Have you ever heard a friend talking about the healing properties of her prized rose quartz? Perhaps you've seen more and more crystal shops popping up near you and have found yourself asking why people are so interested in these precious stones.
If this is true, you've come to the right place. Here, we will take a deeper look into why crystals are valuable tools for pagans and how to use them in your day-to-day life.
Why Do Pagans Use Crystals?
Pagans use crystals to promote physical, emotional, and spiritual balance by interacting with your chakras. Chakras are energy centers in your body.
Crystals can be used as a meditation tool, to make crystal grids, or to spruce up décor. You can charge crystals to suit your intent. There are no formal rules for how or why to use crystals.
Crystals are powerful tools, which can be used by anyone in a variety of ways. They do not have one specific purpose and can be used for almost anything.
How you use your crystals depends on a few factors, including your intent, lifestyle, and level of interest. Whether you're new to this practice or simply looking to brush up on existing crystal knowledge, we've got something for you.
Crystals have many different uses and are chosen according to their properties. The most common uses are to promote healing, positive energy, abundance, and protection.
Each crystal holds its own unique set of properties; however, crystals can also be charged with intent and used for a purpose other than its assigned qualities.
The benefits of crystals can be divided into two categories: spiritual or personal and healing.
Using Crystals for Spiritual and Personal Reasons
Spiritual and personal use includes using crystals for prosperity, love, creativity, protection, and connecting with the higher self. These are only a few uses, but they are seen as the most common. In this sense, crystals are seen as spiritual tools which can assist you with achieving your goals and promoting personal well-being.
Naturally, not every pagan opts to use crystals for this purpose, or even at all. However, it is a common practice that we should note, as many pagans swear by the effectiveness of crystals.
I absolutely love when you go to a museum or local attraction and you can fill a small bag with your choice of stones! This was my fun haul from this summer’s visit to the Eiteljorg Native American Art Museum. It’s a fabulous place! Photo by author.
Using Crystals for Healing
The healing category includes chakra realignment, supporting mental health, and releasing past trauma. This is still a spiritual practice, but its intent is different from the personal and spiritual category.
Many professionals, such as reiki masters, choose to utilize crystals in their work practices. This is not a requirement but rather a personal preference, though it is a widely practiced technique.
Most pagans acknowledge that crystals alone will not cure any physical or mental ailments but rather assist in the healing process by interacting with the energy field of your body and mind. It is believed that crystals allow positive, fruitful energy to flow from the stone to a person's energy. This promotes healing and gets rid of unwanted negative energy.
Using crystals for healing does not have to involve a complex or formal ritual. Simply keeping them on your person, in a bag or pocket, will have the desired effect.
How Do I Use Crystals?
Depending on your reason for using crystals, there are many ways to incorporate crystals into your everyday life. You may choose to display them as décor, use them as a tool during meditation, make them a part of your self-care routine, or employ them as part of a ritual.
There is no right or wrong way to use crystals. It is up to you to decide what works best for your lifestyle and routine, but you can use these guidelines to draw inspiration from.
Using Crystals as Décor
Crystals are believed to have specific properties. These properties depend on the type of crystal, as well as its color and shape. When you select crystals to use as décor, it is best to keep these properties in mind, as the crystal will release specific energy into its environment.
Crystals that are being used as décor can be placed anywhere in the home. However, it is most effective when you allocate certain crystals to specific rooms, according to the desired energy of each room. Doing this ensures that each room in your home has a crystal that corresponds with its environment.
For example, using clear quartz in your workspace or home office would be effective in increasing productivity. This works well because one of the clear quartz's main properties is focus and concentration.
One of my favorite stones! The Dalmatian Stone encourages a sense of playfulness and encourages self-confidence. It’s good for grounding. I keep this stone on my bedside table. Photo by author.
Crystals as a Tool During Meditation
When we meditate, we're usually trying to quiet our minds so that we can connect with our higher selves. Crystals can be used during meditation to assist you in reaching this goal by helping you clear your headspace and amplify your inner truth.
Using crystals during meditation isn't complicated. There are only three steps to this approach of meditation.
Firstly, you'll need to choose one or more crystals that suit the intention of your meditation session. Some people opt for one crystal per chakra, while others select one specific stone to use regularly.
Secondly, you will need to cleanse your crystals. You can do this by using sage smoke, saltwater, or regular tap water. Any one of these cleansing methods is effective. If you use water to cleanse your crystals, you need to be sure that the crystal you have chosen is water-safe and won't dissolve or undergo water damage.
Lastly, sit down and meditate as usual. You can meditate as you would on any other occasion, either while holding the crystals or by placing them alongside you.
Using Crystals as Part of your Self-care Routine
Self-care forms a vital part of any person's daily routine. This may include bathing, make-up routines, skincare, foot soaks, meditation, and food preparation. With this routine making up a significant portion of your day, incorporating crystals into this routine is an easy and convenient way to diversify your pagan practices.
Personally, my favorite way of doing this is placing crystals in my bathwater and around the edges of the bathtub. If this doesn't appeal to you, you may find it more convenient to place crystals into a foot bath for a relaxing soak.
Placing these precious stones into your skincare products, such as oils or sprays, is another popular method of using crystals during your self-care routine. Bonus points if you make the oils and sprays yourself!
Having crystals form a part of your daily routines can improve confidence, self-love, and body image and solidify a specific intent that you may have placed on the crystal.
The Role of Crystals in Pagan Rituals
Paganism involves rituals that utilize magick. Rituals are a set of actions often used in religious experiences, while "spells" are performed with a specific aim or intent in mind. Many of these spells and rituals involve the use of crystals.
Read our article Rituals and Spells: an Introduction to learn more about incorporating them in your practice.
Many sources, such as blog posts and online communities, share their rituals and spells. If this interests you, you can either follow shared rituals and spells or create your own by researching crystals, their properties, herbs and oils that have similar properties, and the law of manifestation.
Crystals form a strong foundation for any spell or ritual. The way you use them varies according to intent, type of spell, and personal beliefs, so researching this may be the best way to learn more.
Take Away
The most common uses of crystals are to promote healing, positive energy, abundance, and protection. Using crystals does not require a complex or formal ritual, as the power is in your intent. It is encouraged that you personalize your methods of using these fantastic spiritual tools.
Now that you have all the information you need regarding crystals and their uses in pagan practices, you can begin to incorporate crystals into your everyday life. You can invite good energy into your home, improve productivity, connect with your higher self, and practice rituals with your newfound crystal knowledge.