Ever Had a Bad Reaction to a Crystal?
So you get this new crystal and you’re excited to start working with it:
You wear it or meditate with it, but instead of feeling good from it, you feel off, or negative, or sick.
You have bad dreams, or get angry when you hold it, or some terrible memory surfaces.
Maybe you can’t sleep at all when it’s around. Or you get a bad headache. Or feel even more anxious, stressed, or depressed than before.
What gives? You thought crystals were supposed to help you feel better, not worse!
Having a bad reaction to a crystal is actually not so uncommon - it’s something I’m asked about on a weekly basis.
“What does it mean?” and, “what do I do with the crystal?”
I will always remember my first adverse reaction to a crystal: malachite. It was placed on my heart chakra in a healing session for 45 minutes, and for the next 3 days I was a complete and total hot mess. Despondent, depressed, crying, couldn’t leave my apartment. It was awful.
I asked the healer about it, and she replied: “Oh, well malachite draws repressed emotions to the surface, so that’s probably why.”
“You should have told me that first before placing it on me!” I cried. And then cried…
This is why I always caution my students that
a) you can have a bad reaction to crystals, and
b) you have to advise your clients, first, before using powerful crystals like malachite, moldavite, covellite, and other deep transformational stones in a healing session, and allow them the right to refuse if they don’t feel ready to handle the possible response.
And here’s another thing that I consistently caution to everyone working with healing stones: crystals can do harm.
Just because they’re natural does not automatically mean they’re good for you - think snake venom, poisonous berries, and toxic minerals. They’re all natural, too, but definitely not good for you.
Crystals can create imbalance just as easily as they can restore balance.
That being said, just because you’ve had an adverse reaction to a crystal does not necessarily mean that it’s doing you harm - sometimes the act of restoring balance only feels like it’s bad when it’s actually a good thing.
Let me explain…
Possible Reasons + Healing Advice
Sometimes a crystal’s energy just simply isn’t right for you. Sometimes it’s bringing to the surface what you need to see, accept, heal, release or resolve in order to become more healthy or whole.
Here’s some possible reasons why you might be having that reaction, and some advice I have to offer if any of them resonate:
It’s a Healing Response
As I mentioned above, sometimes it’s not bad thing but a good thing when you have an adverse reaction to a crystal. The crystal could be triggering a healing response if there’s blocked or repressed emotions or memories that need to surface in your healing process.
This is especially likely when working with shadow self healing stones (like covellite or black obsidian), deep emotional healing stones (like rhodochrosite or malachite), or transformational stones (like moldavite or epidote). Your bad dreams, explosive anger, sadness, sudden anxiety, unexpected memories floating up, could all be signs that the crystal is helping you to heal.
Here’s how you can tell: Even though it may feel bad on the surface, intuitively you sense or have some feeling of understanding that underneath the bad feelings, something good is happening. It’s like when you’re experience detox systems while on a cleanse - they may not be pleasant, but you feel or know that they’re clearing the bad stuff out of your system.
My advice: You can continue to work with the crystal, if that resonates for you, but in smaller, controlled doses. Place it on a relevant chakra during a healing session, or hold it while meditating, journaling, or in a therapy session. Apply its energy purposefully and consciously to your healing work so that you can process whatever emotions or memories that surface in a way that is loving and empowered.
If you don’t feel ready for it yet, put the crystal aside until you do. You can honor your timing, you never ever have to force your healing process.
*It is extremely important for me to note that if you experience traumatic repressed feelings or memories, or any level of imbalance that makes you or others feel concerned about your health or wellbeing, that you seek out medical or professional help immediately. You can access a listing of crisis helplines here.
It’s a Healing Crisis
A healing crisis is generally defined as a temporary worsening or resurfacing of symptoms as the mind-body clears toxins, lower or harmful energy (including shadow aspects, energy blocks, and bottled-up emotions), and wastes from the system.
The symptoms can be quite dramatic, even severe: I remember having cupping done on my stomach, and six days later I was in the emergency room of a hospital because I couldn’t stop vomiting. The ER doctor thought I had gastroenteritis. Everyone at work thought I was pregnant. But I knew for sure that it was a reaction to the cupping. Afterwards, I felt amazing!! (and also determined to never, EVER, have cupping done on my stomach, ever again).
My advice: Put the crystal aside, and don’t work with any crystals at all until the symptoms subside (unless they’re providing gentle symptomatic support). Get plenty of rest, drink lots of water, eat healthy, and talk to a trusted friend or family member, health professional, or seek out medical help if you need to.
It Just Ain’t the Right Vibe for You
As mentioned before, sometimes the crystal energy just isn’t right for you. It could be disharmonious to your system in terms of frequency or wavelength. It could be too overpowering or overwhelming. It could be throwing you out of balance, forcing a chakra to go excessive or deficient, or could be having an adverse affect on your energy.
Here’s a few real-life examples from my client files: If you’re already struggling to stay grounded and present in your body, high frequency crystals like selenite or danburite can make it even harder for you, because they lift your energy up to higher realms of experience.
If you’re working on increasing your libido or feelings of passion, crystals like blue tiger’s eye or bloodstone could decrease the flow of chi through the sacral chakra, which could potentially cool your passions or dim your libido even further.
I once witnessed a woman almost pass out and fall over when someone waved a tray of moldavite specimens through her aura. True story! And I have a friend who can’t wear or work with crystals at all because she’s so sensitive to their energy, she finds them overwhelming to the point where she feels extremely anxious and stressed.
I have a student who can’t wear amethyst or sleep with it by her bed because it gives her headaches.
Pietersite, which is a storm element stone, is great for activating and enhancing psychic abilities, but I don’t work with it much because it creates unnecessary feelings of inner conflict, confusion, and upset.
My advice: Don’t work with it! Either put it aside in your collection, or gift it to someone else (who in turn may find that its energy is perfect for them). If underneath the reaction or symptom you have a feeling of dis-ease, that something’s not right, or doesn’t feel good, trust that feeling. Even if someone else is telling you it’s the best thing for you, don’t listen to them - listen to yourself, and trust the truth of your experience.
To Sum it Up:
If, underneath your reaction to the crystal, you feel have a sense of healing a feeling that it’s a good thing, then trust that. Just work with the crystal judiciously so that you’re not flipping out on your coworkers or sobbing in the bathroom at your mother-in-law’s dinner party.
If your reaction feels not right, not good for you, or makes you feel uneasy or out of balance, stop working with it immediately. Clear + ground your energy, take a breather, and then try working with a different crystal.
Like everything else in life, learning to do healing work with crystals will involve trial and error. There’s no need to be afraid of them - I recommended attuning to your crystal or meditating with it first to feel it out and see if it’s the right fit for you.
If you wish to learn more deeply about crystals, and how to work with them, check out my Crystal Classes or jump down the rabbit hole in my Crystal Alchemy, Mediumship, and DNA Light Coding Program: Istaria Crystallis™.
