The Treasure Hunt
Collecting Crystals
You can find crystals in stone and gem stores, metaphysical shops, and gift shops. Crystals are so popular that you can come across them in bookstores, discount outlets, and drug stores. Sometimes you can even find them in places you wouldn’t expect, like supermarkets and truck stops.
You don’t necessarily have to search high and low for your crystals. If a crystal is meant to come to you, you might discover that it will make its way to your door without your help.
You could also find yourself stumbling across some varieties of stones and crystals in your own backyard. Look around—crystals in their raw form, discovered in their natural environment, have an innate power that’s hard to resist. You might even want to start your search for stones and crystals on the way to your local rock shop, rather than inside it.
Smart Shopping
While you may be interested in using crystals for New Age purposes like meditation, healing, and psychic development, you’ve also got something in common with geologists, gemologists, rock collectors, and jewelers—people who collect crystals as objects of beauty, value, and scientific fascination.
As you start assembling your crystal collection, you can borrow some of their criteria to help you be a smart shopper. Here are some terms and concepts that you should know when you shop for crystals:
Color. Jewelers and gemologists say that color is the most important factor in determining the value of a gemstone—at least when it comes to jewelry. Most dealers say that color accounts for 50 to 70 percent of a stone’s value.
Color is also an important metaphysical consideration. Bright, pure colors are usually best. Technically speaking, the most powerful crystals don’t look washed out in bright sunlight, and they don’t look too dark in ordinary room light. As you shop, you should pay attention to how the crystals look under varying light conditions, including natural and artificial light.
Hue. The term hue simply refers to color. The human eye can distinguish 150 different hues, including all the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
Tone. The relative lightness or darkness of a hue is known as tone. Gemologists rate tone on a scale that ranges from colorless (0) to black (10).
Saturation. Saturation refers to the purity of a color. Crystals that have a lot of gray or brown are less saturated with other, brighter colors, and they look dull as a result. Likewise, crystals that are too light are also poorly saturated, because they look washed out. Saturation is measured on a scale that ranges from neutral (0) to vivid (6).
Transparency. Transparency describes how well light passes through a crystal. There are three degrees of transparency. Transparent crystals, like clear quartz, are as clear as window glass. Translucent crystals, like amethyst, will allow light to pass through, but you can’t see objects through them. Opaque crystals, like hematite, don’t allow any light to pass through. You can’t see anything through an opaque crystal.
Luster. Luster is shine—the way the surface of a mineral reflects light. For the most part, the terms used to describe luster are self-explanatory: metallic or nonmetallic, dull, earthy, fibrous, greasy, pearly, silky, and waxy.
Clarity. Few crystals are perfectly clear. Most have inclusions—particles of foreign matter, such as dirt, dust, other minerals, or even pockets of water or oil. Inclusions can actually add to a crystal’s usefulness and value, depending on the stone.
Size. Generally speaking, crystals are measured by weight (in carats) or by size, in either inches or millimeters.
• Most precious gems, especially those used in jewelry-making, are weighed in carats. The word carat is derived from the word carob, and it hearkens back to the days when ancient Mediterranean jewelers and stonecutters would use carob seeds to balance their scales. One carat is equal to 1⁄5 of a gram, which is about the weight of a carob seed.
• Other crystal specimens are commonly measured in millimeters, either in circumference or diameter.
• Raw crystals can also be sold by the piece, by weight, or by flat, table, or lot.
Grade. Grading systems may vary from dealer to dealer, and would generally be of most importance to serious mineralogists, gemologists, and jewelers. However, you might see some crystals graded by letter or number. As a rule, AAA-rated crystals are practically flawless, with no chips, fractures, or inclusions. AA-rated crystals would be slightly flawed, with small marks, inclusions, or fractures that don’t affect more than 10 percent of the stone. The ratings go down proportionately; seriously flawed, damaged, or included stones might rate only a C or a D.
Enhanced and treated crystals. Many crystals are enhanced and treated, both to boost their appearance and to ensure that they can be handled and used in daily life. Some crystals are bleached, for example. Others may be dyed or treated with heat or radiation to change their color. A reputable dealer will tell you if a crystal has been changed in any way.
Spotted or Striped
The term “crystal” isn’t always as precise or accurate as you might think. A wide range of objects fall loosely into the crystals category, and most crystal shops carry a wide selection of crystals that aren’t really crystals at all.
By definition, crystals are minerals—inorganic elements, usually in solid form, that occur naturally. Most minerals are composed of a single chemical element, or a mixture of closely related chemicals. And most minerals are symmetrical—they grow in precisely angled geometric patterns, and they have a repetitive crystalline structure that reflects the internal arrangement of their atoms.
In everyday terms, however, some “crystals” are actually rocks, aggregates, organic materials, and even metals.
Rocks. Rocks are a conglomerate of many minerals, chemicals, and solid organic materials that come from inside the earth. In other words, rocks are a mix of elements that have cemented, fused, or bonded together. Granite, marble, and lapis lazuli, for example, are all rocks.
Aggregates. Some crystals are also aggregates, which consist of thousands of microscopic crystals. Chalcedony crystals, which include agates and jaspers, are aggregates of quartz.
You can work with rocks and aggregates just as easily as you can work with “pure” crystals. Some people believe that their power is less focused or more dispersed because they’re not a single type of crystal. However, one could also argue that there is power in numbers, and that rocks and aggregates are a tangible reminder of the power of sticking together, working in partnership with others, and acting as part of a community.
Organics. Some crystals are organic materials, like pearl, coral, and amber. They don’t originate deep within the earth; they come from living beings that once lived on the earth’s surface. They still are called crystals because they share many of the same qualities and features as their mineral counterparts—they are smooth, symmetrical, and polished, and they are valued for their beauty, their history, and their symbolism.
Stones. Gemstones—or stones, for short—are usually crystals that can be cut and polished for jewelry. While almost any mineral can be cut like a gemstone, not all crystals are gemstones. In order to qualify, they must be beautiful, durable, and rare. And likewise, not all gemstones are crystals, because some lack a definite crystalline structure. Amber, for example, is fossilized tree resin. Jet is compacted coal, obsidian is volcanic glass, and opals are hydrated silica.
Traditionally, gemstones have been divided into two categories: precious and semiprecious. The terms have become so overused, though, that they don’t mean much anymore. Diamonds are always precious gems, for example, but some diamonds can be fairly inexpensive, and some semiprecious stones are incredibly expensive.
Elements of Attraction
Here are some ways to go about finding the crystals you’ll want in your collection:
Tune in. Before you start your search or shopping expedition, relax. Take some deep breaths. Calm and center yourself. Try to clear your mind of clutter.
If you are looking for a crystal to help you with a specific issue, think of it, or even write it down in your crystals journal before you leave the house. Clearly state your intention and the universe will be more likely to provide it for you.
If you don’t have anything specific in mind, however, and you’d like to stay open to any crystals that might be waiting for you, simply look around and be receptive to the impressions you get from holding or looking at the crystals.
Symbolic significance. You can familiarize yourself with the traditional significance and customary attributes of crystals and make your selection accordingly. This guide is a good starting point; other books on the market, like Scott Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem & Metal Magic, can give you more detailed descriptions of popular stones.
Physical attraction. There is nothing wrong with choosing crystals that are strikingly beautiful or crystals that seem to scintillate, sparkle, and shine. Physical beauty is the reason most people are attracted to crystals in the first place. You should know, however, that some of your most powerful, most usable crystals might not strike you as attractive—at least, not in the usual sense of the word. Crystals that are chipped, broken, cloudy, or otherwise marred may have metaphysical properties that you need and want in your collection. So while you can choose crystals based on how they look, remember that real beauty also lies in the eye of the beholder.
Size. You might want to concentrate on collecting crystals of a certain size so you can keep your entire collection together. You might want to start your collection by choosing only crystals that fit in the palm of your hand or small, pocket-size stones that you can wear or carry wherever you go. You might want to position your entire collection on a bookshelf, a coffee table, or a tabletop. A crystal’s power is unrelated to its size, so you can set any parameters you like for your collection.
Intuition. You might feel especially drawn to some crystals but not others. Pay attention to your intuition: do you feel some stones that seem to be calling to you? When you’re in a store, do you feel compelled to look down one particular aisle, or one corner of the shop? Go there first.
Occasionally, you might feel drawn to a crystal without knowing the reason why. If you can afford the crystal, buy it. It may sit in your collection for years, but one day, its significance will suddenly be obvious—or someday, you may suddenly feel compelled to give it to someone else, and you’ll realize that your role was simply to safeguard the crystal until you could deliver it to its rightful owner.
Good vibrations. If you are choosing crystals from a large bin or a box—as with tumbled stones—you can simply reach in, feel around, and choose the stone that feels best in your hand. Alternately, if you are choosing a crystal from an array of stones in front of you, try rubbing your hands briskly together to warm them up. Then hold your left hand (which is your intuitive hand, if you’re right-handed) over the stone. (Conversely, use your right hand if you’re left-handed.) When you find the right crystal, you might feel a tingling sensation, a magnetic attraction, an electrical charge, or a temperature change. You could also hold a crystal in both hands and point it toward your heart or hold it over the third-eye chakra on the middle of your forehead to see if you are moved to add it to your collection.
Can’t feel the vibe? Practice feeling your own energy first. Rub your hands together briskly. Hold them close together, palms facing in, and then gradually pull them apart. Experiment with moving your hands together and apart until you can feel the energy between them.
Pendulum dowsing. You might enjoy dowsing for your next crystal. Use a small pendulum—available from any New Age shop—suspended from a chain. Use your thumb and index finger to hold the chain.
First, determine how you should interpret your pendulum’s movements. Ask the pendulum to show you “yes.” It will probably swing in a definite pattern, side to side, for example, or back and forth. Then ask the pendulum to show you “no.” You should be able to see a distinct difference in movement.
Once you are comfortable with how your pendulum works, hold it over any crystals you are considering, and ask which ones you should buy.
Wait for crystals to come to you. As you begin your work with crystals, let others know about your new pursuit. When your friends and family members learn that you’re interested in crystals, you might find yourself with more crystals, rocks, and gemstones than you know what to do with. Crystals that are used for metaphysical purposes also tend to get passed around to whomever needs them. They circulate from friend to friend, and they travel where they are needed most. Ultimately, because all crystals are ancient, they pause only briefly in the life of any one person.