Is using crystals a bad thing?

[Myke369]

Here me out. I believe crystals can help on our spiritual journey and for other purposes too from self gain with good intentions to keeping negativity away.
My curiosity is more to do with the spiritual development side of using crystals as I believe and and read a lot that source is within and that the ascension is a journey inwards. It makes sense that the path is inwards as we are connecting to our selves and our selves are within.
Anyways if we are going 'in' wouldn't using the help of crystals be an external physical force? Potentially being a hinderance rather than a support?
I could be thinking too much into it however it is something that I still think s lot about.
What I think makes me think about this is because I know crystals and sage and other items are used both in witchcraft and in regular folks lives. My point is, are they a hoax? Are they a trap to make us use witchcraft evidently keeping our connection from source secreted by using this outside physical force? (outside of ourselves) I believe there is a simple answer I just have big thoughts :)

[CrystalSong]

Originally Posted by Myke369

What I think makes me think about this is because I know crystals and sage and other items are used both in witchcraft and in regular folks lives. My point is, are they a hoax? Are they a trap to make us use witchcraft evidently keeping our connection from source secreted by using this outside physical force? (outside of ourselves) I believe there is a simple answer I just have big thoughts :)

Witchcraft...seriously?

There's just way too much in your thinking, which was given to you by others, uhm outside yourself, to seriously address this.

Please start completely over. With zero assumptions and programming from others, medieval ideas and Hollywood movies.
Then explore crystals using all of your senses, including those which are not the basic five.

Don't think about it - feel your way through it and then decide based on your first hand experience what you think after months of testing.
Get your brain out of it and your heart into it.

[Crystal canuck]

Whichcraft... sure why not ! It's not the most stupid thing I have heard on this forum. In fact, reading other threads on this fourm, how could you say that others are not performing whichcraft with their crystals ? With all the talk of spiritual planes, chakras, and so forth, one could surmise that they are sometimes used for whichcraft. ( truthfully, I know they are ) In fact, didn't we just have a thread on " whiches finger crystals " ? The name says it all .

Just like Myke369 says, they are used both for whichcraft and regular folks lives. They have many uses.

That is not to say that everyone uses them for whichcraft, or that the whichcraft in itself is black magic ( that is not always the case )

BTW welcome to the forum Myke369. A fresh opinion and new look at things is always welcome. I think you have made a very interesting theory and it deserves some merit of looking into.

I also agree that forgetting what Hollywood teaches us is a good idea.

[Byrial]

First of all its not an outside force. Its not a physical force. Its metaphysical and you can make them your allies just as you can make a human being your companion on the journey. Do you see other people as external? In a way they have their own inner world that can be connected to.

[seedoflight]

Hello
Been there, done that, regretted it...
I was born a little more "sensitive" and "perceptive" than most people...
I'm in no way special or better, we are all gifted, I just got an early start.
Back some 40 years ago, society was not as open, inquisitive or accepting
of "metaphysical pursuits" as it is today. I studied and sought out anything and everything related to the paranormal, metaphysics, psychic abilities and the like... I met a lot of nice, well intentioned people, that really hindered my spiritual growth.
Some people may choose tarot, astrology, meditation etc. to explore, develop and manifest their "abilities", I chose crystals and gathered an extensive collection over the years that honestly would rival most museums. Then people started telling me it was evil, witchcraft, etc. People were uncomfortable with my spirituality, even though they knew I was a good person. In the end I capitulated to the pressure, and THREW OUT everything! I even joined a catholic monastery and was a brother (monk) because I let them get to me and I denied who I am. Ten years later, I am now a crystal/energy healer and I gained a lot of wisdom through the whole ordeal about being who I am, or should have been all along.
As the "Bard" said, "To Thy Own Self Be True"
Truth is what we are ultimately after. Religions and Beliefs are "mechanisms" to propagate certain Truths through the ages, however, like anything "Man" touches, those truths tend to be easily distorted over time by people when we make "Beliefs" the focus rather than the Truth which was the reason for the belief.
I guess I took the long way around to say, there is absolutely nothing wrong with using crystals, tarot, meditation or whatever, as long as you realize their place... you are ultimately responsible for your journey, and as long as you do not seek to subjugate another's will or right to travel their path, then these "tools" can be a aid to discovering truths...
Hey just my two cents worth

[Myke369]

Hello and thank you everyone for your responses I will get back to each of you.

Crystalsong - thank you for your clear advice I absolutely agree I should be starting a new trusting my instinct rather than the propaganda. I guess I have been allowing myself to stay in my head

Crystal Canuck - Thank you for your welcome I'm glad to be here. I appreciate your consideration of my perspective as essentially I am only questioning the things that make me wonder and luckily I think I have found a place with tremendous support for developing myself and my knowledge :). I am interested in what you know of how they are used in witchcraft as are opposed to how their use will be different from my own?

Byrial- thank you for this insight as this did help me connect a few dots as I guess I was seeing crystals as a more conduit without thinking of my connection to it.

Seedoflight- Thank you so much for sharing that with me, it goes completely appreciated. As like crystalsong said I agree with the journey being personal which I will discern for myself. Although I have been on my journey conceciously for a while I haven't really taken direction so which I am taking steps now to learn and unlearn what I can and desire :)

[Lynn]

Hello

Like all things we can look at it as "Day" and "Night" in that we have the "Light" of day that positive feeling, and that "Dark" of night that brings on that feeling of things that go bump in the night.

All things can be used for good and for bad, I do not go to use "evil" as a term as that is to play in the darkest of places we can travel. I have been into this realm of paths when I was a teen and its a very real place. I too had lessons there to learn so that I can work to help others in that place or to cleanse that place.

To use the term Witchcraft - as a general statement brings in that image of a tall hat, broom, and dark cloaked woman. This is but one aspect of a very large area in the Crafts or Spells work that can be done. Here again there is Light and Dark there that can be at play.

When you get a crystal it is I feel important that you bond with it on your level of intuition or gut feelings for it. That you look up the basic meanings of what its best for. Does it sing to you on that vibration level to use it, and if you do use it make sure its for your Highest and Greatest Good, and that when your done using it you do ask to disconnect from it.

Its like when I buy crystals from a local thrift store when I go to the case where they are kept in I ask that I am protected from any previous owners energies, that I am drawn to only what will work for and with me. In this I am not buying for the sake of having something I can not wear or use. I trust that when I ask to see something its going to resonate with me.

I can share an experience from what I have on today. Its a small silver Buddha, its on a silver chain, the energy behind it tells me its very old. Like anything that is spiritual in nature it should be lovingly cared for. So when it found it self being tossed that energy shifted with it. When I took it on the feeling was like "rescued". So even something we feel is inanimate still holds and energy to it.

Lynn

[Myke369]

Thank you Lynn this was so inspiring and very helpful. I look forward to experiencing themes similar to yours with a hieghtened knowing as you seem to understand. Thank you again :)

[wanchain]

Originally Posted by Myke369

Here me out. I believe crystals can help on our spiritual journey and for other purposes too from self gain with good intentions to keeping negativity away.
My curiosity is more to do with the spiritual development side of using crystals as I believe and and read a lot that source is within and that the ascension is a journey inwards. It makes sense that the path is inwards as we are connecting to our selves and our selves are within.
Anyways if we are going 'in' wouldn't using the help of crystals be an external physical force? Potentially being a hinderance rather than a support?
I could be thinking too much into it however it is something that I still think s lot about.
What I think makes me think about this is because I know crystals and sage and other items are used both in witchcraft and in regular folks lives. My point is, are they a hoax? Are they a trap to make us use witchcraft evidently keeping our connection from source secreted by using this outside physical force? (outside of ourselves) I believe there is a simple answer I just have big thoughts :)

Hi Mike369,

I will use an analogy. Say you hire a house maid to do the domestic chores for you. That's an option, if you don't do them yourself. But whichever way you prefer, is up to you.

Doing it yourself will certainly put the power and control back into yourself--you do it exactly the way you want it.

As for the idea of witchcraft, it depends on the intention of the user (you), and not the tool (crystals).

Wanchain

[CALLY33]

Using crystals is not a bad thing, nor will it hinder your spiritual development. The crystals will assist you but it is your intent and focus that affects the outcome, not the crystal. They may enable one to experience things that otherwise one might not be a vibrational match for at that time, but you still do the work in my opinion. The more sensitive and receptive you are to the crystals energy, the better the outcome.