only pay attention to the particular color, but also to the shade of the color. Each has its different quality. A pale yellow, for example, may be gently warming, whereas a bright yellow might bring more agitating, solar qualities. Likewise, when using our colored stones we should also be sensitive to the degree of opaqueness, brilliance, and clarity the stone has. Generally, the clearer the stone, the more etheric quality it has. An opaque stone has a denser, grounding quality, while a transparent stone has more of a sky quality. For example, turquoise is more grounding than an aquamarine. Each color also has a sense of a different degree of coolness or heat. Some colors feel more harsh or forceful in quality, while some are more soothing and subtle. When working with colored stones and objects, notice that each has a subtle difference that may only be able to be sensed rather than seen by our physical eyes, even if they are the same type or color.

Colors and colored stones are often used in combination with each other in our crystal work. Again, we must be able to sense the result of each combination rather than relying on our intellect. For example, if we combine a yellow color with a red color, our logical mind might suppose that the resultant effect would be that of orange. Possibly. However, the effect of red and yellow can actually be quite different than that of orange. For example, an orange stone can work on our second chakra, our sexual center. A garnet used with a yellow citrine, however, while perhaps having a small effect on our second chakra, will more likely give us the grounding and stability associated with our first chakra and the red stone, along with the strong willpower associated with our third chakra and the yellow stone. This is entirely different than stimulating the sexual center.