Healing crystals and gemstone rocks...
Have you recently bought some funky jewelry with gemstones or even a "healing" crystal to take and meditate with? Perhaps you bought a nice geode to decorate your hallway with. Even if you aren't into gemstones, rocks, and crystals, you probably have a friend, if not more than one, who has their own collection. An interesting article that was published by The Guardian yesterday on crystals shed some light on a darker truth usually hidden or not as well known by the majority of consumers. Types of "healing" crystals and stones have become the new craze over the past few years and have begun to make quite a profitable market.
Five years ago, crystals were not a big deal. Now, powered by the lucrative combination of social media-friendly aesthetics, cosmic spirituality and the apparently unstoppable wellness juggernaut, they have gone from a niche oddity associated with patchouli and crushed velvet to a global consumer phenomenon. On Instagram, hashtags for #crystals and #healingcrystals tick into the tens of millions. In 2017, the New York Times heralded 'the great crystal boom' and in 2018 Hello! described them as the year's biggest health and wellness trend. Sold as lamps, sex toys, facial massagers or 'vaginal eggs' hawked by Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle empire Goop, there is now a crystal for every possible occasion. As Kim Kardashian was recovering from her robbery at gunpoint in 2016, she embraced healing crystals. The model Miranda Kerr has said that she filters all her skincare products through rose quartz 'to give the vibration of self-love'.
Celebrities, holistic medicine practices, and the popularity of varieties of new-age spirituality have brought a huge business for people attempting to sell these crystals and gemstones that are imported from other countries. So, you might be wondering, especially if you are not one to ever think about a rock collection, is there actually a big market for these types of things? The article stated:
In the US, demand for overseas crystals and gemstones has doubled over the past three years, and quartz imports have doubled since 2014. (Those numbers capture raw stone, but not the crystals imported under many other categories: jewellery, home goods, decorations.) Daniel Trinchillo, owner of Fine Minerals International, a high-end crystal dealership, told me that his business makes between $30m and $40m in sales each year. Trinchillo caters to a growing cohort of celebrities, collectors and investment buyers who want rare and valuable crystals. The most expensive single piece he has sold went for $6m, but he knows of some that have sold for $10m. Trinchillo estimates that high-end dealers now account for about $500m in annual sales. Include the lower end, he said, and you are talking about a highly profitable, multi-billion dollar industry.
A "multi-billion dollar industry"! It's almost hard to imagine, right? So, what is the driving cause that made it so popular? The article went on to state:
Believers say crystals conduct ambient energy – like miniature phone towers picking up signals and channelling them on to the user – thus rebalancing malign energies, healing the body and mind. First popularised in the west in the 1970s, crystal healing's recent resurgence has coincided with growing interest in alternative spirituality and healing practices. According to Pew Research Center data, more than 60% of US adults hold at least one 'new age' belief, such as placing faith in astrology or the power of psychics, and 42% think spiritual energy can be located in physical objects such as crystals. Not surprisingly, then, scientific criticism of crystal healing has done little to dim demand. Last year, Paltrow faced (and settled) a misleading advertising lawsuit for claiming that Goop's vaginal egg crystals had the power to balance hormones and regulate menstrual cycles. But still, the rise of crystals continues.
Despite that explosive growth, the way the crystal industry operates has largely avoided close scrutiny. There is little in the way of fair-trade certification for crystals, and none of the industry-wide transparency schemes developed for commodities such as gold and diamonds. Tracing a crystal from the time it is dragged, dusty and cracked, from the earth, to the polished moment of final sale requires a journey backward down the supply chain: from shop, to exporter, to middleman, to mine, and finally to the men and women who work below the ground, on whose labour a billion-dollar industry has been built.
I will admit, I like those cool things that formed and are part of the Earth. I used to be fascinated by minerals, crystals, and rocks ever since I was a young child. I had the "grow it yourself" crystal collection, I've collected seashells and rocks on many beaches, as well as cool gemstones my parents would occasionally get me from the science store. Even into my adulthood, having a few cool rocks is something I enjoy. For a short time in my life, I was nearly convinced that the different vibrations of crystals and rocks could potentially be beneficial to health. However, I can now see those rocks as for what they truly are... They are the polished pieces of the Earth that are a part of God's beautiful creation. In my experiences, I think much of it is due to a placebo effect. Unfortunately, it seems too many people put their beliefs, power, and faith into a rock or crystal... Could it be a placebo effect? One could wonder since the rate of sales is now bolstered by these different beliefs as it becomes more "trendy". It almost seems the majority revere the creation more than the Creator. To some degrees, and in certain instances, this could be a form of idolatry.
Unfortunately, whether one wants to believe God is the Creator of all things, including these facets of the Earth, there is one fact they cannot ignore or decide to not believe in. The article did a little more than just discuss the fad and sales. There are men and women in poor countries mining these commodities. These people, just in Madagascar struggle to make it day-to-day with the small amount they are paid. Their country is so poor there are places with a lack of running water, electricity, no normal electronic communication, and even malnutrition. "And in a country where infrastructure, capital and labour regulation are all in short supply, it is human bodies rather than machinery that pull crystals from the earth." Granted, these people are being provided with an alternative job to live, but the conditions are extremely poor. Deaths occur due to landslides, dust particles intrusive to the human lungs, and in some cases child labor!
Child labour is also widespread: the US Department of Labor and the International Labour Organization estimate that about 85,000 children work in Madagascar’s mines.
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While the crystal business is booming, and largely among consumers who tend to be concerned with environmental impact, fair trade and good intentions, there is little sign of the kind of regulation that might improve conditions for those who mine them.
You can read more from the article about the conditions, environment, and the darker truths about where many of these crystals and gemstones come from.
The main reason I am writing this article is to bring awareness and shed some light on this dark situation. Not only that, but it is a chance for people reading it to reflect on their own minds and hearts to see if they have fallen into an idolatrous fad by revering and worshiping the creation over the Creator. I don't think there is any harm in admiring God's beautiful creation and being thankful for it, nor do I believe it is bad to seek holistic alternatives for health... But trying to put power into an inanimate object or expecting it to provide divine intervention and spiritual abundance, as well as supporting poor working conditions for others is not what I see the Creator intending for it. He wants us to put our faith in HIM and OBEY His Son, who is the returned Christ, Lord RayEl. Even Christ agrees that revering a rock is not going to provide your way to enlightenment. Again, I am not against enjoying God's creation but consider your eternity carefully while practicing certain traditions or fad in the future. Certainly, do research and due diligence rather than taking the advice on what a Celebrity said about it because it could be a slippery slope and your eternity in the New Kingdom at stake...
Note: All images not cited are my own or created by me.
Be well!
For more information and truths about End Times check out Sanctuary-Interfaith, ABN, and The Coming of the Messiah
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