Celebs Are Obsessed With Healing Crystals, but What the Eff Are They?

In case you haven't noticed, crystals are having a moment. Gone are the days where "healing crystals" were something only your hippie grandma used to peddle. Now they're being touted by celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, and Adele. But it's not for fashion purposes. Collectors say crystals have special healing powers that flush negative energy and even cure ailments. 

Although crystals have been around forever, they've only recently started taking off again around 2017, with Google searches for "crystal healing" increasing by 40 percent just over the past year alone. Although there are tons of hip retailers and Etsy sellers taking advantage of the trend (Free People sells clear crystal quartz for the insane price of $119), its biggest enthusiasts are celebrities. 

In fact, Kim even released a line of crystal-inspired perfumes in adorable clear quartz bottles last year. Her love of crystals began after the traumatic Paris situation where she was robbed at gunpoint. After the incident, friends and family gave her healing crystals as gifts.

"I wasn't really into them," she told Entertainment Tonight. "I didn't know much about them. Enough people brought them over that I loved the shape, I loved holding it, and I felt like: 'OK, this is it. I want something that I feel like calms me, is healing...'"

And it's not just Kim. Celebrities are legit nuts about crystals. Supermodel Naomi Campbell refuses to fly without them, Kate Hudson keeps rose quartz in her pocket, and Robin Thicke once paid $20,000 for an amethyst stone. I mean, if Lady Gaga is getting naked and covering herself in quartz crystals, surely there must be something to all this, right?

You might be rolling your eyes, but for many, crystals are no joke. In addition to being Instagram-friendly, many celebs say crystals have special healing properties that help them with manifesting desires and even curing anxiety. But when celebs like The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' Brandi Glanville tweets things like,  "Thank God there’s moon issues because I’ve been very emotional today and I had zero reason why until now! Charge your crystals!," we can't help but scratch our heads a little. 

Crystals have been around since ancient times and have been used for everything, from rituals to medicine. Because they naturally come from the Earth, many believe they possess vibrational energy that can be used for storage or release. Astrologist Aliza Kelly Faragher compares them to a "USB flash drive." 

"These devices are designed to take on, store, and transfer information," she wrote in a column for Allure. "Crystals function the same way."

Although there are a medley of different crystals with different purposes and powers, the main functionality of crystals is to absorb negative energy, like stress or anxiety, and release positive energy, like finding a new love or career success. You can either place crystals around the house or carry them with you. As far as the crystal's specific intention, that's up to you. Many crystal enthusiasts say you must "cleanse" crystals first before "programming" them with your intentions. 

Crystals have no tie to any specific religion, allowing people to tailor a spiritual practice that's unique to them, which many experts believe is the real reason why young people (and celebs) love them.

“I am so addicted to crystals, it’s like a sickness," The Hill's Spencer Pratt said back in 2010. "I’ve spent $500,000 on crystals this year. I checked my bank account last night, and I have $203 left …[On Valentine’s Day] we hung out with our puppies and cuddled with our crystal. It’s supposed to bring love... I’m not crazy."

Although there's no hard scientific evidence to prove crystal healing works, many love to bring up IBM scientist Marcel Vogel, who was a huge crystal believer. Back in the '80s, while in a lab observing a crystal under a microscope, he uncovered an amazing discovery:

“In the course of the study of this state under the microscope I noticed a remarkable event, namely that before the melt went into the liquid crystal state, a blue flash of light took place and then immediately after that, the sample transcended into the liquid crystal state. The flash of blue light witnessed through the microscope was the transfer of information from the level of light-coding to the physical plane. This is discussed in metaphysical literature, but had never before been witnessed and photographed."

It sounds amazing, but considering Marcel once examined a stone he thought came from extraterrestrials, he's probably not the most trusted source on it.

Walk into any crystal store as a beginner and the shopkeeper is going to push you to buy a basic clear quartz. It's the most basic of the crystals, which makes it perfect for beginners. It also has the power to charge other crystals when placed beside them. 

"My crystal wand is incredibly special to me, and is one of my most cherished items," model Miranda Kerr said in 2015. "It’s made of clear quartz and is studded with rose quartz. Clear quartz is a great stone for gathering, directing and transmitting energy … it can also transform negative energy into positive energy."

Besides looking cute and having the perfect shade of "millennial pink," the rose quartz is the crystal of love. Use it to deflect anger and open your heart to romance.

“I don’t stay single for long," Katy Perry told Cosmopolitan in 2014. "I carry a lot of rose quartz, which attracts the male. Maybe I need to calm it down with amethyst."

This yellow-tinted stone is one of the strongest crystals for manifesting dreams or desires. Place it in a window or on your desk to stimulate your mind and give you a more optimistic outlook. Adele swears by citrine and won't even perform without it.

“I was so nervous about my comeback show and I was panicking. I was out of practice and I was busy being a mum. But it was one of the best shows I’ve ever done and I had these bloody crystals in my hand," she told The Sun. "Then the Grammys came and I lost my f--king crystals! I had a gig two or three days before them and I think I left them at this venue. It turned out to be the worst, most disastrous performance that I have ever done... But I got some new crystals now and everything’s been going well."

This is a calming stone that's great for tranquility, instilling balance into your life, and even curing addictions. If you're into meditation, amethyst is especially useful for increasing your consciousness. 

"I never in a million years thought I would be that person that would be into all of that stuff, but I completely am," Lucy Hale told People. "Basically, amethyst is the most positive stone there is, so if you put them in your house, they’re supposed to generate good energy. It’s very new for me, and I’m still learning a lot about it.”

While most crystals are good at absorbing, black crystals are for repelling energies, particularly negative ones. Victoria Beckham is so crazy about black crystals, she lines the runway with them at her fashion shows to ward off negativity. She also sews special pockets into her pants to carry her crystals.

“I’m a very spiritual person," she told Allure in 2011. "I travel with my crystals. I’ve got all different colors. It’s just something that I’m into."

"Crystals don’t transmit a healing ‘vibratory frequency," Tim Caulfield, a research director at the Health Law Institute, told The Guardian. “I can say, without hesitation, that from a scientific perspective this is complete nonsense. Yep, some are attractive. But wearing a crystal isn’t going to help align some magical life-force energy."

Even Spencer Pratt, the biggest supporter of crystals, to the point where he called himself obsessive, has admitted that crystals don't really do anything.

"I spent thousands of dollars having a wizard coach," he told Entertainment Tonight in 2016. "Being a wizard, it’s pretty heavy. Going around with a wand, and people start looking at you weird when you’re wanding your coffee in the morning and whatever … Now I just love to look at [crystals], because I’ve moved past them having powers. If they had powers, I would be Kim Kardashian right now and not Spencer."

Wow, touché.

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