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Working
With Crystals
This is a 8 hour intensive
workshop, teaching you about the powers of crystals and how to use
them for self healing and in your practice. Comes with a workbook.
Cost for this course is $50.00

Crystals Through The Ages
Imagine the wonderment of primitive manor woman
stumbling across a uniquely shaped, brilliantly colored, crystal
among a vast expanse of amorphous, grew rock. Would it be any surprise
if that person attributed mystical powers to it?
Fundamental human instinct is for survival and to avoid trouble
, from which spring countless taboos and superstitions.
Many minerals have served to protect and appease spirits throughout
history and have been made into talismans.
Historically, crystals have underpinned human development economically,
technologically, and culturally. The importance of crystals links
all civilizations across space and time. Until the current age of
credit and hidden assets, crystals were portable forms of wealth
and status. We continue to construct roads and buildings using crystalline
material such as granite and marble; concrete's rigidity and quick
-setting properties depend on crystals growth. And cultures as far
back as pre-dynastic Egypt have used jewelry to celebrate human
individuality.
Crystals help us to interpret the past. They teach us many things
about human kinds's cultural heritage. Their desirability in antiquity
helps us to trace trading routes between far-flung civilizations.
We can monitor changing fashions for gem material for decorative
as well as medical purposes. Bound up with myth and magic, crystals
help bring to light the different historical world views that have
arisen down the ages concerning the immutable link between humans
and nature.
The Healing Power Of Crystals
The first known reference to the healing power of certain crystals
comes form an Egyptian papyrus dated around 1600BC< which gives
directions for their curative use. Beads of lapis Lazuli, malachite
, and red jasper were worn around a sick person's neck so that the
disease could pass through them and dissipate. The practice of placing
or wearing stones on various areas of the body , with its amuletic
links, was only part of the repertoire of healers in history. A
particularly popular medicinal method was to pulverize gems, mix
them with a liquid , and drink the result- the forerunner, perhaps,
of mineral water.
In 1746 Sir John Hill believed that it was the minerals which accounted
for the curative powers. "Rogue" atoms of metals in some
crystalline compositions are indeed responsible for the variety
of colors available .Whether early civilizations knew of this link
it is impossible to say, but certainly the mystical properties of
gemstones were largely associated with color. When hematite is crushed
it produces a red powder Hematite healing properties were linked
with blood related conditions.
The universal belief in the benefits of gemstone medicine began
to erode in the early 16th century . One of the catalysis may have
been the first systematic attempt at viewing mineralogy as a science.
In the 16th century it was discovered that the stones had a subtle
effect on the body when worn; close t the bodies's subtle energy
systems to bring about healing. The practice of taking gemstone
powderers internally continued in high society , as might be expected,
considering the high cost of the raw ingredients.
By the beginning of the 20th century people were looking for a more
scientific explanation for crystals healing.
By the 1980's Marcel Bogel , a respected authority on crystals,
had place the power of the crystals firmly in the scientific domain,.
He suggested that the key to understanding their ancient knowledge
lay in the connection between the vibrations sent out by the human
mind and the perfect inner structure of the crystals. It has been
proven that the human mind can indeed interact with the crystal
to create effects on the body , mind and spirit.
Basic Science Of How Crystals Form
Our earth is 85% crystal. Its crust is largely
silicon and oxygen, combined with six other common elements-aluminum,
iron, calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium. From this chemical
casserole comes an awe -inspiring Varity of crystal colors, shapes
, sizes , and hardness.
Earth is also the ultimate recycler-changing limesonte to marble,
or share to garnet schist. Cocktail of ingredients form crystals
under specific conditions of temperature, pressure, space, and time;
yet when the conditions change the crystals may also be altered.
The reason why diamonds are found at only a few locations worldwide
is because the exact conditions required for their formation are
relatively rare. The high value we place on such gemstones is then
heightened by the fact that large perfect crystals are relatively
scarce because of the complex and ever-changing circumstances taking
place in nature.
Despite the bast abundance of minerals lying buried on the planet,
human beings still need to synthesize crystals in the laboratory
in order to meet the precise criteria for their technological needs.
The largest variety of crystals , particularly those we value most-diamonds,
rubies, sapphire-derive from molten rock, or magma. Magma is produced
with the intense heat in the earths's core melts rocks in the upper
mantle, or crust. As this molten soup of atoms cools and solidifies,
it forms symmetrical, three-dimensional crystals.
Magma ,which cools rapidly, may have insufficient time to form crystals
and instead turns into amorphous material such as obsidian, a natural
glass. Where the chemical composition is particularly complicated
cryptocrystalline material may also be produced.
As magma cools, the first crystals to form are those that have the
highest melting points and relatively simple chemical compositions.
Gradually, different minerals form until only the more complex atoms
are left. As these increase in concentration and the magma continues
to cool, more elaborate crystals are produced.
Magma that reaches the surface of the earth as lava cools very quickly
ad produces amorphous material or rocks comprising of tiny crystals,.These
are extrusive, volcanic rocks the best know is basalt.
Magma held underforund solidifies more slowly into coarse grained
rocks with larger, visible crystals. These are intrusive or plutonic
rocks -granite , the most common example i, is composed mainly of
quartz, feldspar and mica.
Some of the finest examples of crystals , such as quartz, are formed
form chemicals that have been dissolved in solutions within rock
cavities. Here they have both space and time to grow.
Water dissolve some minerals into their component ions to produce
a solution. Given the right conditions of time, temperature and
ingredients, the solution becomes over saturated and precipitation
of crystals takes place. The slower he precipitation, the bigger
and better formed the resulting crystals will be. Stalagmites are
examples.
Crystals produced from anagueous solution either grow out form the
center ro from the surface inwards. Agate, a Varity of quartz, can
form when silica-rich waters seep into cavities created by gas bubbles
that become trapped in cooing magma. The silica is deposited in
layers for mteh outside which gradually grow towards the center.
Agate that is not completely filled often has quartz crystals growing
in the is hollow space.
Crystal Electricity
Certain crystals, most notably the quartz family,
can convert mechanical pressure into electrical energy-the stylus
on a record player is a good example of this. They can also convert
electrical energy into precise mechanical vibrations, as in earphones
and ultrasonic radiators. This is known as the piesoelectiric effect.
When pressure is applied to quartz crystals, the crystal lattice
becomes temporarily deformed. The positive silicon ions move to
one side of the crystal, while the negative oxygen ions move to
the other side. This results in the opposite faces developing different
and powerful electrical charges. However, this is not the same as
generating an electric current. Non Metallic minerals do not conduct
electricity. The relatively rigid structures of most of them all
ow their component atoms very little room for manoeuver. As a result,
they do not have the loose electrons needed to conduct an electric
current.
While natural quartz is abundant it is rarely perfect, rendering
it unsuitable of industrial use. Piezoelectirc crystals are therefore
produce synthetically in the laboratory. They have exactly the same
atonic structure and properties as their natural counter parts but
are designed to meet very precise criteria. They are a valuable
property commercially and has been extensively used since first
discovered during the first world war. , they were first used to
produce underwater acoustic waves as the first sonar detector.
Thin slices of quartz crystals are used in watches and other types
of products that we wear or use, such as computers and radios.
CRYSTAL INSIGHT
You have just explored the historical and scientific relevance of
crystals, but we now take a leap into territory which science is
currently at a loss to explain - how crystals can play a part in
healing. Because of their inherent neatness, crystals are a metaphor
for perfect order and balance. They represent the equilibrium we
seek to achieve in our lives and which results in good health. The
combination of perfect form and energy are the processes through
which crystals encourage our bodies to come into balance and why
they are such powerful tools for self-healing.
However, the principles that underpin the use of crystals for healing
purposes are quite different from those utilized by technology.
While industry synthesizes crystals for its particular needs. Crystal
healers use stones formed by nature in order to enjoy a tangible
connections with the Earth and to tap into the energies of the mineral
kingdom.
Whereas technologically crystalline material receives and transmits
a form of electrical energy, it is scientifically immeasurable "subtle
energies" which crystals channel and amplify through the body
in order to bring about healing in many forms.
Many crystal healers believe that choosing a crystal is largely
intuitive The crystal you acquire is the one you are meant to have.
However, you can save yourself time and expense by thinking about
why you want a crystal and what kind you prefer. Those open questions
are designed to help you focus o your choice. There are no rights
or wrongs.
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