Naturally Skeptical: Do Healing Crystals Work?

Healing Crystals? Really?

Yes really. If you had told me last year I would be subscribing to this particular brand of Hippy Dippy Woo Woo, I would not have believed you. Mind you I am very familiar with "HDWW”… I have only ever lived in Eugene, Oregon and Boulder, Colorado. I have found yoga, meditation, journaling, and burning sage all beneficial from time to time. I even have a pretty solid understanding of the Chakras and think there are so many benefits to Reiki (Japanese Energy Healing). But healing crystals? Am I that person?

Let me just begin with how I got here… about a month ago.

How it all started…

My daughter, Elaine (Age 3), wasn’t sleeping. A lot of kids have sleep regression and I know that, but this seemed to go beyond that. She kept yelling for me and saying she was scared, she couldn’t stop thinking about imaginary traumas, or she expressed concerns that her baby sister was in trouble. Her imagination ran wild the second she went to bed.

To distract her from her little fears, we have had a lot of “slumber parties” in the living room with sleeping bags and popcorn, a lot of sleep sounds, and a lot of mom and dad sleeping on an air mattress in her room. I fully understand that this is not what the “experts” say we should do. Humor us, we love our kiddo. While the anxiety she was feeling was better, she was still having trouble going down before 11PM. I was getting frustrated. We went through this for a few months and things weren’t getting any better.

So my take on it? Children are perceptive. We are now one year into the pandemic and I knew she was always going to be effected in one way or another. I was waiting to see how that was going to manifest itself. It came in the form of insomnia and anxiety. But how do we solve this problem. She was already really active during the day and we had already dropped her last nap. So what to do?

I spoke to a dear friend from Colorado who happens to be a card carrying member of the church of Hippy Dippy Woo Woo. She suggested I buy rose quartz, selenite, and Celestine. Then we were to place it around her room and keep them around her starting later in the day. I was skeptical. My previous belief about healing crystals was that they were bullshit. Placebos at best. That being said, healing crystals are inexpensive, easy to find (Did I mention I live in Eugene?), and wouldn’t hurt to try. So I gave it a whirl… What is the worst that could happen?

A little girl and her mineralogist.

Naturally when shopping for crystals, I brought Elaine with me and we made a day of it. She wore her favorite dress and we stopped to get Dutch Brothers beforehand. My friend mentioned that a good idea was to let Elaine pick them out herself. I told Elaine we were shopping for treasures. She was 100% INTO IT. Not a surprise. What three year old wouldn’t want to go shopping for gems?! We went to a shop in Eugene called 5 Elements Mineral and Crystals and had a pretty great experience. It was shockingly kid friendly. Anything that was not to be touched was up high and in glass displays, everything else was for touching, examining, and checking out. They also had a “Free box” that had some small wind up kids toys, large rocks, and a few other items. I’m always impressed when shops like these are kid friendly.

The owner of the shop was kind man who knew everything there was to know about minerals and rocks. He immediately engaged Elaine and asked if she was out having an adventure. He was also very helpful in finding what we were looking for. I let Elaine pick out a few of each kind of stone that was suggested and we were on our way.

Moment of truth…

The evening came and we set out the crystals around the living room where we were hanging out before bed. She seemed calm but nothing crazy different. I let her play with them for a bit and do a little show and tell for her dad. When it was time to go to bed, we made it an activity. We picked where she would put them, she had one she liked a lot and I let her put it in her pillow case. I told her I would hang out with her while she fell asleep. The time was 8:30. I thought, “Ok, lets see how well these work”. She didn’t fall asleep right away, but she was asleep within 30 minutes of climbing into bed and didn’t wake up for the rest of the night.

The skeptic in me thought that it was purely a coincidence. So we tried it again the next night. She was asleep by 8:45. I thought “What is happening?”. The following evening I pulled them from her room and put them in our room. She didn’t fall asleep until 10:15 (which is still an improvement), but my husband had the best night sleep he had in weeks. He didn’t even know I put the crystals in there. What did I just stumble upon? Are these actually working??

So I guess we are hippies now.

After this I did a deep dive into healing crystals. Researched and researched. Bought some crystals from a mystic in Temecula (I mean… I don’t know?? why not?). I bought citrine and star aragonite and placed them around my workspace with an amplifying quartz to bring creativity, calmness, and proficiency to its environment. I put green calcite and smokey quartz with a large amethyst in our bedroom to expel negative energy and anxiety to help us relax and go to sleep. I also started meditating again and have added certain crystals to my meditation practice.

Are they all working? I have no idea if it’s them or other outside factors, however there is a noticeable shift change in the environment of our home. Everyone is calmer. That includes the dog and the infant. The common denominator with most of the crystals is their ability to ease anxiety. It seems they are doing the trick.

Is it placebo? Do we care?

The healing properties of crystals have been a source of study for over 5000 years. So many books on the chakras mention the use of them to balance the different types of energies that they shouldn’t be completely counted out as a source of healing. That is just a simple explanation of how I view it. It of course goes much deeper than that. If you are curious about this even from a skeptical point of view it is worth checking out.

All that being said… these might be placebos. But why should we care as long as they work. Ask any accredited doctor about their opinions on placebos and they will tell you that as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone, why not? Whatever works to heal what needs to be healed.

Side Note: WTF is a Chakra?

I have mentioned the chakras a few times in this post. If you know absolutely nothing about the chakras then I would watch the Bro Science Guide to Chakras I have added below. He is far and away better at explaining them than I am. If you enjoy this, I recommend following Clark on YouTube because he has some great information on the study of chakras, journaling, breath work, crystals, healing practices, etc.

Crystals and moving forward.

The verdict? I like what I’m seeing so far. So far they are doing what they are allegedly supposed to be doing. It’s definitely something that I find fascinating. I don’t know how deep I am going to go into this or if I believe everything I have read from those who are experts on crystals. At minimum it makes for something interesting to read and think about. As long as Elaine continues to fall asleep between 8:30-9:30 then I am a believer.