CHOOSING THE BEST HEALING CRYSTALS FOR YOUR SPECIFIC NEEDS

It’s a good guess that from the dawn of mankind, humans have had an interest in, and attraction to, crystals and stones. The Sumerians, in what is now the Middle East, used crystals in their magical rituals 5,000 years ago. Over 2,000 years ago both the Egyptians and Greeks used crystals as jewelry and as aids for protection and health. These peoples assigned different healing properties to different crystals — something that energy healers do to this day.

You can collect and keep any of the countless types of crystals based solely on which ones appeal to your sense of beauty. But you can also choose specific kinds of crystals to place in your house or keep on your person based on your intentions — your specific healing needs or goals.

Some types of crystals, such as emeralds and rose quartz, are best for those looking for love. For gaining mental clarity, a person might choose to keep amethyst or citrine nearby. If you’re prone to feeling stressed or suffer from anxiety, aquamarine or clear quartz would be good crystal candidates to keep in your home. Whatever your intentions, or needs, there’s at least one type of crystal out there that will be perfect for you.

Popular Crystals and Their Meanings

The first step to take when working with crystals is to choose an intention, or goal, that you’d like work on. Is a lack of confidence holding you back? Do you find that happiness is elusive? Are you missing intimacy in a personal relationship? Different crystals hold energies for different intentions. Once you’ve identified an intention to work on, now choose a crystal — or crystals — best known for properties related to that intention.

If you’re new to crystals you might consider buying an inexpensive “starter kit” that includes several modestly sized crystals (each about 1″ or so in size) so that you’ll have a nice variety of stones to look at, hold, and study. Some online crystal stores carry such assortments for a very low cost — Exquisite Crystals has a tumbled stone chakra crystals set consisting of seven crystals for only about $25. This set — pictured below — includes stones that each correspond to one of the seven main chakras.

Chakras are an ancient Chinese concept that states that different areas of the body correspond to different body energy points. Many modern energy healers believe that the interactions and movements of the molecules that make up the internal structures of different crystals emit energies that can affect different chakras. You’ll find more information on the use of crystals to affect chakras here. Even if you aren’t interested in chakras, the chakra crystal set is nice assortment of stones that can serve as a good starting point for a crystal collection.

Agate Healing Properties

Agates are stones that have been popular with people for over 10,000 years. We know this because agates have been found among the artifacts of people who lived by the Achetes river — in what is now Sicily — during the Neolithic period of the Stone Age. In fact, the name agate comes from the name of the river Achetes.

Agates that are pure — that have no embedded minerals — are white, gray, or a mix of blue and gray. When agates are formed with hydroxides and iron oxides present, the resulting crystals take on one of more than a dozen different colors, with gray, white, salmon, pink, brown, and orange the most common. Less common is the blue agate. In many cases the blue color of blue agate is achieved by dyeing. There are, however, naturally colored blue agates — namely the Holley blue agate and the blue lace agate.

Agate Spiritual Properties

Agate’s spiritualization comes in the form of encouraging contemplation and calmness. This crystal raises your own consciousness, as well as increases your awareness of the collective consciousness of all life. This contemplative effect leads to an inner stability and spiritual growth.

In general, crystals of all types work holistically to some extent. That is, one crystal benefits several aspects or intentions. With that said, most crystals supply more of a benefit to one dimension of our being. Agate is different in that its work is quite diverse — it provides strong effects on multidimensions. That’s why many people well-versed in multi-dimensional healing — an approach to wellness that focuses on restoring wholeness to all aspects of oneself — include agate in their energy healing sessions.

Agate Mental and Emotional Properties

Agates improve mental function due to their ability to enhance analytical abilities, and improve perception, decision-making, and concentration.

Unlike many crystals that are thought to be of a dreamy, elevating nature, the agate is known as a grounding stone — it can provide a base in reality and keep you balanced. Agate will help you connect with your existing intuition and knowledge, and keep your mind clear and sharp.

With agate, courage and strength are enhanced, and inner anger can subside, making it a good stone to combat anxiety, depression, and emotional trauma. The blue agate crystal healing properties include loyalty, truth, and reliability.

Amethyst Healing Properties

Amethyst is easily one of the most well-known and popular crystals. Even people who have no knowledge or interest in crystals or energy healing have heard of amethyst, and may even own a piece of jewelry that includes this stone.

A geode is a rock with an internal cavity lined with crystal. One of the most common crystals lining geodes is amethyst. Geodes are another reason so many people know about amethyst — just about everyone is familiar with pictures of these incredible rock structures lined with beautiful purple amethyst crystals. The much rarer green amethyst is found and mined only in Brazil.

Amethyst Spiritual Properties

Amethyst is a very spiritual crystal — perhaps the most spiritual of all gemstones. Amethyst is a mediator between our emotional, mental, and physical self, and the spiritual. As such it builds spiritual awakening and awareness.

Amethyst can help to put you in touch with your spiritual guides and angels. For those with an interest in the Akashic Records, possessing amethysts can facilitate the process of accessing and understanding the Records.

This crystal is a natural soother and tranquillizer that can block negative energies and lessen stress. Psychics feel that amethyst enhances their abilities, but this stone can improve the intuition and psychic gifts that all of possess to some extent.

Amethyst Mental and Emotional Properties

Amethyst’s calming properties can reduce anxiety and stress and eliminate brain fog and confusion, thereby allowing a person to become more focused and to think clearly and decisively. This crystal improves motivation and enhances memory, allowing you to set and and reach realistic goals. Green amethyst healing properties are protective ones — this gemstone is often carried for protection from harm and injury.

The anxiety reduction of amethyst applies to night as well as day, meaning a lessening of insomnia caused by an over-active mind, as well as a reduction in recurring nightmares for people who suffer from these experiences.

Amethyst’s calming effects make it a good stone to have in hand or nearby when meditating. The inner-peace brought on by amethyst helps to balance highs and lows, and makes dealing with grief and sadness more tolerable. The tranquil nature of this gemstone dispels self-harming fear, rage, or anger.

Bloodstone Healing Properties

The ancient Greeks called bloodstone heliotrope, which translates to sun turner or sun stone, because of their belief that the stone could change the color of sun rays that reflect off of it. They believed the gods had imbued the stone with powerful healing powers — especially blood-related illness or disease.

The two main types of bloodstone are the Indian bloodstone and the African bloodstone. Indian bloodstone, also referred to as heliotrope, is a deep, dark green with specks of red. African bloodstone is also called setonite or dragon’s blood. Its green is usually lighter than Indian bloodstone, and its red spots are typically larger and splotchier than the red found on Indian bloodstone.

Bloodstone Spiritual Properties

The ancient Greeks believed their gods had given bloodstone heavenly powers. The belief that the stone had religious, or spiritual, healing powers was further enhanced during the Middle Ages when some Christians linked the stone to the crucifixion of Christ — the legend being that the blood of Christ’s wounds dripped down on to the dark green earth, turning it to stone.

The belief that bloodstone represents purity of blood doesn’t just involve the physical — it extends to the spiritual as well. Purity of blood is associated with vitality, and life itself, but it is also affiliated with spiritual rebirth or awakening. Being around bloodstone can help you develop new insights and perceptions about yourself, and positively transform you from the inside out.

In general, bloodstone represents safety and security, and can help you face your transformation not with apprehension, but rather with a sense of vigor, excitement, and resilience. African bloodstone healing properties also include purification and courage, and intensive healing. The Indian bloodstone brings balance and stability.

Bloodstone Mental and Emotional Properties

Bloodstone represents stability and calmness, which you can use to eliminate confusion and and stabilize your thoughts. If you’re mentally exhausted or drained, bloodstone can provide you with a mental “kick” by serving to remind you of the importance of being mindful and diligent.

While it has a property of calmness, bloodstone is also energizing. Not an excitable, frantic energy, but rather a motivational, driven energy that can help you focus your mind and keep on track to enthusiastically work towards your goals. Your concentration will increase and you’ll feel a sense of presence and living “in the now.” African bloodstone healing properties also include purification and courage, and intensive healing. The Indian bloodstone brings balance and stability.

Are you the type of person prone to over-thinking and over-planning? Bloodstone will stabilize your thoughts and remove emotional blockages, allowing you to welcome challenges and work to overcome them.

Bloodstones were carried into battle by ancient warriors to boost their resilience, courage, and strength. The stone imparts a feeling of safety and confidence, increasing your feelings of self-worth and raising your trust in yourself and your higher purpose. Bringing out feelings of altruism, kindness, and noble sacrifice are all traits of this beautiful and powerful gemstone.

Carnelian Healing Properties

Carnelian is a red, orange-red, or yellow stone that is actually quartz with embedded impurities — mostly iron. The stone’s name comes from the Latin word for flesh, and was chosen perhaps because the stone’s often deep red color was associated with the color of blood and of flesh beneath the skin. Carnelian is also referred to as the singers stone, sunset stone, and artist’s stone. Symbolically, the carnelian meaning and healing properties come down to vitality, health, and warmth.

Carnelian Spiritual Properties

Carnelian is known for its property of an energy associated with vitality and life. This stone can help you accept the natural cycle of life of birth, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and, yes, even death.

This power to bring acceptance of all of life’s journey makes this stone a good choice to carry to help you understand who you are, at to embrace all that you are at all levels. Carnelian serves as an anchor to provide comfort in difficult times, and can help you reach your goals and follow your dreams. It will serve you well on your spiritual journey through this life.

The beautiful vibrant, fiery color of Carnelian inspires creativity, and even simply looking at the stone can simulate joy, confidence, motivation, and passion.

Carnelian Mental and Emotional Properties

Carnelian’s energy extends to the cerebral, and can clear your perception and hone your analytical powers. This stone will clear your mind to sharpen you concentration and boost your visualization skills.

The burst of mental energy Carnelian provides inspires you to accept, and conquer, creative projects — which may be one reason Carnelian is also referred to as the Artist’s Stone.

The creative nature of this crystal can help you emotionally by allowing you to more readily explore your emotions through writing, music, art, or any other creative outlet. You’ll be better able to come to terms, and even embrace, feelings and emotions you experienced during past difficulties and challenges so that you can move forward in life.

Orange carnelian healing properties are joyful — it’s a sharing stone of family unity, friendship, happiness, and enjoyment. Red carnelian healing properties are ones of inspiration. This red gemstone instills self-assurance and a sense of confidence. Red is the color of energy, passion, and life.

Citrine Healing Properties

Citrine is a type of quartz with a color ranging from light yellow to a dark yellow-orange. The name citrine comes from citron, the French word for lemon.

As with other types of colored quartz, such as carnelian, citrine gets its color from inclusions (material trapped inside during formation) of minerals. The mineral embedded in citrine is colloidal iron hydrate, which is a form of iron that itself has other materials within it.

Citrine Spiritual Properties

Citrine crystal properties include enhancing any connections you have with your divine nature. The more you are aware of your spirituality, the more you will benefit from it.

Citrine is also known as Light Maker, and it lives up to that name by projecting light into your life as it dispenses any negativity that surrounds you. It’s a joy-filled stone that increases happiness and optimism, and rids you of a bad attitude should you be feeling down or depressed.

Citrine can increase your psychic powers and give you a better understanding of psychic information you feel you may be experiencing.

Citrine is manifesting stone — you can project your hopes, dreams, and desires into the gemstone, and this crystal takes them in contributes to turning them into reality.

Citrine Mental and Emotional Properties

Citrine is an excellent stone for stimulating the mind. It brings mental clarity and stimulates the memory, thereby increasing your problem-solving skills and ability to draw correct conclusions quickly. This stone enhances creative visualizations which helps you turn desires and goals from thoughts to reality. With citrine nearby to stimulate your mind, your passionate work will be paid off in success.

Citrine is a stone you’ll want to have in your gem collection if you suffer from depression or low self-esteem. Citrine is all about positivity, so it raises self-confidence and esteem, and reduces destructive tendencies. You’ll become less sensitive to criticism and better able to overcome self-doubt.

With citrine, the inner-calm and positive attitude you’ll develop will make you more emotionally balanced, extroverted, and optimistic.

Clear Quartz Healing Properties

Clear quartz, also called white quartz, crystal quartz, or rock crystal, is a clear, translucent stone, though some specimens may have a less clear, milky look.

The word quartz comes from the Greek word for ice, and the ancient Greeks believed that this crystal was a type of permanent, always-cold, ice. In the Middle Ages European psychics and clairvoyants predicted the future using crystal balls made from clear quartz.

Clear quartz is often referred to as the Master Healer, due to its many healing properties and the belief that it enhances, and recharges, the powers of other healing stones that are in its presence. Because of this, people new to crystal healing often start with clear quartz. The clear quartz crystal properties have given this gemstone the well-deserved reputation as a “cure-all” gemstone that assists in overall healing emotionally, spiritually, and mentally.

Clear Quartz Spiritual Properties

As mentioned earlier, quartz acts as a go-between of the physical and spiritual worlds, and is therefore a good crystal to possess when accessing the Akashic Records. The fact that clear quartz is also referred to as Spirit Stone hints that when it comes to this endeavor, clear quartz may be the most powerful of all the varieties of quartz crystals.

A person doesn’t have to be versed in the concept of the Akashic Records to take advantage of the spirituality of clear quartz. While it’s a beneficial guide for very spiritual people, it’s also helpful for anyone just starting to explore their spiritual nature. It’s a helpful stone to possess while meditating, loosening blocked emotions and helping to guide you in your quest to personal growth and inner peace.

Clear Quartz Mental and Emotional Properties

Carrying clear crystal assists in memory retention, improves concentration, sharpens focus, and blocks distractions. It’s no wonder that both students and people with attention-demanding jobs love this gemstone.

Clear crystal is a balancer that promotes joy and happiness — so it’s perfect to keep around if you suffer from anxiety, dark moods, or harmful thoughts and emotions. Clear crystal will give you a better outlook on the world and increase your perseverance and patience. For anyone feeling down, this amazing gemstone is of great help in bringing about emotional balance and encouraging more love and laughter.

This all-round stabilizing and energy-inducing stone is a crystal you’ll want to always have with you — and the more contact you have with it, the more beneficial its powers become.

Emerald Healing Properties

Beryl is a gemstone that most people aren’t familiar with, but it’s a very important stone nonetheless. In its pure form beryl is colorless. When impurities are introduced during its formation, though, it becomes one of several well-known and much-loved crystals. Emeralds are a light green to deep, rich green type of beryl — an emerald is beryl that was formed with the mineral chromium present.

Emeralds were sold in the markets of Babylon several thousands of years ago, and have been revered ever since. The ancient Greek king Alexander the Great carried an emerald as a talisman (an object with magical powers), as did the medieval emperor King Charlemagne. Egyptians considered the Emerald a symbol of eternal life, and emeralds were worshiped by the Incas.

Emerald Spiritual Properties

The emerald crystal healing properties make this a stone of vision, so it’s associated with eyes and sight. But the visionary powers of this gem extend beyond the physical.

Emerald has long been considered a crystal of prophecy and intuition, and as such it can help you visualize future events and provide guidance in your life path. Wearing emerald can bring wisdom and reason, and help you realize your potential.

The emeralds calming energy brings healing at all levels, giving a vitality to your spirit. Faith, clairvoyance, and spiritual growth are all enhanced by wearing a beautiful green emerald.

Emerald Mental and Emotional Properties

For both students and those employed in a profession with high mental demands, emerald is a great crystal to keep at your desk or in your pocket. That’s because it’s a stone of wisdom that increases mental clarity and enhances memory. Emeralds increase focus and fact recall, and can improve your public speaking skills.

Emerald’s mental properties aren’t high energy or intense. Instead, the crystal encourages a thoughtful manner and self-confidence, and helps you organize your thoughts so that you do only what needs to be done for any given time and place.

The cool confidence of emerald is helpful to the over-stressed, as it helps with nervousness and anxiety. Emerald aligns and calms the emotional body to bring balance to your life.

Emerald is a crystal of the heart, as its alternate name of the Stone of Successful Love makes clear. Emeralds supply an energy of abundance, gentleness, encouragement, and hope. Wearing an emerald can help to heal a heartbreak, and supply you with the strength to overcome misfortunes — romantic or otherwise. This gem can help bring balance between you and your partner, and encourage loyalty, contentment, and domestic bliss.

Hematite Healing Properties

Iron oxides are minerals made up of iron and oxygen, and are the most abundant minerals on the Earth’s surface and crust. There are many iron oxides, and one of them is hematite. Hematite is found in a range of earthy, metallic colors from black to silver-gray, and from brown to reddish-brown or red.

Regardless of its color, a hematite stone often includes speckles or lines of blood-red, which is most likely how the stone got its name — the name hematite is derived from haima, the Greek word for blood. This also explains why hematite is also called the Iron Rose.

For thousand years the hematite crystal healing properties have caused this gemstone to be associated with both magic and blood. It’s been a popular stone with ancient warriors to give them grounding, protection, courage, strength, healing and to prevent excessive bleeding.

Hematite Spiritual Properties

Hematite, like many darker stones, has strong spiritual properties in the realm of protection. Hematite can make you feel confident and unshakable, allowing you the freedom to make decisions that align with your own unique soul. This crystal has a way of bonding the spiritual and the physical to keep your systems in balance and aligned.

If you work of live in an environment that is emotionally toxic, hematite will play a role in transforming the negative energy into the positive forces of love and light.

Hematite Mental and Emotional Properties

Hematite, sometimes referred to as the Stone of the Mind, has a grounding force that focuses the mind and improves memory. This hard, solid-looking stone will get you thinking in a solid, logical manner. With hematite in hand you’ll experience an improvement in cognitive skills such as problem-solving, debating, argumentation, and mathematics. Any student about to take an exam would be wise to study, and keep a hematite crystal in their pocket during test-taking.

The solid footing, organization, and logical reasoning you experience can extend to your material and financial life. This is an earthy stone, and Earth is the element most important to the physical world of decision-making, practical thinking, and money.

If you’re feeling anxious or stressed, the earthy, grounding properties of hematite are for you. Hematite will balance and calm you, lessening the feelings of negativity and worry that are associated with anxiety and stress.

The stability of hematite can be a blessing if you are experiencing significant life events or changes. Having this stone in your possession will help you stay grounded and remind you that it’s important to take life one step at a time. Hematite provides you with a strong foundation that helps you through the turbulent, unsettling times that we all encounter at one time or another.

Jasper Healing Properties

Jasper is a type of quartz that that contains one or more of a number of other embedded minerals. That’s why questions like “what color is jasper?” and “what does jasper look like?” have no one, simple answer. While jasper is often found in some shade of brown, there are also zebra jasper, yellow jasper, red jasper, blue jasper, green jasper, bumblebee jasper, and a dozen and one other forms.

The name jasper derives from the French jaspre, and means speckled or spotted. And indeed, few jasper stones are of one solid color.

Different types of jasper can have differing intentions, but in general all varieties of jasper are thought to be protective and grounding gemstones. Jasper crystals absorb negative energy and align and balance your yin and yang elements. The red jasper gemstone is the most frequently encountered jasper stone because this is the jasper color most abundant in nature. Red jasper crystal healing properties promote grounding, stimulates intuition, and encourages a sense of justice.

Jasper Spiritual Properties

Since ancient times jasper has been called the Supreme Nurturer due to this stone’s strengthening, comforting, and healing energies. Jasper is a stone of grounding and stability, so it’s spiritual intentions may not be as powerful as some other crystals. Jasper, however, does bring an inner peace and makes us intuitively feel as if we are each a part of a universal whole, or greater good.

While not intensely spiritual itself, jasper plays a role in aligning its mental, emotional, and physical intentions with the spiritual realm. Jasper’s grounding encourages wholeness and tranquility, which can free the mind to explore more non-earthly areas of life. Jasper’s protective nature allows you to explore your spirituality without fear of judgement or negativity.

Jasper Mental and Emotional Properties

The earthy, straightforwardness of jasper helps with organizational skills and promotes quick thinking. The stability of this stone imparts determination to help you conquer any task or assignment — even unpleasant ones that you know you’re obligated to carry out. The steadfast nature of jasper assists in transforming ideas into actions.

The energy of Jasper is grounded, relaxed, and slow, which can bring you comfort and a feeling that everything is right in your world. This stone has a way of anchoring you in the present moment, so if you have tendencies towards worry, over-thinking, or anxiety, this stone can dispel these issues.

The patience, humility, and compassion jasper imparts helps reduce insecurities and build confidence, allowing you to let go of guilt and fears so that you can better heal and move forward in life.

Obsidian Healing Properties

When magma breaks the Earth’s surface during volcanic eruptions, the flow is called lava. As lava slowly cools it forms igneous rock. Should lava come into contact with lake or ocean water, the quick-cooling lava produces a rock with a different name — obsidian. Unlike igneous rock, obsidian has a shiny, glassy texture. Knowing this, it should come as no surprise that obsidian is often referred to as volcanic glass.

While typically a shiny, solid black color, obsidian can also be dark green or brown. Lava is mostly made up of silica, but it can include other minerals and impurities such as iron or magnesium. It is these minerals that establish the color of a particular obsidian stone.

Black is the most common color of obsidian. Snowflake obsidian is black in color, but it also includes white patches called phenocryst. Snowflake obsidian is formed when lava from a volcano cools very rapidly and has a minimum of crystal growth. Snowflake obsidian crystal properties are ones of purity — this stone is symbolic of the need to frequently clear your spirit, mind, heart, and body of toxins that discourage free flowing positive energies.

Silver sheen obsidian is a rare type of obsidian that is dark gray to black, but also has an appearance of silvery sparkles when viewed in certain lighting. This stone forms when flowing lava comes into contact with hot water, trapping microscopic gas bubbles within. Silver sheen obsidian healing properties bring advantages throughout life — the stone improves the senses, sharpens perception, and heightens communication with others.

Obsidian is a very grounding stone that offers protection and stability, and promotes clarity and strength.

Obsidian Spiritual Properties

Obsidian is one of several crystals known to be powerful protectors. Obsidian’s protective nature, though, works a little differently than most protective crystals. While these other stones work by blocking negativity, obsidian draws out negativity already within your energy field. This allows you to become aware of, confront, and release these dark energies, helping you follow a path towards love and light.

Obsidian’s grounding, anchoring nature makes it a strong ally during a healing process. Its solidness provides the patience and strength that are invaluable for dealing with the challenges of overcoming situations that require long-term healing.

Obsidian isn’t always a quick-acting stone, but that’s to its advantage. It slowly reduces energy blocks, relieving tensions and allowing you to become aware of any vulnerabilities and weaknesses you may have. This process allows you to realize your true nature, and gives you the freedom to focus on your spirituality rather than only immediate, earthly issues. You’ll feel a renewed interest in exploring the unknown and the magical, and may even bring out your clairvoyant nature.

Obsidian Mental and Emotional Properties

The dark, heaviness of piece of obsidian hints that this stone doesn’t fool around. Obsidian is known for clearing confusion and bringing clarity to the mind. It sharpens your senses and lets you see things for what they really are. It’s ability to expose negativity will force you to confront issues that are limiting your intellectual and work-related endeavors.

Obsidian has a way of forcing you to come to terms with who you really are, and not who you simply think you are. To some that may sound scary, but it is instead very liberating. This process draws out tensions and mental stress, replacing this negativity with a calm, stoic resolve that is real, and not just a temporary masking of problems.

This protective stone provides you with a grounding that strengthens and protects you from negative spiritual influences and even psychic attacks.

Rhodonite Healing Properties

Rhodonite is a fairly uncommon mineral of variable composition, containing large amounts of iron, magnesium, and calcium. Rhodonite stones come in a variety of shades of red, pink, and rose. These crystals usually include black patches or veins, which come from the mineral manganese that is often embedded in the stone. Rhodonite’s name is derived from the Greek word rhodon, which means rose or rosy.

When it comes to matters of the heart, rhodonite (along with rose quartz) is a powerful crystal to have in your possession. Its ability to positively affect relationships has given this stone the alternate name of the rescue stone. Rose rhodonite is often referred to as pink rhodonite. Because these are one and the same stone, pink rhodonite healing properties are the same as rose quartz crystal healing properties.

Rhodonite Spiritual Properties

Rhodonite has the ability to help you discover your true passions, and to help you learn new skills to represent those passions. Your spirit will be lifted, and you’ll find you want to share your passions and spirituality in the support of others. You’ll want to integrate your spirituality into your everyday life such that your connections with the divine is naturally felt and absorbed by people you come into contact with.

Every person has abilities they can use not only to benefit themselves, but also others. The peaceful and loving properties of rhodonite bring out your hidden gifts and compel you to share them to add positivity to this world.

Rhodonite is often used by past-life healers because it helps with dealing with feelings of abandonment and betrayal.

Rhodonite Mental and Emotional Properties

Mental challenges are often rooted in a restless mind. If that describes you, keep a rhodonite stone with you to relax your mind to the point where you don’t feel as if you need to take things too seriously. This stone of the heart helps you connect your heart and mind, making learning and expanding your skills more effortless.

This rescue stone can act as a therapist in couples counseling would, boosting your feelings of compassion and forgiveness — two virtues essential for unconditional love to bloom. Rhodonite’s heart-based energy encourages generosity, cooperation, and love, bringing you closer to a loved-one you may have been having emotional issues with.

This stone of love isn’t just about intense love between two people. Its ability to encourage love of self helps to dispel emotional pain and feelings of resentment, anger, or hatred. In that sense rhodonite is a stone of self-worth.

Rose Quartz Healing Properties

Rose quartz is quartz that included combinations of manganese, iron, or titanium impurities during its creation — resulting in this stone’s pale to reddish pink color.

Like rhodonite, rose quartz is all about love — so much so that it is also referred to as the love crystal. Rose quartz is known for attracting and keeping love, and protecting current relationships.

Rose Quartz Spiritual Properties

There’s no doubt about it — the overriding vibe of rose quartz is feminine. And not just the physical aspect of beauty, which is what many people link “feminine” to. Rose quartz is strongly associated with the Divine Feminine — in mythology represented by Mother Earth, who was connected to the Divine Masculine represented by Father Sky.

Women were revered as powerful and beautiful, the givers of sacred life bringing children into the world by way of their life-giving love. The Divine Feminine represents creation, sensuality, morality, community, collaboration, truth, balance, and justice. We say “women were revered” … because in more recent history (here “recent” being the last few thousand years) when it comes to women the notions of power and equal status have slipped more than a little. Being in the presence of rose quartz can strengthen your feelings of power being affiliated with feminine.

Rose quartz encourages you to be gentle and humble, yet firm. There is no question of pliability or giving in, rather there is an awareness of the gentle soft nature overcoming the hard strong one. Rose quartz can make you appreciate being gentle, yet firm. This beautiful stone encourages desire, openness, helpfulness, and all aspects of love.

Rose Quartz Mental and Emotional Properties

Rose quartz can ease your troubled mind and, free from worry, you can turn your attention to practical matters of the mind. With your focus and attention on your heart, you’ll be able to arrive at a loving, peaceful solution to any problems you’re contemplating.

Rose quartz releases your negative energies, replacing them with vibrations of love and caring. This crystal will up your sensitivity and empathy, helping you gain an acceptance of the necessity for change. Want to spread love and compassion? If so, a rose quartz crystal is the perfect gift to give to a child, a friend or stranger, or a lover. Whether spoken or not, that person’s appreciation will silently spread throughout the universe.

There’s a good reason that rose quartz is also known as the Love Stone — above all, this is the crystal of love and relationships. The smooth, soothing energies of rose quartz are all about the heart, encouraging expressions and feelings of respect, understanding, compassion, happiness, warmth, and emotional health.

Rose quartz helps you understand and love others, but it also encourages you to love yourself. Only when you love, respect, and accept yourself can you be truly able to give and receive love from others.

Selenite Healing Properties

Gypsum is a very common mineral present in layers formed under salt water millions of years ago. Selenite is a very crystallized form of gypsum. Selenite is a soft stone that ranges in color from almost translucent to a milky white, and often has a pearl-like luster. The word selenite derives from selene, the Greek word for moon, and some selenite crystals do have a very moon-like glow. Selene is also the name of the Greek goddess of the moon, furthering this beautiful crystal’s connection to the moon.

Selenite, which also goes by the names rock crystal, Alaska diamond, mountain crystal, and ice crystal, is all about positive energy, purification, clarity, and consciousness.

When selenite is formed with iron oxide hematite impurities within it, the selenite takes on a peach or orange color. Such a gemstone is sold as orange selenite or peach selenite — both names apply to the same crystal. For most of its known existence orange selenite was mined in Mexico. Recently, however, large quantities were discovered in Morocco, and this discovery has brought a wealth of this beautiful gemstone to the market — which in turn has greatly decreased its price.

An orange selenite crystal has properties very similar to normal selenite. The main difference is that orange selenite takes on a heavy grounding effect due to its hematite content. Because peach and orange selenite are the same, the peach selenite healing properties and orange selenite properties are the same. Normal selenite ascends, or expands or raises, consciousness and mind — and orange selenite does as well. But orange or peach selenite also grounds both your spiritual and physical body.

Selenite Spiritual Properties

Selenite has strong feminine, love, and spiritual properties. Selenite clears energy blockages, enabling you to connect and commune with angels, spirit guides, and ancient ancestors.

Selenite warms and opens your heart, allowing you to trust spiritual messages that come down to you from up high. With selenite around you, you’ll also become attuned to your psychic capabilities and past lives, and may even open you to telepathic communication with loved ones.

Representing spiritual light, purity, and a connection to the angelic realms, selenite has been considered a sacred crystal throughout history.

Selenite Mental and Emotional Properties

Selenite is a calm, grounding stone that can clear away mental fog and fuzziness to help you concentrate and focus on just one thing at a time. This crystal can truly give you crystal-clear clarity. You’ll become more aware of the hear-and-now, and of your immediate surroundings.

Cleansed of negativity energies and thoughts, your intelligence can bond with your intuitive nature and you can fully focus on any of your intentions.

When it comes to matters of emotions, peaceful and calming selenite healing properties work to relieve all manner of anxiety, strain, and emotional stress. Selenite can lay out a foundation for long-lasting commitments, making it a crystal of partnerships. If your relationship is going through difficulties, this stone can help to eliminate the negativity and restore the strong feelings you experienced in the past.

Shungite Healing Properties

Shungite is a mineraloid — a mineral-like substance that does not demonstrate crystallinity — so technically it’s not a crystal. Nonetheless, it’s treated as a crystal and certainly has properties as powerful as any “real” crystal. This black stone is found almost exclusively in the area of Shunga, a village in Russia (and the namesake of this stone).

While shungite is made up of mostly carbon (some varieties are up to 98 percent carbon), it also consists of nearly every mineral of the periodic table. Materials that are comprised of carbon come from decayed organic matter, such as old forests. Shungite, though, is thought to be over 2 billion years old — created long before organic life existed on Earth. So the origin of this stone remains a mystery.

Shungite is also referred to as the Miracle Stone and the Stone of Life, names that come from it long being considered a powerful grounding, protective, and healing stone. For hundreds of years Russians, including Peter the Great, used shungite to purify the waters of their spas.

Shungite Spiritual Properties

Shungite crystal properties are spiritually associated with protection, energetic repatterning, clearing, and grounding. Shungite allows only beneficial and positive energies to enter your body, banishing and cleansing negative energies from your life. With negativity replaced with positivity, you’ll feel encouraged to learn and do more as you push towards spiritual breakthroughs.

Like the mysterious origins of the stone itself, shungite is associated with cosmic mysteries, and can bring light to overcome any darkness or uncertainty you’re experiencing. It’s grounding properties can help link your spiritual self to your physical being to integrate karmic lessons and cosmic wisdom.

Energy healers use shungite as a catalyst for positive growth and change. That makes this stone important for self-reflection and dropping old, dated beliefs and patterns to allow you to better become the person you want to be.

Shungite Mental and Emotional Properties

If you lack focus, the pragmatic side of shungite helps you concentrate and focus on the things that matter to you. This stone of action allows you to jump into new projects and achieve your goals. Like other black stones, shungite is grounding, so it will calm and stabilize your mind.

For the anxious, stressed, or depressed, this stone provides much sought-after relief. Uncontrollable or difficult emotions subside in the presence of this positive, grounding stone.

As mentioned, shungite has been used for hundreds of years to purify water. This same purifying property can be put to use during meditation sessions to help purify you. While holding shungite, say out loud the mantra particular to this stone: my mind is pure, my spirit is clear.

In the field of crystals, shungite is one of a select few that can play a role in protecting you from electromagnetic frequencies, or EMFs. The sun’s rays create electric and magnetic fields, or radiation. The intensity of EMFs decreases as the distance between you and the sender of these waves increases. Since Earth is so far from the sun, the EMFs we humans experience from sunlight is mild and benign. There are other sources of EMFs, though, that are much closer to us — power lines, electrical appliances, computers, and cell-phones.

With the proliferation of electronic devices, our exposure to EMFs has increased radically in just the last couple of decades, bringing concerns of overexposure from these relatively new sources of radiation. Here, shungite may come to the rescue. Shungite transforms the potentially harmful EMFs into wave forms thought to be much more compatible with our human biology — this stone works to harmonize harmful frequencies to shield your body and spirit from their negative effects. For EMF detoxification, purification, and protection, shungite has become the go-to stone to keep around.

Tiger’s Eye Healing Properties

Tiger’s eye doesn’t look much like quartz, but it is. When quartz forms in an area where the mineral crocidolite is present, the quartz slowly, gradually entirely replaces the crocidolite. In that process iron within the crocidolite dissolves, staining the quartz and giving it the distinctive wavy golden yellow to brown color that we now call tiger’s eye.

Ancient Egyptians and Romans held this stone in high esteem, believing that it provided protection and courage in battle, and strength and stability to anyone who carried it. Those properties have stuck with this crystal — tiger’s eye is associated with motivation, power, and even financial success.

Tigers Eye Colors

When most people think of a tiger’s eye gemstone they think of a gemstone with with waves, or bands, of shades of brown and gold. That makes sense, because that’s the look of the vast majority of tiger’s eye stones. But you’ll find that the stone is available in a number of different color variations.

Brown, Golden, or Yellow Tigers Eye

When someone talks about tiger’s eye, they’re usually referring to the “regular” or “normal” brown-yellow-golden tiger’s eye crystal. But this standard gemstone also goes by the names golden tigers eye, gold tigers eye, yellow tigers eye, and brown tigers eye. You should keep this in mind when you’re reading about or researching tiger’s eye crystal properties — golden tigers eye meaning, gold tigers eye meaning, yellow tigers eye meaning, and brown tigers eye meaning will all be the same!

Blue Tigers Eye

Blue tigers eye, also referred to as falcon’s eye stone or falcon eye crystal, is a more rare form of tiger’s eye. Blue tigers eye occurs naturally. In its early stage of development, tiger’s eye has a blue mineral called crocidolite embedded in it. Over time the crocidolite dissolves, but some tiger’s eye has not reached the phase where all of the crocidolite has disappeared. A blue tigers eye gemstone typically has some brown coloring, as the stone is in the process of transforming to the “finished product” of a normal, or golden, tiger’s eye crystal.

Blue tigers eye healing properties involve all areas of communication. A blue tigers eye helps you express your ideas and allows you to more readily bring your creative ideas to life.

Red Tigers Eye

Red tigers eye, also called dragon’s eye, is a tiger’s eye with reddish hues and shades. While it is possible that during its formation a tiger’s eye can gain some red coloring, this occurrence is extremely rare. Instead, the red tigers eye gemstones you encounter are typically normal tiger’s eye that have been dyed and heat-treated.

Some will claim these are “fake” gemstones, but that simply isn’t true. They are in fact real tiger’s eye crystals that have been laboratory-treated to exhibit another color. A tiger’s eye that has been processed to be a very light shade of red is referred to as a pink tigers eye or as a rose tigers eye.

Because this gemstone is essentially a normal tiger’s eye, the properties of red tigers eye are identical to the properties of a normal tiger’s eye. So red tigers eye healing properties are mental clarity, confidence, and emotional stability.

Purple Tigers Eye

Like red tigers eye, purple tigers eye gets its color from a dying process. That means the purple tigers eye properties are the same as any other tiger’s eye gemstone. So why get a purple stone when its metaphysical properties don’t differ from a naturally colored tiger’s eye? For the reason that these are some absolutely beautiful crystals.

There is one potential property a purple tigers eye might have that isn’t a property of a normal golden tigers eye. Because purple is a bold color, and the color associated with royalty, some people who possess such a stone gain a greater feeling of confidence and power. That feeling may just be psychological, but if it gives a person a boost in confidence, the exact reason for that shouldn’t be important!

Green Tigers Eye

Like the red tigers eye and the purple tigers eye, the green tigers eye gets its distinctive shades of green from a dying process. So, again like red tigers eye and purple tigers eye, the green tiger eye stone meaning is the same as the meaning and properties of a naturally colored golden or yellow tigers eye.

Tiger’s Eye Spiritual Properties

Although the tiger’s eye is an earthy stone, it does have spiritual properties. The energy of tiger’s eye is warm and stable, and is useful in meditation and prayer. The stone’s properties of stability and balance help integrate your spirituality with your physical life. Tiger’s eye can help you find spirituality in even mundane, every day task.

Some people find that keeping tiger’s eye in the bedroom increases the ability to remember dreams, and can add a spiritual nature to dreams. Intuition, imagination, and even psychic abilities may be increased when tiger’s eye is integrated into your use of crystals.

Tiger’s Eye Mental and Emotional Properties

Tiger’s eye clears your mind of scattered thoughts and balances emotional extremes, making it a crystal of mental clarity. This stone will sharpen your logic and senses, helping you pay attention to details and resolve problems. Students will be able to overcome fear during tests, and business people can gain confidence when it comes to public speaking and performances.

If you’re prone to emotional extremes, tiger’s eye can bring equilibrium to your personal and emotional life. You’ll be able to establish harmony with people who hold approaches to life, religious beliefs, or viewpoints that differ from yours.

Tiger’s eye can help establish a strong, safe foundation that builds confidence in all areas of your life, including finances. With mental roadblocks removed you’ll have an easier time reaching goals.

Tourmaline Healing Properties

Unlike most crystals, tourmaline isn’t a single mineral — it is composed of several minerals from a group of similar minerals. That explains why tourmaline gemstones can be found in such a wide variety of colors, from pink to red, light green to jade, and even almost solid black.

The wide variety of colors of tourmaline seem to extend to its healing intentions — it’s protection properties apply to the spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical levels all at once. And instead of simply providing protection from negative energies, tourmaline transforms negative energies into positive energies.

Like shungite, tourmaline protects you from EMFs — electromagnetic frequencies that are emitted from electronic devices such as computers, cell phones, and microwave ovens.

Tourmaline Colors

Because tourmaline isn’t a single mineral, it’s found naturally in many colors. In fact, tourmaline is considered the most colorful of all crystals. This is perhaps why tourmaline is one of the worlds most popular gemstones.

There are a couple of main reasons for the wide range of tourmaline colors. Tourmaline isn’t a single mineral, but rather it’s a group of minerals with physical and crystal related properties. While related, the chemical composition of these minerals vary tremendously. Some tourmaline is lithium-rich, others are magnesium-rich, while still others are rich in iron. A tourmaline can include elements including potassium, sodium, and aluminum. The result of these related yet different compositions is the multitude of colors that are available to tourmaline collectors.

Tourmaline occurs in just about every color imaginable, but close to 95% of tourmaline found in nature are black. After black tourmaline, watermelon, green, blue, red, pink, and yellow are this gemstones most well-known colors.

Black Tourmaline

The black tourmaline crystal, also called schorl, is by far the most common and popular tourmaline color. The primary black tourmaline healing properties are protection, grounding, and cleansing. Black tourmaline protection is useful in meditations and rituals, and in some areas of the world is even used shrines. The black tourmaline stone has the ability to absorb, repel, and drive off negative energy. Other black tourmaline uses are to help with stress, anxiety, and sleep.

Unlike most types of gemstones, there is a demand for raw black tourmaline. With crystals, most people prefer a highly polished look and feel. But when it comes to black tourmaline, a raw, unfinished stone is popular. The rough stone has a beautiful look and an organic texture that makes it a striking presentation piece and an interesting stone to hold and caress. Raw black tourmaline retains all of the stone’s protective meaning, and a large specimen is often placed in a room for cleansing a space.

Pink Tourmaline

Pink tourmaline, which is sometimes referred to as electric stone or rubellite (though the rubellite name is usually reserved for red tourmaline), is found in a variety of shades of pink. Pink tourmaline is one of the rarest and expensive varieties of tourmaline, and its eye-pleasing beauty makes that understandable. Like all colors of tourmaline, this variety isn’t dyed — the striking colors are all natural.

Pink tourmaline healing properties are all ones of calmness and tranquility. Pink tourmaline is associated with emotions that include love, empathy, compassion, and kindness

This stone is one of healing, whether that healing be physical, spiritual, or mental. Anyone with issues such as anxiety, depression, or insecurities will do well to keep a pink tourmaline with them. Pink tourmaline can bring equilibrium and balance within the body, mind, and soul. Pink tourmaline crystal healing properties promote tranquility and peace, and supports those who suffer with feelings of anger, fear, or dread.

Red Tourmaline

Red tourmaline, also referred to as rubellite, is found in a variety of shades of red from a pinkish purple to a deep, dark red.

Many of the red tourmaline healing properties are the same as the properties of pink tourmaline — both stones provide healing energies that bring out a person’s compassionate and loving side. Both pink and red tourmaline are known for emotional healing of the mind and body, and for expanding the spirit to accept long-lasting joy and peach.

Red tourmaline, or rubellite, crystal properties include increasing a person’s ability to gain a deeper understanding of love, and encourages creativity in ways that send love out to the world and universe. This gemstone can harmonize feminine energies in both women and men, and provides strength to women during times of emotional difficulties and challenges.

Blue Tourmaline

Blue tourmaline, also known as indigolite, forms in numerous shade of blue, from pale blue to dark blue. Blue tourmaline healing properties are ones related to tranquility. Gazing at this gemstone, a person can’t help but get the same feelings as they would if sailing or swimming in soothing, calm, deep blue water.

Blue tourmaline is a gemstone of peace and spirit, and encourages one to free themself of emotional bondage — it frees the mind to gravitate to a higher consciousness and make spiritual connections. The indigolite promotes a life of harmony and peace, and encourages living a life of kindness and goodness. To get better sleep, place a blue tourmaline on the nightstand by your bed, or even under your pillow — in addition to sleeping well you’ll have vivid, insightful dreams that you will recall and remember.

Yellow Tourmaline

Yellow tourmaline, also called versatile, isavannah, or canary tourmaline, is a rare and beautiful member of the tourmaline family of stones. The color of yellow tourmaline ranges from very pale yellow to bright yellow to a deep golden. Vivid yellow is the most stunning and valuable, and often include just a touch of green.

The yellow tourmaline meaning lies in the areas of spiritual growth and personal power. The yellow tourmaline properties of self-confidence, motivation, and purifying energy can be of benefit in both love and business relationships. The yellow tourmaline stone encourages creativity and inventiveness, mitigates negative energy, and provides peace of mind.

Green Tourmaline

Green tourmaline, also known as verdelite, ranges in hue from a very light green to mint green to the darkest emerald that almost appears black. After black tourmaline, green tourmaline is the next most common color of this stone.

Green tourmaline meaning is of awareness, success, and the heart. Possessing this gemstone quickly gives one laser sharp focus and a push forward in the right direction. Green tourmaline allows one to ignore distractions and use tunnel vision to drive to success in any endeavor. Green tourmaline attracts luck, and along with that comes prosperity, abundance, and success.

Green tourmaline healing properties include the ability to turn negative energy into positive energy, and allow a person to see with the heart in order to appreciate the many miracles in life. This gemstone encourages feelings of gratitude and thanks.

Pink tourmaline is considered to have feminine heart energies, and green tourmaline is considered its yang counterpart — the green gemstone enhances vitality, stamina, strength, and courage.

Watermelon Tourmaline

Watermelon tourmaline is a bi-color stone that has a light to dark green outer ring and a pink to red core. The two colors may be separated by a band of white or light pink. Looking at the coloring of one of these gemstones makes it easy to see how it got its watermelon name.

Watermelon tourmaline meaning is of the heart. This gemstone helps a person access and unlock the very deepest areas of the heart, and allows a person to wash away and heal any emotional wounds. The cleansing process contributes to a clearing of the aura, allowing positive energies of love to flow into the heart of anyone possessing such a stone. Negative thoughts or feelings that were preventing the free flow of love energies disappear.

Watermelon tourmaline healing properties include the ability to combat depression, anxiety, and stress. This tourmaline offers rejuvenation, love, and light to keep a person in a place of happiness and joy. A person in possession of this crystal can’t help but feel more adventurous, confident, and energetic.

Tourmaline Spiritual Properties

Tourmaline, especially black tourmaline, is a grounding stone that can bring your spirituality into your everyday life. The tourmaline healing properties enable you to visualize your spiritual path in clear, concrete terms, helping you to align your life with what you consider your spiritual purpose.

Tourmaline is your assistant when it comes to communicating with higher powers and beings regarding your spiritual development. You’ll be able to delve into deeper aspects of your consciousness, and may even help you uncover past lives to understand and resolve current emotional problems.

Tourmaline attunes you to the energies of Earth, such that it can help you channel nature’s healing powers. Your heart will open, and you’ll make natural connections to divine love. Tolerance, mercy, and compassion are trademarks of this protecting and healing stone.

Tourmaline Mental and Emotional Properties

Tourmaline crystal properties can balance the left and right hemispheres of your brain, so it is a natural, powerful mental healer. Many people who suffer from hand-eye coordination issues, dyslexia, paranoia, and other brain-related issues claim that keeping tourmaline with them can minimize such ailments.

If you’re an over-thinker, or your thoughts feel scattered, or you’re prone to being pulled off course, use this gemstone to bring focus and to clear away outdated, repetitive, thought patterns.

All colors of tourmaline help shed negative emotions and bring an understanding as to why you may react uncontrollably or negatively towards others. It lessens your damaging need for trauma or drama in your life, and lets you disengage from compulsive or obsessive behaviors. For these reasons tourmaline is a stone to possess if you suffer from anxiety or chronic worry.

If you have feelings of being unforgivable or unlovable, tourmaline can help you to accept yourself and to gain compassion for others — and for yourself. With renewed confidence and peace, you’ll find that you will more easily attract new friends and romantic partners.

Crystals Comparison Cheatsheets

Every crystal has different energies, so you’ll want to determine which crystals are right for your particular needs. The following to cheatsheets can give you this information at a glance.

For more general information on crystals and healing, make sure to check out our HEALING CRYSTALS FOR YOUR MIND, BODY AND SPIRIT article.

Cheatsheet: Best Crystals for Specific Healing Goals

Do you know just what it is that you’d like to improve about yourself or your health? That is, do you have specific intentions in mind? If so, use this chart to quickly find the best crystal or crystals for your needs.

Cheatsheet: Primary Healing Properties of Each Crystal

Is there a crystal that you’re enamored with? One that’s caught your eye? Want to quickly see just what its healing energies its known for? Use this chart to find out in a flash.