CHANGE YOUR ENERGY

Healing Crystals for Health, Wealth, Love & Luck

Krista N. Mitchell

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Text © 2016 by Krista N. Mitchell

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ISBN 978-1-4549-2299-5

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Introduction

Let me start by saying that I have always loved crystals! In my teens I loved their varying shapes and colors, I loved that they came from nature and that they were said to have mystical properties—to me that was just so magical! I started on the spiritual path in my late teens, when I first worked with crystals for their energy in pagan rituals and magical practices. I admit that, at the time, I didn’t fully believe in them or even understand how they worked, but I felt drawn to them, so I continued to use them in my spiritual work.

I moved to New York City from Toronto in 2002 to pursue classical acting studies. At the time I was on antidepressants, but given my limited access to health care and affordable prescriptions, I decided to go off my medication and manage my anxiety and depression in more natural ways. Vigorous exercise, clubbing, and frequent “pig-out” nights, where I would binge on food all became ways that I would self-medicate my imbalances. When I would go through a particularly dark or rough patch, I would grab hold of an apache tear crystal (a translucent form of obsidian) and I would carry it around with me, rubbing it between my fingers when I needed extra comforting. This was when I began to use crystals for their healing energy.

I lost my passion for acting after a while and got caught up in the New York City bar and club scene. I was a bit of a lost soul at that time, working day after day, partying night after night, going from one relationship to the next, all the while trying to figure out what I wanted to do. A friend of mine had referred me to a psychic healer and I started to see her regularly, hoping that the energy healing and guidance I received would help me straighten out my life and help me find my way. I started feeling a calling to do that work myself, but I kept denying it because I felt unworthy of it, and also because I was afraid to take the risk. I finally confessed my yearning to my healer, and she said to me, “I’ve been waiting to hear you say that, because I believe you’ve got a gift.” I started training in reiki (a hands-on Japanese energy balancing technique), and voraciously reading spiritual texts, but I was still heading down the wrong road in terms of my lifestyle choices, so the Universe finally decided to intervene and kick my butt.

When I turned thirty, my life fell apart. I hit an emotional and financial rock bottom, but I was determined to clean up the mess that had become my life. It was a tough, tough time for me. I found a job, but I wasn’t making enough money to pay all my bills. I was desperately lost and unhappy, and I was struggling to manage my pain, misery, stress, and anxiety in a way that was healthy. I began offering reiki sessions as a side job, but I never expected to be doing spiritual healing full time. I didn’t think such a thing was even possible.

Then I experienced a complete and total game-changer. A friend who was studying crystal therapy asked to practice some healing sessions on me in exchange for reiki sessions and I agreed. I was blown away by the effect the crystals had on me. There were times when I felt calm and serene after our sessions and other times when I experienced tremendous emotional release and felt despondent for days. But overall I felt that something was finally working in terms of shifting the pain, shame, fear, and doubt I was consistently feeling.

I began experimenting with crystal healing on my own, and then began integrating crystals into my reiki healing practice. While I loved reiki, there was something about the specificity of the work with crystals, and their pure, potent energy that resonated both for myself and for the clients who were coming to see me. Eventually, the crystals took over my healing work and pretty much every aspect of my life. I had become so passionate about working with them, sharing my experiences with them, and making them a consistent part of my own daily healing and spiritual practice, that a friend referred to me one day as the “Rock Whisperer,” and the title stuck.

My part-time healing work morphed into a full-time, successful professional healing practice in New York City. I was offering private sessions to clients during the week and teaching on occasional weekends. Although it was a lot of work, and at times very stressful and challenging for me, I can truly say I was living my dream. I’m supremely grateful to the friend who, early on in my career, suggested that I document all my work, because much of that material is now in this book.

For years now, people have been asking me to write a book based on my work and my experience with the stones. If I had a dollar for every person who has said to me that she loved crystals but didn’t know how to work with them, and then asked me if I was either teaching somewhere or if I’d written a book, I could comfortably retire! This book is entirely based on over ten years of my personal and professional healing work with crystals; it’s not channeled material or stuff I read somewhere on the Internet. This is all based on working with real people with real problems, who experienced real results in their lives with crystal energy.

I’ve always wanted to write a book on crystals that would appeal to people regardless of their level of experience with crystals or their exposure to spiritual philosophies and practices. I believe that crystals can help anyone who chooses to work with them, no matter what their faith, background, or beliefs. This is the book!

May this work be as much of a blessing to you as it has been to me, and to the countless people whom crystals have touched and transformed throughout their lives!

Blessings to you,

“Rock Whisperer” Krista N. Mitchell

How To Use This Book

This book is meant to be a practical handbook on how to work with crystals, as well as a reference book for more seasoned users. If you are new to crystals, I encourage you to read the whole “Basics” section before diving in, as this can help you approach the work in the most safe, effective, and practical way. All suggestions in this book are user-friendly and tested by experience. I’ve learned that if things aren’t practical, people won’t try them, and if they’re not effective, they won’t try them again! All this work is based on my years of working with crystals both personally and as a full-time professional spiritual healer, teacher, and consultant in New York City. All case studies and anecdotes have had names and details altered to protect my clients’ privacy, but all crystal suggestions and their results are consistent.

There are six different methods I share for working with crystals: as combinations (a group of two crystals or more) to be worn on your body, as crystal tonics (water that you imbue with crystal energy and then imbibe), as combinations to be used in the bath, pairings to hold while relaxing or meditating, as combinations whose energy is to be absorbed while sleeping, and as crystal healing layouts (the placement of crystals on the body in specific patterns to promote healing). The “Healing Crystals for Your Life” section provides crystal combinations that can be worn on a daily basis, used while you sleep, while you’re meditating, or as otherwise indicated. How you work with crystals is limited only by your imagination, but I have found these six methods to be the most practical and effective. The “Do-It-Yourself Crystal Healing” section teaches you safe techniques for crystal bath, layout, and tonic work, as they have specific requirements.

An important note: There are nearly one hundred crystals and stones mentioned in this book, which are identified by image and description in the Crystal Appendix. To date, there are hundreds of known or identified crystals, rocks, and stones on this Earth. I have chosen the ones in this book for their versatility, potency, capability, availability, and affordability. However, if you feel drawn to substitute one for another not mentioned in this book, honor your intuition and go for it! I make one exception to this rule: When making crystal tonics, or placing crystals in your bathwater, thoroughly research any substitutes you plan to make in advance, as many crystals can be toxic. If you’re in doubt, do without.