Monday 28 September 2015

Working with crystals... throw those books away

I have written about this before but I thought I would revisit the subject to possibly explain why I don't work with books that list the attributes of crystals.

Some years ago I joined an online group run but an amazing guy called Fabeku Fatumise.  His passion for working with crystals on a deep level inspired me and I set to learn from him.  Although he used to write at great length about the energies and attributes of what he called "stone spirits" his underlying message was that your personal intuition was more important than anything anyone else could tell you, including books.

You see, we have been brought up to trust the wisdom of others, teachers, doctors, scientists, and gurus and in doing so we have lost the most important trust; trust in our own wisdom and inner knowing. We have given our power to these people and forgotten that we are know ourselves best. In this instance we look to those we consider wiser to tell us which crystals we should use for our own personal situation.

There is one major flaw in this; not only do the books give us a tiny piece of information about the extent of work that can be done with any one crystal but the book doesn't really know what we are working on on a deeper level or what we need to make progress.

Take an example; we are struggling to sleep.  Books will suggest you use amethyst to help you sleep.  But there are so many causes of sleeplessness, the writer doesn't know what is causing your problem so how can they suggest the correct stone?

Another issue with looking to authors for guidance on which crystal to work with is that the writer is only sharing their personal experience of a stone, through their own personal filters and energies.  What another person experiences might be completely different.  You will notice that so many people love amethyst; it must be the biggest seller in the crystal "range" and yet I don't see what all the fuss is about.  Show me a fluorite and now we're talking.  I won't let myself pick up fluorite in shops because I guarantee it will come home with me.  Amethyst... meh?  It's pretty and it has it's value, but I'm no more fussed about it than a pebble on the beach (which I love btw, remember, I love working with all stones).

So, if the writer can't know everything about the stone, doesn't know what we are really dealing with and is writing only about their personal experience, how can we know which crystals we should work with at any given time?

Throw away the books and trust our own intuition!!

We all have an inner wisdom, an intuition about what we need and what won't help us.  The trick is to remember this and learn to use it.  It takes time to learn to trust our intuition and it can be very hard at times to take back the power we have given the "experts" but it really is worth it.

On a practical level, if you are either adopting new stone spirits or intending to work with the ones you already caretake, rather than reach for a book, simply spend a moment with your stones, think about what it is you would like to achieve and clear your mind.  Simply gaze at them, pick them up or listen with your inner ear to see which ones you are drawn to.  Some hear a strong "me me meeee!" from their stones, others simply pick one up and find it feel calming or they don't want to put it down.  That's the one.  Trust it, trust that feeling and open up to the stone that has spoken to you.  Work with it and see what happens.  You might just find something wonderful happens.

Before you actually bin your books though.. if you really want to use them, use them as a tool AFTER you have picked your stone friend for the day.  Look it up and use it as you would the book that comes with a tarot or oracle deck.  Look up your stone and see what the book says, but remember, if it doesn't mention the issue you are dealing with that doesn't mean your choice is wrong, it simply means the author hasn't experienced that aspect of the stone.  If you think you will lose faith in yourself leave your books to one side until you are able to trust yourself more than the book.

In the end, what have you got to lose?  Give it a go and see what happens.

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