thumb|250px|[[Quartz crystals are often used in crystal healing.]]

Crystal healing is a pseudoscientific, alternative medicine practice that uses semiprecious stones and crystals such as quartz, agate, amethyst or opal. Adherents of the practice claim that these have healing powers, but there is no scientific basis for this claim. Practitioners of crystal healing believe they can boost low energy, prevent bad energy, release blocked energy, and transform a body's aura.

Believers in crystal healing engage in various physical activities with crystals, typically involving holding, wearing, placing or meditating with the stones. While the practice is popular, it fosters commercial demand for crystals, which can result in environmental damage and exploitative child labor to mine the crystals. Some popular crystals used by believers such as shungite frequently contain heavy metals and present toxicity risks to those handling them for extended periods or ingesting substances which were in contact with the crystals.

History

Origins

Ancient Egyptians used amulets, which they believed to possess magical properties. The amulet's shape, decoration, inscription, color, material or ritual performed with the amulet dictated its power. Amulets were worn or placed on the body, in the form of stones, piercings, rings, necklaces or other jewelry. The Egyptians used amulets to benefit their afterlife, often representing an Egyptian deity and its specific powers.

The ancient Greeks assigned many properties to crystals. The word "crystal" is derived from the Greek word krýstallos, which translates to 'ice'. The ancient Greeks believed that clear quartz crystals were a water that had frozen to the point where it would remain in its solid form.

thumb|upright|[[John Dee's crystal, used for clairvoyance and healing, which he said was given to him by the angel Uriel in November 1582]]

Precious stones have been thought of as objects that can aid in healing—in a practice known as lapidary medicine—by various cultures. The Hopi Native Americans of Arizona use quartz crystals to assist in diagnosing illnesses. The alleged medicinal properties of precious stones, as well as other powers they were believed to hold, were collected in texts known as lapidaries.

Contemporary use

New Age

In the English speaking world, crystal healing is heavily associated with the New Age spiritual movement: it is "the middle-class New Age healing activity par excellence" in the words of Stuart McLean. that is dependent on extreme personalization and creative expression. Practitioners of crystal healing purport that certain physical properties such as shape, color, and markings, determine the ailments that a stone can heal; lists of such links are published in commonly distributed texts.

India, China, Brazil, and Madagascar are the main producers of crystals. Alleged successes of crystal healing can be attributed to the placebo effect.

In 1999, researchers French and Williams conducted a study to investigate the power of crystals compared with a placebo. Eighty volunteers were asked to meditate with either a quartz crystal or a placebo stone, which was indistinguishable from quartz. Many participants reported feeling typical "crystal effects"; however, this was irrespective of whether the crystals were real or a placebo. In 2001 Christopher French, head of the anomalistic psychology research unit at the University of London, and colleagues from Goldsmiths College outlined their study of crystal healing at the British Psychological Society Centenary Annual Conference, concluding, "There is no evidence that crystal healing works over and above a placebo effect."

Crystal healing techniques are also practiced on animals, although some veterinary organizations, such as the British Veterinary Association, have warned that these methods are not scientifically proven and state that people should seek the advice of a vet before using alternative techniques.

Crystal healing proponents and 5G conspiracy theorists have falsely claimed that shungite may promote health by absorbing 5G radiation.

See also

  • Color healing
  • Energy medicine
  • Magnet therapy

References

Further reading

  • Lawrence E. Jerome. (1989). Crystal Power: The Ultimate Placebo Effect. Prometheus Books. .
  • Crystal Healing: Stone-cold Facts About Gemstone Treatments – LiveScience
  • Do You Know Where Your Healing Crystals Come From? at The New Republic
  • James Randi debunks Crystal Power