By Sheena Gill & Marie Chalmers
Full disclosure right up front! Whilst Sheena is currently taking a Diploma Course in Crystal Healing, we do not purport to be Crystal Healers with any authority other than self-taught insights and having closely listened to our customers over decades in the Industry (which Sheena will tell you is far more eye-opening than her course!). As owners of a business that specifically sells Gemstone products into both the Jewellery Maker and the Crystal Healing community, we, at the very least, need to know these basics – or else otherwise that wouldn’t make for a very good business model, would it?!
Amongst our army of Gem-buying customers, we have a staggering wealth of information regarding the use of Crystals across a huge plethora of disciplines such as Chakra & Reiki Work, Aura Cleansing & Healing, Crystal use in Yoga & Meditation, Divination, Colour Therapy, Visualisation, Dreamwork, Ceremonies, Energy Grids, Activations and Witchcraft – and this list doesn’t even scratch the surface of where and how Crystals can be used for their healing qualities. And, of course, there are those of us who bring these practices into our Jewellery Making & Beading.
We get several enquiries per day as to which Gemstones could be used for certain purposes. From a Gemmological perspective, Marie knows her triclinic from her monoclinic and her orthorhombic from her tetragonal structures (but that’s another article in itself) and is able to recommend Gemstones based on their scientific structure and resilience when used in certain ways but when it comes to healing qualities, we have built our knowledge based on real-world insights from our devoted specialists within our Crystal Healing community. They are a veritable database of juicy intel!
The most common questions, without doubt, are about which Gemstones are associated with which Chakras. Of which there are seven, all with their own related colour – more on that later. Positioned vertically up the body, Chakras are widely understood to be spinning disks of energy (Meridians), that ideally need to stay “open” and aligned. Each Chakra corresponds to nerve bundles in that specific region, our major organs plus areas of our energetic body that affect our emotional and physical well-being. Gemstones, with their vibrational energies, are used to help clear any blockages within the chakras and to keep them aligned. Think Spiritual, Emotional and Physical here and how, holistically speaking, Chakra practise can become a centre for our overall well-being.
Crystal Healing on its most basic level can be described as an energy-based system where we are made of different energies that, if blocked, out of kilter, off their axis or just sitting stagnant can make us poorly, both physically and mentally. Crystals gently support the body by directing their energy & balance where it’s most needed. That’s the simple description anyway!
Crystal Practitioners have extensive and voluminous amounts of knowledge & understanding about which Crystals will be most effective in given scenarios and will use Crystals in certain formats (tumbles, rough, palm stones, dowsers, wands, beads etc) to balance energies. Outside of these focussed sessions, Crystals can be worn as jewellery or adornments to be used in our general day to day. We asked one of our awesome Guest Designers to create a piece of beaded jewellery for us to accompany this article that would highlight the use of Beads within a Chakra piece. Ellie Gallagher is not only an incredibly talented jewellery designer but also a dedicated practitioner who weaves her intensive Chakra Gemstone knowledge into her beaded makes. You can find her and more of her gorgeous pieces on Etsy @Ellieshandmadeart. Ellie has made this extraordinary Lotus Flower Chakra Necklace which has been designed to showcase the Crystals that represent each Chakra. We are proud to say that these are all Chalmers Gems beads.
As mentioned earlier, each Chakra has an associated colour and by and large, the colour of the gemstone corresponds to the Chakra colour. There are some anomalies to this, such as Labradorite, which Ellie has also used in her Lotus Flower, as it is great for actually aligning all the Chakras. Also, gemstones can be used for their individual healing qualities as opposed to their colour and can multi-task across the Chakras. Considering the Meridians, the colours and the vibrations of the stones, you can readily and confidently incorporate the principle of Chakra Healing into your Beading work.
In order to help you get started, or to refresh your Chakra-vibe, we have simplified the Chakras here in this helpful table for you, with their meanings and colours and also attributed a shortlist of gemstones that can be associated with each of the Chakras. The beauty of creating a beaded piece with a Chakra focus is that you can easily choose a single Chakra, all of them combined or a mixture of your making by choosing which ones carry the essence of what you wish to convey in your work.
Now you’ve studied the table and we know which Gemstones go where we thought you may like to know a little more about some of the Gemstones themselves and how they help to unblock, balance and align the chakras. There is plenty of research on the internet and some amazing books available that will help you determine which gemstones to go for in specific makes, but this will give you a bit of a basic idea. Let’s start with the Root (or Base) Chakra and work our way up. We will just keep it to the gemstones which Ellie has used in the Lotus Flower or else we will end up writing an entire magazine!
For the Root Chakra, Ellie has used Garnet as it can help with stability when used in association with this Chakra. Garnet is known to revitalise, purify and balance energy whilst also bringing serenity. What a busy energy it has, but it doesn’t stop there, as Garnet also inspires love and brings courage and hope. Personally, we love how it opens the heart and bestows self-confidence and it’s fair to say that we all need a little of that some days!
Carnelian was chosen to represent the Sacral Chakra (where flow of energy resides in our bodies) as, with its stabilising energies, it restores both vitality and motivation and helps us go for gold when gearing for success, by way of dispelling apathetic thoughts. Used in association with this Chakra, Carnelian is a wonderful stone to craft into your beadwork as it unclogs creativity blocks.
For the Solar Plexus, Ellie was torn between Golden Rutile Quartz and Tigers Eye as they each have their own energy. For example, Rutilated Quartz opens up the aura (the energy force around our body) and allows healing to flow in, whilst filtering negative energy out. It is also a mental balancer and the Clear Quartz part of it is actually a master healing stone that amplifies energies. If you are creating beadwork for someone who is feeling a little off their axis, Rutilated Quartz is a good place to start.
Tigers Eye is a phenomenal gemstone that abounds in healing qualities and spiritual energies. It’s an all-around powerhouse and woven into beaded makes will also be super-pretty as you will know it is chatoyant – a wonderful shimmering gemstone as the light catches it. Associated with the Solar Plexus, where endurance and strength reside, it can be used to ward off any negativity around you. Craft it into your makes to be used in meditation for grounding and to go really nice and deep with your meditation state.
As we now know, the Heart Chakra is our centre of love, compassion and empathy and in Ellies beaded Lotus Flower, you will be able to see the awesome green of the Amazonite. It has a very balancing and calming effect, as well as being a very compassionate and nourishing healer. It will help to alleviate fear and worry which makes it a wonderful gemstone to weave into your beaded designs. A very soothing & calming stone, you could pop some Amazonite into a make as a great destresser and to help quieten the chaos in a troubled mind.
Aquamarine has much to offer in addition to its gorgeous blueness! Crafted into the Lotus Flower to represent the Throat Chakra, it is the Gemstone of communication and has been used throughout the ages as a communication tool, which also, by the way, helps with study and learning. Connected with the intellect, Aquamarine is one of those Crystals that just gets things done, makes things happen! As with Amazonite, Aquamarine, brings calm & compassion but this Gemstone is all about self-awareness, both spiritually and of oneself, in its ability to help reveal home truths. This is both a favourite Gemstone at Chalmers Gems and also one of Ellie’s go-to gems so we were not surprised to see it in her Lotus Flower.
Amethyst is one of the most effective Crystals for healing. It reverberates with the high-frequency energies as it opens, activates, and heals. It massively calms and soothes the mind, body, and spirit. Seen here in the Lotus Flower to represent the Third Eye Chakra, Ellie chose Amethyst as it is actually one of the master healing stones and is widely used in practice to amplify calmness, peace and tranquillity, as well as being super pretty! Amethyst can be extremely useful for people struggling with intense stress and can gift its user with a sense of balance and diplomacy. It is also one of those multi-use gemstones as it can be associated with the Crown Chakra as well.
White Topaz is so super sparkly because it has a high refractive index, meaning that the light travels slower through it, which causes an increased change in the direction of the light within the material – more sparkles! That’s surely reason enough to use it in our makes but Ellie has specifically chosen it to use within the Chakra Lotus Flower to represent the Crown Chakra, as it pretty much replaces all negativity into positivity such as sadness with joy, hate with like and distrust with trust. It is a stone of true love with a high spiritual vibration. Think how lovely it would be to convert all this negativity into love and to bead a piece that flowed with this intention – truly lovely.
There we have it – the basics! Yes, we know, it ended up being a little more than just the basics, but we really hope that you enjoyed it and that we were able to convey the myriad purposes and reasons as to how and why Crystals and Gemstones can do more than just look pretty in our Beadwork and Jewellery Making. Ellie has also shared some other, simpler yet no less beautiful Chakra designs using these same beads. Perhaps you have been inspired to either rekindle or try for the first time, to infuse your designs with a little bit of energy and vibration from Mother Nature’s Treasures. Who knows, between us, we may be able to needle more balance and harmony to our world.
