Crystal healing

Origins Ancient Egyptians used amulets, which they believed to possess magical properties. The amulet's shape, decoration, inscription, color, material or ritual performed with the amulet dictated its power. Amulets were worn or placed on the body, in the form of stones, piercings, rings, necklaces or other jewelry. The Egyptians used amulets to benefit their afterlife, often representing an Egyptian deity and its specific powers. The ancient Greeks assigned many properties to crystals. The word "crystal" is derived from the Greek word krýstallos, which translates to 'ice'. The ancient Greeks believed that clear quartz crystals were a water that had frozen to the point where it would remain in its solid form. 's crystal, used for clairvoyance and healing, which he said was given to him by the angel Uriel in November 1582 Precious stones have been thought of as objects that can aid in healing—in a practice known as lapidary medicine—by various cultures. The Hopi Native Americans of Arizona use quartz crystals to assist in diagnosing illnesses. The alleged medicinal properties of precious stones, as well as other powers they were believed to hold, were collected in texts known as lapidaries. ==Contemporary use==

New Age In the English speaking world, crystal healing is heavily associated with the New Age spiritual movement: it is "the middle-class New Age healing activity par excellence" in the words of Stuart McLean. that is dependent on extreme personalization and creative expression. Practitioners of crystal healing purport that certain physical properties such as shape, color, and markings, determine the ailments that a stone can heal; lists of such links are published in commonly distributed texts. India, China, Brazil, and Madagascar are the main producers of crystals. In Madagascar, one of the sources of crystals, most crystals are mined in unsafe, non-industrial or "homemade" mines, with parents and children working together to dig crystals from pits and tunnels they dig with shovels. The miners are usually paid between 17 and 23 cents per kilogram for rose quartz (≈ 8 - 11 cents per pound). The miner's income may be just 0.1% of the final retail price. Some people in the industry say that the low pay for miners is because customers in developed countries want low retail prices; others say that it is due to shops in developed countries wanting to be more profitable. ==Scientific evaluation==

There is no peer-reviewed scientific evidence that crystal healing has any effect; it is considered a pseudoscience. Alleged successes of crystal healing can be attributed to the placebo effect. In 1999, researchers French and Williams conducted a study to investigate the power of crystals compared with a placebo. Eighty volunteers were asked to meditate with either a quartz crystal or a placebo stone, which was indistinguishable from quartz. Many participants reported feeling typical "crystal effects"; however, this was irrespective of whether the crystals were real or a placebo. In 2001 Christopher French, head of the anomalistic psychology research unit at the University of London, and colleagues from Goldsmiths College outlined their study of crystal healing at the British Psychological Society Centenary Annual Conference, concluding, "There is no evidence that crystal healing works over and above a placebo effect." Crystal healing techniques are also practiced on animals, although some veterinary organizations, such as the British Veterinary Association, have warned that these methods are not scientifically proven and state that people should seek the advice of a vet before using alternative techniques. Crystal healing proponents and 5G conspiracy theorists have falsely claimed that shungite may promote health by absorbing 5G radiation. ==See also==