Shamanic Crystals: Stones for Journey Work

BY NICOLE LAU

Crystals and stones are the bones of the earth, formed over millions of years through heat, pressure, and time. They hold the memory of the planet, the wisdom of deep time, and powerful healing energy.

In shamanic practice, crystals are not just pretty objects or energy tools—they're allies, teachers, and gateways. Each stone has a spirit, a consciousness, a medicine that can support your journey work, healing practice, and spiritual development.

This is your guide to working with crystals shamanically: not just using them, but building relationship with the stone people.

Crystals in Shamanic Traditions

Indigenous Stone Medicine

Across cultures, shamans have worked with stones:

• Native American: Medicine stones, fetishes, crystal healing
• Amazonian: Stones as spirit allies, extraction tools
• Australian Aboriginal: Sacred stones holding ancestral power
• Siberian: Stones as shamanic tools and power objects
• Celtic: Standing stones, stone circles, sacred geology

The Stone People

In many indigenous traditions, stones are called the "Stone People" or "Stone Nation"—living beings with consciousness, not inert objects.

Shamanic relationship with stones includes:

• Asking permission before taking stones
• Leaving offerings in exchange
• Listening to what stones teach
• Honoring stones as elders (they're older than us)
• Working WITH stones, not just using them

Essential Shamanic Crystals

💎 Clear Quartz

Shamanic Uses:

• Amplifying intention and energy
• Journey anchor (hold during journey)
• Extraction tool (drawing out intrusions)
• Scrying and divination
• Programming for specific purposes
• Master healer stone

How to work with it:
Clear quartz is programmable—it takes on the intention you give it. Cleanse it, hold it, state your intention clearly, and it will hold that program.

Journey work: Hold a quartz point during journey to amplify the experience and help you remember what you see.

🖤 Black Tourmaline

Shamanic Uses:

• Psychic protection (strongest protective stone)
• Grounding after journey work
• Extraction (absorbs negative energy)
• EMF protection
• Boundary setting
• Transmuting negative energy

How to work with it:
Place at the four corners of your journey space for protection. Hold after intense work to ground. Use in extraction to absorb intrusions.

Cleansing note: Black tourmaline transmutes energy rather than holding it, so it needs less frequent cleansing than other stones.

🌑 Obsidian

Shamanic Uses:

• Scrying and divination
• Shadow work and facing truth
• Cutting cords and attachments
• Extraction (sharp energy cuts through intrusions)
• Protection (ancient shamanic tool)
• Grounding

Types:
Black obsidian: Most powerful, intense
Snowflake obsidian: Gentler, balance of light and dark
Rainbow/sheen obsidian: Adds hope and light to shadow work

How to work with it:
Obsidian is volcanic glass—fast, sharp, intense. Use for quick, deep work. Not for beginners or daily use. Respect its power.

💜 Amethyst

Shamanic Uses:

• Crown chakra activation
• Enhancing visions and journeys
• Connecting to Upper World
• Sobriety and clarity ("not intoxicated")
• Spiritual protection
• Dream work

How to work with it:
Place on third eye or crown during meditation. Hold during Upper World journeys. Sleep with it under pillow for dream work.

🌈 Labradorite

Shamanic Uses:

• THE shamanic journey stone
• Protection during journey (shields aura)
• Enhancing psychic abilities
• Accessing other realms
• Magic and transformation
• Connecting with spirit guides

How to work with it:
Labradorite is called the "stone of magic" and "shaman's stone." Its flash (labradorescence) is like seeing into other dimensions. Essential for journey work.

🟤 Smoky Quartz

Shamanic Uses:

• Grounding spiritual energy into body
• Transmuting negative energy
• Root chakra healing
• Anchoring after journey
• Protection
• Releasing what no longer serves

How to work with it:
Perfect for grounding after intense spiritual work. Bridges earth and spirit. Hold after journeys to integrate.

🔴 Carnelian

Shamanic Uses:

• Restoring vitality and life force
• Courage for difficult journeys
• Sacral chakra activation
• Creativity and manifestation
• Grounding spiritual energy into action

How to work with it:
Use when you need courage, energy, or to take spiritual insights into physical action.

🟢 Malachite

Shamanic Uses:

• Deep transformation
• Heart healing
• Extraction (powerful absorber)
• Accessing ancient wisdom
• Protection during transformation

⚠️ Caution: Malachite is toxic if ingested or inhaled as dust. Don't use in water. Cleanse with smoke only. Powerful but requires respect.

⚪ Selenite

Shamanic Uses:

• Cleansing other crystals
• Connecting to angelic/celestial realms
• Crown chakra activation
• Creating sacred space
• High vibration work

How to work with it:
Place other crystals on selenite to cleanse them. Use selenite wands to clear energy fields. Creates a high-vibration space for ceremony.

Note: Selenite dissolves in water—cleanse with smoke or sound only.

Shamanic Uses for Crystals

Journey Anchors

Hold a crystal during shamanic journey to:

• Anchor you in your body
• Amplify the journey experience
• Help you remember what you see
• Provide grounding and protection

Best stones: Labradorite, clear quartz, amethyst

Extraction Tools

Use crystals to extract intrusions:

1. Scan the body with the crystal
2. When you feel density/heaviness, hold crystal there
3. Visualize crystal absorbing the intrusion
4. Remove crystal and cleanse immediately

Best stones: Black tourmaline, obsidian, clear quartz, malachite

Protection Grids

Create protective boundaries:

• Place four stones at corners of your journey space
• Or create a circle of stones around you
• Set intention for protection
• Journey within the protected space

Best stones: Black tourmaline, obsidian, smoky quartz

Chakra Healing

Place stones on chakras during healing:

• Root: Smoky quartz, black tourmaline, carnelian
• Sacral: Carnelian, orange calcite
• Solar Plexus: Citrine, tiger's eye
• Heart: Rose quartz, malachite, green aventurine
• Throat: Blue lace agate, sodalite
• Third Eye: Amethyst, labradorite, lapis lazuli
• Crown: Clear quartz, amethyst, selenite

Scrying

Gaze into crystal to receive visions:

• Obsidian mirrors (traditional)
• Clear quartz spheres
• Labradorite (gaze into the flash)

Choosing Your Crystals

Let Them Choose You

The best way to choose crystals:

• Feel drawn to one: You'll know
• It calls to you: You can't stop thinking about it
• It appears repeatedly: Synchronicity
• You receive it as a gift: From person or nature

Finding Crystals in Nature

If you find crystals in nature:

1. Ask permission: "May I take you?"
2. Wait for a yes: You'll feel it
3. Leave an offering: Tobacco, cornmeal, hair, prayer
4. Thank the stone and the land
5. Take only what you need

Buying Crystals

• Hold them: Feel which one resonates
• Trust your gut: Not your eyes
• Buy ethically: Fair trade, sustainably sourced when possible
• Smaller is fine: Size doesn't equal power

Cleansing and Charging Crystals

When to Cleanse

• When you first get them
• After extraction or healing work
• When they feel heavy or dull
• Monthly (full moon is traditional)
• After others have touched them

Cleansing Methods

Smoke: Sage, palo santo, cedar (safe for all stones)
Sound: Singing bowl, bell, drum (safe for all)
Moonlight: Leave under full moon overnight (safe for all)
Earth: Bury for 24 hours to week (safe for all)
Water: Running water or salt water (NOT safe for selenite, malachite, or soft stones)
Selenite: Place on selenite slab (safe for all)

Charging Crystals

• Sunlight: A few hours (not for amethyst, rose quartz—they fade)
• Moonlight: Overnight, especially full moon
• Earth: Bury to recharge with earth energy
• Your energy: Hold and breathe intention into them
• Crystal cluster: Place on large quartz cluster

Working with Stone Spirits

Journey to Meet the Stone Spirit

1. Hold the crystal
2. Set intention: "I journey to meet the spirit of this stone"
3. Enter trance through drumming
4. The stone may appear as:
   • A being (human, animal, elemental)
   • A landscape (inside the crystal)
   • Pure energy or light
   • A feeling or knowing
5. Ask: "What is your medicine? How can we work together?"
6. Listen and receive
7. Thank the stone spirit
8. Return and record

Sit with the Stone

• Hold the crystal in meditation
• Feel its energy
• Listen to what it teaches
• Notice what arises (images, feelings, knowing)
• Build relationship over time

Sleep with Stones

• Place under pillow or on nightstand
• Ask the stone to teach you in dreams
• Record dreams upon waking
• Notice patterns and messages

Crystal Grids for Shamanic Work

Protection Grid

Four black tourmalines at corners of room or around your body. Set intention for protection during journey work.

Journey Enhancement Grid

Center: Labradorite
Around it: Clear quartz points pointing inward
Outer ring: Amethyst
Journey in the center of this grid

Grounding Grid

Four smoky quartz at cardinal directions. Use after intense spiritual work to ground.

Ethical Considerations

• Mining impact: Crystal mining can harm the earth. Buy from ethical sources when possible.
• Don't hoard: Crystals want to be used, not collected endlessly
• Pass them on: If a crystal wants to leave, let it go to someone who needs it
• Respect sacred sites: Don't take stones from sacred places
• Give back: Support earth conservation, indigenous land rights

When Crystals Leave

Sometimes crystals:

• Break (their work is done, or they absorbed too much)
• Get lost (they're meant for someone else)
• Stop resonating (you've outgrown them or they've completed their purpose)

What to do:

• Thank them for their service
• Return broken crystals to earth (bury them)
• Pass on crystals that want to leave
• Trust the process

Final Thoughts

Crystals are not magic bullets. They're allies, amplifiers, teachers. They work WITH you, not FOR you. The power is in the relationship, not the object.

The Stone People have been here for millions of years. They hold the memory of the earth, the wisdom of deep time. When you work with them shamanically—with respect, reciprocity, and relationship—they become powerful allies on your path.

Listen to the stones. They have much to teach.

Ready to work with crystal allies? Explore our collection of shamanic stones, ethically sourced crystals, and tools for building relationship with the Stone People.