ARE YOU BUYING THE CRYSTAL MYTH?
Crystals are everywhere, from the catwalk to sex toys, but do they really have healing properties or is it just a load of old rocks? asks Kate Wills
NAOMI CAMPBELL KEEPS them in her handbag. Victoria Beckham lines her catwalk with them and Adele claims losing hers led to a ‘disastrous’ Grammys performance. Crystals, once the preserve of New Age types, are now officially hip. If you’re not sewing them into your clothes (see model Munroe Bergdorf ) or having crystal light bed beauty treatments (à la Zoë Kravitz), you’ve definitely seen people getting their rocks off on Instagram – there are now seven million #crystals posts.
The 40% upswing in Google searches for ‘crystal healing’ has also seen a slew of crystal-imbued self-help books tapping into their energy. The Crystal Compass by Aisha Amarfio (19 April, Orion) promises to help ‘identify the right crystals, at the right time’, and The Power Of Crystal Healing by Emma Lucy Knowles (8 March, Pop), features crystal meditation techniques to live a ‘high-vibe life’. There are even sex toys made from crystal, such as Chakrubs (chakrubs.com) to bring ‘sacredness to your playtime’. Mysticism is mainstream.
So, should we all be keeping some citrine (said to encourage creativity and wealth) on our desks? Or bathing in rose quartz (thought to promote love) before a date? Colleen Mccann, a crystal healer to the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, thinks so. ‘Crystals are structured in such a way that they respond to the inputs of all different energies around them, so they oscillate, emitting specific vibratory frequencies,’ she says. ‘Every crystal type has a different purpose. If a crystal is yours it will speak to you – the stone may get hot in your hand, it can send tingles into your arm, you might feel a third-eye buzz.’ And don’t even think about sharing. ‘A crystal becomes attuned to you and nobody else should put their vibration or energy on it.’
But despite the upsurge in popularity, there’s no scientific evidence that crystals have any real effect. A study at Goldsmiths College, University of London, asked participants to meditate for five minutes while holding either a real quartz crystal or a fake crystal they believed was real and found no measurable difference. ‘ There is no evidence that crystal healing works over and above a placebo effect,’ says Professor Christopher French, who led the study.
Tim Caulfield, a research director at the Health Law Institute calls crystal healing ‘absurd’. ‘ The idea that humans have a life force energy that could be manipulated by crystals is scientifically implausible,’ he says. ‘But it’s very interesting to me that crystal healing clinics will try and “science up” their claims by talking about quantum physics to give it this layer of legitimacy. I think people know crystals don’t work, but it’s a fun idea and they look pretty.’