Lesson 3 in our FREE Crystal Basics Course will explain how crystals can help us, how they work with energy, and what energy is.
Table Of Contents
- INTRODUCTION
- WHAT IS NEGATIVE ENERGY
- Mental & Emotional Stressors
- Physical Stressors
- Sources of EMF
- HUMAN ENERGY FIELDS
- CRYSTALS AND ENERGY
- HOW CRYSTALS HELP
- SUMMARY
1. What Is Energy?
Now that we’ve covered what a crystal is and what makes it so special, we can move on to learning about crystals and energy.
When we talk about energy in this sense, we’re referring to the “life spark”, the essence of life. Energy is in all living things. Our cells are alive for as long as there is energy in them. A blade of grass, the air we breathe – it’s all made up of tiny atomic particles that oscillate (move/vibrate) – they have energy. You might remember from high school biology that even the the wood of a table still has oscillating particles (although of course it’s very, very minuscule movement).
As Albert Einstein said, matter and energy are just different forms or sides of a coin.
Energy moves constantly; it moves things, around things and through things.
“…mass and energy are both but different manifestations of the same thing…”
– Albert Einstein, Atomic Physics, 1948
2. What Is Negative Energy?
Negative energy refers to energy which is unhealthy, harmful or damaging to us (both the energetic/invisible body and physical body). It arises when something is out of balance or out of place, as the result of stress. Humans themselves generate a lot of negative energy in their lifetimes, through exposure to the stresses of life.
NEGATIVE ENERGY is energy that is unhealthy, harmful or damaging to our energetic/invisible and physical body.
Negative energy can spread. People can absorb negative energy from the environment and other people. This in turn causes us to generate even more negative energy. In addition, objects can absorb negative energy and become imprinted, holding the energy long after the generating event occurred.
Negative energy can also accumulate and ‘hang around’ in spaces. For example, traumatic events can generate a lot of negative energy in a space. This displaced energy can stay in the area long after the event has passed.
Negative energy can cause us to feel tired, run down, irritable and ‘out of sorts’. When we are out of balance in this way for prolonged periods, dis-ease and illness can manifest. This is true for all living beings.
Let’s look at two of the major causes of stress in the world that lead to negative energy:
1. MENTAL & EMOTIONAL STRESSORS
On an environmental level, we are aware that we are living in demanding and challenging times.
Waste and pollution are destroying our planet. Government leaders and corporations seem to become more insane and corrupt by the day. In our own lives, we juggle a million things from morning to night, running from one to the next, and we never seem to have enough time. We are bombarded daily by these non-stop stressors. (note: I first wrote this in 2012. Re-reading it now in 2022 as I update our Crystal Basics course makes me shake my head! Little did I know how much this would all accelerate!)
As technology has progressed, it has affected how we live. Everything is electronic and designed to make our lives faster, so the pace of life just seems to constantly increase.
We are in the information age, and drowning in it. On one cellphone we carry news headlines from around the world, emails and virtual meeting requests from work no matter where we are, social media showing people with perfect lives… And that cellphone goes everywhere with us, we never detach.
We are working longer hours than in 95% of human history (ref 1 & 2). The “village community” way of life has dwindled in response to the industrial age, while isolation and loneliness continue to soar in cities. Access to nature (and nature itself) has shrunk to tiny pockets in concrete jungles. Our natural rhythms have been overridden.
This has all happened in the last 100-200 years, in relation to a 200,000 years or so history of ‘modern’ man. We have not had time to adapt (and nor has the natural world).
All of this is deeply stress inducing, causing lots of negative energy in our bodies and in people around us.
2.2. PHYSICAL STRESSORS
In addition to these mental and emotional stressors, the modern world itself harms and stresses us physically. We generally live in varying degrees of toxic, artificial environments. One of the biggest physical stressors the modern world has created is related to electronics.
Every electronic device, no matter how small, has an electromagnetic field (EMF) and emits electromagnetic waves – a form of radiation.
SOURCES OF ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES:
- Radar
- Communication equipment, including cellphone stations and towers
- High voltage electricity lines, stations and substations
- Radio and TV transmitters
- Computers, tablets and other electrical equipment at home and work
- Plus many other electrical systems in the environment
All of this radiation is collectively called ‘electromagnetic smog’.
Electromagnetic Smog consists of all artificially generated electromagnetic fields in the environment and the resulting exposure of people and the environment to them. Electromagnetic smog is classified as “non-ionizing radiation”.
These physically harmful energy emissions are bouncing off us and/or being absorbed by us (remember that we are energy too) 24 hours a day.
There are no long term studies on what happens to the human body when exposed to as much EMF radiation as we are now in our modern world.
But there are initial studies showing that it is causing physical stress to our bodies.
“Technological devices have become essential components of daily life. However, their deleterious effects on the body, particularly on the nervous system, are well known. Electromagnetic fields (EMF) have various chemical effects, including causing deterioration in large molecules in cells and imbalance in ionic equilibrium.”
– K?vrak, Elfide Gizem et al., ‘Effects of Electromagnetic Fields Exposure On The Antioxidant Defence System’, Journal of Microscopy and Ultrastructure vol. 5,4 (2017)
3. Human Energy Fields
While electronics emit an electromagnetic field, so too do humans (like all animate beings) have an energy field around them. This subtle energetic field radiating outwards from our physical body is called an ‘aura’. The concept of an aura has existed for thousands of years, in the Eastern spirituality as well as in different forms of tribal shamanism around the world.
At a very basic level, it is an extension of the physical, and how we interact with our environment energetically.
Our physical bodies have orifices (physical openings) which enable us to take in and expel physical matter. In the same way, the human aura has energetic orifices that we take in and expel energetic matter through. These energetic orifices are called ‘chakras’. There are 7 main chakras on the human body.
Read our article THE CHAKRAS FOR BEGINNERS if you’d like a bit more information on these energy centres of the human body.
While electromagnetic smog and stress affect us physically (e.g. cell deterioration), they also hurt us energetically. Our aura can be damaged, develop tears, leaks and blockages. We can feel tired and drained, no matter how much we rest. Our chakras can become blocked or unbalanced.
When energy, our life force, isn’t flowing through our bodies in a harmonious state, it manifests as illness or dis-ease in our physical body.
Try a meditation to rebalance and unblock your chakras with our CHAKRA HEALING MEDITATION guide.
4. Crystals & Energy
As you have now learned, crystals have an incredibly special atomic arrangement, one of six set mathematically precise patterns. This property is the key to how crystals are able to affect energy. When energy moves through this orderly structure, it can change (be affected) in various ways.
Let’s first look at examples of how crystals can affect energy from a measurable, physical world perspective. Different crystals can:
- Conduct and/or create electricity (piezo-electric)
- Produce a stable high-vibration frequency (e.g. advanced electronics, computer chips)
- Alter light beams in different ways (e.g. polarizers and lazers)
- Block and/or absorb heat energy (thermal insulation)
Isn’t that amazing! So we have real world proof that crystals affect energy in a physical way that we can measure. In the same way, crystals can affect energy that we cannot (yet) measure. Just as Albert Einstein knew, energy and matter are the same thing. We, humans, are energy. Crystals can transform, reshape, amplify, focus, block and so on, energy that we are exposed to and energy that we are composed of.
For example, Tourmaline is piezo-electric, which means it can absorb electricity in a measurable way. In the same way, it can take in what we call negative energy and trap it, clearing the space it is in.
Others are able to diffuse energy – like Rose Quartz, energy flows through it and is transformed to a harmonious state we recognize as loving and peaceful. Rose Quartz diffuses this energy all around it, filling the space with this transformed, harmonious energy.
5. How Crystals Can Help
“Most crystals have a special crystalline structure which is believed to hold energies, thoughts and information. Interestingly these metaphysical concepts are similar to how silicon (which is what crystals like Quartz are made of) is used in computer chips.”
– Ethan Lazzerini, ‘Crystal Healing’
Crystals are millions and millions of years old. Energy has been passing through crystals all this time – energy which contains all there is to life. Crystals as a result contain an imprint of all the knowledge and information there is to life, all that has been. That is why Judy Hall referred to crystals as “earth’s DNA”. (And why I named my first shop Earth DNA).
A crystal is anything but just a pretty stone. Its perfect structure, its ability to absorb, transform, focus and diffuse energy, and its intrinsic knowledge of life, makes it an incredibly powerful tool that we can benefit from. We can use crystals in our personal environments and on ourselves – to clear, heal, re-energize and learn from.
A crystal’s perfect structure, its ability to absorb, transform, focus and diffuse energy, and its intrinsic knowledge of life, makes it an incredibly powerful tool that we can benefit from.
We can use crystals in our personal environments and on ourselves – to clear, heal, re-energize and learn from. In the 7th and final lesson of the course, we’ll go through 8 different ways you can start working with crystals and benefiting from their awesome energy!
5. In Summary
Our world is made up of the seen (physical) plane and the unseen (energetic) plane. Humans have an energetic body which extends outward from our physical body called an aura, and orifices called chakras, which we take in and expel energy through. The modern world is filled with stressors which impact our health and happiness through negative, out of balance energy.
Crystals have a special crystalline structure that gives them the ability to change, absorb and amplify energy. They’ve been doing it since their creation millions of years ago and thus contain the energetic history of all that ever was!
Crystals can help us live happier, healthier lives by assisting us in clearing negative energy, protecting us from out of balance emanations and amplifying good energy.
…UP NEXT
We now know what crystals are, how they work and how they can help us! Crystals all have different properties dependent on their chemical composition, and this applies to their energetic properties too. In the next lesson we’re going to answer the first question that usually arises at this point: How to choose a crystal.
CRYSTAL BASICS Crystal Course for Beginners Lesson 4: