How do Crystals "work"?
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moopet
binary decision maker
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Does your nose hurt when you (or someone else) holds a finger a couple of inches in front of it? Mine does, like an unbearable tickle. Same thing with a lot of people I've asked. When I was really young I used to think I could detect things with it and used to walk around with my eyes shut clumping painfully into walls trying to "hone" my mystical talent.
Try it with your eyes closed, somebody else holding the finger there. It could be your eyes watering and flowing down the outlets into your nose as you try and watch an object that close and causing that much discomfort. Big way to try is with a "control" - you eyes covered, them not telling you when finger is near.
The place we "feel" only exists by an association in our brain. Think a moment about how we block out sensory influences. Mentally blocking one part of your senses to pick up something else. Some of this is automatic, and comes from continually firing neurons - as in hearing, smell, and pain ("taste" for those that like hot peppers). The feedback eventually depletes the signal, making sure that you pay attention to the new, different, or unusual. Part of the reason our eyes jiggle.
Now, when you sit there and concentrate on part of your palm... you dont' actually feel the sensory input of your palm: you are focusing your attention on that part of your brain that is fed by those sensory nerves which you've established by association. Focus on that, and every tiny impulse that you normally ignore (your hands are very sensitive) gets picked up and amplified.
Try it with another part of your body (foot, high sensitivity versus inner forearm,preferably no hair) and see how "localized" or powerful it is. And, of course, try it with eyes closed and someone else holding the proxy object.
Not sure of the absolute neurological certainty of this, but again, I'm only a biologist on TV.
Of course not.
I've got the degree, and zero years working as a biologist, so the best I can do is go from my antiquated knowledge and tell others to take half a quart of salt with any opinions.Z
Variable Constant
I have no idea if there is a factual basis in this or not, but I often find that, if my eyes are closed and I pay careful attention, I can often feel things near me without touching them. I often walk around the house with my eyes closed, enjoying the exercise of avoiding chairs, toys, and scattered odds and ends - you can't say I'm memorizing the area, because my kids keep rearranging everything.
It doesn't always work, but I'd guess often enough that there might be something to this - maybe slight changes in air pressure or something? Beats me.
But it doesn't have much to do with crystals.
That being said, I do 'feel' something with some crystals, rocks, and other things that isn't accounted for by proximity touch, as I have to actually hold the stone in question to get the appropriate sensation. I personally think it's either some as-yet undetected or misunderstood natural energy interference, or it's some sort of folk-psychology reaction, since I'm already fairly familiar with what various stones are supposed to do.
The strangest occurance I've ever had involving stones was with a piece of red jasper. I was told that this stone could absorb 'negativity', so I placed it at the door of our house (over the sill) for a month. Coincidentally, we had a much better month, and the person who we thought was trying to do us harm backed off a LOT.
Well, it's a nice coincidence, I thought, but I figured I'd keep playing along - and did as directed, burying the jasper in a bed of sea salt for a month to 'cleanse the stone'.
Imagine my surprise and rather outright shock to find that the salt had blackened where it touched the jasper! I mean, as if burnt, that black, and ashen! It was alarming and more than a bit disturbing - especially since the container it was in had been hidden in a place only I knew about, so I cannot suspect tampering; and since I can come up with no chemical reaction between sea salt, jasper, and environmental variables (such as humidity) that would have blackened the salt in this manner. If any of you have any reasonable explanations for this seemingly mystic occurance, I seriously would love to hear it.
(for further info, the salt and stone were in a sealed Tupperware container, one of those 4-inch wide, 1 inch deep round ones, stored under the basement stairs, in the dark, in a nook in the rock walls of the basement; the basement was fairly humid, but no nearby electrical or other energy-radiating sources to influence reaction; the sea salt was from a grocery store (beats me how 'pure' or whatever it was, I cook with it sometimes); the red jasper was fairly pure with a single amber-colored streak in it that I think was evidence of a faultline in the stone.
Anyway... I'm a woo, and prone to believing in such things. Still - I really would like a nice, easy scientific explanation of this weird reaction (which has now happened three more times out of twelve instances of burying in salt).
It doesn't always work, but I'd guess often enough that there might be something to this - maybe slight changes in air pressure or something? Beats me.
But it doesn't have much to do with crystals.
That being said, I do 'feel' something with some crystals, rocks, and other things that isn't accounted for by proximity touch, as I have to actually hold the stone in question to get the appropriate sensation. I personally think it's either some as-yet undetected or misunderstood natural energy interference, or it's some sort of folk-psychology reaction, since I'm already fairly familiar with what various stones are supposed to do.
The strangest occurance I've ever had involving stones was with a piece of red jasper. I was told that this stone could absorb 'negativity', so I placed it at the door of our house (over the sill) for a month. Coincidentally, we had a much better month, and the person who we thought was trying to do us harm backed off a LOT.
Well, it's a nice coincidence, I thought, but I figured I'd keep playing along - and did as directed, burying the jasper in a bed of sea salt for a month to 'cleanse the stone'.
Imagine my surprise and rather outright shock to find that the salt had blackened where it touched the jasper! I mean, as if burnt, that black, and ashen! It was alarming and more than a bit disturbing - especially since the container it was in had been hidden in a place only I knew about, so I cannot suspect tampering; and since I can come up with no chemical reaction between sea salt, jasper, and environmental variables (such as humidity) that would have blackened the salt in this manner. If any of you have any reasonable explanations for this seemingly mystic occurance, I seriously would love to hear it.
(for further info, the salt and stone were in a sealed Tupperware container, one of those 4-inch wide, 1 inch deep round ones, stored under the basement stairs, in the dark, in a nook in the rock walls of the basement; the basement was fairly humid, but no nearby electrical or other energy-radiating sources to influence reaction; the sea salt was from a grocery store (beats me how 'pure' or whatever it was, I cook with it sometimes); the red jasper was fairly pure with a single amber-colored streak in it that I think was evidence of a faultline in the stone.
Anyway... I'm a woo, and prone to believing in such things. Still - I really would like a nice, easy scientific explanation of this weird reaction (which has now happened three more times out of twelve instances of burying in salt).
DevilsAdvocate
Philosopher
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Any chance that jasper was absorbing starch instead of 'negativity'. Assuming that the salt is iodized. Starch will turn iodine blue or black.
Z
Variable Constant
Jasper isn't particularly porous, but there's no reason to think there's no way some kind of starch might have gotten onto the surface of the jasper.
I'm not altogether sure if sea salt is iodized - I will definitely check into that.
DevilsAdvocate
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I'm sure there is both iodized and non-iodized sea salt on the market. Starch may not even be necessary. Iodine is somewhat dissolvable in water. So if the rock was a bit wet after hanging out on the sill, the salt would have abosorbed the water rapidly and then the iodine could have disolved into the water leaving the salt a blue/purple/black color. At least I think. Maybe? I've see iodized salt after it has been wet and then dried, but I don't recall ever seeing blue/purple/black salt. But then I never put it into something seealed like a tupperware container either. Or maybe I have? Seems unlikely. But I would still suspect that iodine is what caused the black salt.
Z
Variable Constant
It's good thinking, that. I'll have to run some experiments... as soon as I can convince my SO to let me blow a few bucks on iodized and non-iodized salts in order to disprove the protective powers of red jasper... er, well, I'll have to come up with a different reason. LOL
The other option, I wonder, since red jasper contains a strong iron content... could there be some reaction between iodine and iron to cause some sort of oxidation?
(It's been a decade since my chem classes...)
And of course, this:
Yeah, I hate it when all the aliens in the solar system shoot lasers at my pineal gland. The neon face-eating monkeys never let me hear the end of it.
StoatBringer
Scholar
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All crystals appear to only have positive, healing powers. How come none of the crystal loonies ever claim that a particular crystal, or combination of crystals, is somehow harmful?
It's like the alternative medicine nuts who always claim that there are NO side-effects to whatever snake-oil they're pushing.
It's like the alternative medicine nuts who always claim that there are NO side-effects to whatever snake-oil they're pushing.
Z
Variable Constant
Yeah, I was thinking that, Stoatbringer. Especially when we were talking about fake crystals that filter out the negative energy. How do they know? Perhaps there are Cuckoo crystals that pretend to be good but feed on our positive energy
You're mostly right about that. I have heard individuals talk about certain stones being 'harmful' or 'disruptive', but the general populous of the New Agers poo-poo away these debates and refer to their pet rock book for more info.
Certain metals, on the other hand, seem to bother many N.A.s - probably related in some way to the soft technophobia so many of them experience.
For my own woo woo part, I dislike fluorite, which just annoys me to be around. I think the obvious explanation is that I, the preternaturally clumsy oaf, don't like fragile things around me.
Odin
Atheistic Aesir
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apparently Jasper is quartz coloured with iron, so you could try putting iron in the salt and plain quartz in the salt and seeing if either have an effect.
Also if the blackening is caused by 'negativity' you could try it with 'cleansed' Jasper versus negatively charged Jasper and see if there's any difference.
TJ
Amateur Rhythmatist
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Most excellent comeback Ashles!
LotusMegami
Thinker
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A experienced a strange sensation
My ex-fiancee got my into neo-paganism. I especially had an interest in crystals, as I was already a rock collector.
I've had strange sensations when placing stones on my chakras while meditating. Mostly I think any energy work I did can be chalked up to the power of suggestion. I thought about calm and peace, and kept the rose quartz with me as a reminder to stay centered. I thought about health and energy, and kept the chalcedony near wherever body part was hurt.
Think "worry stones" with sentimental value. But the odd buzzing feeling I still don't understand. I can't recreate it without the stones.
Even if it was all the placebo effect, it was powerful. I sprained an ankle jumping over a campfire, which is something pagans do. My former fiancee tried to heal it. I was able to walk just as far as I needed to.
Now my hand-fast husband has left me for a pothead, and my town has been ripped up by a tornado. Maybe I should get my stones out, just to rub. Even if they have no special powers at all, I still have associations in my mind, and it's better than picking at my fingers, which now have blisters.
My ex-fiancee got my into neo-paganism. I especially had an interest in crystals, as I was already a rock collector.
I've had strange sensations when placing stones on my chakras while meditating. Mostly I think any energy work I did can be chalked up to the power of suggestion. I thought about calm and peace, and kept the rose quartz with me as a reminder to stay centered. I thought about health and energy, and kept the chalcedony near wherever body part was hurt.
Think "worry stones" with sentimental value. But the odd buzzing feeling I still don't understand. I can't recreate it without the stones.
Even if it was all the placebo effect, it was powerful. I sprained an ankle jumping over a campfire, which is something pagans do. My former fiancee tried to heal it. I was able to walk just as far as I needed to.
Now my hand-fast husband has left me for a pothead, and my town has been ripped up by a tornado. Maybe I should get my stones out, just to rub. Even if they have no special powers at all, I still have associations in my mind, and it's better than picking at my fingers, which now have blisters.
StoatBringer
Scholar
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- Oct 27, 2005
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- 63
When I was young I loved buying the highly polished rocks and crystals on sale in gift shops. I just liked the shapes and colours, and they were never sold as anything more than just pretty rocks.
Nowadays, however, it's rare to find anywhere selling these objects without dividing them up by type and sticking various sorts of "Promotes well-being" signs on them (and hiking up the price accordingly).
The most annoying sale of crystals I've seen was at the Leeds museum of medicine. It's a very interesting museum, charting the history of medicine in Britain over the last few hundred years, starting off in the times of plagues and going right up to modern brain surgery.
However, in the gift shop of the museum is a machine which sells "crystals, believed to promote healing" for only £1 each. I left a polite message giving my opinion on this in their suggestion box. But hey, it makes a profit so I suspect it's probably still there.
Nowadays, however, it's rare to find anywhere selling these objects without dividing them up by type and sticking various sorts of "Promotes well-being" signs on them (and hiking up the price accordingly).
The most annoying sale of crystals I've seen was at the Leeds museum of medicine. It's a very interesting museum, charting the history of medicine in Britain over the last few hundred years, starting off in the times of plagues and going right up to modern brain surgery.
However, in the gift shop of the museum is a machine which sells "crystals, believed to promote healing" for only £1 each. I left a polite message giving my opinion on this in their suggestion box. But hey, it makes a profit so I suspect it's probably still there.