Wanna Get Stoned?? Let’s Talk Crystals!!

This article is based on Beyond the Reiki Gateway’s podcast “Wanna Get Stoned?? Let’s Talk Crystals!!” created by Reiki Masters Kathleen Johnson and Andrea Kennedy.

Kathleen Johnson:
One of the things I’ve noticed over the years is that right beyond that Reiki Gateway lies a great interest in crystals. Really, who does not love to talk about crystals? I myself am a huge fan of crystals. I became a Certified Crystal Healer about 6 years ago, which allowed me to deepen my knowledge and apply that to my practice, my professional life, and my personal life.

So today our topic is crystals, and we’re really excited to talk about that with you and I hope you’re just as excited to hear it.

Andrea Kennedy:
I’m really happy we chose this topic today, Kathleen, and I’m excited to talk about all things crystals with you. But I’m going to say, maybe not all things because it’s a huge subject, but this will be our first episode about crystals and I bet we’re going to have a bunch more.

Should we incorporate crystals into our Reiki sessions?

One question that I wanted to ask you, Kathleen, is how soon after learning Reiki or passing through that Reiki Gateway, as we always say, did you find yourself wanting to investigate crystals, learn more about crystals and perhaps use them in your session?

Kathleen Johnson:
For me, Andrea, it was pretty much a simultaneous event. I had always liked looking at crystals. I thought they were pretty stones; I had a few crystal pieces of jewelry, that kind of thing. But when I took my first Reiki one class about a dozen years ago, my Reiki teacher had crystals all over the place. She had them on the windowsill, she had special shelves built for them and so on and so forth, and they grabbed my attention like nothing else. I’ve just found myself asking her question after question about them, where you find them? What does this one do? I was hooked from then on; I was absolutely hooked!

So, Reiki and crystals have gone together with me right from the beginning. I know that doesn’t happen with everyone. And I’m referring to you, Andrea, because I do know that when we first met in 2018, we were working on that panel for Facebook Live. I remember distinctly you saying that you were a Reiki purist, so I know you weren’t using crystals then, and I’m curious as to how you, shall I say, evolved from a Reiki purist into someone who enjoys using crystals.

Andrea Kennedy:
Oh wow! Yeah. So, it’s been interesting for me and you’re absolutely right; I was a Reiki purist, even back in 2018 – and I would say that was even late in the year, to be completely honest.

Having a Reiki purist mentality

I always felt a sort of responsibility or duty to Reiki, and I always wanted to be true to Reiki, that energy, this spiritually guided life force energy. And that being said, I also at the same time respected other people, like yourself, who used crystals; it just didn’t feel like it was part of my mission with Reiki. And when I say ‘purist’, what I really mean by that or what I meant by that, was to conduct my sessions in a way that really all I was offering was Reiki, so that my clients understood what Reiki was and what Reiki was not.

And along with crystals, that I did not incorporate, I also fought very hard not to incorporate intuition in Reiki because when I first learned it, I was actually unaware of Usui Sensei’s intuitive aspects of how he practiced and taught Reiki. So, I was a bit misguided, even with that.

But I wanted to make sure that people understood what Reiki was. To me, if I incorporated crystals, I felt like I might be causing some confusion about what Reiki was. And furthermore, it was way out there to me because I was so sciency and so mainstream, and I always thought, crystals, what are you kidding me? They have these special properties and that’s a little magical thinking…

And so, Reiki was enough for me to extend myself to believe. It was hard; I had a lot of doubts and we’ve talked about that before. But then go to crystals, I just couldn’t fathom that leap; I couldn’t make that leap. And as we said before, it was a bridge too far for me for many years.

Kathleen Johnson:
Yes… Yes. Okay. As a former Reiki purist, an admittedly Reiki purist, how did you make the transition from that to where you are now? Was there a sort of epiphany involved?

Transitioning into using crystals

Andrea Kennedy:
I’m really glad that you asked that, Kathleen, because I really am able to tell you for certain when I made this pivot. I was in the middle of a Reiki session with a client. It was quiet in the room, just some soft music in the background. Just enjoying the flow of Reiki and all of a sudden, I thought about crystals for some unknown reason – it just popped in my mind – and all of a sudden, I had this visual experience, this knowing came through with it. I always described a Reiki practitioner as someone who was an anchor on the physical plane, who was able to bring through certain frequencies of energy for the benefit of themselves or other people. So, it was like the practitioner is a gateway, bringing through a certain frequency of energy for benefit.

And in that moment, during that session, all of a sudden, I saw that’s what crystals are too! That might seem so simplistic to someone like you, who’s had a long and deep relationship with crystals. But in that moment, everything got clear for me because I thought, oh, that’s exactly why we have rose quartz and clear quartz and labradorite or whatever the crystal is, because what makes them unique is what frequencies of energy they are a gateway for, what frequencies of energy they are attuned to that come through them for the benefit of us.

And when I saw like that, like they were little Reiki practitioners, but they were just bringing through their own frequencies of energy… Yeah, it was an epiphany for me! And then, I just started thinking, how can I incorporate crystals? What can I do?! So, a whole new world opened up for me at that point.

Kathleen Johnson:
That’s cool. That’s an interesting way to have crystals find you. I know, we always say that, Reiki finds us when we needed the most, and I think with crystals it’s the same thing. They do tend to find us, because they do carry energy, and as such, they carry frequency and that frequency can be applied to different parts of the body to effect healing and they are marvelous little allies as I think of them.

So, since you’re relatively new to crystals, I know you learned quite a bit, but how do you use them now in your Reiki sessions? How do you incorporate the crystal or the mineral kingdom into your Reiki session?

Crystals into our Reiki sessions: distance vs in-person work

Andrea Kennedy:
Well, I feel almost like I have to split it in two: distance work and in-person work, especially now with the way many of us are practicing. In a distant session, I will usually use a clear lemurian quartz crystal to represent my client, and I think we talked about that in the last episode, how we do our distant sessions, but as far as me using crystals in a distant session, that’s about it. I don’t use any other crystals along with that. I’m really only focused on using that lemurian quartz as my surrogate for my Reiki client.

But let’s shift gears; how things unfolded from that epiphany session was I needed to find a way to incorporate crystals into my practice, into my mainstream practice that was located within a medical building. I didn’t want people walking by who were part of that established medical community and seeing shelves of crystals and things like that in there. I didn’t want them to perhaps draw conclusions that Reiki was woo-woo. Quite frankly, I don’t think we need any help in that department and it didn’t jive with my mainstream presentation of Reiki.

Kathleen Johnson:
That makes perfect sense. And so, I’m assuming you didn’t want them to have to see any turkey feathers hanging from your ceiling, right?

Andrea Kennedy:
That’s right. That’s from that other episode too. Absolutely. And I have to say, people would walk by that I’d never met who worked in the building and they would pop in every now and again and if I had my door open and they’d say, “your office, oh my gosh, it just feels wonderful every time I walk by.” So, they knew good things were happening in there. I also knew that they noticed what my room was like.

Kathleen Johnson:
Of course.

Andrea Kennedy:
What happened was I found this wonderful company and they sell crystal healing mats and there are gemstones embedded in the mats. They have the crystal healing in there for the different chakras. And I thought, oh, this could be a really great addition to my practice. It would be a way I could offer crystal healing. Also, it’s not as though I would have to go get certification and try to figure out, educate myself in a really deep way to know how to choose crystals for an individual; it would just be fixed, and those would be the crystals offered in each session, and going with the mainstream way, I have to say, the mat that I did purchase was underneath the top sheet on my Reiki table, so it was invisible.

Welcoming the crystal healing mats

If those people walked outside my office, it looked just the same as it did before I got the crystal mat. And what I did was I just incorporated that option into my practice. Clients could choose whether or not to have the crystal mat therapy or just regular Reiki session. So that was awesome because it also went to my purist mentality of the old days because I could just sit and offer Reiki. It just left me a lot of flexibility to incorporate the crystals into my practice in a mainstream way.

Kathleen Johnson:
That’s great. I love that story. That’s great. Oh, the mats sound amazing! I’ve heard of them. I’ve seen them online. I have yet to purchase one, but I may have to do so at some point in the future. It does sound amazing, and I know you’ve raved about the effects of it and how much your clients love it. Thanks for sharing that.

And I like your story about how you transitioned into using crystals. You dipped your toe in the water and you didn’t get too nutty with it. It’s not like you were draping yourself in crystals and having your clients lay down in a vat full of them. You were just taking it slow, still honoring your purist routes, but stepping outside of your comfort zone a bit and incorporating the crystals, and I have to say, your choice of a lemurian quartz for the distance sessions, spot on! Lemurian quartz is such an amazing stone! I love that you used that at a distance session, so I may have to steal that from you; not the stone, but the idea.

Andrea Kennedy:
If any of our listeners are interested in finding out more about these mats, I’ll put a link down in the show notes so that they can investigate the mats, read about all that they offer, and there’s also a discount code.

Kathleen Johnson:
Sounds good. I think that’s an awesome thing to offer our listeners.

Healing gifts to our clients

Andrea Kennedy:
Another easy way that I incorporated crystals in a mainstream way into my practice was I purchased some single crystals. I believe most of them were rose quartz and I just really liked that stone. And I would imbue those with Reiki and then, if it felt appropriate to me, I would give them to my Reiki clients at different times. Generally, those times would include if they had an upcoming surgery or I had one client who was an expectant mother for the very first time; she was pretty nervous going into it and I gave her one of those crystals to have with her, to take with her to the hospital.

And it just is, I think, a nice gesture as practitioners, something else that we can offer to our clients and just another little special connection.

I know you’ve been working with crystals many years in your Reiki sessions. Can you tell us a little bit about how you use crystals in your Reiki practice?

“I always secure the client’s permission”

Kathleen Johnson:
Honestly, at this point, I can’t recall a session in which I did not use crystals. I use them in every session, to the best of my memory. Before using them though, I always secure the client’s permission. I certainly don’t want to violate anyone’s free will or their space by placing stones on their body or around their body without their permission. So of course, I always ask. To date, no one has ever refused my offer to use crystals. In fact, they always seem to be very happy about that option.

So yes, I use crystals in every single session, and I use mine in distance sessions, as well as in-person. That was one of the things that stood out to me when you were talking, Andrea, how you use the lemurian crystal as a surrogate for the person that you’re treating. I, on the other hand, have that tablecloth that I discussed in our last episode with distant Reiki, with the primary chakras highlighted. I place crystals on those points and any other points that I’m guided to use during a distance session.

Crystals as a standalone healing modality

So, my use of crystals is very similar to both distance Reiki sessions and in-person sessions. I do that for a reason because I just find them to be tremendous allies when they’re used with Reiki and of course, even on their own. You can certainly do a crystal healing without having Reiki. They are a standalone healing modality which I don’t want anyone to get the impression that you have to have Reiki to use crystals; that’s simply not the case. You can certainly use those as a standalone healing modality.

The art of choosing the “right” crystals

When I first started out using crystals, I was very careful to go by the book because I knew so little about them and I didn’t want to do anything wrong, of course. So, I went by the book and I managed to collect quite a few crystal books, and over the years I’ve collected even more. I have quite a few reference books out in my library. I still use the books; I refer to them almost daily for one thing or another. But now, the choice of crystals really is more about my intuition and guidance than it is in a book. I think that just comes with practice and allowing yourself to be open to the guidance about what crystals can do for us. I think that’s important though.

Andrea Kennedy:
I agree, Kathleen, because I know for myself, anytime I start anything new, oh, I want to get the research, I want to do my homework, I want to read about it, ask other people and really delve into the whole subject matter to build a foundation. And I think with crystals, as with even Reiki or anything worth doing, really, we need to have that foundational education, because we’re just not playing around here! If we’re using these for other people, I’m just real big about responsibility and making sure that we’re always making choices that are in the highest good of whoever we’re working with. And so, I know for myself, I want to have the knowledge going in and not just fly by the seat of my pants, even though my intuition might be really good.

Ready for crystal-infused water?

I’ll share a little story that I heard from one of my students. She had a friend that heard about the… – I guess it’s a pretty popular practice right now – to put crystals in your drinking water like your water bottle to charge the water and get healing that way. My student told me that her friend dropped a pretty big chunk of selenite in her water bottle that she would sip on throughout the day. And at the end of her workday, she went to go refill her bottle and looked in there and to her horror, there was no selenite in the water anymore.

Kathleen Johnson:
Oh, my goodness.

Andrea Kennedy:
And if she had done her homework, she would have known that selenite will melt in water. It just dissolves.

Kathleen Johnson:
Absolutely.

Andrea Kennedy:
And so, my goodness…

Kathleen Johnson:
Yes.

Andrea Kennedy:
She said that she didn’t have any ill effects to it, at least none that she knew of, but wow, that would have really worried me if I would have done something like that or, heaven forbid, told somebody else to do it, not knowing myself that foundational knowledge. It’s really important that we go by the book, so to speak.

Kathleen Johnson:
Absolutely, especially when you’re starting out, as you said, with anything. And especially when we’re working with energy. We are working with energy. We are working with it for our clients, for ourselves. I have a real problem going in half-cocked on things like that because, as you said, we just don’t know what we’re getting into unless we have some sort of foundation or some sort of frame or of reference. And your story about the selenite crystal water is compelling. When you said that a few moments ago, you should have seen my face; I was horrified.

I was thinking, oh, this is not going to end well; by the end of the day that selenite had completely dissolved because it’s a very soft crystal. So, if you need to clean a piece of selenite don’t ever clean it with water, you’re going to be running water over that thing and it’s going to be getting smaller and smaller, and you’ll be wondering what’s going on; please proceed carefully.

As far as the crystal water is concerned, it is a hugely popular practice now. I use crystal water all the time; I have given it to my clients, I provided to my students in Reiki classes when I was teaching in-person, but you have to know what you’re dealing with because some crystals are toxic. If you ingest them, you can become very ill or worse. So you really need to know what you’re doing and you need to do your research. There’s no shortage of crystal books available and you can find all the information you need to create a safe and effective crystal practice, but you have to take the time to do it.

I’m glad you’ve mentioned that incident. I hope that woman did not suffer any ill effects, but I know speaking for myself, I would not want to swallow a chunk of selenite over the course of the day. I think I would say ‘no, thanks’ to that one.

Andrea Kennedy:
Oh, absolutely. And I have to say, I’m friends with my crystals and I just can’t even imagine that poor crystal in that water, melting away! Oh my goodness, the poor thing!

Kathleen Johnson:
I know you did ask me how I use crystals in my practice. I sort of got off track there, but that’s ok. I think those things needed to be discussed anyway, so that’s a good thing.

If you’d like to listen to the “Wanna Get Stoned?? Let’s Talk Crystals!!” podcast from the Beyond the Reiki Gateway, please click here.

The seven chakras and their crystals

So, what I like to do is I focus primarily on the primary chakras. So I will often place crystals along the primary chakra points: the root chakra, the sacral, the solar plexus, the heart, the throat, the third eye and the crown.

I may place more around some of the secondary or tertiary chakras or alongside the body. I always have a selenite rod on the floor, underneath my Reiki table, one near the head and one near the feet. I just use them all over the place, but for someone starting out I think it’s important to have a sense of where’s a good place to begin? I get this question a lot from clients, from students, of course, and from people who are simply interested in learning more about crystals and how they can help you to heal various issues.

And as I was just saying, using the primary chakras as a focal point is a really good place to start. So what do you do for that though? The easiest way and the way I started is to match the colors of the primary chakras to the color of the crystals you’re using.

It is not set in stone. You can use any variety of crystals to which you’re guided, but if you’re just starting out and you don’t want to make any mistakes or you’re a little uncomfortable about using the “right one”, all you really need to do is try to line up the colors of the crystals you’re using with the color of the primary chakra you want to work with. It’s really that simple.

So, for the root chakra you’d find like a red or even a brown stone or any of the darker ones, anything that’s black or gray, that all works. Sacral, an orange stone; there’s plenty of orange stones. Same as for solar plexus, use yellow, and even some orange works for solar plexus. The heart chakra, you can use pink, you can use green. Again, whatever you’re guided to use. If you see a crystal that you just really love and you have an idea or a sense that this is the one you want to use, go for it, don’t overthink it.

“Let your intuition guide you!”

Let your intuition guide you and the more frequently you do that, the more adept you will become at choosing the crystals that are just right. And then, of course, throat chakra, the blue crystals are amazing for the throat chakra, light blue. I tend to gravitate toward the light blue crystals for the throat chakra, but the dark blue crystals work as well. The third eye is the indigo; sometimes I use purple for that, and the indigo stones or purple stones are great. And the crown chakra again, white, clear. I use purple for that sometimes. There is flexibility, to say it again, it’s not set in stone. Give it a try and see how it works for you, experiment with them, that’s how you learn to use them and that is how they learn to work with you, which is just as important because they do have energy and they do have consciousness of some sort.

Crystals and in-person healing sessions

Andrea Kennedy:
I understand that you use the crystals very much the same way, distance sessions versus in-person sessions, but in an in-person session, how do you actually use them? Do you place them on the body? Can you tell us a little bit more of that?

Kathleen Johnson:
Yes, that’s a good question. I actually put them right on the body. Again, with the person’s permission, of course, I will place each crystal on the chakra point and you don’t want to get too close to any of the private areas or anything like that but that’s easy enough to do; you just have to use a little common sense, obviously. Also, if you’re planning to use crystals in that way, I would suggest getting a chakra set that has the crystals cut in the shape of cabochons. They have a flat bottom, they’re oval in shape, and they’re rounded, but they have a flat bottom. Because if you have a chunky, big raw crystal on someone’s third eye, that’s not going to work too well. If they tend to move or something and then all of a sudden they got this chunk of crystal falling into their eye, not a good thing.

Andrea Kennedy:
Not very relaxing.

Kathleen Johnson:
Not at all. I always recommend starting out to get a nice cabochon set so that they don’t move around, they stay put and they’re easy to find. I can recommend a site that I use frequently. In fact, I work with them. I’m an affiliate of theirs and I trust them implicitly. It was the first online crystal shop I ever ventured to try back in the day and I still use them for almost all my crystal needs, and that is called www.healingcrystals.com. Some of you may already be familiar with them. They have plenty of chakra sets, start sets, cabochons. You can imagine crystals in any shape, size, quantity, purpose; they have them. In the show notes, you’ll see a link or two to some sets I recommend from www.healingcrystals.com. If you’re interested, check it out. And if you use that particular link, you will also receive a discount. It may be something to take advantage of and look into.

Andrea Kennedy:
I’ve been to their site and I’ve also used them as well, Kathleen, and wow, they are phenomenal! They have great articles there as well. So again, toward that whole idea about educating ourselves, there’s a lot there to go through on their site and their customer service is really great as well. So I can second your positive endorsement on them.

Kathleen Johnson:
Yes, and they’re not just crystal sellers, that’s not all they do, as you said. They have articles, a few of which I’ve written. They have guidance for using crystals. They have meditations. There’re so many resources for someone who was interested in crystals; it’s not just about selling crystals. The owner of healing crystals… His mission is to create a worldwide crystal grid so that crystal healing will spread across the globe, which is a wonderful mission. It’s about educating people, empowering people with the use of healing crystals.

How to cleanse our crystals

Andrea Kennedy:
Oh, I love that, I just love it. I’m sure that you hear from a lot of people, what are the most common questions that you get asked about crystals?

Kathleen Johnson:
There are a lot of them. There are a lot of questions because there’s just so much to learn about crystals. I offer occasionally basic crystals class where I go over all the basic information. One of the main questions I get is, how do you clean them? How do you cleanse them? Anyone who’s ever purchased a crystal has run into this where you go, you find a crystal that you love, and it seems to want to work with you, it’s great! You get it home and then you learn that, oh, I gotta clean this! I have to cleanse it, not only physically, but energetically of any unhealthy or incompatible energies it may have picked up along the way to you.

For example, you think of the journey that a crystal has before it arrives home with you. There’s the mining, there’s the storage, you know, the transporting, all the handling and moving around, all the steps that are involved in getting that crystal from the mine to you. It only stands to reason that there are going to be a lot of energies collected within that crystal.

Andrea Kennedy:
Speaking of energies held within the crystal, I’ve often felt sadness for the crystals that they were mined and separated from the earth. Have you ever felt that a crystal had grief that was associated with being harvested? Has that ever come up?

Points of controversy within the crystal community

Kathleen Johnson:
I can’t say that’s ever come up for me. I have felt sadness within a crystal but typically it’s one that has been polished and cut and all that. So, I think that had to do more with where it had been before it arrived with me, but honestly, Andrea, you make a really good point. I have never quite considered it from that perspective before, but that is one of the main points of controversy within the crystal community. If it is even ethical to continue to mind the crystals and are we doing Mother Earth a disservice by doing so?

There are a couple schools of thought about that; there’s the school of thought that says you should just leave them where they are, they’re supposed to be there. There’s a reason for them being there and we should leave them undisturbed. The other school of thought is they are given to us by Mother Earth as gifts for healing, for us to use, but by mining them responsibly and sourcing them ethically we are honoring Mother Earth while also being able to use them for our own healing.

Unfortunately, there are crystals many times that are mined unethically and unsustainably, and those are the ones that you really need to be aware of. I don’t think I’ve ever been asked that question before, but it’s an excellent one and I would really like to hear from maybe some of our listeners if they’ve encountered that feeling with their stones.

So back to cleansing crystals, this is always a big topic of conversation among new crystal users and even those who’ve been working with them for a long time. There are so many ways to clean and clear a crystal; I can go on and on. We heard the water story about the water bottle. Water is a way to clean crystals, salt – which I do not recommend because it can leave pitting and marks in your stones –, sunlight, moonlight, sage, Reiki, of course, envisioning white light surrounding the crystal. There are many ways to cleanse a crystal, and if you look in any basic crystal book, you’re going to find dozens of ways to clean a crystal.

The sound cleansing technique

However, the one that I’ve found that works the best for me and is the most efficient and less time consuming, which I’m all about, I’m not looking for any extra work here, is through the use of sound. Sound cleans and clears the energies of crystals quickly, thoroughly and brings them right back to their natural energetic state, which is the purpose of cleaning crystals.

Andrea Kennedy:
Kathleen, I have to say, I’ve never even heard of using sound to clean crystals before, so that’s really new to me. But sound is so powerful on its own as a healing modality. Just the science of sound, the sound waves moving through the crystal, that really makes sense. So how do you do that? Do you use like crystal singing bowls or how do you do that?

Kathleen Johnson:
You’re right, sound is very powerful and we know that sound is used for healing not just in new age circles, if you will, but even in medicine. Sound healing is a thing; energies of sound are very powerful. So, you can use Tibetan bells if you like. You can use the crystal singing bells to clean your crystals. You can play new age music. The way I do it is a little different. And when it comes down to the sound that you use for crystals, the key is amplitude; in other words, loudness. Because as the music is loud, if the sound is loud, it’s going to knock those crystals back into their natural energetic state. And that’s what you want. And it effectively cleans them like crazy. For me, I love to put on something like David Bowie, Foreigner, AC/DC, REO Speedwagon.

Andrea Kennedy:
AC/DC? Oh my gosh, I would have never guessed that.

Kathleen Johnson:
Yes, you’re getting a glimpse of my misspent youth.

Andrea Kennedy:
I love it! It’s like for real people. What it reminds me of is our meditation episode; that was our first episode where we talked about that meditation doesn’t have to be that you’re cross legged on a mountain top; we tried to bring the topic of meditation to real people in a way that they could fold into their real lives because after all, that’s who we are. We’re just real people. Oh, my goodness! That’s so cool, I love it!

Kathleen Johnson:
So that’s what I do. I have on occasion used a crystal singing bowl CD for my crystals, but more often not; I just blast some music that I really like and then walk away. Or if I’m feeling particularly frisky, I may just stand there and dance like a fool because nobody’s watching.

Andrea Kennedy:
Oh, your crystals are watching you.

Kathleen Johnson:
I know, but they’re not telling anyone, that’s the difference.

Andrea Kennedy:
That’s true, they keep secrets. You know what else though that I love about that? It is so easy because as you’re explaining this and I’m thinking, okay, I know I’m not the only one. Everybody out there should think about how they’ve been cleaning their crystals and how much work it can be.

Kathleen Johnson:
I know.

Learning from our experiences with crystals

Andrea Kennedy:
So, I remember I wanted to be the ‘by the book’ crystal person, so I would put my crystals, I’d load them up on trays, and then I’d go set them outside in the moonlight and all of that. How romantic sounding, right, for your crystals?!

But I remember taking the trays out and then I felt like a bad crystal parent because they weren’t in the dirt, because you’ve heard that before. I put some of them in the actual dirt and then I was worried about, oh, was there pesticide in the dirt? I talk about overthinking. And then, in the morning, they were wet with the morning dew and they were a mess, so then I had to clean them and dry them off. Oh, I love this.

Kathleen Johnson:
I know.

Andrea Kennedy:
I’m never going to do that again as long as I live.

Kathleen Johnson:
Of course.

Andrea Kennedy:
And also with Reiki! I started cleansing them with Reiki, which is also very easy. And for those of you who want to know about that, I just would leave all my crystals where they would be sitting on a shelf and I would just slowly pass my hand over them, offering them Reiki with the clear intention that all vibrations, not their natural vibrations, would be released. But I love the sound and the fact that sound, it’ll fill the whole room with your crystals, and I just absolutely love that. I’m so glad that you shared that with us.

Kathleen Johnson:
Oh yeah, I’m not about having any extra work for myself and here’s a confession of a crystal healer: I had never in my life taken out trays of crystals into the moonlight. I just don’t do that. It’s way too much work and then there’s the dirt and the grass and the bugs. Not that I have anything against dirt, grass or bugs, but I just don’t feel like dealing with it. It’s too time consuming.

So actually, the sound cleansing technique came from my crystal healing teacher. She was the one who recommended that a while ago – this is several years ago now – but now what I have learned is this is the method she recommends, first and foremost, to clear crystals.

Andrea Kennedy:
Wow!

Kathleen Johnson:
And I’ve been doing that for quite some time. And like you said, you can clear a whole room and you don’t have to move them around and it’s just easy for me, it’s easy for the crystals. You’re done and you can move on to other things.

Andrea Kennedy:
Yeah, I just feel so liberated.

Kathleen Johnson:
I’m glad to help you liberate yourself.

Andrea Kennedy:
Yeah, as a steward of my crystals, I can just feel they’re so excited now. I’ll let them pick the music.

Kathleen Johnson:
There you go! Ask them what they want to hear; you might be surprised.

Yes, crystals have consciousness

Andrea Kennedy:
I know. Yeah. But which is funny because crystals do have consciousness to them, they really do. I know that might sound a little crazy, but if you ask them, you’ll hear your answer.

Kathleen Johnson:
Exactly. Consciousness is on all levels. Their consciousness isn’t like ours, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. They do have consciousness, they have energy and they can be utilized to work with us in our healing endeavors, so it’s important to keep that in mind.

Andrea Kennedy:
I guess I’ve come a long way, Kathleen, because I can tell you several years ago I would have never admitted to anybody that crystals had consciousness because I didn’t believe that. Now you might think, oh yeah, that was 2018. And I’d have to say actually no, I was a closet crystal lover before that. I just didn’t combine it in my Reiki sessions. I was teaching Reiki for many years and practicing Reiki for many years. I would use crystals in my Reiki healing grid that sends continuous Reiki over distance to people, animals, situations and things like that. So, I was using crystals in that way and had relationships with crystals; I knew about their consciousness in those years prior to meeting you in 2018. I just was in the closet about it and it was my little secret.

Besides from my Reiki crystal grid that I did incorporate crystal use with, I use crystals in other ways that really weren’t Reiki related, and that might be just gravitating to certain crystals and that would just be me using them as jewelry, me feeling a certain pull or connection to different ones if I went in a crystal shop and sometimes you just know who wants to come home with you kind of thing, but they’re also very beautiful and unique.

I would have them out on my desk where I spend a lot of my time, in my home, even in our family room we have crystals set out in there. I think that it’s important to remember that Reiki and crystals go so well together. But if people don’t have Reiki, if they’re not energy healers or anything like that, they’re just interested in beauty and nature and the properties of crystals, there’s a lot that they could do with crystals just on their own without having been Reiki attuned.

EMF protection crystals: a natural solution to electromagnetic frequencies

Kathleen Johnson:
Oh yes, and I’m glad you brought that up because as you were talking about having your crystals on your desk, my crystals are all over my desk as you probably have guessed. But also, one of the things that I love to use crystals for is to counteract the effects of EMFs, the electric magnetic frequencies that are everywhere because of Wi-Fi and cell phones and on.

Andrea Kennedy:
Yes.

Kathleen Johnson:
And there are certain crystals… Right. It’s everywhere. It’s something that we need to be aware of and do our best to mitigate the effects of the EMFs and to counteract them in a very natural way. Some crystals are very good at that. In fact, in my family room, I have a gigantic chunk of sodalite – it’s raw sodalite – above the TV, it’s on a shelf, and I have it there for the purpose of absorbing some of the EMFs from the TV. Near my Wi-Fi router I have a bowl of shungite because shungite is amazing for absorbing EMFs; even things like that. You don’t need to have Reiki to clear your home’s atmosphere or purify the air or clean your drinking water. You don’t need Reiki for any of that. You can just use crystals that are designated for those purposes and they can add so much to life. And besides, as you said, they’re pretty, they’re beautiful, they’re nice to look at. Not only do they add that aesthetic quality to your living space, but they have a purpose and it’s a healthy purpose. I don’t think we can ask for more than that, right?

Andrea Kennedy:
No, and you bring up shungite and it reminds me I had a client just the other day, we did a distant session, and one of the reasons she chose to have a session was she is having horrible ringing in her ears. She has been to the doctor, had all the tests and they can’t find anything.

In the session, I had this visual of just different waves going through her head, all different sizes and shapes and it was just very chaotic looking. The guidance that came through was she needed shungite, she needed to start wearing shungite, having shungite in her space that she was just very sensitive to the electromagnetic frequencies out there. We’ve said it I think, before on the podcast, that we’re in a sea of energy all the time.

Kathleen Johnson:
Oh, yes.

Andrea Kennedy:
I think we just forget. And that was the guidance that came through for her. And I know that I hear pretty frequently that people are having ringing in their ears where they can’t find a cause. The guidance that came through for this woman is not going to hurt anything. If you have ringing in your years, maybe you try some shungite in your space: wear some, sleep with it by your bed, perhaps meditate with it because we can meditate with crystals, and see if it doesn’t help. So shungite is very good and you mentioned sodalite too, so maybe that’s another option for them.

But speaking about meditating with crystals, I think we touched on that in our first episode, all about meditation, but is there anything we want to add about meditating and crystals, since this is our episode on crystals?

Developing intuition and the psychic senses using crystals

I’m going to put you a little bit on the spot, Kathleen, and ask you a specific question related to a question I get a lot and that is about developing intuition and the psychic senses. I have heard that gazing into a crystal and meditating in that way can do that. But I’m also thinking what crystal would be best for that, or maybe a few that you might suggest to our listeners.

Kathleen Johnson:
That’s a good question, it’s one I’ve heard before. The first one that comes to mind is clear quartz. It’s a very common crystal, almost everyone who works with crystals or is interested in crystals has a piece of clear quartz, probably more than one. Clear quartz is known as a master healer because it can cover a wide range of problems, issues, energy blocks, etc. It is also very easily programmable for intentions. If you program the crystal with an intention, it will hold on to that intention and it can help to manifest intentions more easily.

Another good one is selenite, as long as you haven’t had it in a drink first. I’m never going to forget this story.

Andrea Kennedy:
I know, it is pretty memorable.

Kathleen Johnson:
So, selenite is a great one. I work with selenite a lot in my sessions. And even in my personal life, I have selenite all over the house. It has a high vibration, a very high vibration, but it’s also very gentle. It’s not the kind of high vibration that will hit you between the eyes and you go wow, what just happened? Because there are some crystals like that and when you’re starting to work with them, I suggest starting out slow and gentle; you don’t need that punch between the eyes. You really don’t.

I would say clear quartz, selenite is a good one. Amethyst is always a good stone, so another very versatile healing stone. Rose quartz, everybody’s favorite, right? The stone of love, it’s beautiful, it’s soothing, it’s calming. It’s about emotional balance and love and harmony and kindness and compassion. And truly, what’s not to love about it?! Any one of those. But if you’re just starting out, I would recommend clear quartz or selenite.

Programming or setting the intention?

Andrea Kennedy:
For people who might be new at this, when you say program, let me see if I’m understanding you. Would it be something like, I now program you to work with me through this meditation to open my third eye, my psychic senses at a rate that is in my highest good?

Kathleen Johnson:
I think if you consider programming to be intention, that’s really what it is. We’re all familiar with intention, especially for those of us who work with Reiki. But if you just think of the programming as an intention, you are setting the intention for the crystal and what you would like it to do for you and with you. And you can say anything you want to, there’s no specific invocation or prayer or words that need to be said, but I do think you make a good point. I always incorporate ‘in the highest good.’ I always say something to that effect. I’ll hold the crystal in my hands, and I will watch it. I will look at it as I’m programming it or setting the intention.

I will say something to the effect that, I ask and I intend that this crystal, a beloved member of the mineral kingdom, be charged with deep healing and blessing, always in accordance with my highest good, just something very simple like that. But those words don’t have to be exact; it’s whatever you feel guided to say. But I do think it’s important to include the highest good for obvious reasons, because that’s what we want to work and we want to work in the light. We want to work in accordance with the highest good and we want to acknowledge the contribution that the mineral kingdom makes to our journey to the light and to the highest good.

Andrea Kennedy:
Great. Yeah. I think that’s really helpful to hear how you put that and how you do that in your practice, because so often people think, okay, then what do I say? How do I say it? They’re really wanting instructions, so I think that could be really helpful for them. Thank you for that.

Kathleen Johnson:
I think so. Oh, you’re welcome. I’m happy to help out on that. And again, there are so many resources for crystals. If someone wants to look up how to program a crystal, how to set an intention, there is a wealth of information out there. You can read and hear any number of intentions or programming options. I don’t really like the word ‘programming’ because it just sounds too clinical for me.

Andrea Kennedy:
I agree.

Kathleen Johnson:
It was probably an unfortunate choice of words for me when I said that in this episode, but sometimes that’s to be the only way to explain it. But if you think of it more in terms of ‘intention’, that might help.

Andrea Kennedy:
There are really so many ways to work with crystals, and I’ve really enjoyed hearing all the methods and the tips that you’ve offered, Kathleen.

It’s really fun for me to listen to all of your experiences with crystals. We’re really in contrast with how we came to work with them, and I love that! I hope that the listeners understand that there’s a full world of crystals. There’s no right or wrong with it and the possibilities are really limitless when you think of all the different kinds of crystals that there are, the different formations, the different vibrations, the different characteristics that they have, and join that with all of our unique qualities as individuals and our own paths… As I said, there’s just a limitless space out there for us to experience, practice and have fun with our crystals and how we might use them.

Of course, we welcome feedback from all of you out there listening. It’s really been a joy for us in these first 4 episodes and we’re just having fun. And if you’d like to contact us, ask us questions or have any ideas for future episodes that you would like us to cover, please send us an email or a text or whatever it is and we’ll have links down below, so you can reach us easily.

We’re also including links to that healing crystal sets that Kathleen mentioned, as well as discounts for that, the crystal mat. And we just want to help support you in exploring the whole world about crystals, whether you’re new to crystals or you’ve had relationships with crystals for years.

Kathleen Johnson:
Thank you, Andrea, for sharing that information. So, until the next time, take care and be well.

Crystal Resources:

• Andrea’s Chakra Crystal Healing Mat – Save 10% sitewide and receive free shipping with code msr10s at checkout.
• Kathleen’s Recommended Chakra Set – Receive 10% discount at checkout
• Third Eye Set – Receive 10% discount at checkout
• Our Recommended Reading:
  • Crystal Basics
  • The Crystal Bible, Vol. 1
  • Crystal Reiki Healing

Kathleen’s Crystal Articles:

1. Reiki Crystal Meditation – Reiki Rays
2. Apophyllite – The Reiki Stone – Reiki Rays
3. Reiki and Crystals for Balance During the Holiday Season – Reiki Rays
4. The Reiki Crystal Healing Session – Reiki Rays
5. Crystal Grid for Global Reiki Unity and World Healing – Reiki Rays

* Kathleen and Andrea may earn a small commission from any products ordered, at no additional cost to you

Connect with Kathleen and Andrea:
Website: www.beyondthereikigateway.com
Kathleen’s Website: universoulheart.net
Andrea’s Website: www.mainstreamreiki.com
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