Using Crystals With Reiki

Once you have learned the basic techniques of Reiki, you are encouraged to learn more about crystals and see if they resonate with you in your healing sessions.

Crystals can be placed directly on a patient or within their aura. They can also be used around the house for purification, near your computer to absorb electronic energy, to absorb pollutants and absorb natural radiation.

You can strategically place crystals around your house for neutralizing geopathic stress and negative environmental energies. Crystals can be worn as jewellery around your neck or carried in your pocket. You can also submerge crystals in your bottles of drinking water to strengthen and purify them.

I employ crystals in most, but not all of my healing sessions. If I sense that somebody would be sceptical of crystals, I’m much less likely to use them. On the other hand, some patients are really keen on discovering more about crystals, so I use them more liberally.

At the earth chakra located just below the feet, place a grounding stone such as hematite or smoky quartz. I generally do this during every healing because these stones are helpful for collecting any negative energy swept from the patient’s aura during healing. It’s especially important to cleanse these stones after each healing, as they function as a receptacle for negative or unwanted energy.

Many crystals can be effectively used on each of the chakras. I’ve included just a few to give you a taste of the variety and diversity of healing stones available to us here on earth. For the root chakra, smoky quartz assists in grounding and purifying. You can also choose a crystal such as red carnelian which is a stabilizing stone that also promotes self-trust. Red jasper grounds energy and can also be used for healing the circulatory, digestive and sexual organs.

If your patient has specific issues to heal, choose crystals for their specific healing characteristics. Once again, let me remind you to cleanse your healing crystals after each use. Run them under fresh water or rinse them with salt water. You can also hold them in your hands to energize and purify them. With Reiki 2, visualize the Cho Ku Rei and Sei He Ki symbols penetrating and empowering each stone. Finally, you can place your crystals in the sunshine to gather the energy of the sun and further purify them.

For the sacral chakra, choose red jasper for healing sexual organs and enhancing sexual relationships. Orange calcite effectively balances emotions, removes fear and helps overcome depression. It’s used for healing the reproductive system, gallbladder and intestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome.

Over the long term, study a book on crystals and learn the specific qualities of each stone. Purchase those stones that most resonate with you and incorporate them into your healing. Most often, I allow my intuition to select the stone for each healing. Call it laziness if you must, but I simply bring out my tray of healing stones and let my hand hover over the crystals until I feel naturally directed to select a few for my patient. Indeed, I’m employing basic knowledge of crystals such as knowing which colour is suitable for each chakra, but I also trust my hand and heart to select stones that resonate with me at that moment.

Yellow tourmaline stimulates the solar plexus and is helpful to enhance personal power. Physically, it treats the stomach, liver, spleen, kidneys and gallbladder. Another beautiful stone is the tiger’s eye which works on strengthening self-worth, manifesting the will and overcoming self-criticism. Generally, crystals of a yellow or golden hue are suitable for placement on the solar plexus chakra.

While scanning your patient’s body at the beginning of healing, you may find a blockage or weakness at one of the chakras. In this case, place the crystal directly on the chakra throughout the healing. The crystal then functions as your “third hand” throughout the duration of the healing process. When doing this, many people report that they feel my hand on one of their chakras long after I have moved to a different healing position.

I normally place rose quartz on the heart chakra. The first stone that I fell in love with was rose quartz and I carried it with me all the time. I used it in practically every healing. Finally, realizing that I had grown attached to it, I decided to give it to a good friend. It was the finest gift I had in my possession and sharing it with a close friend was the most important thing I could do with it. Rose quartz symbolizes unconditional love, purifying the heart at all levels including the love of self. As you strengthen your love of self, you will automatically attract loving relationships into your life.

Rhodonite is another pink-coloured stone that can be placed directly on the heart chakra, or just above it. Rhodonite heals emotional wounds, facilitates forgiveness and transmutes painful emotions. Green stones such as green tourmaline, green quartz and moss agate can also be used effectively when working on the heart.

It would be very uncomfortable if you placed a crystal directly on the throat. It’s better to place your chosen crystals below the throat or to one side. I normally use blue quartz that I acquired in the mystical town of Capilla del Monte in central Argentina. I use it specifically for healing throat issues. For a long time, this was my personal favourite stone, so I always carried it in my pocket. As I got used to it (and it attuned to me), I felt confident using it in most healings. This shows that confidence in the healing power of a crystal, plus regular association with it, empowers you and your crystals to be more effective at healing.

More recently, I’ve begun using a lapis lazuli that my wife brought back for me from the sacred mountains of Pushkar in Rajasthan, India last year. I first heard of lapis lazuli in the epic poem by W.B. Yeats where he describes the power of the arts and artisans, which coincidentally relate to the creative aspects of the throat chakra. Although I don’t know if Yeats was familiar with the healing qualities of lapis lazuli, he was certainly attracted to the beauty and imaginative characteristics of this visionary stone. Lapis lazuli balances the throat chakra and heals the throat, larynx, thyroid and thymus. It is said to encourage self-awareness and strengthen self-expression, the major issue of the throat chakra. Lapis makes beautiful jewellery that can attractively and therapeutically be worn around the neck.

On the brow chakra, lapis lazuli can also be used to stimulate enlightenment, enhance psychic ability and guide you on your spiritual path. In my own practice, I generally use purple amethyst during meditation, when healing myself and healing others. My first experience with this crystal was when my friend Ken visited from England. He had been using amethyst in his healing work for decades, and this was the stone he selected as a gift for me. Amethyst has a high spiritual vibration. It strengthens common sense, spiritual insight, intuition and psychic ability. It’s always suitable for use on the brow chakra.

Purple amethyst is also useful on the crown chakra because it connects the physical, mental and emotional bodies with the spiritual. It cleanses the aura and transmutes negative energy. Overall, it’s one of the most spiritual stones. If I had to recommend a single stone for your healing and meditation practice, I would suggest amethyst.

If you decide to purchase stones for your own use, visit a gem shop and examine their inventory. Pick up any stone that you find attractive and hold it in your hand to sense its energy. If it resonates with you, it just might be your stone. Discuss the qualities of the stone with the merchant or study more about its healing and esoteric qualities. Using a combination of intuition, knowledge and touch, you will discover the crystals most suitable for you. You can also bring your pendulum with you to the gem shop and use it to read which crystals are most in tune with your personal energy.

On a concluding note, be aware of the shapes, sizes and processes that go into crystals. You will find highly polished stones that make beautiful pendants, but to me, all that polishing and processing distract from the pure, natural aesthetics of the stone. Thus, I much prefer a rough, unpolished stone just as it was found in the earth. On the other hand, crystals can be very artistically crafted into wands, spheres or hearts. My experience is that crystals shaped into round balls can be a bit problematic. I discovered this one day during Reiki training when I placed my round purple amethyst on a student’s heart. Well, no sooner did they take a deep breath when the crystal went rolling off their chest, onto the floor and proceeded to roll all away across the room. Get the picture? It was embarrassing, to say the least. Since then, I’ve returned to my “old faithful” naturally shaped amethyst.

This article has been adapted from my book, “Personal Transformation through Reiki.” It is available at: http://www.amazon.com/Personal-Transformation-through-Reiki-Radzienda/dp/616321420X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1361883358&sr=8-2&keywords=personal+transformation+through+reiki