Creating Gem Essences

Gem Essences:Liquid Crystal

As I write this article I'm in the process of taking a gem essence of peridot. My dreams have been powerful and vivid; emotions and obsolete beliefs are coming up for healing and release; and I sense the departure of much psychic debris.
I've found gem essences to be one of the most powerful ways to work with crystals, and highly recommend this method to you.

The basic principle behind the use of gem essences is the same as that of flower essences: that the interaction of water and sunlight with the essential energy of crystals charges the water in which crystals are placed with their subtle energy. When you drink this water, that energy works to rdissolve the blockages which promote the persistence of painful emotions and prevent personal and spiritual growth.

While you can buy commercially-prepared gem essences. I feel that, unlike flower essences, they are easy to make. This has to do with the differences between stones and flowers.

* You don't have to grow the stone.
* You don't have to decide when the stone is at its peak blossoming.
* You don't need large quantities to make a gem essence.

Please Note: As with all practices relating to crystals, you may come across resources which have much more strict rules and regulations about preparing gem essences than those I follow. My philosophy is to find the simplest ways of doing something, and I've gotten excellent results with the methods I use.

How to Prepare An Essence

What You Need

1. A glass container filled with about 12 ounces of water. Many sources recommend using a glass dish. If you are going to be placing your essence outside be sure to cover it; otherwise you will be adding insect essences to your mixture. I prefer to use a glass jar with a lid. Any container you use should be sterilized.

2. Water. Distilled water is preferable because it's free of mineral content.

3. A crystal, which should be cleansed in salt water before being used. If you're going to make an essence which combines more than one crystal you can put them in the same container.

Basic Preparation

It may deepen your experience of making the essence to sit quietly in meditation for a few minutes before preparing it. It's usually not a good idea to prepare a mixture when you're upset, agitated, or in a hurry to do something else.

1. If the temperature is above freezing you can put the water outside. Leave it there for two to four hours (it doesn't matter if you leave it there for longer). If it's below freezing put the water in a sunny place in your house. Some sources say you can boil the crystals for fifteen minutes in water. I would rather not.

2. Take the crystals out of the water with sterilized tongs. Pour a small quantity of the water into a one-ounce amber dropper bottle. If you are not alcohol-sensitive put in a teaspoon of brandy to preserve it or put in the refrigerator. (During cold weather this isn't necessary. The brandy is mainly for the purpose of keeping plant life from growing inside the bottle). Store the remainder of the essence in the refrigerator.

3. I recommend taking four drops of the essence every four hours (excepting sleep time). It is best to take it before, rather than after, a meal. How long to take the mixture is up to you. I usually find that when I no longer need an essence, whether flower or gem, I find myself "forgetting" to take it.

What Crystals Can Be Used?

All of the crystals available at Beyond the Rainbow are safe for use in making gem essences. If you decide to use other crystals check them for the presence of arsenic or lead. A gem encyclopedia can give you this information, or you can most likely find it on the Web.

Some sources say that only mineral specimens (i.e., stones which have been neither cut nor polished) should be used. I prefer to use such stones, but often specimens are not available or not affordable. In such cases I've used tumbled stones with good results. When I do I use several tumbled stones to equal one specimen.
Whatever kind of stone you use, its quality is more important than its size. A crystal point, such as clear quartz, amethyst, or citrine, should have an unbroken termination, and the more clear it is the better. A tumbled stone should not be chipped or scratched.

Beyond these technical considerations, I feel that it's important that the crystals you use appeal to you intuitively. If you are, for example, drawn to the particular patterns or markings on a rhodonite, malachite, or moss agate, or have crystals which are special favorites, these will be powerful for you.

Combining Stones

You will find a list of the characteristics of about forty crystals and gemstones in Gems and Their Gifts to Us with links to more detailed descriptions of over twenty crystals.

To get you started, here are some combinations I've used:

For the experience of abundance in all ways: citrine, emerald, green tourmaline.
For the expansion of love: rose quartz (for loving oneself), rhodonite (for patience), rhodochrosite (for releasing any anxiety about opening the heart).
For opening up creativity: malachite, aquamarine, green fluorite.
For mental/emotional balance: moonstone, sodalite, moss agate.

When clear quartz is used in combination with any other stones its effect is to enhance the energies of those stones. This is also true of gem essences. My peridot essence, for example, was enhanced with a small clear quartz.

If you're wondering what peridot is for, it helps to release old beliefs and behavior patterns which no longer serve one.

Gem Essences

Anxiety: Rhodochrosite and Chamomile
Being Critical: Chrysocolla and Beech
Concentration: Carnelian and Madia
Depression: Smoky Quartz and Gorse
Dream Work: Amethyst and Mugwort
Effective Communication: Turquoise and Trumpet
Ending Procrastination: Rutilated Quartz and Blackberry
Guilt: Sugilite and Pine
Meditation: Clear Quartz and Lotus
Mental/Emotional Balance: Sodalite
Patience: Rhodonite and Impatiens
Self-esteem: Citrine and Larch
Self-love: Rose Quartz and Holly
Setting Appropriate Emotional Boundaries: Hematite and Pink Yarrow

By studying the characteristics of various crystals you will come up with combinations uniquely suited to your individual needs.

Enjoy your adventures with gem essences.