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Why & How To Use Crystals—A Beginner’s Guide

Written by Eileen Conlan

Photography by Illustrated by Alessandra Olanow

You may have noticed: crystals seem to be having a moment. Not only are the gorgeous stones suddenly dominating our Instagram feeds, but we’ve also noticed them as a trend in jewelry, in meditation, and as home decor. While the sparkly stones have been used since ancient times as a tool for healing and ritual, today they can be found in computers, microchips, lasers, watches, and smartphones. To find out how we can use crystals in our own daily lives—especially when juggling the crazy demands of motherhood—we called up Krista Mitchell, author of Change Your Energy: Healing Crystals for Health, Wealth, Love & Luck, to give us the low down.

Why crystals?
“Crystals really do work—they’re low-maintenance, cost-effective, consistent, and fairly rapid in their effects,” says Mitchell. “For so long, crystals were considered a really New Age-y fad, but people have worked with them historically for centuries because of their impact on our energy. It doesn’t hurt that they’re also beautiful.”

What to know before you dive in:
“Crystals are like food—they affect people in different ways, so always trust your intuition. Pay attention to which crystals you’re drawn to and how it feels when you work with them,” says Mitchell. “You need to periodically clear and charge your crystals for them to work correctly.” According to Mitchell’s book, if you are wearing and sleeping with crystals daily, you should clear them once a day. To clear crystals, you can burn sage over them or clean them in salt water or put them in the freezer. To charge them, which you can do weekly or monthly, depending on how much you use them, you can leave them on a windowsill to soak up moonlight or you can bury them in dirt for 6-12 hours.

How to use them:
“To get the best effects, wear them as jewelry on a pendant or put them in your pockets or in a pouch in your bra,” says Mitchell. “You can also use crystals in the bathtub or under your pillow to promote sleep. It all depends on the type of crystal. Only you should touch your crystals—if someone does touch them, you can clear them afterwards before using again.”

Which crystals to buy:
Below, we asked Mitchell to dish on her recommended starter kit for modern mamas. For all of the ten stones she mentions, she recommends wearing these in whatever form you like for best results.

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