Buried Treasure

Crystals have fascinated me for over 20 years. I bought my first crystal, a piece of haematite, at an early Mind Body and Spirit fair in the early 1990s. A black crystal, shiny when polished, hematite is grounding and protecting, boosts self-esteem, willpower and confidence. Crystals, as with all complementary therapies are additional to orthodox medicine and it is not recommended to use them as a replacement. Haematite is a useful stone for stress and I was astonished afterwards when I read about it as I was going through a stressful period in my life at the time. The stone picked me. You will find if you wish to buy a crystal for somebody else if you think of them whilst buying it you will get the correct one for them at the time. An example of this was I bought a piece of amazonite for a friend of Mum’s I didn’t know very well one Christmas. Amazonite is a soothing stone, alleviating worry and fear. It turned out Mum’s friend had been anxious about visiting Mum’s house at Christmas because she didn’t know most people who would be there.

by Penny James

his book from his own publishing company. I was so excited I rang the man in Ireland, the phone call was very expensive but it was worth it to speak to him. It shows this idea was around in the ether at the time and there is no such thing as coincidence.

It is essential to cleanse a crystal once you have purchased it because crystals amplify any energies around, including negative ones. This can be done in several ways; hold under running water for a few minutes, visualise a beam of light from above your head passing through the crystal and draining away into the earth. If you do this it is a good idea to thank Mother Earth or Gaia for accepting unwanted energies. Another method is by placing in rock salt, I keep a bowl on my dressing table and place my crystal jewellery in it when I take it off at night and leave overnight. Another way to cleanse stones is to burn a smudge stick, or sage stick or sage oil in an oil burner and hold the crystal in the smoke or above the oil burner for a few minutes.

When I began working with crystals there was little information available on the subject, so I made notes on crystals, having to use several different books, and decided to write a book so this information would all be in one place.I published it myself in paper form around 20 years ago and it is now available on Kindle. At the same time a crystal shop owner in Ireland did exactly the same thing from his own notes on the stones and published Working with the crystals can be as simple as holding one, or placing one near where you spend a lot of time. Another way to work with the stones is a chakra balancing exercise. Chakras are points in the body where energy enters and exits, and energy flows evenly round them in a healthy body. Traditionally in healing seven chakras are used, forming a line from the base of the spine to just above the top of the head, each in a colour of

the spectrum. To do the chakra balancing exercise take eight crystals; one in each of the colours of the spectrum and a black or brown one. Lie down, relax and place the crystals on your body at chakra points corresponding to their colours, for example, place a red stone at the base of the spine area. Other chakras and their colours are; sacral chakra, lower abdomen, orange, solar plexus chakra, stomach, yellow, heart chakra, chest, green or pink, throat chakra, pale blue, brow chakra, forehead, dark blue, crown, just above the head, clear or violet. Place a black or brown stone between your feet. Five minutes is sufficient time for this if you are new to crystal energy, and I recommend a maximum of twenty minutes. If you are new to working with crystals their energy might give you a headache, especially with clear crystals, or those in the colours of other higher chakras such as green, pink, pale blue, dark blue or violet. This is because these higher chakras are being energised, and generally we do not work with them as much as the lower ones. If this happens, sit down in case you feel dizzy, and hold a grounding stone such as tigers eye, haematite, red jasper, black tourmaline or smoky quartz.

I devised a crystal meditation, popular in groups that I have facilitated. To do this, make sure you have your feet flat on the floor and imagine roots growing out of the bottom of your feet and reaching deep into the earth. Imagine yourself sat on a beach with your back against a palm tree and look out to sea where you can see an island close to the shore with a bridge to access it. Stand up, cross the bridge, see shallow steps in the beach on the island, go down them, then down a tunnel and enter a cave. The walls of the cave glisten and sparkle and are formed of crystal, there is a throne in the middle of the cave, also made of crystal. The throne and the walls can be the same crystal or different ones, it doesn’t matter if you don’t know the name of the crystal. Sit on the throne and relax for as long as you wish. When you are ready, stand up, go back through the tunnel, up the steps to the beach on the island, back across the bridge and sit down again under the palm tree where you began. In due course open your eyes and wiggle you fingers and toes, stamp your feet and clap your hands to ground yourself. If you still feel lightheaded reach for a grounding crystal, such as a red, or brown one. Allow yourself time before continuing with your day.