by Sybil McLendon
There is a lot of information, mis-information and downright mumbo-jumbo communicated about quartz crystals nowadays. I have heard people say things like: "Crystals won't work if you don't believe in them." or "If you wear the point up it will give you a headache." or "If you wear the point down all the energy will leak out." or "Only clear crystals work."
All of this proves to me that the simple, scientific truths about crystals - how they work and what they do - are not well known.
Some years ago, a brilliant scientist, the late Marcel Vogel, decided to quit his job at IBM and devote himself full-time to the study of quartz crystals. Fascinated by the apparent healing abilities of crystals, he convinced IBM to give him several costly machines to set up his own lab to prove or disprove the many beliefs about them. What he proved about crystals is as miraculous as it is simple.
Quartz crystals are composed of (among many other things, of course) many free-floating electrons. Not being bonded to anything, these electrons will arrange themselves into a set pattern when the crystal is at rest, laying somewhere by itself. As soon as it is moved, however, these free-floating electrons are stimulated and start charging around.
Now, the crystal doesn't like this. It likes electrons kept in the previously ordered manner, so it immediately sets about rearranging them again. Because of the electrical energy expended during this process, anything that is touching the crystal at the same time also receives the crystal's attempt to order.
If what is touching the crystal (you, for instance) is putting out its own electrical energy, this in turn stimulates the electrons again, and a loop is set up that gives the wearer a constant flow of quartz crystal re-patterned energy.
And it does not matter one whit whether the point is up or down, or whether the wearer believes in the existence of electrons or not. This re-patterning can have a variety of results. A quartz crystal left in water changes the pH balance of the water (another vogel discovery). This structured water tastes better (by survey) and has fewer impurities than the same water did pre-crystal. Plants with crystals in their potting soil grow faster.
Then there is the subject of crystals and healing. This leads to another common myth about crystals that say cut and polished crystals are not as powerful as the natural ones. Surprise! Vogel proved a highly cut and polished five-sided crystal conducted the most electrical energy of all crystals.
He designed a cut and polished quartz crystal, now referred to as a "Vogel crystal", that, when used properly, will cause a large, non-believing man to become so weak in the knees that he has to sit down. Vogel became an enthusiastic card-carrying believer in the healing energies of the quartz crystal.
The electrical properties have been known by the scientific community since the turn of the century. Because they will vibrate at a fixed rate when an electrical charge is put to them, crystals made possible the radio, television, computers, satellites, and an accurate wristwatch.
So, mumbo-jumbo aside, the quartz crystal is truly a miraculous gift given to us by Mother Nature and scientifically proven to perform the miracles attributed to it.
Recommended Reading
"Healing With Crystals and Gems" buy Daya Sarai Chocron; published by Samuel Weiser, Inc.
"Crystal Enlightenment: The Transforming Properties of Crystals and Healing Stones" by Katrina Raphaell; published by Aurora Press, Inc.
"Crystal Healing: The Therapeutic Application of Crystals and Stones" by Katrina Raphaell; published by Aurora Press, Inc.
"Crystals and Gemstones: Windows of Self" by Miriam Kaplan; published by Cassandra Press.
"Stone Power" by Dorothee L. Mella; published by Warner Books.
The above document was originally published under the full title: "Quartz crystal energy 101 for left-brained students", in "The Awareness Journal", February 1996, p. 13. Used with permission.