crystals

[maya]

i'd like to learn more about crystals. Can anybody explain me how they work here?

[maya]

Yay! my first topic! ;D :bounce:

[mac1]

What precisely did you want to know?

Can anybody explain me how they work here?

What did you mean by "How they work". Are you refering to the use of crystals in practices such as dowsing, healing etc?

Healing, Insight, Intution
Metaphysical Properties
Of Crystals, Stones And Minerals To Aid In Holistic Healing Practice
Crystal Dowsing

Hopefully something in the above links will help. If not, be a bit more specific and I will see what I can find. If it is a scientific explantion of why crystals appear to contain unexplainable powers you want, then you are unlikely to find one. As with most topics of this nature, science can produce loads of proof of the healing properties of crystals, but all explanations will only be conjecture. For this reason, scientists tend to leave alone topics of this nature. Many psychologists would argue that the healing is not a result of the crystal, but of the PMA of the person being healed, but this would not explain why dowsing works. Its all a bit of a grey area.

[foundationist.org]

I think I could do with exploring some of those links as well...

Especially as I'll need to get a distinctly "New Age" section up sometime in the future.

I could definitely do with finding out more - thanks for that!

[maya]

thanks i am looking at the links now. ;D :scream: :scatter:

:silly:

:angel2:

:Hydrogen:

[mac1]

No problem. Was that roughly what you were looking for?

[maya]

Yeh great thnks! :angel2: :biggrinjester:

[mac1]

Glad to be of help. ;D

[WHKeith]

mac1--thanks for the links. Most useful!

Maya--the short answer is that crystals work the way you BELIEVE them to work. There are thousands of books on the topic, and most contradict one another on one point or another! If a particular rock or crystal grabs you, you have an emotional link with it. Such links are potent conduits for subtle energy--whether for healing, spellworking, visualization, scrying, whatever. As with casting spells, much of the emphasis is on the intent. Believing that clear quartz is good for projecting healing energy is far more important than pseudoscientific babblings about "crystalline structure," "vibrations" and "frequencies!"

[brian]

That's actually a very nice perspective on crystals. Coming from a science background, the terminology kept the whole concept of crystals, their use and meaning, very confusing - what is implied by "vibrational rate", for example? The idea of approaching them as meaningful psychological tool first is a far more helpful perspective.

[WHKeith]

Amen, brian! I stayed well clear of all New Age woo-woo crap, as I thought of it, for a LONG time because their pseudoscientific babble gave me a pain. When they would say, "you have to increase your molecular vibrational rate," my first thought was . . . okay, molecules vibrate. Molecular vibration is HEAT. Increase your vibrational rate and . . . my God! We've just found an explanation for spontaneous human combustion! ;D

Here's a side note that might interest you, however. Our molecules do vibrate, yes. There is now evidence that it is possible for the body's molecules--specifically water molecules--to vibrate *in phase.* Scientific studies have demonstrated that a subject performing a healing--through reiki or some other forms of faith or energy healing--actually seem to align their own in-phase molecules with the vibrations of the patient, bringing them all in phase. Similar effects are noted in, for example, a number of people worshipping together, engaged in deep conversation, or performing experiments in telepathy.

Maybe the New Agers just got the exact terminology wrong!

[brian]

New Age terminology is strictly a community-specific language - and that's part of the key to the problem, as science itself is like it's own distinct language. People well versed in one rarely understand the other, especially when relating to a single event that can be described by both.

The in-phase vibration comments above show how the two languages can begin to move towards reconcilliation. Unfortunately as the languages can have a very partisan expression, being able to walk and talk both in a constructive way can no doubt be very difficult.

[WHKeith]

Agreed. In my experience, the biggest problem to understanding lies not in the language itself, but in the dogmatic worldviews of the people using it. A New Ager can read a book about "vibrations" and "higher frequncies" and assume that he now is an expert, that what he read is how it is, no question. Sadly, a scientist can also be so boxed in by the limitations of his own discipline--the need to stay within the box to get funding, say, or the fact that his entire career is based on the currently understood schemas of egyptology, that he's reluctant to look at something new. Of course, part of the scientific method demands questioning, scepticism, and proof, and scientific dogmatism DOES change with time.

The New Age variety is harder to deal with. They can be as absolutist as any Biblical fundamentalist. I recall, with mingled glee and horror, a woman who gives lectures professionally on various New Age topics. She spoke once about how dolphins are clearly higher beings, further, that all of us have incarnated in past lives as dolphins, and in order to connect with the lessons learned, we need to . . .





wait for it . . . . .






"channel our inner gills."

[bgruagach]

For those who wish to see a skeptical, more scientific discussion of pretty much any new-agey topic, check out http://www.skepdic.com/

The article specifically about crystals is at http://www.skepdic.com/crystals.html

I'm one of those people who is of the opinion that crystals are highly likely to be psychological tools. The implication of that is a pebble I pick up myself from the ground is just as likely to be effective for whatever magickal purpose as a $200 cut and polished rock I buy in an occult shop. (Unless the magickal purpose is to convince someone to marry me... then the expensive cut and polished stone would more likely help me reach my goal! But I don't think that has anything to do with supposed occult properties of the rock itself.)

[Talia]

Am I the only person that believes that a crystal with its specific mineral properties may just happen to have some form of useful property we cannot yet describe? I am saying that there are ideas new to science there. It happens all the time where cultures and beliefs are ridiculed as primitive only to be mined for valuable information and not least in herb use. 20 years ago natural medicine was laughed at by science but is now highly respected and drug companies trawl local cultures to guide them to new wonder drugs and cures for a variety of conditions.

I'm not saying that everything written about crystals is true, but simple dismissal here seems little better than saying "You are wrong and I am right". The skepdic link is particularly poor and is nothing more than a self-parody example of where science fails. It would be better suited to those 16th century collections where early scientists believed that they knew everything there was to learn and there was nothing new left to know. The skeptics dictionary is in the same league of opinionated sillyness.

Using the explanation that everything is a psychological tool is a roundabout argument as well as it says that everything we believe is not real and just a psychological tool. If that is true then it doesn't matter if we call ourselves pagan or christian or jehovah's witnesses or join the solar temple because our opinions will all be wrong and just psychological tools anyway.

I'm not saying we are all right when we try to explain something, but I do think went we try to explain we can go too far. When we explain away other peoples opinions we can undermine our own.