Introduction
Crystal power People say that stones do not speak, they do not feel. What an error! Alphonse de Chateaubriant, La Réponse du Seigneur
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hink of crystals… What comes to mind? The universally accepted definition of a crystal is ‘a solid body with a geometrically regular shape’. It includes not only sparkling gemstones but also semi-precious stones and even rocks. The crystals we are meeting in this book are, for the most part, the crystalline form of minerals. They include precious and semi-precious stones and also some rocks. These gifts from the Earth offer healing, wisdom and so much more. Crystals have been used for an extremely long time. It might surprise you to know that they were universally regarded as sacred in the ancient world and were an integral part of religious, medicinal, protective and divinatory practices. In India, Shiva Lingams, stone representations of the god Shiva, are worshipped to this day, while according to researcher Robert Temple, ‘The ancient Greek Pythagoreans of the fifth century bce believed that the sun was a gigantic crystal ball larger than the Earth, which gathered the ambient light
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