5 steps to use crystals for healing and self-care

Moon mentor, meditation teacher, and friend of Happiful Kirsty Gallagher shines a light on the immense self-care benefits of working with crystals, and how they can help us realign and find time for our true selves in a hectic world

To be honest, crystals found me before the moon found me,” Kirsty Gallagher beams as she shares the experiences that led her to write her most recent book, Crystals for Self-Care. “I’ve been working with crystals for about 20 years. My best friend recently reminded me that even when she first met me, around 16 years ago, and I was working in a corporate environment, I was surrounded by crystals. I always carry a crystal; I wear one and my house is filled with them.”

Until recently, Kirsty has spoken predominantly about lunar living, and sharing her vast knowledge surrounding the cycles of the moon. However, after incorporating snippets of information about crystals in her teachings, she came to realise that many people were deeply interested in working with them, but didn’t know where, or how, to begin. This was the catalyst for Kirsty’s latest venture.

“One of my biggest passions is to make what’s mystical, what’s ‘woo’, and what’s spiritual into something real and relatable, so we can bring it into our day-to-day lives and harness the power it has,” she enthuses.

Here, Kirsty shares practical tips on how to work with crystals, as well as the importance of rituals and setting intentions.

Understanding crystals

Crystals are like little gifts from Mother Earth. Like living by lunar cycles, or following the flow of nature, crystals come to help us in our evolution as humans.

Everything in the world is made up of energy, including our thoughts and emotions. As humans, we tend to be in a state of flux; we pick up on other’s energy, we give our energy away, but a crystal will hold a stable energetic vibration.

So, for example, if we have anxious thoughts and our mind is racing, then it’s believed that working with a crystal like sodalite could help. Sodalite will carry an energetic resonance with that issue, so when we hold it and breathe with it, it helps to realign us. Crystals help to bring us back into awareness and balance.

Choosing your crystals

I believe that crystals choose us, but if you’re just starting out, I would suggest that you feel into what you want the crystal for, and pick a piece based upon that – as mentioned with the example of sodalite for anxiety. Eventually, when you get used to trusting your intuition, you’ll be led to the right crystal for you. It might be that you’re called to a particular colour, or a crystal feels more aligned or warm to you.

However, crystals – like humans – work best when they have a purpose and a job to do. It always helps to have an intention when you choose yours.

Crystals calling

After a while, you’ll start to get drawn to certain crystals you have, as if they are telling you what you need and where you are going off course. The more time you spend with your crystals, the more they support you.

Working with your crystals

Working with crystals in your meditation practices can be very powerful. It also allows for them to impart their wisdom when we go into those quieter states. If you are meditating with crystals, it’s about trusting that if you’re working with them for support, answers or advice, that the energy will come through in the moment that you need it.

You can also very simply hold your crystal, consciously once a day, perhaps before you leave the house in the morning. Connect with the energy of the crystal, and ask it to keep you calm and centered throughout the day.
Carrying a crystal around with you or wearing a crystal is also a brilliant way to connect with them. They’re like little touchstones for those moments when you start to feel yourself worrying or spiralling. It’s almost like holding hands with a friend.

Crystals and self-care

Even if you take two minutes, or 10 long slow deep breaths, in the time you’re connecting with your crystal, you’re taking care of yourself. You’re giving yourself what you need. You are checking where you’re out of alignment, and you’re consciously working with the energy of the crystals to bring yourself back into that energetic state.

I believe that we have so many routines in life and very few rituals any more, because we rush from one task and routine to the other. The moments to pause and connect get lost. If we can take the work we do with crystals as an act of self-care, in that moment nothing else matters but you.

It might be that you’re using the crystal for heartbreak, to gain more confidence, to quiet your mind, or manifest something new into your life, but for that time you’re working with your crystal, you’re giving yourself permission to focus on what you need. That in itself becomes a radical act of self-care, which will hopefully then move into more areas of your existence as you begin to reconnect, and realise where you’re being pulled out of balance and alignment. That one act of self-care ripples out into so many aspects of your life.

‘Crystals for Self-Care’ by Kirsty Gallagher (Hodder & Stoughton, £14.99) is out now. Follow Kirsty on Instagram @kirstygallagher