Is it just a bunch of ‘Woo’?

I often get asked the question, aren’t crystals woo?

I love this question, so let’s start with what woo is.

Woo is a colloquial term often used to describe beliefs, practices, or ideas that are considered to lack scientific evidence.

However, crystals hold piezoelectric energy (scientific) and are made from the natural elements of air, fire, earth, and water (real substances). As they come from the earth, they are also a physical manifestation of light and vibration. 

To me, they hold the magic (woo) of life that is here to help teach us about our energy and the energy fields around us.  You have to admit, something is mesmerizing about seeing crystals and being around them!

Maybe they are filled with little woo.  We are all full of something …right?

My work with crystal energy began with beads for making jewelry. I walked the streets of NYC—well, maybe not that dramatic—up and down 6th Avenue, buying beads and learning about their properties. This eventually led to becoming a stone buyer for top jewelry designers, ordering pearls and semi-precious stones… nothing woo about this. 

On to the Woo

My initial woo experience happened when I started studying Reiki energy (a Natural System of Healing) and began working with crystal specimens. I call it woo because some of that experience was unexplainable, yet I know I felt something. I had a spiritual experience. I was new to the metaphysical world of energy. My spiritual teacher had given me a quartz crystal, and I had become fascinated. I began looking for a few more crystals to place around my home.

After visiting several crystal shops, I noticed I kept picking up Lemurian crystals and admiring their beauty. Lemurian Crystals are a type of quartz crystal but different.  There is a legend behind these crystals that makes up the energy they hold, which comes from the belief that Lemuria was a lost continent in the Pacific Ocean that sank after a cataclysmic event. According to legend, the people of Lemuria used crystals for healing and clairvoyance, and they hid their teachings in the crystals when their civilization was being overtaken. It’s believed they predicted what was to come, so used crystals to store and preserve their knowledge and traditions. The Lemurian crystals are known as master crystals, and I was told that by placing them around your space, you are able to access their spiritual knowledge.

I placed several Lemurian crystals in my bedroom next to my bed. They were beautiful, with many markings containing codes of light, according to what I was told at the crystal shops. After a few nights of sleeping with this crystal next to me, I began receiving energetic downloads. 

Energetic downloads refer to receiving new insights, information, or energy from a higher source. I would wake up feeling a sudden surge of knowledge, clarity, and inspiration that seemed to come from beyond my usual consciousness. 

It felt like I had been given a lesson in crystal energy, like I was in a classroom, taking notes and studying. As I came out of my sleep, it was as if I had put down my pen closed my notebook, and woke up.

I was amazed at all I began to know about crystals: how to hold them, where to place them, their properties, and especially how to receive their energies. This went on for several nights.  Each day, I would wake up with more knowledge.

I didn’t doubt what was happening because I knew how to work with the energy of crystals.  To this day, I’ve only taken one crystal class, and that was on how to use Reiki and crystals in crystal grids.  The knowledge remains with me and guides me to teach others.

I’ve had other experiences, like raising my vibration by holding a crystal, being guided to new people while wearing crystal jewelry, using a pendulum for making accurate decisions, and especially feeling a sense of aura protection when sleeping with black obsidian under my pillow. They are very helpful in holding intentions under the light of a full moon!

Maybe I can’t prove or disprove it, but I know they hold energy and are beautiful specimens from Mother Earth with unique shapes, colors, and properties. Shamans and Indigenous peoples have used them for eons in their manifestations.

So whether you view crystals as tools for healing, energy balancing, or spiritual enhancement, or see them as scientifically unproven and dismiss them as pseudoscience, try laying with a few on you, and notice what you notice.

While the scientific community may not fully endorse these claims, individuals’ subjective experiences cannot be dismissed. Many report feeling a sense of calm, clarity, and peace.  

This conversation continues on The Empowered Spirit Show with my guest, Sharon McAllister, and her latest book, Crystal Body Grid: 56 Gem Stone Layouts for Energy Healing, which teaches us how to access these crystals for our health and well-being.