"Maybe one day, after centuries,
we can become brilliant gems in crystal caves
and we will be immortal after all.”

Keelie Breanna 

The use of healing crystals and gemstones is a practice that covers many centuries, religions and peoples and accounts of their usage in medicine and as spiritual and psychic tools can be found in historical and religious texts dating back into antiquity.

Egyptians, Greeks and Romans used crystals in their medicine and mythology.  The planets were believed to be ruled by certain stones and minerals and crystals were often worn as magical talismans to fortify the wearer with the characteristics of that planet. Crystals were also assigned special meanings that would have been popularly accepted by the cultures of the time.  Engraving was also thought to enhance the magical properties.  This led to precious stones being engraved with emblems, animals, and astrological symbols as powerful personal amulets.

Crystal or Gemstone (?)

The words gemstones and crystals are used interchangeably although there is a difference in their chemical compositions. A gemstone can be considered a crystal but a crystal is not to be considered a gemstone.

Crystals are formed by water near the surface of the earth dissolving minerals and then when the water evaporates the minerals will precipitate, or form crystals. Crystals are solids that have atoms, ions and molecules fixed in a regular order. The color of the crystal is determined by the light passing through it and are mostly translucent.

Gemstones are formed from minerals or organic matter. Gemstones have mineral bases like diamonds and rubies or have organic bases like amber. 

Most mineral based gemstones are formed within the mantle of the earth, in extremely high temperatures and under intense tectonic pressure over millions of years. They are brought to the surface by volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and soil erosions, which in time allows them to be uncovered.

Gemstones are rarer than crystals and therefore considered more valuable and these gemstones can be cut and polished to be used in jewelry and other decorative pieces which further enhances their intrinsic value.

The first historical references to the use of crystals come from the ancient Sumerians, who included crystals in magic formulas.  The Ancient Egyptians used stones primarily for protection and health. The Ancient Greeks attributed a number of properties to crystals and many names we use today are of Greek origin.

The word 'crystal' comes from the Greek word for ice, as it was believed that clear quartz was water that had frozen so deeply that it would always remain solid. The word amethyst means 'not drunken' and was worn as an amulet to prevent both drunkenness and hangovers. Hematite comes from the word for blood, because of the red colouration produced when it oxidises. Hematite is an iron ore and the ancient Greeks associated iron with Aries, the god of war. Greek soldiers would rub hematite over their bodies before battle, perportedly to make themselves invulnerable.

Magick and crystals are intimately related and crystal magick power has been known for thousands of years. Crystals and gemstones shaped into animal forms by wind and rain have been used as symbols and as the focus of rituals for longer than has been recorded. For ten thousand years, shimmering crystals have been carried or worn for protection against the unknown. Crystals that were scarce, strangely shaped, or that exhibited electrical or magnetic properties are long-time magickal tools.

Today, we understand that all things in the universe are forms of energy with their own frequency and vibration ... including crystals. Nikola Tesla declared this concept as the key to understanding the universe and proved how certain forms of energy can alter the vibrational resonance of other forms of energy. This concept is why healing crystals and stones are still used today to align, heal and alter the vibration of bodily cells, chakras, and the subtle bodies by holistic healers.

Tesla believed that crystals were living entities and wrote:

“In a crystal we have clear evidence of the existence of a formative life principle,
and though we cannot understand the life of a crystal, it is nonetheless a living being.”

Tesla learned that when you resonate a quartz crystal, it creates a piezoelectric field and that field emanates, into the surrounding ether. Nikola used this information as inspiration to create healing machines and to help him better understand, the energy produced by the earth.

Ancient cultures utilized crystals in their work because they knew a secret that modern science has only recently discovered: crystals have the power to transmit energy. Today, scientists understand that applying pressure to certain crystals, such as quartz, generates a specific form of electricity.  The computer and electronics industry depends upon crystal technology and could not exist in its present form without. So, the history of crystals continues to be written in ways as magical and mystfying to us today as it was to those who were first discovering their qualities long ago.

Crystals and Gemstones

The Nature of Crystals and Gemstones