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Crystals of power and light
Crystals have accompanied man on his journey through time. Nearly all ancient cultures treasured amulets and jewellery of these wonderfully clear precious stones. Over time the rock-crystal has come to represent and symbolise not only the whole world of crystals generally, the mountains and stones, the world beneath us, but also the clarity and perfect order reflected in nature and within us. What’s behind all this?
The great poet and naturalist Johann Wolfgang Goethe wrote in 1789: ‘ The quart can lie pressed in long passages, compressed in rocks, spread across mountain ranges, but then when it is freed, when its inner forces meet the forces of nature, we can speak of crystals in their true perfection.’
The rock crystal is quartz, the purest form of silicic acid i.e. silicon, and was not known by the ancients. It was believed that crystals were deep frozen water - never to be defrosted. Plinius wrote: “ It is found exclusively in regions where winter snows bring the greatest cold - without doubt a form of ice.’ The word crystal, in Greek ‘krystallos’ means in frozen suspension.
Quartz is one of the more common found minerals. 12.5% of the earth’s crust consists of silicic acid. One could say that the earth’s crust is a web of quartz, but only a very small percentage of this quartz is in fact crystalline - only where perfect conditions prevailed.
The fascinatingly clear rock crystal with its straight edges is surely one of the most beautiful forms of quartz. Quartz forms a whole family of precious stones each more beautiful than the other: amethyst, citrin, smoked quartz and the fine crystalline forms of chalcedron, agates, jaspis, crysopras, carneol and others.
Ancient wise men, like Agrippa von Nettesheim (De Occulta Philosophia, 15110) have assigned crystals to the sign of Aquarius. Today, while on the threshold of the Age of Aquarius, crystals are enjoying wide popularity and importance. To the old symbolism of clarity were added purity..... energetic...pulsating with life......freedom.
When we consider the results of modern Physics only then does it become clear - scientists have peered deeply into crystals, into their atomic structure and found next to perfect order, a lively exchange of electrons and electromagnetic energies among grid positions. The rigid grid concept has given away to one pulsating with life.
Through its structure one can explain its power. We know today that rock crystal contains a fine network of double-helix spirals of silicon-oxygen tetrahedrons. These spirals possess a fine elasticity, which when compressed, produce a flow of electricity. Quartz possesses piazo-electric qualities.
With such remarkable properties one can easily understand, why rock crystals are found to be useful in healing. The stones’ power may be experienced, by simply holding it in a clenched fist for some time. After a while the stone will heat up - cold hands are no longer a problem when you carry one with you - close at hand.
Astounding reports are heard from healers using rock crystals. So writes Hildegard von Bingen (1150) ‘When your eyes become weak, warm a crystal in the sun and lay the warm stone gently on it.’ It also helps in cases of heart, gastric and thyroid gland ailments.
Crystals have helped us make remarkable progress on a number of fronts. In micro electric and computer technology, silicon and the ‘crystalline know-how’ of research, have produced a totally new form of technology. The understanding of crystals, their power and structure is the key to a New World.
Today not only estoterics, shamans and healers, but also many people of this ‘new era’ have learnt to treasure the rock crystal. They wear it as amulets or as jewellery, for its beauty, to meditate, to learn from it, the clear reality and simplicity of nature and the crystalline beauty of this earth.
