18 • Chapter One
a natural quartz crystal sphere. You’re looking for a sphere that overall is so clear that, when holding it in your hand, you should be able to clearly see the color of your fingers. However, an entirely clear ball is not what you want. Look for small “inclusions,” or tiny flaws within the crystal that will look like flat, rainbow, three-dimensional effects. Clear, lead crystal is unsuitable due to its lack of flaws. The ideal crystal ball will have countless inclusions but be otherwise clear. Some cloudiness is okay, but not so much that it obscures your inclusions. If you are absolutely sure that you do not want to attempt to see visions in the crystal and only wish to use it for meditative and trance purposes, then you have a lot more freedom and can choose an opaque crystal, transparent or translucent. I find that, for this purpose, a more shiny crystal of a very consistent hue can be best. The shine of the crystal can create optical illusions that allow you to better soften your focus, and a lack of color variation does not tempt your mind to be distracted by perceived shapes. As for the size of your crystal ball, size is truly not the most important factor. I used to joke when I was first getting into crystal ball reading, upon discovering the expense of large, quartz spheres, that I wanted to start a rumor that the smaller the crystal ball was, the more accurate it was. This has not proven to be true in my experience. At the time of this writing, my smallest quartz crystal sphere is one centimeter in diameter and my largest crystal sphere is ten (about four inches). I switch sizes between readings without any further thought than travel considerations.