The healing use of crystals extends back to our earliest ancestors and was refined to a high art by the shamans and healers of many cultures, including the Native American Apache and Cherokee tribes. Like everything else, crystals carry a vibrational rate that can influence other energies in their proximity. Crystals also reflect light, perhaps the most primary vibration in the universe. Spinning a crystal over an electromagnetically sensitive point on the skin has a subtle but immediate effect on the energies involved with that point. When practiced with consistency, working with a crystal can begin to bring about beneficial changes in your energies and in your life.

• Natural crystals are minerals with a highly regular atomic structure that creates their external faceted symmetry. Crystals coming from different minerals are believed to have different energetic effects on the body, such as fluoride for heartache and sadness, citrine for mental clarity.

• Crystals made of cut glass, such as the one in the Energy Medicine Kit, are neutral and can be used for any intended effects without unintended side-effects. They also lend themselves to a hole on one end that allows a string to be put through it so the crystal can be spun over an energy point.

Spin the crystal about an inch in front of your Adam’s apple. Close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths and notice any sensations in front of your throat. It does not matter whether the crystal is next to your throat, as when you are sitting or standing, or above it, as when you are lying down. While the energies and the sensations are reasonably subtle, the more you work with these energies, the better you will become at being able to discern them.

• Spinning a crystal in a counter-clockwise motion has the effect of pulling energy out of the area adjacent to the crystal.

• Spinning in a clockwise direction tends to send energy into the area.

• Spinning the crystal back and forth over the endpoint of a meridian, clockwise and counter-clockwise, flushes the meridian, pulling out stagnant energy, and immediately replacing it with fresh energy.

Chakra Clearing Using a Cut Glass Crystal: Begin with the root chakra and spin the crystal about an inch over your pubic bone (this is best done lying down), or in front of it using a clockwise/counter-clockwise spin. Close your eyes as you continue to spin it back and forth for 30 to 60 seconds. Then stop the crystal from spinning and see if you can notice any sensations as you breathe into your root chakra for 30 to 60 seconds. Repeat the process as many times as you like. Then move on to the second chakra. Using the same procedure, repeat the process until you have done this with all seven chakras. When you are finished, remain in a meditative state and observe any sensations you experience. You may find warm feelings flowing through your body, you might find that your intuition is more open and that creative thoughts or images are coming to you, or you may simply feel deeply and pleasantly relaxed. Repeat as often as you wish.

A Meridian Balance Using a Cut Glass Crystal: You can also use the crystal to give yourself a quick meridian clearing and balancing. The procedure is similar, except you will be working with different points. Figures showing the endpoints for each of your 14 meridians can be found in Energy Medicine, the "Energy Medicine Kit," and various other references. Spin the crystal adjacent to or over the point, back and forth, for 15 to 20 seconds. Within four to seven minutes you will have given yourself a basic meridian treatment. When you are finished, relax, remain in a meditative state, and observe any sensations you may experience.

Using a Cut Class Crystal to Help Open the "Third Eye." Simply spinning a crystal held above or in front of the area of the "third eye" (just above the bridge of the nose, between the eyebrows) has helped many of my students open to their psychic abilities. When I sense that someone has psychic abilities that are blocked (as is true for so many in cultures that strongly emphasize thought over intuition), this simple technique, done a couple of times a day for less than a minute each time, followed by a few moments of observing inwardly, begins to gradually but noticeably increase the ability to sense subtle information within a relatively short period.

Using Natural Mineral Crystals

Many books and websites describe the specific healing properties and other benefits that have been attributed to specific types of crystal. As with everything else that involves your energies, the impact of any given treatment will be different depending on you and your energies and needs at the time. So energy test before putting too much trust in any universal formula. Among the most common ways of using natural crystals are:

• BE in the energy of the crystal—just have it near you, either in the room as a piece of jewelry.
• AFFIX the crystal to a chakra or meridian point (particularly consider acupuncture strengthening points)
• SPIN the crystal over a given area, as described in the discussion of the uses of cut glass crystals.
• TWIST the crystal into a given area of your skin—pushing its most pointed area into your skin and twisting it back and forth. It often becomes harder to twist it as the energy connects.
• BREATHE your prayers into the crystal and plant it in the earth.
• FIVE-POINTED STAR: Use the crystal to trace a 5-pointed star over a chakra. This helps balance the chakra, and can alternatively be done with your fingers, with a flashlight, or with any color you choose and energy test.

• HOLD the crystal in your hand so that all elements (fingers) surround it.
• TWIST, as above, this time holding the crystal in your right hand and pushing its most pointed area into your left palm.

• INFUSE IT WITH SOUND: Piano music and bells are great.
• INFUSE IT WITH LIGHT: Use clear light or a color that is healing for you.

CLEANSING A CRYSTAL: If a crystal that once felt good no longer feels good, you may not need its properties as much, but it also may need to be "energetically" cleansed (you can also energy test or simply hold the crystal in your hand and see if you become tired or thirsty):