Buried Treasure
by Penny James
Crystals have fascinated me for over 20 years. I bought my first crystal, a piece of haematite, at an early Mind Body and Spirit fair in the early 1990s. A black crystal, shiny when polished, hematite is grounding and protecting, boosts self-esteem, willpower and confidence. Crystals, as with all complementary therapies are additional to orthodox medicine and it is not recommended to use them as a replacement. Haematite is a useful stone for stress and I was astonished afterwards when I read about it as I was going through a stressful period in my life at the time. The stone picked me. You will find if you wish to buy a crystal for somebody else if you think of them whilst buying it you will get the correct one for them at the time. An example of this was I bought a piece of amazonite for a friend of Mum’s I didn’t know very well one Christmas. Amazonite is a soothing stone, alleviating worry and fear. It turned out Mum’s friend had been anxious about visiting Mum’s house at Christmas because she didn’t know most people who would be there.
his book from his own publishing company. I was so excited I rang the man in Ireland, the phone call was very expensive but it was worth it to speak to him. It shows this idea was around in the ether at the time and there is no such thing as coincidence.
When I began working with crystals there was little information available on the subject, so I made notes on crystals, having to use several different books, and decided to write a book so this information would all be in one place.I published it myself in paper form around 20 years ago and it is now available on Kindle. At the same time a crystal shop owner in Ireland did exactly the same thing from his own notes on the stones and published
Working with the crystals can be as simple as holding one, or placing one near where you spend a lot of time. Another way to work with the stones is a chakra balancing exercise. Chakras are points in the body where energy enters and exits, and energy flows evenly round them in a healthy body. Traditionally in healing seven chakras are used, forming a line from the base of the spine to just above the top of the head, each in a colour of
40 CARDIFF TIMES
It is essential to cleanse a crystal once you have purchased it because crystals amplify any energies around, including negative ones. This can be done in several ways; hold under running water for a few minutes, visualise a beam of light from above your head passing through the crystal and draining away into the earth. If you do this it is a good idea to thank Mother Earth or Gaia for accepting unwanted energies. Another method is by placing in rock salt, I keep a bowl on my dressing table and place my crystal jewellery in it when I take it off at night and leave overnight. Another way to cleanse stones is to burn a smudge stick, or sage stick or sage oil in an oil burner and hold the crystal in the smoke or above the oil burner for a few minutes.
