I'd use them every day for a few weeks, then stop...then start again. I kept a diary and wrote down how I felt each day. There was no doubt though that when I was using the crystals I felt so much better and when I didn't touch them for weeks I was feeling terrible. To be honest, I didn't really think they were going to help at all and so didn't have much faith in them and felt I was going to be proved right and it was all a load of rubbish...but I was proved wrong...they did work...and brilliantly too.

I have loads and loads of crystals now...I'm completely hooked on them. The ones I use for healing I keep in a wooden box, but I have tons of them scattered all around my home. Just looking at them gives me a positive feeling and I like to have them in all my rooms. The ideal place to keep the crystals you work with though is in a dark place.

Crystals have been used for healing for thousands of years.  They are said to go as far back as to the lost city of Atlantis. In the Far Eastern and Native American cultures crystals have been used for not only helping in physical healing but also in spiritual rituals.

The first known reference to the healing power of crystals comes from an Egyptian papyrus dated around 1600BC which gives directions for their use.

Beads of lapis Lazuli, malachite, and red jasper were worn around a sick person's neck so that the disease could pass through them and disappear. The practice of placing or wearing stones on various areas of the body  was only part of the repertoire of healers in history. A popular medicinal method of use was to pulverize gems, mix them with a liquid, and drink it.

Our earth is 85% crystal. Its crust is largely made from silicon and oxygen, combined with six other elements, aluminium, iron, calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium. From this combination comes the awe inspiring variety of crystal colours, shapes, sizes and hardness.
 

The earth is a brilliant recycler...changing limestone to marble...and it is a cocktail of ingredients which form crystals under specific conditions such as temperature, pressure, space and time.
 

The reason why diamonds are found at only a few locations worldwide is because the exact conditions required for them to form are relatively rare. The high value we place on such gemstones is then heightened by the fact that large perfect crystals are relatively scarce because of the complex and ever-changing circumstances taking place in nature.
 

As magma cools, the first crystals to form are those that have the highest melting points and relatively simple chemical compositions. Gradually, different minerals form until only the more complex atoms are left. As these increases in concentration and the magma continues to cool, more elaborate crystals are produced.

Magma that reaches the surface of the earth as lava cools very quickly and produces amorphous material or rocks comprising of tiny crystals. These are extrusive, volcanic rocks.

Magma held under the earth solidifies more slowly into coarse grained rocks with larger, visible crystals. These are intrusive or plutonic rocks....granite; the most common example is composed mainly of quartz, feldspar and mica.
 

Some of the finest examples of crystals, such as quartz, are formed from chemicals that have been dissolved in solutions within rock cavities. Here they have both space and time to grow.

Water will dissolve some minerals and their ions produce a solution, which, given the right conditions and ingredients, the solution will become over saturated and so the beginning of the formation of crystals takes place. The slower this happens, the bigger and better formed are the crystals. Stalagmites are an example of this.
 

As with everything, including ourselves, crystals are energy. The combination of perfect form and energy are the processes through which crystals encourage our bodies to come into balance and why they are such powerful tools for self-healing.
 

When we are ill our bodies become unbalanced and it is the vibrations inside the crystals which help us to rebalance.

As I said earlier, there are many, many crystals and each has a specific job to do when healing. Just as each chakra is connected to different parts of the body, crystals have their own area which they help to heal. But, saying that, what works for one person doesn't always work for another and so it can sometimes be 'trial and error' in finding the crystal which works for you.

 
Crystals can be used, as I said earlier, as a liquid remedy, be placed on or around the body or even placed in your bath. A lot of people use them as 'worry stones'...and tumble them between their fingers. This is particular good with crystals which give you confidence and take away fears such as a Tiger's Eye. I always keep one in my bag or pocket...actually I keep 3 of them on me all the time...lol as well as Tiger's Eye I have Hematite, and Amethyst.

Crystals can be used for both physical and psychological disorders.

There are many books around about crystals...I have a bookshelf full but the one which I find the best, is called The Crystal Bible by Judy Hall and if you are serious about getting into crystals for healing it is a MUST.

The following pages will tell you how what types of crystals there are, how to choose them, what they can be used for, how to cleanse and programme them and much more.