The Power of Crystals and Gems

Where do gemstones get their power? They all have a crystalline structure that can collect, store, and release electromagnetic energy, similar to the way today’s commonplace battery does.

Scientists and engineers have discovered through experimentation that a crystal will accumulate and concentrate the energy of any given energy field in close proximity. Further, they’ve discovered that if a crystal is squeezed, energy from within the crystal is released. Light can also be released during the compression of a crystal. While the expansion is infinitesimal, electrons are emitted and are then reabsorbed by the crystal, thus producing energy. Schoolchildren discover this by rubbing or heating crystals and feeling a marked static change. This is known as the piezoelectric effect. Anyone who doubts the power of this effect need only be told that it is one of the causes of earthquakes.

Quartz is the crystal most often used today in both scientific and spiritual realms. It is, perhaps, the most prevalent of all gemstones and can be found on every land mass on Earth. Common quartz was used in the world’s first radio broadcasts and enabled the chips that propelled the computer revolution. It stands to reason that quartz was the first crystal to be synthesized by manufacture. Today, man-made crystals are in vast usage in our watches, computers, and other electronic devices.

Quartz is composed of silicon and oxygen, the same basic minerals that make up this planet. Silicon dioxide (SO 2 ), the building block responsible for the geologic makeup of the earth, is also inside us, which may explain why there is a natural attraction between our bodies and crystals.

Crystal Healing and Crystal Consciousness

It is becoming widely known that crystals can be curative for the emotional body, the spiritual body, and the physical body. And, we have learned that crystals can interact electromagnetically with people. The prehistoric medicine man and shamans knew instinctively how to harness this stone power and use it to enhance or stimulate energy; they never doubted the power of the unseen. Modern shamans talk about the body in a different way; they are in tune with and are working with the etheric body, the subtle life force that sustains the physical body and serves as the matrix for the metabolic functions. They work with the system of chakras (points of energy in the astral body that are associated with various parts of the physical body) and endeavor to make sure everything is in proper alignment. Illness beginning with misalignment of either the etheric body or physical body can result in a domino effect of maladies. Imbalance in the etheric body can cause low energy; depression; stress-related diseases such as shingles, ulcers, and migraines; and any number of other serious physical issues.

It is important to recognize that crystals work in a subtle manner and are useful for dealing with causes. Crystal medicine isn’t going to cure ulcers or migraines, but it can get at the root of the problems and is marvelous when used in connection with Western medicine. I am thrilled that my hospital here in the San Francisco Bay Area—California Pacific Medical Center, on Webster Street in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights—has an Institute for Health & Healing. This integrative medicine center has a Healing Store that sells crystals, healing stones and herbs, finger labyrinths, and aromatherapy and meditation aids and offers classes in Easter approaches to healing, such as yoga and tai chi. We are living in wonderful times when you see medical doctors also practicing alternative and integrative healing methodologies.