Can crystals cure diseases?

Something that is raw and unpolished emphasizes its origin from beneath our feet and carries an otherworldly beauty.

Whether sunken into water bottles, strung onto chains or displayed on tables — interest in crystals and their healing potential is growing in the world of alternative medicine. Depending on how you use them, believers say the colourful shards of mineral deposits can drastically change your life. Amethyst, for example, is thought to eliminate addiction and improve intuition. Quartz, on the other hand, is believed to boost self-love and enhance immunity.

But these are grand powers attributed to rocks. If that’s not enough of a warning sign, there’s also a curious lack of negative side effects whenever supporters discuss using crystals. There’s no scientific evidence that crystals can accomplish any of these claims. Yet quartz sales are booming in the pandemic.

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Even in ancient and medieval periods, people credited some crystals with particular powers. From the way ancient authors describe crystals, it’s clear that much of what people thought the material could accomplish was based on how the stones looked.

Today, crystal aficionados tend to place more authority in the physical aspects of the stones, like the temperature difference someone can detect while holding one, or the ‘vibrations’ crystals emit. But the attraction people have to crystals tends to transcend time periods.

The versions people seek out for healing or spiritual purposes are generally rougher around the edges — nothing like a cut diamond or the particles in computer screens, both of which are also kinds of ‘crystals’ in the scientific sense of the word.

Something that is raw and unpolished emphasises its origin from beneath our feet and carries an otherworldly beauty. Whether a medieval person was looking for a closer connection to God or someone today is looking for another spiritual presence, crystals tether people to another realm.

If a person believes they are receiving effective therapy — like someone who thinks they’re taking medication but it’s actually a sugar pill — symptoms can improve. This phenomenon plays out in pain management research, and it’s possible the power of belief carries over to crystal healing for some people too.

Ultimately, a deep belief in the transformative powers of crystals is unlikely to cause a lot of harm — as long as people don’t deny other proven medical interventions in favour of the stones. Scientists often write off the relationships people have with crystals as a devotion not worth examining.