Ultimate guide to crystals and stones - Uma Silbey 2016
Dying and Bereavement
Crystal and Stone Healing
Though death may seem to be the end, it isn’t. We don’t disappear when we die, but still are who we already are at our essence, that which our physical sensations, thoughts, and emotions cover or hide from us as we live in the physical world. There is nowhere to go because we are already here. To die is to yield into the heart of love and to be reborn into the beingness of infinity, where all that was unknown is now known.
Those who have gone through near-death experiences have attested, once we let go into dying, it is a very gentle process filled with a profound peacefulness. There is nothing to fear. Even if death comes as a result of violence or pain, the actual release from the body is gentle. In dying, all that we suffer in our life is relieved as we finally let go of all that holds us here in the physical world.
When working with grief use stones that offer nurturing and comfort. Here, amethyst, rose quartz, and clear quartz wand crystals blossom open to flower and bless us with the infinite peace that comes when our hearts open despite our pain, letting love lead our way.
Our mind fears its own demise, and our body’s life force automatically fights for its continuance, so letting go can be difficult. The circumstances in our life may still seem to need our attention, and to miss our loved ones brings us unbearable sadness, so we may attempt to hold on and fight our passing. Eventually, however, we must let go of our physical life and eventually pass. Though this may be hard, eventually we find that we really have no choice.
A person may come to us for healing and we may see that they are going to die soon. Many crystal and stone healers find it hard to deal with situations involving death and dying and don’t know what to say or do. They don’t know if they should continue the healing. In this case, it is good to remember that the healing may not be that the person gets better, but to assist them in leaving their body peacefully and consciously.
More often than not, the main reason that many crystal and stone healers are uncomfortable in this situation is because we’re not comfortable with our own death. In this case, it will help if we meditate on our own death, visualizing ourselves leaving this earth plane and experiencing all of our thoughts and emotions until we are comfortable with their expression. It is helpful to work with dreams and the astral plane with some of the methods described earlier in this book, because once we are able to consciously leave our bodies through meditation, astral travel, lucid dreaming, or other means, we will lose all fear of dying and will be able to help others.
When working with a dying person, it is important to be conscious of the person’s state of mind and feeling about it. Some people don’t want to be told or in any way acknowledge that they are dying. If that is the case, in our healing work it is helpful to work with their symptoms and also work on a deeper level in subtle form. We can teach the dying person how to remain centered through all experiences and how to be calm minded and less attached to their thoughts and emotions (techniques explained in previous chapters). If we can help them have experiences of their other subtle bodies through our work with stones, we can help loosen their attachment to the physical body. This is true of people who know they are dying as well as those who don’t want to acknowledge it. Work with dreams in some of the ways expressed in earlier chapters. Experiencing their ability to be fully conscious and aware in the dream state, to move about just as in waking life, will help them realize that life goes on beyond the physical body.
PERHAPS LIFE IS THE DREAM THAT WE WAKE FROM WHEN WE DIE. WHO DECIDES WHICH ONE IS THE DREAM?
As the person goes through their various experiences on the road through transition, be there with them. Be willing to share their experiences, as you would in any effective crystal healing. Be honest with them. Help to make this healing a time of growing self-awareness, opening and surrendering for them, as well as for us. If they are willing, be there at the time of their transition. Help them to maintain their state of calm, accepting self-awareness. Through their entire transition, completely be with the being that they truly are, self to self, soul to soul, even after they have left their body. It may be helpful to program a crystal for them to hold during this process, programing it with sound or song, visions of their spiritual guides, peacefulness, or anything else they would find helpful. A quartz crystal or amethyst with an angel form held within the veils and inclusions is also a good transition stone.
Once the person has passed and our work is done, we should clear ourselves, the room in which the departed one left their body, and any crystals or other tools we may have used. If others were in the room as the person died, we should clear them also, offering blessings as we do so.
BOTH THE HEALER AND THE ONE DYING
MUST EVENTUALLY LET GO.
Once the person has left their body, it is often helpful to whisper in their ear that they have left their body. This will help prevent any confusion, especially if they are still in the room in subtle body and can see and hear others. They may try to speak to those left behind and not understand why others can’t hear them, or they may be trying to cling to their physical body and are finding it impossible. If we are focused and attuned to the subtle realms at this time, we will have a definite sensation or see their subtle body in the room and can communicate with them verbally or through thought alone. If so, we may feel guided to help them move onward, to look for and follow the path of golden light where they will be assisted further by loved ones who have passed before them or by a spiritual teacher or holy being with whom they have identified.
We can use an amethyst or clear quartz to aid in this process in the following manner:
USING A CRYSTAL TO HELP THE ONE WHO HAS DIED
1. Find a picture or draw one of a realized holy being, either a being with whom you identify or with whom the one who has died identifies.
2. Focus on the person who has died as you hold a clear or amethyst crystal.
3. As you gaze into the crystal, holding your focus, ask the holy being if they would be with and guide the departed person through the after-death realms, helping them in any way that is needed.
4. When you feel an inner affirmative answer, place the crystal on the picture of the holy being, point facing upward. Visualize your request or prayer flowing up to that holy being and see them helping the person who has passed.
5. You may leave this crystal and picture set up for any length of time.
6. Clear yourself but not the crystals.
If we feel so guided, we can charge and program a special crystal for the departed one that will help them move to the higher subtle planes and speed them through any lower astral ones. We can keep this charged crystal on an altar, a special place in our home, or outside in nature. Each time we see this stone or crystal we will be reminded to offer a prayer or affirmation that is in alignment with the initial programming, or we can visualize them moving onward, lovingly immersed in golden white light, ecstatically dancing in the joy of the spirit.
Often our work with death and dying involves also helping those left behind after the person has left his or her body. It is helpful to remind those, perhaps through a specially designed ceremony using our stones, that even though they are now left behind in this physical life, their loved one now invisible to the naked eye, he or she will always be alive in their hearts. Though their loved one’s body is soon to turn to dust, the one who has died is unchanging. It is also helpful to assure those left behind that though their loved one now lives onward, veiled from their human eye and beyond their outstretched arms, when their hearts are open, they can pass through the gates where time and form don’t matter to the formless space where they are one with their beloved, a oneness and unchanging reality that exists through all time and space.
Good stones to use when working with grief are those that offer nurturing and comfort. Soft green stones, any pink stones or soft violet stones will work well. The green stones remind us of the continual circle of life as expressed in nature, and the pink stones remind us to keep our hearts open, to allow ourselves to feel our pain and sorrow rather than blocking its necessary expression. There is nothing to fear by expressing painful emotions, which will become progressively less painful over time, our sorrow eventually held in the form of sweet memories. Like other feelings, when we repress them, they will more often than not express themselves in the form of disharmony within our mental, emotional or physical bodies.