This week, Laura Argintar wrote a great article for Elite Daily about ritually burying crystals in search of love. The idea is that, by writing down a list of the things you're seeking — whether it's qualities in a partner or something else — and burying them with a specific crystal by the light of a full moon, you can help make what you wish for become a reality. Argintar wrote that for her, the inspiration sprang from one of my personal favorite reality television personalities, Carlton Gebbia, a practicing Wiccan and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum. And while it might sound a bit (or a lot) hocus-pocus-y — but an increasingly large number of people, not all of them witches, have been jumping on the crystal bandwagon recently.
Scroll through Tumblr or Instagram and you'll find a litany of artsy photos featuring sunspots and crystals lined up on windowsills. Etsy stores galore sell both jewelry and raw stones, with promises that they'll balance your chakra and cleanse your spirit (and look pretty, too). And it's not just the hippy dippy indie community — big time chains like Urban Outfitters and Free People are commodifying the healing power of crystals on an international level.
So what's all the fuss about? Aren't they just, like... prettier rocks? I mean, crystals are beautiful, there's no denying it. Edgar Cayce, a famous mystic, once said that crystals were the same material as the soul. But on a more tangible level, crystals are valued because of their connection with the Earth. Their existence and their beauty is seen as a sign of the Earth's compassion.
According to the Wicca Wiki, crystals vibrate at different frequencies, which help to expedite healing. Specific stones serve specific purposes: Quartz mediates imbalanced energy fields, leaving a person feeling calm and revitalized; amber helps with joint pain and promotes a "sunny disposition"; jade protects from injury and accidents; and lapis lazuli strengthens the immune system. Crystals also supposedly attract, hold, and channel energy, which brings me to the next level of crystal care: Charging the stones.
Part of the ritual that Argintar follows requires her to bury the crystals under the full moon. Because crystals are believed to hold energy, particularly bad energy, they need to be re-charged and cleansed by the full moon in order to continue functioning properly.
But for Argintar, and perhaps for the majority of those engaging in "crystal culture," the magic is not in the crystals themselves. Instead, it's the process of self-reflection that accompanies many crystal-related rituals. It's visualizing goals and taking time to meditate on the underlying reasons for anxiety or unhappiness. It's using crystals as proxies for yourself, because sometimes it's a little too hard to directly address your problems.
And also, like, they're just really, really pretty.
Image: Brown Family Album, MAURO CATEB/Flickr; Giphy
