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Using crystals or stones for healing is an alternative therapeutic technique that is used for alleviating conditions and protecting against disease. Using crystals for healing dates centuries back. It is believed that crystals assist in the healing of different ailments by allowing soothing healing energy to flow into the body as negative, disease-causing energy flows out.
You might know or have heard of someone who believes in the power of crystals and you may be wondering about how it truly works.. Truth is, we don't know. Some people find them extremely helpful and others doubt their validity. Crystal healing IS considered a pseudoscience given that there is no scientific evidence of crystals healing conditions. However, some affirm that crystals have acted as conduits in their healing process. Who is to say who is right and who is wrong? Ultimately, using crystals for healing is a personal decision and I would not allow others to dictate whether you should or shouldn't consider them. Now, in no way shape or form am I saying that you should use crystals in replacement of psychotherapy, medication, support groups, lifestyle changes, nutritional changes, etc. These are SIGNIFICANT factors that you, of course, want to incorporate in your life if you are already struggling with your mental health. Crystals should not replace any of these nor medical advice at all. Simply, they are used as aids to further support you in your already established healing/therapeutic experiences and activities.
Now, for those of us that still feel "iffy" or undecided about crystals, I would propose for you to see them as symbols or personal reminders for you. In fact, this is the bulk of the work for those of us who already use crystals for healing and believe in their power!
In my own journey of mental health recovery, I found crystals to be grounding, affirming, and gentle reminders of the issues I wanted to work on or stay focused on. Think about them as spiritual, emotional, and mental anchors. I hand selected different crystals and bundled them together for four different life experiences with the purpose of assisting anyone going through this specific journey. I also created affirmations to couple with each crystal to assist you in this topic.
"Think about them as spiritual, emotional, and mental anchors."
Crystals for Depression
Citrine (Creating Happiness & Abundance)
Citrine is known for assisting with creativity, happiness, and abundance. It helps with eliciting a helpful and positive mindset. It aids in staying true to your desires and wishes especially during changes and life transitions. It promotes feelings of self-worth and self-esteem while detaching from destructive thoughts and tendencies. It redirects you in owning your personal strength and sense of purpose. It aids in healing the solar plexus chakra.
Affirmation: I am creating the life I want one step at a time.
Red Jasper (Courage)
Red Jasper is a stone of empowerment. It is used to empower one to be firm and resist emotional domination from others and brings courage to overcome painful attachments. It supports you during times of stress by preparing you to fully be yourself and not hold back. Red Jasper assists with feeling peaceful confidence by gently stimulating your energy and helping you to face your problems head-on. It helps those in the process of healing and recovering from unwanted sexual experiences. It aids in re-activating a passion for living and is used to tap into your sexual or creative energies. It supports in releasing shame and guilt about sexual expression and/or orientation. It is associated with the sacral and root chakras.
Affirmation: I can begin to use my courage, even in the face of fear, to act on my essential needs.
Amethyst (Serenity & Intuition)
Amethyst is considered the stone of calm, peace, and stability. It centers one’s emotions creating serenity, balance, and patience. It promotes intuition, assists with anxiety, insomnia, fear, loss, and rage, and enhances sobriety. It is associated with the crown chakra.
Affirmation: I can choose to find serenity within.
Tiger's Eye (Personal Power)
It is known as the stone of personal power and inner vision. It allows you to see the truth (even if we do not want to) in situations, encourages wise use of personal power, assertiveness, and gives clarity to intention. It is also known as a protective stone that has been used to ward off negative energies in the environment. It brings comfort in confrontational situations and withstanding one’s ground. It reminds you to choose yourself first in any experiences or decisions in your life therefore aiding against oppression and depression. Tiger’s eye is a stone that has the energy of the Earth and Sun to which provides a balanced vibrational healing. It is mostly associated with healing of the solar plexus.
Affirmation: I can begin to acknowledge my power, to harness it, to accept it, and to use it wisely for my healing.
Chrysocolla (Communication)
Chrysocolla has been known as a stone of communication and reassurance. Chrysocolla is a gentle stone which dispels fear and guilt, balances emotions, encourages communication and can help you find your voice. This stone helps in discovering your own power and expressing your feelings. It is known as a healing stone in Native American culture as it is known to bring tranquility, peace, intuition, patience and unconditional love to oneself. It also assists in connecting with our feminine energy. It is connected to the heart and throat chakras.
Affirmation: I can calmly and confidently express myself and my emotions.
Sun Stone (Optimism)
Sun stone allows you to step into self-empowerment and a positive outlook. It assists with boundary setting and co-dependency. It helps to release repressed emotions by shining a light on them and supports you in speaking your truth. Though it is known for increasing optimism, it does not coat what is really happening. It assists the individual in having a healthy and balanced mindset and having optimism when it is warranted. It supports us in having a full spectrum of emotions and acknowledges that emotional intelligence comes from feeling rooted in self-worth, self-value, and the understanding that no matter what happens to us, we all share the same light. This stone is associated with the sacral chakra.
Affirmation: I choose to see the light within myself and in every situation.
Sodalite (Self-Truth)
Sodalite is the stone of insight and awareness. It highlights your intuitive and observation abilities allowing you to uncover your truth and stand up for what you believe in. It supports us in releasing conditioned fears that hold us back from being who we truly are thus promoting self-trust and self-acceptance. It supports a non-negative, unbiased, and clear communicative energy that is beneficial to those who need to share their truth. It opens the hidden parts of our consciousness and throat chakra, thereby increasing the probability of us understanding the truth within us.
Affirmation: It may be painful to see my truth but acknowledging it will set me free.
Crystals for Anxiety
Amethyst (Serenity & Intuition)
Amethyst is considered the stone of calm, peace, and stability. It centers one’s emotions creating serenity, balance, and patience. It promotes intuition, assists with anxiety, insomnia, fear, loss, and rage, and enhances sobriety. It is associated with the crown chakra.
Affirmation: I can choose to find serenity within.
Smoky Quartz (Protective & Grounding)
Smoky Quartz is a protective, mood-lifting, and grounding stone. It assists with clearing negative energies and emotional blockages. It clarifies what is no longer for our growth. It aids also with meditation and is connected to the root chakra.
Affirmation: I am deeply grounded in the present and I let go of the energies from the past so that I can move forward with clarity.
Angelite (Awareness & Spiritual Connection)
Angelite is known to bring self and spiritual awareness. It is known as a stone that helps us connect with our angel guides and guardians. Whenever we feel disconnected from our higher power, it aids in bringing us back to our spiritual awareness thus acknowledging that the universe has our back. Angelite is associated with the throat, third eye, and crown chakras.
Affirmation: I connect to my higher power/order and notice how I feel.
Sodalite (Self-Truth)
Sodalite is the stone of insight and awareness. It highlights your intuitive and observation abilities allowing you to uncover your truth and stand up for what you believe in. It supports us in releasing conditioned fears that hold us back from being who we truly are thus promoting self-trust and self-acceptance. It supports a non-negative, unbiased, and clear communicative energy that is beneficial to those who need to share their truth. It opens the hidden parts of our consciousness and throat chakra, thereby increasing the probability of us understanding the truth within us.
Affirmation: It may be painful to see my truth but acknowledging it will set me free.
Citrine (Creating Happiness & Abundance)
Citrine is known for assisting with creativity, happiness, and abundance. It helps with eliciting a helpful and positive mindset. It aids in staying true to your desires and wishes especially during changes and life transitions. It promotes feelings of self-worth and self-esteem while detaching from destructive thoughts and tendencies. It redirects you in owning your personal strength and sense of purpose. It aids in healing the solar plexus chakra.
Affirmation: I am creating the life I want one step at a time.
Rose Quartz (Unconditional Love)
Rose Quartz is the stone of universal love. It promotes unconditional love, peace, forgiveness, and compassion. It provides soothing and healing energy for the heart and aids in forgiveness whether it be to yourself or others. It aids you to be gentle with yourself and develop self-love, self- trust, self-worth and self-confidence. It promotes self-soothing and emotional harmony. It assists with any emotional imbalance or heart chakra healing.
Affirmation: I can begin to love unconditionally all those parts of myself that have been hurt. It is okay for me to do so.
Tiger's Eye (Personal Power)
It is known as the stone of personal power and inner vision. It allows you to see the truth (even if we do not want to) in situations, encourages wise use of personal power, assertiveness, and gives clarity to intention. It is also known as a protective stone that has been used to ward off negative energies in the environment. It brings comfort in confrontational situations and withstanding one’s ground. It reminds you to choose yourself first in any experiences or decisions in your life therefore aiding against oppression and depression. Tiger’s eye is a stone that has the energy of the Earth and Sun to which provides a balanced vibrational healing. It is mostly associated with healing of the solar plexus.
Affirmation: I can begin to acknowledge my power, to harness it, to accept it, and to use it wisely for my healing.
Crystals for Stages of Grief
Apache Tears Obsidian (Emotional Healing & Grief) - DENIAL
When we experience grief or trauma, our emotions feel like they get frozen in our bodies with nowhere to go. Apache tears helps this frozen stream of emotion start to flow again and it supports releasing any locked-up grief. If you find yourself not wanting to tap into your emotions because they seem overwhelming or already feel overwhelmed by your emotions, Apache tears will support you in this process. This stone reminds us that pain is not any less spiritual, not something to be avoided, and an inherent part of the human experience. By touching deep into our grief, we renew our connections with all the humans who have mourned before us. We expand our ability to spiritually surrender and gain insight on what it means to be human. When we process our pain instead of avoiding it, we gain access to a much wider range of internal responses to life and become a better friend to others who are suffering. Ultimately grief can become our greatest spiritual teacher. This stone is associated with the root chakra. Legend says that Apache tears were formed from the tears of Apache widowed women grieving their lost warrior husbands.
Affirmation: I can begin to tap into my sorrow, my pain. It is safe to do so.
Rose Quartz (Unconditional Love) - GUILT
Rose Quartz is the stone of universal love. It promotes unconditional love, peace, forgiveness, and compassion. It provides soothing and healing energy for the heart and aids in forgiveness whether it be to yourself or others. It aids you to be gentle with yourself and develop self-love, self- trust, self-worth and self-confidence. It promotes self-soothing and emotional harmony. It assists with any emotional imbalance or heart chakra healing.
Affirmation: I can begin to love unconditionally all those parts of myself that have been hurt. It is okay for me to do so.
Amethyst (Serenity & Intuition) - ANGER
Amethyst is considered the stone of calm, peace, and stability. It centers one’s emotions creating serenity, balance, and patience. It promotes intuition, assists with anxiety, insomnia, fear, loss, and rage, and enhances sobriety. It is associated with the crown chakra.
Affirmation: I can choose to find serenity within.
Smoky Quartz (Protective & Grounding) - DEPRESSION
Smoky Quartz is a protective, mood-lifting, and grounding stone. It assists with clearing negative energies and emotional blockages. It clarifies what is no longer for our growth. It aids also with meditation and is connected to the root chakra.
Affirmation: I am deeply grounded in the present and I let go of the energies from the past so that I can move forward with clarity.
Angelite (Awareness & Spiritual Connection) - ACCEPTANCE
Angelite is known to bring self and spiritual awareness. It is known as a stone that helps us connect with our angel guides and guardians. Whenever we feel disconnected from our higher power, it aids in bringing us back to our spiritual awareness thus acknowledging that the universe has our back. Angelite is associated with the throat, third eye, and crown chakras.
Affirmation: I connect to my higher power/order and notice how I feel.
Crystals for Addiction/Use Disorders
Clear Quartz (Clarity)
Clear Quartz is known as the stone of clarity. It aids us in meditation and connects us to our intuition. It supports us in seeing things clearly for what they are and dissolving thoughts that not attuned with truth. It is a go-to stone when one feels emotionally unwell, stressed, confused, or simply need guidance. When we feel lost with no direction, it aids us in focusing on the bigger vision for our life as it helps you align to your goals and biggest dreams. It amplifies any healing work taking place and multiplies the power of other crystals used in healing. It assists with balancing all chakras and is particularly known for stimulating the crown chakra.
Affirmation: My mind can be a whirlwind of thoughts sometimes, yet I can choose to create moments of stillness so that I can attend to myself.
Amethyst (Serenity & Intuition)
Amethyst is considered the stone of calm, peace, and stability. It centers one’s emotions creating serenity, balance, and patience. It promotes intuition, assists with anxiety, insomnia, fear, loss, and rage, and enhances sobriety. It is associated with the crown chakra.
Affirmation: I can choose to find serenity within.
Rose Quartz (Unconditional Love & Peace)
Rose Quartz is the stone of universal love. It promotes unconditional love, peace, forgiveness, and compassion. It provides soothing and healing energy for the heart and aids in forgiveness whether it be to yourself or others. It aids you to be gentle with yourself and develop self-love, self- trust, self-worth and self-confidence. It promotes self-soothing and emotional harmony. It assists with any emotional imbalance or heart chakra healing.
Affirmation: I can begin to love unconditionally all those parts of myself that have been hurt. It is okay for me to do so.
Tiger's Eye (Personal Power)
It is known as the stone of personal power and inner vision. It allows you to see the truth (even if we do not want to) in situations, encourages wise use of personal power, assertiveness, and gives clarity to intention. It is also known as a protective stone that has been used to ward off negative energies in the environment. It brings comfort in confrontational situations and withstanding one’s ground. It reminds you to choose yourself first in any experiences or decisions in your life therefore aiding against oppression and depression. Tiger’s eye is a stone that has the energy of the Earth and Sun to which provides a balanced vibrational healing. It is mostly associated with healing of the solar plexus.
Affirmation: I can begin to acknowledge my power, to harness it, to accept it, and to use it wisely for my healing.
Red Jasper (Courage)
Red Jasper is a stone of empowerment. It is used to empower one to be firm and resist emotional domination from others and brings courage to overcome painful attachments. It supports you during times of stress by preparing you to fully be yourself and not hold back. Red Jasper assists with feeling peaceful confidence by gently stimulating your energy and helping you to face your problems head-on. It helps those in the process of healing and recovering from unwanted sexual experiences. It aids in re-activating a passion for living and is used to tap into your sexual or creative energies. It supports in releasing shame and guilt about sexual expression and/or orientation. It is associated with the sacral and root chakras.
Affirmation: I can begin to use my courage, even in the face of fear, to act on my essential needs.
Apache Tears Obsidian (Emotional Healing & Grief)
When we experience grief or trauma, our emotions feel like they get frozen in our bodies with nowhere to go. Apache tears helps this frozen stream of emotion start to flow again and it supports releasing any locked-up grief. If you find yourself not wanting to tap into your emotions because they seem overwhelming or already feel overwhelmed by your emotions, Apache tears will support you in this process. This stone reminds us that pain is not any less spiritual, not something to be avoided, and an inherent part of the human experience. By touching deep into our grief, we renew our connections with all the humans who have mourned before us. We expand our ability to spiritually surrender and gain insight on what it means to be human. When we process our pain instead of avoiding it, we gain access to a much wider range of internal responses to life and become a better friend to others who are suffering. Ultimately grief can become our greatest spiritual teacher. This stone is associated with the root chakra. Legend says that Apache tears were formed from the tears of Apache widowed women grieving their lost warrior husbands.
Affirmation: I can begin to tap into my sorrow, my pain. It is safe to do so.
Sodalite (Self-Truth)
Sodalite is the stone of insight and awareness. It highlights your intuitive and observation abilities allowing you to uncover your truth and stand up for what you believe in. It supports us in releasing conditioned fears that hold us back from being who we truly are thus promoting self-trust and self-acceptance. It supports a non-negative, unbiased, and clear communicative energy that is beneficial to those who need to share their truth. It opens the hidden parts of our consciousness and throat chakra, thereby increasing the probability of us understanding the truth within us.
Affirmation: It may be painful to see my truth but acknowledging it will set me free.
The serenity prayer can also be used as a beautiful affirmation with these crystals as well.
"God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and Wisdom to know the difference."
All of our crystal sets include a free selenite crystal for cleansing each set.
Footnotes
1. Emma, “Apache Tears Meaning & Properties”, Crystal Curious, accessed April 3, 2021, https://crystalcurious.com/crystals/apache-tears/
2. Clarity Center, “Crystals For Trauma Healing”, accessed April 4, 2021, https://www.myclaritycenter.com/post/crystals-for-trauma-healing#:~:text=Chrysocolla%20is%20a%20gentle%20stone,power%20and%20expressing%20your%20feelings.
3. Tiny Rituals, “Sunstone Meaning: Healing Properties & Everyday Uses”, accessed April 20, 2021, https://tinyrituals.co/blogs/tiny-rituals/sunstone-meaning-healing-properties-everyday-uses
4. Crystal Earth Spirit, “Crystal Meanings”, accessed April 4, 2021, https://crystalearthspirit.com/pages/crystal-meanings
5. Fire Mountain Gems, “Angelite Meaning and Properties”, accessed March 20, 2021, https://www.firemountaingems.com/resources/encyclobeadia/gem-notes/ha56#:~:text=Angelite%20is%20thought%20to%20improve,that%20is%20calming%20and%20soothing.
6. Brown, Kristen, “5 Amazing Benefits of Clear Quartz”, The Brain Health Magazine, September 5, 2019, accessed April 4, 2021, https://thebrainhealthmagazine.com/healthy-living/5-amazing-benefits-of-clear-quartz/#:~:text=Quartz%20is%20great%20for%20bringing,the%20effects%20of%20Clear%20Quartz.
7. Casa Alhambra Crystals, “All Gemstones Descriptions”, accessed April 5, 2021, https://casaalhambra.com.au/blogs/crystal-descriptions/all-gemstones-descriptions
8. Niebuhr, Reinhold, “Serenity Prayer”, Alcoholics Anonymous, written 1932, accessed April 6, 2021, https://www.aa.org/assets/en_US/smf-129_en.pdf