Be

Today, during my first medication since before Christmas (more on this later), I decided to create my own Mantra. A single word; the word I chose was, “Be”.

As 2017 has made its introductions to the world, many people have picked New Year’s Resolutions in response. Often, these are noble steps toward healthier lives with new routines, or the ending of bad habits. I felt that the word “Be” would help me pick a New Year’s Resolution for myself. Who do I want to be, and to do so, what do I need to do?

Be… Smarter
Be… Happier
Be… Stronger (Physically and Emotionally)
Be… Well-rounded
Be… Healthier
Be… More Open-minded

These are many that have crossed my mind while breathing out the word “Be”

Be… Inspiring
Be… Friendlier
Be… Logical
Be… Grateful
Be… Real

As humans, many of us have similar hope for ourselves. Hopes that we can one day achieve most–if not all–of these traits and continue to improve them regularly. However, being the humans that we are, it’s challenging to improve even so much as one of these traits mindfully, and everyday. Without some sort of routine that we force ourselves to meet, it can be difficult to do anything. I feel–for me–I need incentives to work hard at something. Even when the incentives are said to be there but not yet visible (i.e. better health, happier living, better friendships). If I don’t see improvement right away, I am often turned away from my own efforts. Meditation and blogging are honest examples of this. I tried them for a month, didn’t feel much different, didn’t gain a larger audience of readers all at once, so I gave up. I took a break for the holidays. But it’s a new year, and that means I am going to BE PATIENT. Working hard at something often lasts a long time before the positive results are tangible. Giving up gets you no where, and throws your self-esteem into the gutters.

So… cheers to getting back up, brushing the dirt off our knees and continuing to climb our mountains of aspirations.

Thanks for sticking with me ❤

Stretched Thin

I need to confront something.

You may have noticed I didn’t blog yesterday or, maybe you didn’t. In that case, it’s perfectly okay. I need to be honest and say that trying to blog and meditate almost every day is extremely difficult. In fact for me, an interest where I attempt to commit time daily to said activity often ends quicker than it started.

I’m a type of person who has too many projects always going at once, jumping from project to project and never completing anything (or at least it feels that way). For example, I have a quilt that I’ve been working on since last Christmas, I’ve been teaching myself to play guitar since high school, I’m trying to blog regularly, meditate regularly, read books, and watch Game of Thrones and Anime. I have so many interests (as many people do) that I feel no closer to completing anything that I’ve started. I pick up the guitar a couple days one week, and then don’t touch it for a month. I quilt a few more squares, a couple weeks go by and I feel bad about not working hard enough on it. I’ve tried to find interests that stick with more permanence, but I’ve discovered that I just don’t function that way. Nonetheless, I enjoy my many hobbies, but I’m learning that I am not the type of person who has one hobby and exercises that hobby every single day. With this discovery, I’m choosing to be 1) not blog everyday, 2) create a kinder internal voice and, 3) accept that this is how I work.
I have been forcing myself into a routine, where I blog 5 days a week, and meditate every day for at least 10 minutes. But as I mentioned before, when I attempt to commit time daily to one activity, it often ends quicker than it started.

So here I am blogging with full honesty that sometimes, there isn’t enough time in the day to blog. I sound like I’m just whining about not being dedicated enough to this one thing I enjoy, but it’s true.—THAT RIGHT THERE IS THE NEGATIVE INTERNAL VOICE THAT I”M TRYING TO CHANGE, I need to be kinder to myself. I need to stop telling myself I’m behaving badly or childish, and accept that I have the freedom to feel the way that I do—
I do find time to meditate everyday, which is nice. I can meditate in the car on my drive from work to the grocery store. Or I can meditate while doing the dishes, or brushing my teeth. On weekends, or evenings where I can just eat leftovers and I choose not to go to the gym, I find time to sit in my sacred space, burn incense and meditate. But honestly, it’s been difficult recently to blog every single day.

What I’m trying to really get at here, is that this experience has helped me be honest with myself thanks to meditation. I’ve been meditating on my thought processes, and how I function as a human being because understanding myself is the first step to understanding how I can help others, or change the things that surround me. I need to have more of a grasp on who I am and how I work, first and foremost.

I’m not going to force myself to blog everyday, because that doesn’t make me happy. If I continue to force myself to blog, it will turn into a chore which will lead to poor content and a waste of both my time and yours. The purpose from the beginning of this blog was to meditate to reduce stress and increase happiness, but the format of this project has actually made my days more stressful and that’s not what I want! Thank goodness I’ve realized this because now I will be able to actually share content that is fun to read, and full of more insight (we can only hope!).

So, with all of that, I hope that you continue to find something inspiring, interesting, or fun from my blog every week, but perhaps not something new daily, because I need to try something a little different. Cheers to learning about yourself!!!

With love,
-Evelyn

7. The Crown Chakra

We’ve finally made it to the last of the 7 Chakras, the Crown Chakra. We have worked our way up from the base Root Chakra, to the Sacral, Solar, Heart, Throat, and Third Eye. So today, we conclude the introduction to the Chakras series by discussing the Crown Chakra.

Also known by it’s Sanskrit name “Sahasrara”, this chakra is located at the crown of the head. I like to envision a string that, when pulled, makes me stand up straight and where that string sit on the head is where my crown is. This Chakra is associated to the colors violet and white, and works with crystals that are purple, violet, or clear, or white. The sacred sound for this chakra is the classic “Om” and the musical note that it aligns to is “B”. Here at the Crown Chakra, is where we become connected on a spiritual level to the energies around us, the divine beings, the powers of the universe, or simply, a sense of your higher self. Whether you call it enlightenment, reflection, or deeper knowing, here at the Crown is where we comprehend that the powers and energies surrounding us are all interconnected.

When your Crown Chakra is aligned and healed, you feel a deep sense of understanding with the world, inner peace, joy, and closeness to your deity or your religious views…if you have any. If you do not have a specific religion, then you may feel pleasantly close to yourself in the sense that you understand where your head is at, what your place is in this world, and how you may go about your days with the knowledge you’ve gained through life experiences.

Signs that your Crown Chakra needs to be cleansed would be if lost faith, or not knowing where to turn to look for the divine. You may also feel like humanity is a mess, or your contributions aren’t helping to make this world any better. You may feel absorbed by materialism, or you may feel claustrophobic because of social norms and constructs in this world. You may lack a feeling of deeper meaning. You may also feel clumsy or awkward physically, or socially.

To cleanse your Crown chakra many violet and clear/white crystals are useful. The three I will explain to you today are Moonstone, Selenite, and Apophyllite.

Moonstone helps you become more receptive to divine guidance or callings and aids to form inspiration out of your experiences. It is also supposed to help you love yourself, accept flaws and drive towards the future with internal trust.

Selenite is a very high vibration crystal. I’m still trying to understand what that means exactly, but what I’ve gather so far is that high energy stones could knock other chakras out of balance, so it’s safe to also have a grounding crystal (like smokey quartz) in hand while you are working with high vibration crystals. Selenite brings you closer to spiritual energies and makes you more receptive to guidance and communication. It is said to expand the Crown chakra while eliminating any psychic roadblocks that may be present in the mind, emotions, or Sacred Space. You can find Selenite Wands and Scepters which aid to magnify and direct the high intensity vibrations from this crystal.

And finally, Apophyllite–like both the crystals mentioned above–helps open the crown chakra to receive higher guidance, but also helps you evolve into higher states of being. This crystal is great if you are having issues with ego-based desires.

So there you have it folks! Some basics and some details on each of the standard Chakras! I hope you were able to take something away from these readings whether it was simply that chakras exist, how they work, what order they go in, or possibly (but I hope not!)… the fact that you couldn’t possibly believe in such a thing. Whatever you took away, I know I enjoyed sharing. Thanks for listening.

6. The Third Eye Chakra

The Third Eye Chakra–also known as the Brow Chakra–is located in between the eyes just above the brow. With it’s Sanskrit name “Ajna” which means “beyond wisdom”, this chakra focuses on expanding intuition, imagination and spirituality. The Third Eye Chakra is associated with the color indigo, the musical note A, the element of light, and the Sacred sound “Aum”.

The pituitary and pineal glands located in the brain and just behind the forehead, between the eyes are linked to this chakra. The pituitary gland is considered the master gland because it sends messages to the rest of our glands and organs throughout the body. The pituitary also sends messages to the brain telling it to turn thoughts into actions. However that is when the pineal gland comes inhibiting the pituitary gland and communicating to the brain to wait a moment. Instead, the brain to told to ponder those thoughts before performing them. The pineal gland is what makes us truly human–it is the essence of consciousness which allows us to adventure into deep thought. The Third Eye harnesses this feature of the pineal gland and allows us to expand that consciousness.

When the Third Eye chakra is cleansed, one has an open and clear state of mind, external awareness, and reliable gut feelings. When cleared, the 3rd Eye chakra aids in developing the imagination, expanding consciousness, and heightening spiritual awareness. You can trust your senses when this chakra is clear which results in decreased levels of stress and worry.

If you feel that your thoughts are foggy, if you’re forgetful, or like your gut feelings are not helping dissociate fantasy from reality, then your Third Eye chakra may be out of balance.

To clear the Third Eye chakra one can use any of the following crystals (and of course can use many others, for the list is practically endless): Sodalite, Amethyst, and Azurite.

Sodalite encompasses all the healing powers that are needed for the third eye Chakra. It works to enhance cognitive ability, rational thought, truth and intuition, as well as clairvoyance.

Amethyst is a more spiritual stone which opens channels for higher consciousness and clairvoyance. This stone brings peace and happiness to the mind and is also said to bring lucid dreams, and protect one against physical or psychic harm.

Azurite, like sodalite, works to open up the mind for cognitive and intuitive thought. Meditating with sodalite in one palm and azurite in another will help you clear your mind and answer what it is you want from a specific aspect of your life. What do you want in your relationships or in a relationship to come. What do you want in the workplace, what do you want in your free time, etc. Azurite also helps open the mind to think outside the box, and keeps one detail-oriented.

Please return on Thursday to read about the final Standard Chakra: The Crown Chakra.

5. The Throat Chakra

Also known as “Vishuddha”, the 5th Chakra, or throat Chakra is located at the throat and is the first of the three spiritual chakras. Associated with the color blue, the physical sense hearing, the musical note G, and the sacred sound “Ham”, this Chakra–when in balance–allows one to communicate and express themselves in the most effective ways.

The Throat chakra has a powerful connection to the Sacral Chakra. The Sacral is the center of creativity and personal power, and the Throat is used to effectively speak our creative ideas to make them real. It is when we speak our creative ideas to others that we can create plans to make them a reality.

However, the Throat chakra is not all about speaking, it is also about listening. One may not know when or how to respond to someone unless they are truly listening to the conversation at hand. What’s more, we must listen for the subtle forms of communication like tone of voice, eye-contact, and body-language, in order to fully understand what others are expressing to us. It is when we are really listening that we know how to interpret messages and send our own in response.

When the Throat Chakra is in balance and cleared, physically one wouldn’t feel any pain in the throat, jaw, mouth or neck. Mentally, one should feel able to speak truthfully at all times and feel able to express themselves and their ideas.
On the other hand, if the Throat Chakra is out of balance or needs to be cleansed, one may find themselves consistently telling lies, or having trouble communicating feelings or ideas. In addition, they may be unable to spit the words out of their mouth, are struggling with addiction, feel a lack of creativity, or a lack of faith in themselves and/or others.

Like the Heart chakra, when the Throat chakra is healed we can release heavy burdens, grudges, or habits that have long been stored-away. This can be difficult because we don’t want to face the dark, troubling parts of our mind since it is often a painful reminder of past experiences. Remembering troubled times hurts, and can feel like a huge obstacle. But, in the end, being able to embrace our troubles in order to release them forever can feel like a huge weight off the shoulders. Once we clean out the bad and ugly, we leave room for so much good and so much beautiful. Clearing the Throat chakra can be difficult but with a little bit of help from our crystals, we can clear our wheel of energy and express ourselves freely.

The three crystals I will discuss with you today, which of course are not the only crystals that can be used to clear the throat chakra include: Blue Lace Agate, Aquamarine, and Celestite. All these crystals are blue which is matches the Throat Chakra’s color, however, it is not the case that only blue crystals can clear this chakra.  There are many of other colors which work on this chakra for cleansing and healing.

Blue Lace Agate is a very peaceful stone which heals sore shoulders, back, and throat. It also creates space to improve self-expression and personal truth. Additionally, it helps men accept their natural sensitive feelings even when the world is telling them not to.

Aquamarine aligns to all chakras but does well to clear the Throat and open the 3rd Eye (which we will cover tomorrow). It is beneficial for healing sore throats, swollen glands, and jaw or teeth pain. It is a blue crystal which aligns to this Chakra’s color, and aids in understanding underlying emotional states of oneself or others, as well as helps interpret personal feelings. Aquamarine filters all the information absorbed during the day and helps maintain a clear perception of reality.

Celestite (also a blue crystal) strengthens ones ability to resolve conflicts, and have peaceful conversations. Celestite enhances clarity of mind while tapping into the spiritual side of things. This crystal opens up the metaphysical abilities of the body and gives greater openness of mind for negotiations and new experiences, whether they are physical, mental, divine…or otherwise.
And with that I shall leave you. Tomorrow we shall explore the wonders of the Third Eye Chakra.

4. The Heart Chakra

The Heart Chakra is in the center of the 7 Chakras and maintains the balance between the upper three and lower three. Also known as “Anahata”, this chakra is aligned to the color green, the musical note F, the planet Venus, the element Air, and the Sacred sound “Yam”. The Heart Chakra is located right on the heart and is attuned to the Cardiac Plexus.

I find it interesting that all our lives we already know about the Heart Chakra since many believe the heart is the location of love in the human body. Especially during the holidays, we “open our hearts” to give gifts to family, friends, and the less fortunate. So you really already know about the Heart Chakra. This chakra is associated with love and giving/receiving.

The chakra before the Heart, the Solar Chakra, focused on personal creativity. The Solar Chakra is thought of as the Chakra of power where creativity and compassion are born and nourished. And now with the Heart Chakra with it’s element is air–like a breeze picking up a seedling– works to disperse creativity and positive self-esteem throughout your life.

Your heart chakra may be out of balance if you cannot trust yourself or others, if you feel unloved or unworthy of love. If you are getting caught up in your feelings, or what others may think of you, it’s a sign that your heart chakra may need some attention. Additionally, jealousy and resistance to change arise when the heart chakra is out of balance. Physical signs that the heart chakra needs healing include wheezing, breathing trouble, ulcers, and chest infections.

Crystals used to heal the Heart Chakra include but are not limited to: Green Aventurine, Rose Quartz, and Rhodonite. Many green and pink stones will align with the Heart Chakra.

Green Aventurine helps your heart let go of old ways and habits allowing for growth and change. Aventurine is also ideal for fending social disputes and instead opens the heart to other’s perspectives and friendly communication. Placed on the heart chakra, Green Aventurine will align the heart to these ideas, or this stone can be worn or kept on the person to invite these things into your life.

Rose Quartz, like all quartz crystals, is an ideal purifier and will clear out any negativity, jealousy and anger from the heart and replace it with love and compassion.

Rhodonite helps open the heart to be more giving and respectful to mankind. This crystal will also defeat anxiety and bring grounding love into your life.

3. The Solar Chakra

Manipura–also known as the Solar, Yellow, or Power Chakra–is located just above the bellybutton, at the base of the chest. It is directly linked to the Solar Plexus (wow…that’s weird) as well as the digestive system. This Chakra is often associated with the element of fire, the sun, the musical note “E”, and the sacred sound “Ram”.
While beginning our journey of learning the chakras from the Root to the Sacral and now here at the Solar Chakra, there has been a steady advancement in a distinct direction. Have you noticed it yet?
While all the chakras are associated with part of the physical body–like the Solar Chakra is to the Solar Plexus and digestive system–we do, in fact, see a shift in mental focus as we move through the list of chakras. Root Chakra topics relate to survival and are rooted (pun-intended) in human survival. The Sacral Chakra moves it’s focus to personal creativity and self-actualizing topics linked heavily to survival situations in life. And now, with the Solar Plexus, we learn that this is the Chakra of personal power and control. We move away from the necessary comforts of surviving, and towards improving the self. Moving towards self-improvement, personal faith, and one could suppose…Enlightenment.

If at this point you are slightly confused you should go read this blog: Intro to the Chakras.
Then follow it by reading about the Root Chakra, then the Sacral.
This may help. I promise the blogs are short so it’s not a huge commitment, I know you can do it 🙂 Or you can simply continue reading. You do you Boo.

So. Let’s talk about the Solar Chakra.
This Chakra is all about you. Well, I guess they all are really, but at the same time, they all aren’t. They’re about you in your environment, and body and mind and surroundings. Ugh, okay, move on Evelyn.

Warmth in your personality. Healthy self-esteem. Freedom to interpret the world without fear of consequences. A perception of yourself and who you are, and how you can contribute to this world. Making the conscious choice to contribute to this world. Being able to find the right path to make your contribution, to make a difference, to be a proactive leader and drive forward with good ambitions. All of these things are associated with the Solar Chakra. When the Chakra is healthy and aligned, these topics focused on improving your personal self, ideas, and intentions, will come to fruition. However, when the Solar Chakra is out of balance, you may feel you do not have control over your life, or you are being over-controlling and over-authoritative. You may not be able to turn your ideas into actions. Additionally, if this Chakra is imbalanced you could be having trouble with your digestive system, and may be more prone to getting sick.

To keep this chakra in balance, you can use the following crystals to help energy flow smoothly through the wheel of power. Of course there are not the only crystals you can use but I am giving you a short list to start. Thank you to Judy Hall’s Encyclopedia of Crystals for much of the crystal information that follows.

1. Citrine. I love Citrine! It is an orange, yellow, and clear stone that is very cleansing. In fact, if you leave citrine in a bowl with other crystals, it will charge and cleanse your other crystals for you! Citrine is said to carry the energy of the sun and promotes creativity and joy in anyone who beholds it. It also is said to open the mind to constructive criticism and improves self-confidence, self-expression, digestion, and protects the environment. It is said to cleanse and re-energize all chakras but I think it’s perfect for the Solar Chakra because of it’s link to the energy of the sun.

2. Desert Rose. This beautiful crystal can be found often in gift shops throughout the southwestern U.S. because Native American lore says they were carved by Native American warriors returning from the spirit world and were scattered on the land to keep spirit homes sacred. While this stone is beautiful and linked to Southwestern culture, it is also said to strengthen affirmations of purpose, keeping one driven towards their goals. It also heightens one’s ability to interpret and express thought-whether it’s their own or someone else’s–and confronting issues to settle grievances.

3. Snow Quartz/Milk Quartz/Quartzite goes by many names but supports those who are learning important life lessons. This stone enhances cooperation and helps you filter thoughts before speaking. With this stone in your possession, keeping the Solar Chakra balanced, you can definitely become a more powerful and driven individual, as all the skills Snow Quartz assists with are noted skills of some of the most successful individuals in the world today.

And there you have it!
Come back tomorrow for more information on the next Chakra: The Heart Chakra.

1. The Root Chakra

The first of the seven standard Chakras is located at the base of the spine. Known as the Root or Base Chakra, it’s Sanskrit name is “Muladhara”, musical note is B, color is red, and sacred sound is “Lam”. The Plexus’–or bundles of nerves or vessels in the body-that the root chakra aligns to are the Lumbar and Coccygeal Plexus’. Both are located at the bottom part of the spine.

Survival instincts and physical state are the main focus of the root chakra. With the right types of healing exercises, the root chakra works to keep issues related to these focuses at bay. Say you are having trouble accepting your body, you are feeling restless, or lacking physical energy. Maybe you are having financial problems and don’t know if or how you can pay next month’s rent. Perhaps you aren’t eating as well as you normally do, or you are having suicidal thoughts. Of course not all of these issues can be completely healed by meditation, or crystal healing, but it is likely that self-healing exercises can aid in the healing process. I’m not a doctor nor are many practicing chakra healers, so please don’t depend on me for medical advice. However, the root chakra is centered on these types of issues and when healed, can ground you in a healthier and safer state of mind.

Like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs where physiological needs need to be attained before reaching self actualization, the Root chakra needs to be healed to create stability in the rest of the body and mind. Once this stability is obtained, one can move on to healing the next Chakra. It would be difficult to try and open your 3rd eye to become more spiritual if you were constantly worried about your weight or financial state. There is an order in which certain needs must be addressed. One must focus on physical needs before gaining the privilege of wondering how to improve creativity skills or harness a sense of accomplishment. That is why the Root chakra comes first, because it must be addressed before any of the other chakras for the best healing.

Crystal healing is often associated with the Chakras so with each Chakra that I share with you, I will list crystals which focus on healing the chakra at hand. To use crystals in chakra healing, place the crystal on the chakra area for 20 minutes while laying down in a quiet, undisturbed space.

Crystals aligned with the Root chakra include but are not limited to: Jet, Red Jasper, Smokey Quartz, Bloodstone, Fire Agate, Stichtite, Obsidian, and Red Calcite. As you can see, many of the stones are red, like the color of the Chakra. This will be a reoccurring theme as we move on to the other chakras.

To wrap up, let me tell you about the first three stones I’ve listed:

1. Jet is a very dark matte-black stone which aids in taking control of life and stabilizing financial situations. If you carry this stone in your wallet you may see an increase in money coming your way. 
2. Jasper is actually said to align with all the chakras and depending on the color, will align to a specific chakra. The root chakra is red, so Red Jasper aligns to it and helps calm emotions, decrease worries, and calm sexual aggressiveness. 
3. Smokey Quartz is one of the most efficient of the grounding and cleansing stones. It is used to detoxify the body, alleviate suicidal tendencies, and increases acceptance of the body.

 

Visit back tomorrow to read about Chakra #2: The Sacral Chakra

An Introduction to the Chakras

Today I performed a breathing meditation and listened to “Chakra Suite: Music for Meditation, Healing and Inner Peace” by Steven Halpern. Halpern creates each track on his album with focus on a particular Chakra. This prompted me to ask, “What exactly are all the chakras, and how do they work?”I decided to find out.

So, what is a Chakra?
A Chakra (Shaw-cruh) is a spiritual point in the human body where energy continually flows. There are seven standard Chakras that flow through the human body. The literal word Chakra is Sanskrit for “circle” or “wheel”. A Chakra should be visualized as a point of energy flowing constantly in a small circular pattern around an origin. This energy is often referred to as Prana, Mana, or the vital life force. Chopra Center author Michelle Fondin explains that Chakras are where Matter and Consciousness meet, and most lay on the spine where crucial nerve centers are located. According to Google–I know, not super reliable, but I thought it was interesting–the use of the word Chakra was adopted by western civilization in the 1950’s, skyrocketed up to the 2000’s, fell for a few years, but is again on the rise.

Each chakra has a specific location and represents certain things. The Root Chakra, for example, is located at the tailbone. It represents being grounded as an individual, and effects our sense of security and survival. Each chakra has a different purpose and depending on how one feels with certain aspects of life, a chakra may warrant some healing.

It is thought that you can heal chakras through meditation, crystal healing, or other healing exercises to help get rid of inhibitions, improve physical or mental well-being and create a clear, steady equilibrium within your emotional, mental, and physical states.

So there you have it! Now you have a general understanding of what a chakra is, and why they are commonly referenced in meditation practices. Check back tomorrow to go deeper into the first of seven standard Chakras.

 

You may be asking yourself, “if there are seven standard chakras does that mean there are non-standard chakras?” YES. …. More to come 🙂

Working with Crystals

I will soon be working with crystals during meditation. I want to wait until I am better at meditating in general so that I can feel a difference between meditating with and without the crystals.
Believing in the energy of crystals is based in “Animism” which, according to the Cambridge English Dictionary is, “The belief that all natural things,such as plants, animals, rocks and thunder can influence human events”. I want to believe in this because it makes sense to me, and I have felt these energies before. However, I admittedly am a skeptic, so I definitely want to test it and feel if certain crystals magnify intentions during meditation. For example, if I am meditating and thinking about my love life, I want to see if holding a rose quartz in both of my palms while meditating will help me focus better, or uncover certain issues or areas of improvement in my love life. I will compare that meditation session to one where I perform the same meditation and have the same intentions, but without crystal energy.

I’m working on learning about the chakras because certain crystals align with certain chakras. You can visualize chakras as wheels of energy flowing through our human bodies in areas with many nerves and lots of blood flow. There are many chakras but the few I am going to work most with are the palms, the heart, and the third eye. I will go into more detail when I am actually practicing with crystals.

I will recommend, if you are interested in crystal healing, to read some books by Judy Hall. She is the author of The Crystal Bible and the Encyclopedia of Crystals which are great references. My sister owns the Crystal bible which is pocket-sized and great reference material for beginners. I own the Encyclopedia which has tons of crystals and is textbook size. Each page has a crystal or two and lists all of the following items:

1. What Crystal system it belongs to: In other words, how the crystal was made and therefore what types of shapes are within this crystal and make up it’s form
2. Crystal Chemistry: Example with Water because I’m basic: H2O
3. Hardness: How hard or soft the crystal is. The hardness scale goes from 1 to 7 with 2 being extremely soft like a fingernail, and 7 being extremely hard like a diamond. You can test the hardness of a rock by scratching it. If a certain rock can scratch it then the rock you are testing is softer than the rock used to scratch. Diamonds will always scratch any rock less than 7 since it will be the harder rock. A fingernail is easily scratched by other things because it has a hardness of 2.
4. Associated Chakra
5. Associated Number (numbers how power too!)
6. Associated Zodiac Sign (I think Zodiac Signs are real, but I wont believe in a horoscope-too much of the Barnum Effect for me)
7. Associated Planet
8. What the specific crystal’s energy is beneficial for.

So much to learn!
I’m going to go study a bit 🙂