Story and photos by Ashley Probst
Mason Hernandez held out a phantom crystal as he examined it with a look of wonder in his eyes—the clear quartz crystal contained a rare triangle shape that had formed naturally at its core.
“An ancient civilization stored knowledge in this crystal, so if you knew how, through channeling other energies, you could extract information from it,” said the senior business major and president of Chapman’s Health and Healing Club.
Many healers, like Hernandez, practice using crystals to balance chakras by promoting positive energy and to cure mental, emotional or even physical ailments by releasing negative energy.
“The reason why it works is because crystals are energy and each crystal has a different vibration,” Hernandez said. “That vibration matches up with certain parts of our body—with our physical body, energetic body and emotional body.”
Hernandez likes to keep crystals on him as extra energy and often makes them into pendulums, which he uses to balance chakras, answer yes or no questions and create energy fields of protection around people or their homes. He said crystals can be charged in the sun and then left in water for about a day, ultimately creating a crystal elixir that can be drank to absorb the natural properties of the crystal—for example, this could be an excellent hangover cure if the crystal that’s used is associated with the liver.
When Hernandez looks at a crystal, he admires its shape and unique nature which only provokes his curiosity, but he said he still can’t explain the science behind it. This is because there’s no scientific evidence to prove that crystal healing is actually effective. But regardless, healers continue to believe it’s a reliable method, such as Kenna Libertoski who works out of The Sanctuary Wellness Center in Tustin.
“To me, it doesn’t matter scientifically whether there’s proof or not because I have my own personal results as well as the results from my clients,” Libertoski said. “I do know that it’s never caused any harm to anybody, and people do feel relief.”
Libertoski started incorporating crystals into her professional healing sessions about three years ago, but she said she’s always worked with crystals to some capacity to help her clients maintain balance.
“We are all connected energetically, we are all energy,” Libertoski said. “Everything vibrates and has its own frequency, so keeping (chakras) in alignment and not blocked or out of balance is very important to our spiritual, mental and physical health.”
Libertoski, similar to Hernandez, often uses crystals to balance chakras by placing them on or around the body—matching particular stones of different colors and properties with the specific chakra that they resonate with. She also encourages people to hold crystals during meditation to help with relaxation.
She never offers medical advice, and simply offers her methods of treatment to those who are willing to try it.
“At the very minimum, it will bring them a great sense of peace and relaxation,” Libertoski said. “When you’re relaxed and calm, the body is more able to heal itself and that is proven.”
The most common crystals are those that come in a chakra-balancing kit: red jasper, carnelian, citrine, rose quartz, aventurine, sodalite, amethyst and clear quartz. Libertoski had one of each, all about the size of a quarter, which she said can be purchased for as little as $1 a piece.
The bigger the crystal, the higher the price and effectiveness of its healing properties. But Libertoski said a smaller crystal isn’t necessarily less effective than a larger one, especially when working on the human body. Regardless of size, Libertoski said it’s important to cleanse a crystal before using it after it changes owners.
“You don’t know where these crystals have been, who’s handled them and what they may have absorbed,” Libertoski said. “Depending on the stone, you can put it in salt (water). You can put them out in the sun or the moon. Sometimes just washing them works.”
Libertoski said what methods should be used to clean a crystal depends on the owner’s intentions.
“If you’re focused and have good intentions of it working, it will. At least it’s got a much better chance,” Libertoski said. “I do think having faith in something increases its potency immensely.”
An energy healing session by Libertoski costs $85 an hour and although she doesn’t always use crystals directly, she does keep them on display throughout her workplace and often lends them to her clients.
“I give a lot of my crystals away because, intuitively, I’ll know that somebody needs a citrine for instance and I’ll give it to them, have them hold on to it and work with it,” Libertoski said. “It’s just so cool how people come in and after an energy healing of any kind, they’re literally not the same. They’re changing their structure and energy.”
Savannah Head used to carry a purple crystal that was gifted to her by a psychic and crystal healer, much like Libertoski.
“I was dealing with a lot of anxiety but I didn’t like taking medicine because it made me feel numb to everything. I wasn’t anxious anymore, but I also wasn’t happy or sad, I was just there,” Head said. “I stopped taking the medication but was still really anxious, so I went to a psychic to see if she could help me in a natural way.”
Although Head doesn’t remember what type of crystal she was given, purple is typically associated with purification. Purple crystals are often used in meditation to sharpen psychic awareness and increase imagination, according to Crystal Cure, a website about gemstones and their properties. Libertoski said purple is associated with the sixth chakra, the third eye or brow chakra, and she typically uses an amethyst stone to represent this chakra.
“I was told to hold the crystal close to me whenever I was feeling anxious or stressed,” Head said. “I used to wear it around my neck every day and I could hold it by my heart and it would calm me down. Whenever I would get stress headaches in the back of my neck or in my head, I would hold the crystal there for a few seconds and I would feel better.”
The crystal also helped provide her with clarity if she felt like her mind was cloudy or she was stressed out over making a decision. After being introduced to crystal healing, Head began to collect crystals that she acquired from other people which she set up in a semi-circle to meditate in front of.
“People actually benefit from it and I think it’s really cool,” Head said. “I also think it’s one of those things that you have to be open-minded for it to work.