How to Choose Your Healing Crystals

For centuries humans have been drawn to crystals. Civilizations all over the world have incorporated crystals into their lives. From amulets of protection, religious items, tools, in meditation, to even using them medicinally - crystals have played an important role in the world. So how do you know where to start or which crystals to buy first? In the beginning, it can be overwhelming or intimidating, but hopefully by the end of this blog post you will feel confident when you go to a crystal shop for the first time or decide to work with a new crystal energy. The most important thing to remember above all else is that there are ultimately no rules to this, whatever feels right within you is what matters the most and what I encourage you to go with when selecting your crystals.

One of my favorite ways to choose a crystal is with intuition. This is because it gives space for us to energetically connect to crystals right away, which will make more sense soon. There are several ways to go about this, and you don’t have to feel intuitive or “be” a certain way to select your crystals this way. Let’s start with a method that is simply just looking. When you get to a crystal store start by just scanning the bowls and displays visually, taking notice if any of them are standing out to you. Pick them up and feel them and see what you notice. Maybe a specific color, shape, or texture stands out to you right away, maybe you feel a magnetic pull to walk to a specific area in the shop, or maybe you keep going back to look at one specific type. These are all good indicators that a crystal is calling out to you and choosing you. You might not even have a reason at all and just simply know right away just by looking, everyone's intuition is different, so keep this in mind when selecting your crystals. This is the simplest and most powerful way to select your crystals because you are allowing yourself to be guided by both your subconscious/intuition and the crystals themselves.

Another way to select your crystals with your intuition is by energy sensing. This can be done in many different ways, and again, everyone's intuition unique and all of us tune into energies in different ways, I probably won’t come close to covering all the ways we can sense energies when it comes to picking a crystal, but hopefully this opens up a range of possibilities for you to work with or consider when selecting your crystals.

If you aren’t able to go to a physical shop to select your crystals in person and you’re shopping online, you might be wondering if you can still use the methods above. The answer is yes! Our intuition and connection to crystals doesn't know time or space and still exists even when we are looking at a screen. Wherever you are shopping, you'll want to get to where you are able to shop all crystal offerings. On our website you would want to go to “Shop Online” and select “Crystals” in bold or “Pocket Stones.” Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths to clear your mind. Without selecting any filters or sorting the products, simply just scroll through and look. See what crystals are standing out or calling to you. To keep track, you could screenshot a photo of the ones jumping out at you, write them down, or create an account and use our wishlist function and add them to your list as you go. If you want to use a pendulum you could hold it while you look and see how it responds as you scroll through slowly. Once you have made your way through the pages of listings you can go to your list and make your final selections based on which are calling to you the most or based on the crystal meaning descriptions.

The final way to sense the energies of crystals isn’t necessarily a method, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be used to choose your crystals, these are just a few things that might happen once you start getting into buying and working with crystals. These are things that happen when you aren’t at a crystal shop or even looking for crystals at all, and they may happen over a period of time. I always know that I’m picking up on a crystal's energy when it starts showing up everywhere in very synchronistic ways. Seeing it on tv or online, hearing someone talking about it, having people in your life tell you about it or are using it themselves. These are all important instances to notice or pay attention to, especially if it’s the same crystal each time and if it occurs frequently within a specific period of time. Crystals can also show up in dreams or specific names of crystals may just pop into your head out of nowhere. This is another way the crystals can call out to us. It doesn’t always mean that we have to go and buy that crystal right away either, maybe we just look into the properties and see if its resonates with you and your current circumstances, or maybe the piece we already own is asking to be worked with. Looking out for things like this and acknowledging them helps to build intuition and connection to crystal energy in general.

If you are looking for something that isn’t on the list, you can try searching any key word that comes to mind and see what comes up. Things like dreams, past lives, balance, broken heart, inner child, adventure, fun, and more can bring up several results of crystals that match those energies. 

You can also refer to the chakras when choosing your healing crystals. Chakras are swirling energy centers in the body that correspond to different points in the physical body and contribute to our overall emotional and physical well being. We have over a hundred different chakras in our body but the 7 main ones run along the spine. When a chakra is imbalanced, blocked, underactive, or overactive, it can impact our physical health and emotional well being. There are many things you can do to help balance a chakra, and crystals are an excellent aid in doing so. We aren’t going to go too much deeper into the chakras in this particular blog post, but here is some general information about each one. 

The 7 Main Chakras:

• Root Chakra - The 1st chakra, the root chakra embodies life force energy, stability, courage, and strength. The root chakra keeps us grounded to Mother Earth.

• Sacral Chakra - The 2nd chakra, the sacral chakra affects our emotional health and relationships with ourselves and others. Pleasure, creativity, adaptability, and joy are associated with this chakra.

• Solar Plexus Chakra - The 3rd chakra, the solar plexus intertwines with the nervous system. It’s our call to action, and where willpower, determination, sense of purpose, destiny, self-control, and laughter lie.

• Heart Chakra - The 4th chakra, the heart chakra signifies where the upper and lower chakras meet, and embodies compassion, intuition, love, and healing.

• Throat Chakra- The 5th chakra, the throat chakra is the first of the upper chakras - its blue energies influence truth, communication, purpose, and service.

• Third Eye Chakra- The 6th chakra, the third eye chakra rules over our intuition, dreams, awareness, and wisdom. It guides our ability to think, analyze, and form reason.

• Crown Chakra - The 7th chakra, the crown chakra has direct alignment with our mind; it's energy influences consciousness, wisdom, unity, and personal expression.

To learn more about Chakra colors and corresponding crystals for each chakra, check out our crystal colors blog post, where Sam explains the meaning behind crystal colors, the chakras, and corresponding crystals. Stay tuned for a full chakra guide blog post from us in the future!

Each crystal holds a different vibrational frequency and each chakra also has its own vibrational frequency. If the frequency of the chakra is out of alignment, the crystal will help to restore and balance its energy through something called entrainment. Amanda wrote a blog about how crystals work and the science behind it which goes into what entrainment is and how it pertains to crystal healing. Click here to read more about the science behind crystal energy. Carrying the crystals with you, meditating with them, and placing them on the different chakras are all ways to use crystals to help balance your chakras.

Now let’s talk about some details when it comes to selecting your crystals. Once you know what type of crystal you want to buy, how do you know which exact one to get? What shape? What size? Are these things you even want to consider? Should you? How do you know you’ve chosen the right one? I’m going to talk about all of these things and more! This is something I’m very passionate about and even struggle with as a person who loves to collect crystals and feels connected and drawn to many.

If you’re new to buying crystals, buying pocket stones is a great way to get started. They are small and affordable and perfect for feeling out the energy of a stone before buying it in a larger piece. If you are open to buying any shape or size, check out our Crystal Shapes blog post, where I talk about their meaning, energy, and uses! It’s very helpful to learn about the different crystal shapes and their meanings, but ultimately, this is another one of those things where your intuition knows best and what I encourage you to follow when you choose your crystals.

Yes and no, it depends on your intention. It’s true that the bigger the crystal the more energy it puts out, but that may only be needed or desired for certain situations. For instance, if you want to incorporate a specific energy in a room, you will want to have a larger crystal for it to have an energetic impact in the space. However if you are just working with the crystal personally or are wearing it, it’s truly more about the vibration of the crystal and your energetic connection to it that matters. Larger crystals are beautiful but they aren’t as easy to carry around, and if you want to have the crystal energy on and around you as much as possible, a smaller crystal or jewelry is the way to go.

So once you know the type of crystal you want and you have the shape narrowed down, how do you know which one to get? There’s a pretty even balance between customers who come in and know right away which crystal belongs to them and those who are torn between several different pieces of the same crystal. I tend to struggle with this myself quite a bit like I mentioned earlier. There are so many different things to talk about in regards to this so I’m going to just mention a few things and what I do to help make deciding easier. If you are fascinated with minerals and geology and are interested in collecting for the sake of just collecting crystals and you’re also interested in collecting them for their healing powers (like myself) it can be really overwhelming to see so many cool and unique pieces that are all special in their own way, and it can make deciding which to get very hard. 

This is something very special and unique to each person, but there are definitely a few things you might notice or experience when you’ve found the right crystal. You might feel pure joy radiating from your being, a smile you can’t take off your face. You might feel physical sensations like warmth, coolness, vibrations, tingling, or an increase in pulse just to name a few. You might not want to or be able to put the crystal down because it just feels so right in your hand. You might not have any words to describe what your feeling or why you know it’s the right crystal for you, just a sense that it belongs with you. Don’t overthink it!

Do all of these details like shape, size, intention, and everything else even matter? Can you just know what you want, pick one at random, buy it, and be done with it? The answer is a bit more complicated than yes or no, and there isn’t really a right or wrong answer. Personally, I feel like there is a deeper sense of connection when you allow the crystals themselves to be part of your selection process and take the time to tune into them and their energy. Crystals work that much stronger when we have a deeper connection to them and when we know what our intention is when working with them. While there are no rules to choosing crystals, there are definitely things that help make it easier, and their power and impact on you stronger.

There are several ways to choose the right healing crystal for you, but ultimately there are no rules to follow when doing so, and what matters most is how you feel and what feels right to you. Consider your intention, and be open to what your intuition and the crystals say to you. Select your crystals by using your intuition, reading metaphysical healing properties, or by matching them to chakras you want to work on. Don’t overthink it and have fun tapping into your intuition and seeing what the crystals have to say to you.