Choosing your First Crystal

It’s okay if you don’t feel anything right away

Here’s a little story I’d like to tell you. It's about some of the wonderful people that I meet in my travels across the province and the moments when I meet someone who has never, ever had a crystal before.

Imagine the scene if you will. It might be mid-day, and the crowds have dispersed a little in my show tent. They are probably all off having coffee somewhere. Someone will walk into my tent. They will look around for a while and then reach out to a tray of crystals. Then hesitate, pull their hand back and then give me a quick look. That look almost looks like they’re about to fail a really big test. It’s like their inner voice is saying, "ARGHHH! What do I do??"

Here is the truth I wish someone had told me at the very beginning. There is no test. There is no wrong stone. And you do not need to feel a mysterious pull, a tingle, or a wave of energy the moment your fingers touch a crystal for the first time. Sometimes that happens. And often it does not, and that means nothing about whether you are doing this right.

The question underneath the question

Sometimes when people ask me how to choose a crystal, often what they are really asking is what happens if I choose wrong? What if I pick the pretty one and it turns out to be the wrong one for me? What if everyone else can feel something and I cannot??? Does that mean I am not intuitive enough for any of this?

I want to try to take a bit of that fear off your shoulders.

Crystals are not a test of your spiritual ability or your intuitive powers. They are stones formed slowly inside the earth over unimaginable stretches of time, and what you bring to them matters more than what you are supposed to feel the instant you touch one. You are allowed to choose a crystal because you like the colour. You are allowed to choose one because it reminds you of the ocean, or your grandmother's ring, or a place you have never been but want to go. None of those reasons are lesser than an electric jolt of recognition.

What we have actually noticed after thirty years

People who are unfocused, tend to linger near the grounding stones without knowing that is what they are doing. People who are grieving are often drawn to the pale, soft coloured ones, the deep blacks and the rose quartz, the stones that do not ask anything of you. People who are exhausted reach for citrine and carnelian before they even know those stones are associated with energy and vitality. I have seen this pattern play out again and again, and I no longer think it is a coincidence. I think our hands know things before our minds catch up to them.

This does not mean you have to wait for some grand intuitive download. It means you can trust small signals and moments of quick intuition just as much as big dramatic ones. A colour you keep returning to. A shape that feels good in your palm. A stone you keep picking up and setting down and picking up again. That repetition is a signal all on its own.

A small ritual for choosing a crystal. Open to absolutely everyone.

If you are curious, that's a real piece of blue Calcite that you see in the photo. It's amazing how this gem is naturally blue (no dye!).

1. Begin with three slow breaths. 

Not a meditation, not a big production. Just three breaths, in and out, standing in front of the stones. This is not for the crystals. It is for you, so that you arrive at the choosing with a clear head instead of a rushed one.

2. Ask yourself one honest question before you touch anything. 

Don’t look at what looks prettiest stone is, most rare, what your friend suggested or or the largest crystal. Ask yourself, “What do I need right now?” It can be as simple as calm, or comfort, or courage. You do not need the perfect word. Just a feeling you would like a little more of in your life in this moment.

3. Let your eyes move slowly across the stones without picking anything up yet. 

Notice which ones your gaze returns to more than once. This is not wizard energy field stuff, it is simply attention, and attention is one of the most honest tools we have.

4. Pick up two or three that caught your eye and hold each one for a moment. 

Notice the temperature, the weight, the texture. Notice if one feels like it wants to stay in your hand a little longer than the others.

5. Choose the one that feels most like an answer to your question, even if you cannot explain why. 

That is enough. You do not need certainty. You don’t need to remember the 15 books that you looked at before you went to pick up your crystals, or all the information you read about. Forget about what every friend told you, or every crystal that someone said was the perfect one just for you. You only need your willingness to be there in the moment.

This little ritual takes less than five minutes, and it works whether you believe crystals hold energy, or whether you simply find comfort in beautiful gemstones.

If you still feel nothing

Some people go through this whole process and still feel unsure. If that is you, I promise you have not failed. (It's okay, really.) Choose the stone you keep coming back to anyway. Let it sit on your windowsill or your desk for a week.

Sometimes the relationship with a crystal builds slowly, the same way trust builds slowly between two people who are just getting to know one another. It may take time for your connection to grow.

I hope this little exercise helps you to find the crystal that will benefit you the most in your life and become a lifelong friend.

Cheers,

Vikki

Looking for a place to start? Browse our collection of healing crystals and see which ones catch your eye first. There is no wrong choice, only the one that is yours.