crystal healing

Ancient Egyptians used amulets, which they believed to possess magical properties. The amulet's shape, decoration, inscription, color, material, or ritual performed with the amulet dictated its power. Amulets were worn or placed on the body, in the form of stones, piercings, rings, necklaces, or other jewelry. The Egyptians used amulets to benefit their afterlife, often representing an Egyptian deity and its specific powers. Amulets were also placed on mummies or in between the mummy's bandages, with funerary pieces usually being larger than those worn by the living. In funeral practices, they also used headrest amulets, which were full-size headrests placed in tombs to protect the dead; they also symbolized the deceased rising and being revived, and the sun rising between two hills, which symbolized resurrection and rebirth.{{Cite web|url= https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/egam/hd_egam.htm|title= Ancient Egyptian Amulets|access-date= November 24, 2020|archive-date= November 23, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201123211256/https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/egam/hd_egam.htm|url-status= live}}

The Ancient Greeks assigned many properties to crystals. The word 'crystal' is derived from the Greek word "krýstallos" which translates to "ice".{{Cite web|title=crystal {{!}} Origin and meaning of crystal by Online Etymology Dictionary|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/crystal|access-date=October 19, 2020|website=www.etymonline.com|language=en|archive-date=October 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021234312/https://www.etymonline.com/word/crystal|url-status=live}} The Ancient Greeks believed that clear quartz crystals were a water that had frozen to the point where it would remain in its solid form.{{cite web |last1=Shashkevich |first1=Alex |title=Stanford scholar tackles the history of people's obsession with crystals |url=https://news.stanford.edu/2018/08/09/understanding-peoples-obsession-crystals/ |website=Stanford News |date=August 9, 2018 |publisher=Stanford University |access-date=January 26, 2021 |archive-date=January 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125161347/https://news.stanford.edu/2018/08/09/understanding-peoples-obsession-crystals/ |url-status=live }}

File:John Dee's crystal, used for clairvoyance & healing, 17th C Wellcome M0019989.jpg's crystal, used for clairvoyance and healing, which he said was given to him by the angel Uriel in November 1582]]

Precious stones have been thought of as objects that can aid in healing—in a practice known as lapidary medicine—by various cultures.{{cite book | chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=AQ2g6V8MJn4C|chapter= Crystal and spiritual healing in northern England: Folk-inspired systems of medicine | title= Folk Healing and Health Care Practices in Britain and Ireland: Stethoscopes, Wands, and Crystals |last1= McClean |first1 = Stuart |year= 2010 |publisher= Berghahn Books |isbn= 9781845456726 | access-date=August 14, 2017}} The Hopi Native Americans of Arizona use quartz crystals to assist in diagnosing illnesses.{{cite journal |last1=Grant |first1=Richard Earl |title=Tuuhikya: The Hopi Healer |journal=American Indian Quarterly |date=1982 |volume=6 |issue=3/4 |pages=293, 301 |doi=10.2307/1183643 |jstor=1183643 |pmid=11614178 }} The alleged medicinal properties of precious stones, as well as other powers they were believed to hold, were collected in texts known as lapidaries.

In the English speaking world, crystal healing is heavily associated with the New Age spiritual movement: "the middle-class New Age healing activity par excellence". In contrast with other forms of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), participants in crystal healing view the practice as "individuated",{{cite journal |last=McClean |first=Stuart |date=August 3, 2005 |title='The illness is part of the person': discourses of blame, individual responsibility and individuation at a centre for spiritual healing in the North of England |journal= Sociology of Health and Illness|volume=27 |issue=5 |pages=628–648 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9566.2005.00459.x |pmid=16078904 |doi-access=free }} that is dependent on extreme personalization and creative expression.{{cite journal |last1=McClean |first1=Stuart |last2=Shaw |first2=Alison |date=July 1, 2005 |title=From Schism to Continuum? The Problematic Relationship Between Expert and Lay Knowledge—An Exploratory Conceptual Synthesis of Two Qualitative Studies |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7781227|journal=Qualitative Health Research |volume=15 |issue=6 |pages=729–749 |doi=10.1177/1049732304273927 |pmid=15961872 |s2cid=37051800 |access-date=August 14, 2017 }} Practitioners of crystal healing purport that certain physical properties such as shape, color, and markings, determine the ailments that a stone can heal; lists of such links are published in commonly distributed texts. Paradoxically, practitioners also "hold the view that crystals have no intrinsic qualities but that, instead, their quality changes according to both" participants. After selecting the stones by color or their believed metaphysical qualities, they place them on parts of the body. Color selection and placement of stones are done according to concepts of grounding, chakras, or energy grids.

Worldwide, retail sales of crystals were estimated to amount to more than US$1 billion per year in 2019.{{cite web |last1=Wiseman |first1=Eva |title=Are crystals the new blood diamonds? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global/2019/jun/16/are-crystals-the-new-blood-diamonds-the-truth-about-muky-business-of-healing-stones |website=The Guardian |date=June 16, 2019 |publisher=Guardian News & Media Limited |access-date=January 26, 2021 |ref=guardian |archive-date=February 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225202621/https://www.theguardian.com/global/2019/jun/16/are-crystals-the-new-blood-diamonds-the-truth-about-muky-business-of-healing-stones |url-status=live }}

India, China, Brazil, and Madagascar are the main producers of crystals. In Madagascar, one of the sources of crystals, most crystals are mined in unsafe, non-industrial or "homemade" mines, with parents and children working together to dig crystals from pits and tunnels they dig with shovels. The miners are usually paid between 17 and 23 cents per kilogram for rose quartz (≈ 8 - 11 cents per pound). The miner's income may be just 0.1% of the final retail price. Some people in the industry say that the low pay for miners is because customers in developed countries want low retail prices; others say that it is due to shops in developed countries wanting to be more profitable.

There is no peer-reviewed scientific evidence that crystal healing has any effect; it is considered a pseudoscience.Spellman, Frank R; Price-Bayer, Joni. (2010). In Defense of Science: Why Scientific Literacy Matters. The Scarecrow Press. p. 81. {{ISBN|978-1-60590-735-2}} "There is no scientific evidence that crystal healing has any effect. It has been called a pseudoscience. Pleasant feelings or the apparent successes of crystal healing can be attributed to the placebo effect or cognitive bias—a believer wanting it to be true." Alleged successes of crystal healing can be attributed to the placebo effect. Furthermore, there is no scientific basis for the concepts of chakras, being "blocked", energy grids requiring grounding, or other such terms; they are widely understood to be religious or spiritual in nature. Energy, as a scientific term, is a very well-defined concept that is readily measurable and bears little resemblance to the esoteric concept of energy used by proponents of crystal healing.{{Cite web |url=http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/vstenger/Medicine/Biofield.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508003317/http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/vstenger/Medicine/Biofield.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 8, 2016 |title=The Energy Fields of Life |last=Stenger |first=Victor J. |date=May 8, 2016 |access-date=July 29, 2018}}

In 1999, researchers French and Williams conducted a study to investigate the power of crystals compared with a placebo. Eighty volunteers were asked to meditate with either a quartz crystal or a placebo stone, which was indistinguishable from quartz. Many participants reported feeling typical "crystal effects"; however, this was irrespective of whether the crystals were real or a placebo. In 2001 Christopher French, head of the anomalistic psychology research unit at the University of London and colleagues from Goldsmiths College outlined their study of crystal healing at the British Psychological Society Centenary Annual Conference, concluding: "There is no evidence that crystal healing works over and above a placebo effect."

Crystal healing effects could also be attributed to confirmation bias (which occurs when the believers want the practice to be true and see only things that back up that desire).{{cite journal |last=Campion |first= E.W. |title=Why unconventional medicine? |journal=The New England Journal of Medicine |volume=328 |issue=4 |pages=282–3 |year=1993 |pmid=8418412 |doi=10.1056/NEJM199301283280413}}

Crystal healing techniques are also practiced on animals, although some veterinary organizations, such as the British Veterinary Association, have warned that these methods are not scientifically proven and state that people should seek the advice of a vet before using alternative techniques.{{cite news |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/uk/7240231.stm |title= Warning about animal 'therapies'|work= BBC News |date= February 12, 2008}}

Crystal healing proponents and 5G conspiracy theorists have falsely alleged the pseudoscientific and misinformational belief that shungite may absorb 5G radiation.{{Cite news|last=Tiffany|first=Kaitlyn|title=Something in the Air|work=The Atlantic|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/05/great-5g-conspiracy/611317/|date=May 13, 2020|access-date=July 4, 2020|issn=1072-7825|archive-date=July 1, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200701042640/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/05/great-5g-conspiracy/611317/|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|last=Koetsier|first=John|date=May 28, 2020|title=$350 '5G Bioshield' Radiation Protection Device Is A ... $6 USB Stick|work=Forbes.com|access-date=May 27, 2021|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2020/05/28/350-5g-bioshield-radiation-protection-device-is-a--6-usb-stick/|quote=Other recommendations from Glastonbury? People should use Shungite, a mineral which is said to have healing powers that one "healing crystal" company says "span the board from purity to protection.|archive-date=May 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210527081143/https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2020/05/28/350-5g-bioshield-radiation-protection-device-is-a--6-usb-stick/|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|last=Bucci|first=Nino|date=October 30, 2020|title=Conspiracy theorists forced to apologise for calling Victorian youth leader a Covid 'crisis actor'|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/oct/31/conspiracy-theorists-forced-to-apologise-for-calling-victorian-youth-leader-a-covid-crisis-actor|access-date=May 27, 2021|quote=Fernandez claims Facebook warned him his account would be restricted for posting misinformation to his page, which he also uses to promote cryptocurrency opportunities and sell shungite, a crystal which he claims prevents the effects of 5G.|archive-date=May 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210527081143/https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/oct/31/conspiracy-theorists-forced-to-apologise-for-calling-victorian-youth-leader-a-covid-crisis-actor|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|last=Song|first=Victoria|date=March 3, 2021|title=5G Conspiracy Theories Are Fueling an Entire Economy of Scammy Gadgets|work=Gizmodo|url=https://gizmodo.com/5g-conspiracy-theories-are-fueling-an-entire-economy-of-1846349071|access-date=May 27, 2021|quote=There isn’t much scientific evidence backing these claims, and researching shungite primarily brings up New Age-y articles spewing quackery, with no citations to actual studies or research. The 5G stickers supposedly generate some kind of shield to protect you from 5G waves. Let us be clear: A sticker that claims to generate any type of radiation-blocking shield is pure science fiction.|archive-date=May 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210527082609/https://gizmodo.com/5g-conspiracy-theories-are-fueling-an-entire-economy-of-1846349071|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|last=McGowan|first=Michael|date=February 24, 2021|title=How the wellness and influencer crowd serve conspiracies to the masses|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/feb/25/how-the-wellness-and-influencer-crowd-served-conspiracies-to-the-masses|access-date=May 27, 2021|quote=[Fernandez] flits between long screeds about vaccinations and claims that Covid-19 is a hoax to selling products that he claims protect users from electromagnetic fields that conspiracy theorists believe are emitted by 5G towers. A shungite pyramid crystal will protect a radius of "approximately 6–7 metres", his website claims, and costs $226, reduced from $256.|archive-date=June 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609014828/https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/feb/25/how-the-wellness-and-influencer-crowd-served-conspiracies-to-the-masses|url-status=live}}

• Color healing
• Energy medicine
• List of topics characterized as pseudoscience
• Magnet therapy

{{Reflist|30em}}

• Lawrence E. Jerome. (1989). Crystal Power: The Ultimate Placebo Effect. Prometheus Books. {{ISBN|978-0-87975-514-0}}

• [https://www.livescience.com/40347-crystal-healing.html Crystal Healing: Stone-cold Facts About Gemstone Treatments] – LiveScience
• [https://newrepublic.com/article/148190/know-healing-crystals-come-from Do You Know Where Your Healing Crystals Come From?] at The New Republic
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RApN8veicPI James Randi debunks Crystal Power]

{{New Age Movement}}

{{Pseudoscience}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Energy therapies

Category:Pseudoscience

Category:Crystals

Category:Supernatural healing

Category:Gemstones in culture