1. Set your purpose.
Usually, it’s best to determine your purpose for obtaining a crystal first. There are so many crystals with many overlapping and divergent characteristics that your head might spin if you try to pick one without any preset intentions. Instead, it’s better to have a clear idea about what you’re trying to accomplish first. Do you need help making more money? More wealth? Are you trying to attract love? Or are you trying to increase your self-expression, your psychic ability or your self-confidence? Depending on your specific goal, certain crystals will be more suitable than others. Be clear about your purpose up front and you’ll save yourself a lot of time.
2. Determine the chakra color.
Once your purpose is clear, it’s time to go crystal shopping! But still, with so many different colors, sizes and kinds, how can you determine which crystal is good for what?
The simplest method to choose the right crystal involves the chakra colors. Once you know what your purpose is, determine which chakra is associated with that kind of energy. For example, if you desire more love, that’s associated with the heart chakra, whereas sex is associated with the navel chakra. For financial struggles, you might want to boost your root chakra, or your third eye chakra to give you clarity about the future. Once you’ve determined which chakra’s energy you’d like to boost, then choose a crystal associated with that chakra’s color. So if you’re trying to increase romance in your love life by energizing your heart chakra, you would want crystals that are either green or pink, the colors of the heart chakra. But if you’re trying to increase sexual passion, you’d want to energize your navel chakra, which would mean choosing an orange crystal.
Once you’ve determined the chakra color associated with your intent, then you’ve narrowed down the number of crystals by ruling out any other colors. Now, browse around and see what stones of that color catch your eye.
3. Read the descriptions.
At this point, you can read the descriptions associated with each of the crystals. You can also consult books or our knowledgable staff for insight onto crystals that might help your specific issue. Not all stones align to the chakra colors, so you might find that the description of a differently colored crystal speaks exactly to what you’re trying to accomplish, in which case, get that one those instead.
As you read a few different descriptions, you’ll notice similarities and differences between crystals of the same color. Some may help with family love better than romantic love, for example. Read the descriptions carefully to see what features resonate with you the most.
4. Ask the crystal.
Once you’ve narrowed your search down to a certain family of crystals, then it’s time to choose the exact selection to bring home with you. This part requires the stone’s cooperation, and which is the reason we say that the crystal chooses you and not vice versa.
Remember that not every stone will jive with you, even stones of the same kind. Each one is a unique individual with a spirit that must be acknowledged. Without the stone spirit’s permission and blessing, you’re unlikely to gain any benefit from the crystal at all. You can certainly choose a stone randomly and hope for the best, but if you sincerely expect to see results, it’s best to choose a stone that actually wants to come home with you.
So how can you figure out what the stone wants? First, hold a given crystal in your left palm. The left hand is traditionally the receiving hand, so if you want to receive a crystal’s energy to feel if you like it, you need to test it in your left hand. The right hand is the giving hand, and you can use that to project your energy into the crystal, but for now, you’ll use the left to determine if this is the crystal for you.
With the left hand, hold the crystal against your bellybutton. Take a few regular breaths and just observe how you feel. Do you feel any sensations in your palm, belly, or anywhere else in the body? If so, is the sensation positive or negative? Pleasurable or painful? Warm or chilly? If you found that holding the crystal to your belly feels nice to you, then this crystal is probably a good choice for you. If you find yourself feeling unpleasant sensations, then this crystal is definitely not the right one for you and you should gently put it back after thanking it. Remember that a stone that makes you feel bad isn’t evil or mean, it’s just not an appropriate energy for your particular energy body. That same crystal may be quite effective for someone else, so don’t hold it against the crystal. Again, not everyone gets along with everyone.
If after a few minutes, you feel no sensations whatsoever—nothing positive or negative—then this crystal is probably not going to be much use to you. Again, thank the stone and gently place it back on the shelf, moving onto the next choice.
While you’re holding the potential crystals against your belly, you should mentally ask, “Are you my crystal?” Or, “Would you like to come home with me?” Or be even more specific and ask if it can help you with your particular problem: “Can you help me find a job?” After mentally asking the question, observe how you feel and if you experience any notable sensations. Sometimes, a crystal may feel very good to hold, but if you ask it to help with your specific problem, you may discover that this particular crystal cannot help with that matter, but with something else. So a crystal that feels good may not necessarily be the best choice. Rather, the crystal that feels good when asked if it can help you accomplish your specific goal is the one you should choose.
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Reading the energy of a crystal might take a little practice, so if you’re holding a bunch of crystals against your belly and not feeling anything, don’t be discouraged. To really get the maximum sensation, you need to clear your mind as best you can, which isn’t easy for most of us. Just keep trying the exercise and you’ll eventually develop your own intuitive awareness of what the stone wants.
Using this method to choose crystals is simple and effective and allows you to immediately connect with the spirit of the stone to determine if they can be a good helper for you. Crystals make excellent power objects because of their ability to absorb and store energy. After you’ve chosen your crystal, you can hold it in your right hand to imbue it with your energy, or hold it in your left hand if you want to absorb some of its energy. Or just keep it in your pocket and let it work its magic!