My answer to the question of whether crystals have healing properties is short: maybe.
I’m not saying there aren’t people who can feel a different vibration from different crystals – I’m just not one of them.
We live in a world where trained dogs sniff a person’s breath to diagnose cancer, and monarch butterflies manage to find the one milkweed plant in an entire neighborhood on which to lay their eggs. There is all kinds of information – chemical signals, radiation wavelengths, etc. – that pass right through us, every second of every day. Not noticing them doesn’t make them not real.
Given all that, its likely I really am missing something when it comes to the healing qualities of rocks and crystals. For awhile, I tried to fill this gap by learning about the metaphysical properties of the gemstones I use to make my jewelry. But here’s the thing:
I just don’t care.
I like what I like (in jewelry, at least) simply because I like it. It is an instinctual or sensual thing. That doesn’t make it wrong to choose jewelry for intellectual reasons. I just don’t (maybe because I’m a 9w8 on the Enneagram). And since I can’t actually discern whether rose quartz (which is almost always dyed pink, regardless of the claims) holds a different vibration than rock quartz or tourmalinated quartz, I’m uneasy about passing along information about how a rock can change your life.
To me, it feels like a game of telephone. The message we want to hear might not have any actual relationship to the information source. It has been passed through too many dealers, advertisers, wholesalers and retailers. In short, there is just as much pressure to move product in the “holistic” or “spiritual” realm as there is in any other marketplace.
I’d rather stick to what’s real to me: the color, the shape, the words.
Your affinity for a color or message or design is what makes it special – not the other way around. If you want to wear red to call attention to your root chakra, great – but it is your intention that has magic. All the rocks in the shop can’t do a thing for you if you are moving unconsciously through the world.
The question “do crystals have healing properties?” is interesting, but it might not be the most useful one. After all, everything we come in contact with has the ability to be healing or distressing. It is all a matter of degree. Some better questions might be:
Does it matter whether or not this crystal/rock/etc. has healing properties?
Would I want to wear it if it didn’t?
And if it does, is it the most effective way for me to get the healing I’m seeking?
I sincerely hope that the jewelry I make is meaningful to the people who give it, receive it, and wear it. However, healing intentions are not something you buy – they’re something you live, whether you love crystals or hate them.