Love is in the Earth: A Kaleidoscope of Crystals - The Reference Book Describing the Metaphysical Properties of the Mineral Kingdom
Melody

Crystals and gemstones

For many years I have owned and used crystals and gemstones, both as jewelry and as sources of light and healing. I have crystals at my personal altar in my home and at the altar that I keep in a small corner of my office. I have always derived comfort from the amethyst and quartz crystals. I used them while dealing with cancer as tools to help heal my body from the cancer and the effects of the treatments.

The belief in the subtle spiritual influence of gemstones is ancient, and different gemstones have traditionally been associated with different qualities of spiritual energy. We find these traditions even in the Bible, where we read of the breastplate of the high priest containing twelve gemstones and John’s vision of the New Jerusalem, which describes twelve types of precious stones in its foundations.[1] The ancient knowledge of gems and crystals and the energies they can convey is being rediscovered today, and there are numerous comprehensive sources available on this subject.

Elizabeth Clare Prophet has described gems and crystals as repositories and transmitters of spiritual energy or light. Our spiritual centers (or chakras) are storehouses for the light and are intended to shine like jewels, but in most of us, our centers can only contain so much light. In times of challenge, and even facing the challenges of daily life, we can use the light of gemstones and crystals to give us additional increments of energy.

Certain gems and crystals are ideally suited to holding energy. These can be dedicated to this purpose, and when you wear them, they accumulate the good vibrations of your prayers and of your good works. The energy can then be released to you as you need it. The energy of gems and crystals seems to work on higher levels—mental, emotional, and spiritual—and as with Bach Flower Remedies and similar healing tools, the effects may not be immediately apparent in physical ways. However, as these subtle energies cycle through all the levels of being, they can be seen and felt in different ways.

Amethyst

One gemstone that Mrs. Prophet recommends is the amethyst. The amethyst is a gemstone that can particularly amplify the energies of the violet ray, the ray of change and transmutation.

She has explained that the understanding of the spiritual properties of amethyst goes back a long way. The ancients believed the amethyst quelled any kind of passion, appetites, and desires of the body, that it preserved chastity and controlled emotions, and that it imparted dignity, love, compassion, and hope. The Hebrews believed that it could induce dreams and visions. Edgar Cayce said that the amethyst makes the body more sensitive to spiritual influences, higher vibrations, and healing forces. It’s good to wear for meditation. It is supposed to increase abilities during exertion and prevent anger. Amethyst was one of the gemstones in the breastplate of the high priest and today is the gem in the bishop’s ring in the Catholic and Episcopalian Churches. It is associated with kingship, religious ceremony, and ritual in church and state. Amethyst is the gemstone of the alchemist and the prophet. It attracts the gifts of the Holy Spirit.[2]

I like to wear amethyst, and I always have an amethyst crystal on my desk—for resolution, harmony, joy, creativity, and freedom. I visualize the amethyst on my desk as a nexus in the exchange of energy between myself and those with whom I am meeting, whether on the phone or in person. I see a figure-eight flow of violet energy through all deliberations and conversations.

Jade

I was also drawn to other stones during my illness, some of which are known for their healing properties. I was particularly attracted to jade. In fact, three months before my diagnosis, while visiting friends in Russia, I became ill with flu-like symptoms and a sore throat. My Russian companion slipped a jade bracelet on my wrist and told me to wear it for healing, which I did. I remembered it when I was dealing with breast cancer and began to wear it again.

My mother sent me a beautiful jade pendant of Kuan Yin, known in the East as the goddess of mercy and compassion. The pendant came from China. It was two inches tall and one inch wide and delicately carved. I loved to wear my Kuan Yin pendant and found that it carried a healing and peaceful presence. I wore it over my heart for many months during my treatment. People often commented on it and seemed to be drawn to it themselves.

I found out more about jade and its properties from Melody’s Love Is in the Earth: A Kaleidoscope of Crystals, a reference book about gemstones with descriptions of the metaphysical properties of the mineral kingdom. I learned that jade is said to “inspire wisdom during the assessment of problems.” It helps to “balance one’s needs with the requirements of the day” and helps to care for that which is most important. It is known as a “dream stone”—it is used to “release suppressed emotions via the dream process.”[3] (I certainly began to have dreams that aided me in my healing.)

Green jade is particularly known for its healing energy and as a focus of the emerald ray associated with healing. If I missed wearing my jade, I noticed it. It became a kind of talisman for me. It was much more than a traditional “lucky stone.” I felt protected when wearing it, particularly during the difficult period when I was choosing which course of treatment to take and also during the vulnerable period of chemotherapy, when I was not sure what was going to happen or what the outcome would be.

I thought of the phrase in the Bible “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer.”[4] Even before I knew that I needed it, I had received a piece of jade that helped me in my healing. I felt as if God had answered my prayers in a very specific and concrete way even before I asked.

The type of gemstone you choose for your healing will depend on your circumstances and preferences. It will depend on the specific energy that you need and also on your individual constitution. Chinese medicine teaches about five elements, with each person’s constitution being composed of these elements in varying degrees. Depending on the ratios of these elements, different gemstones may have different effects on different people. For example, jade is known for its cooling effect. The treatments of chemotherapy and radiation are of the fire element, and jade can help cool the effect of the fire.

Ruby

The ruby carries an energy that is not suitable for everyone—it can stir the passions and aggravate anger or irritation in some people. Before my illness I could not wear it, as it had adverse effects on me. However, through an interesting incident I found that I was able to wear ruby easily after my treatment.

For years, my sister and I wore identical heart-shaped rings—mine was an amethyst and my sister’s was an emerald. One day, during a particularly stressful period prior to my diagnosis, I looked down during a management meeting at work and found that the amethyst stone was gone from my ring—there was a gaping hole where the stone had been. It seemed symbolic of how my heart was feeling at the time. I was going through a second job change and my team was being disbanded. The stone fell out while I was meeting with them to let them know about these changes. I was shaken at the loss of the stone from my favorite ring, and I had to struggle to regain composure during the meeting. I looked high and low, but I could never find the stone.

I put the ring away and took it out some months later as I was recovering from surgery. I was thinking that I would like the extra protection of a gemstone to wear on my body and wanted to replace the stone in this ring. A friend went with me to a local jeweler to find one. I wanted a stone that would be appropriate for my experience of dealing with cancer. My friend had spoken with me about the spiritual side of the breast-cancer experience and suggested that a ruby might remind me of the heart, the spiritual center closest to the site of the cancer. I had been considering a pinker stone rather than the rich red of a ruby, which seemed too strong for my personality and was not something I had been able to wear comfortably before.

However, as we looked at different stones, I somehow felt that a ruby would indeed be appropriate. The jeweler helped me choose a very pretty deep-pink ruby. To me, this symbolized the initiation of the heart that I was going through with the cancer experience.

When I later consulted Melody’s book on gemstones, I found out why I had been drawn to this stone. The book states that the ruby “stimulates the heart chakra and assists one in the selection and attainment of one’s ultimate values. It further stimulates the loving, emotional side toward nurturing, bringing spiritual wisdom, health, knowledge, and wealth…. It is an excellent shielding stone, protecting on all levels…. The ruby encourages one to follow bliss. It is said to light the darkness of one’s life.” The ruby is used in the healing of many disorders and can be used to “decrease the length of time required for chemicals and toxins to exit the body.” (How appropriate for chemotherapy and radiation treatment and for the removal of the residue of anesthetic agents and any other medications and toxins in my body.) The energy of the ruby can assist in making decisions and in “in changing one’s world, promoting creativity and expansiveness in awareness and manifestation.”[5]

Now that I am well, I often wear ruby and find it has a positive effect. I do not wear the jade as often, as I find that it is too cooling. It seems that the cancer experience has changed my constitution.

Other Gemstones

As I was learning more about the healing properties of gemstones, I visited a local gemstone merchant. I had passed his store many times but had never gone in. When I walked in that morning there were no other customers in the store, just the owner and me. I told him that I was about to go through chemotherapy and radiation for breast cancer and asked if there were some stones or crystals that could assist me.

He looked me right in the eye, paused, and then told me that he understood—his wife had gone through breast cancer some years earlier and was now doing well. We started talking and I told him that I really did not like the idea of the chemotherapy but that I wanted to get through it. He smiled and said that he was a Vietnam veteran—he understood intense experiences. He did not like the experience of Vietnam, but he had gotten through it.

It was exactly what I needed to hear. He did not say a lot, but he helped me by sharing of his own experience. His qualities of courage and endurance were exactly what I needed at that time.

He told me of various other stones that he thought might assist me during my treatment. I purchased some small stones, and he told me to hold them in my hands during the treatment. I was also attracted to two beautiful fluorite crystals I found in a cabinet near the door—swirling purple/violet and green colors, perfect for the visualization of the violet and green healing light. I left the store enriched by the experience in more ways than one.

The stones I have mentioned above are the ones towards which my Higher Self guided me. You may choose entirely different stones. However, if you are looking for somewhere to begin, you can’t go wrong with an amethyst.

 


1. Exod. 28:17–21, 39:10–14; Rev. 21:19–20.

2. The description of the properties of the amethyst is adapted from a lecture by Elizabeth Clare Prophet, 18 October 1987.

3. Melody, Love is in the Earth: A Kaleidoscope of Crystals - The Reference Book Describing the Metaphysical Properties of the Mineral Kingdom (Wheat Ridge, Col.: Earth-Love Publishing House, 1995), pp. 341–42.

4. Isa. 66:24.

5. Melody, Love Is in the Earth, p. 573.

 

Excerpted from A Journey through Cancer, by Neroli Duffy