What is a Crystal?

The word crystal comes from the Greek word Krystallos or Krustallos which means ice. People used to believe that the clear crystal was ice shaped by the gods.

A crystal is a mineral. A mineral is a substance which is formed by geological processes and has a solid crystalline structure. Most crystals come in crystalline form, but Obsidian for instance has an amorphous structure (having no real or apparent crystalline form). The scientific description of a crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material, whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal).

Quartz is one of the most common minerals in the earths crust. It occurs as clear crystals (mountain quartz), but can because of chemical solvents (mostly metals) also be coloured. Examples of these are the violet Amethyst, the yellow Citrine quartz the pink Rose quartz, the brown to black Smoky quartz and the white Milky quartz. Also Chalcedony, Agate, Onyx, Sardonyx, Aventurine, Heliothrope, Tiger eye, Falcon's eye and Jaspis are forms of quartz.

...bla...bla...bla...the latter descriptions are interesting but very scientific. In my opinion a crystal is much more then the usual descriptions given in books about minerals. They can poses very powerful and potent energies which you can use for all sorts of things.

The following text is from The Crystal Bible from Judy Hall:
A crystal is a solid body with a geometric form. Crystals developed when the earth was formed and they have continued to develop ever since. Crystals are the DNA of the earth, a chemical imprint of its evolution. They are mini-storage rooms that hold information about the millions of years of development of the earth and contain the indelible memory of the great powers by which they have been formed. Some have been under great stress, others have grown in spaces deep inside the earth, some have been formed in layers and others have been shaped by drops - all of this influences their properties and way of functioning. Whatever form they have, their crystalline structure can absorb, store, focus and transmit energies, especially in the electromagnetic wavelength.

At the core of the crystal are the atoms and their components. An atom is dynamic; it consists out of parts that are constantly moving around the core. Therefore a crystal may look serene, but is in fact a bustling molecular mass that vibrates on a certain frequency. This gives the crystal its energy.

I find this to be a much better read and it also gives a much clearer picture of what a crystal actually is.

The energies of various kinds of crystals are different, but even crystals of the same kind can have different energies as well. You could call this the personality of the crystal. This personality can help you with several things. For instance, I have a crystal that helps me to better feel (and see) energies. His name is Bright Star and is a wonderfully clear and large crystal. He is even shaped a bit like a skull (see the picture on our Image Gallery).

You may be thinking how I know his name. Well, when you respectfully ask it (mentally), they will sometimes give you their name (I am not sure whether this is the crystal itself or an entity/Deva connected to it though). Some names may be very hard to pronounce (for a human) in that case the crystal may give you a description or example of its name. Try it some time.

Other crystals may have strong healing energies. When you use this to treat a headache for instance, the pain will diminish or even disappear. However the use of this kind of crystal takes some practise and knowledge and for me it often works better when I use Reiki with the crystal.

Then there are also crystals that can help you process fears or other feelings, give support in particular situations, assist your body with fighting (or give protection against) pain, stress, disease, you name it.

The possibilities are nearly endless.

Lloyd
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