Crystal Meditation

Crystals are tools used to heal and transform our lives. I think of them as the tools of the metaphysician. Meta means “beyond” or “above,” and physics is the science of the physical world. So metaphysics literally means “beyond physics,” and there is much that cannot be explained by ordinary science and the laws that have been established. Physics is very much about tracing energy and the origins and effects of it, yet ordinary science and physics cannot necessarily explain how crystals manage and direct energy in powerful ways. They can be used to store, change, amplify, focus, and send energy.

Crystals can be a point for focus, an aid to absolute clarity of thought and intention. I was once told that these stones can be “tuning forks” for the consciousness, a though I just love.

I recommend this meditation exercise for training yourself to gain laser-like focus: Lie on the floor in a place where you will not be distracted. Clear your thoughts and open your mind. Place a small quartz in the center of your forehead. Your pineal gland is located here, as is your third eye—the source of all intuition. After a few moments pass, you should start to have visualizations that are sort of like daydreams, but these messages are from your higher consciousness. I have had friends and workshop mates report that while performing this technique they went into another realm entirely—a fantasy world, a paradise, an unknown and a very appealing place. Nearly everyone reports that they passed through a set of gates. You should perform this meditation for about thirty minutes, but no longer. We don’t want anyone to leave us for too long and remain in reverie.

After you try meditating solo, you may want to participate in activities with a group. At a retreat I organized for Z Budapest at the Ralston White Retreat Center in Mill Valley, California, she led us through a truly magical journey deep into Mother Earth. This was for the purpose of grounding us so we could get the most benefit from the weekend adventure. With Z’s permission, I will share this meditation with you. You can do it with a group of people who have a shared intention. Start by having everyone lie down in a circle formation with their eyes closed. Z’s guided tour follows:

Blessed beings, you are about to enter the Mother, our great earth goddess, Gaia. In your mind, you are standing with bare feet on the ground. You can feel the grass with your toes, the solid earth underneath your feet. Feel the solidity and fastness of the earth fill your body with strength; we are all made of clay. We come from the death, and we are made of earth. Feel your connection to the Mother. We come from the earth, her womb. We are made of stardust and clay and the waters of the ocean. Feel the blood in your veins. The water of life. Know that you are alive. Feel her winds, the breath of life. Breathe deeply ten times, completely filling your lungs and completely emptying your lungs. Breathe and feel your chest rising and falling with each breath.

Now feel your backbone connecting to the earth; you feel a cord connecting you and your life to the earth. Concentrate on the cord until you can feel it running all the way through you and deep into the earth. Tug on the cord; feel it give. Now, take the cord in your hands and follow it down, down deep into the earth. It is dark as you go down and down, but do not be frightened. Trust in the universe and keep descending into the bosom of the Mother. Down we go, not falling but moving purposefully, gracefully, following the cord of the earth. Now you see light. Keep moving toward the light and keep holding the cord as it leads you to the shining distance.

The light grows nearer, and you see that it is an opening, a cave, a safe place in which to shelter. Enter the cave. It is filled with light, firelight reflected off a thousand crystal points. An old woman sits as the fire, warming her bones in her warm and dry cave. It is beautiful, more beautiful than the palace of any king or the castle of any queen. It is the crystal cave of the Goddess, and you are with her. Show your respect to the Goddess and light the incense at her altar at the side of the cave, piled up with many shimmering stones and priceless gems, the bounty and beauty of our generous benefactor.

Sit quietly and head the special message she has for you. You are her child, and she has dreamed a dream for you. Now we listen and breathe. Blessed be.

Z led us back to the circle, and after that, nobody’s life was ever the same. In my experience with this particular guided visualization, I could smell the incense as we lit it. All the women at this retreat had profound experiences with Z Budapest and the Goddess that day. It helped greatly to have such a skilled guide as the Dianic priestess, Ms. Budapest, with her purring Hungarian accent. But with caring intention and the willingness to really let go, we can all achieve marvelous breakthroughs with these meditative exercises.

On that day, I received a very specific insight from the Goddess to go back to graduate school and pursue my abandoned dream of a master’s degree in medieval studies. I felt exhilarated by this resolute in my decision. I felt alive with purpose and so blessed to be pursuing both my scholarship and my spirituality. I remember that the reality of working full-time and going back to school at night wasn’t easy, but whenever I started to stumble on my path, I remembered back to the crystal cave and my time with the great glowing Goddess in her magnificent crystal cave, and I immediately felt stronger.

Here is an exercise I learned long ago from my mentor in all things magical, Z Budapest, for the transformation of energy: Fill a bowl with 2 cups of water, preferably distilled or, better yet, good old rainwater. Put a chunk of clear quartz crystal that weighs at least 6 ounces into the water basin. Take another bowl of the same size and fill it with the exact same kind of water and place it in another room at least 15 feet away from the bowl containing the crystal. After one full day and night, fill two glasses with the water from each bowl; you will marvel at the difference in taste. What makes the difference? There is a molecular change in the water containing the crystal. The water is transformed.