Please… don’t put crystals in your water. Or your vagina.
Okay, so, weird post. I originally wrote this in 2019 and never got around to publishing it.
It was intended to address two growing fads that I’m really not comfortable with supplying crystals for (and never will be).
The first is ‘crystal infused water bottles’. The second is ‘yoni eggs’, or any other so-called ‘intimate feminine healing’ products.
My whole philosophy regarding crystal healing is that anything that gives you a more positive mindset may help – as long as it doesn’t interfere with, replace, or otherwise get in the way of more traditional and accepted medical practices. In short: by all means, carry a crystal but see your doctor, too.
However, I am frankly uncomfortable with the two recent trends mentioned above. Ultimately, it is your decision, your body, and your health, but before purchasing products from me or from anywhere else, consider reading the article in full and thinking about the points I make.
So, why am I so against this?
Simply put, I don’t think everyone understands exactly what crystals and minerals etc are. Many people see them and think ‘pretty rock’, but there are thousands of types, and even more when you consider things like inclusions.
If we took Quartz as an example, I think we’d all say it is considered a quite safe mineral. It’s non-reactive, hard, has a high melting point, and is insoluble. The dust is hazardous, but that isn’t what we’re talking about.
A perfect, pure piece of Quartz with no cracks or inclusions would probably be safer to put in your drinking water than your average ice cube. Unfortunately, however, in nature, there’s pretty much no such thing as perfect.
That quartz tumblestone you’re picturing has a very long history. It formed over millions of years, absorbing and altering due to minerals in the surrounding soil and stone, natural heat, and natural radiation.
Eventually, it was found by miners – likely either by hand, pick, or explosion. It was probably shipped to another place, or another country as a rough rock, before being put in a rock tumbler with abrasive grits for a few weeks or months. It might have had a final polish with rouge, before being chucked into a container ship, brought to the UK, kept in a pile or a bag with other tumblestones, and eventually sold, put in a plastic bag and shipped.
You might think that you could just wash it to ensure it is clean and non-reactive.
An imperfect piece of Quartz, though, will have cracks and inclusions. Its chemical makeup will have been slightly altered by the minerals around it as it grew.
Cracks let water in. Water always finds a way – I wrote this with water slowly dropping through the window and an air vent of a caravan I rented on a fossil hunting exhibition. Eventually, it began dripping onto the mains electrics and we had to call and ask for another caravan!
Water brings down cliffs and mountains, it carves valleys and the Grand Canyon. It is naive to assume that water won’t enter a cracked, crackled, or included stone because it almost certainly will.
If we were still talking about pure Quartz with cracks, that’s hardly an issue. My issue is with impure stones, which will constitute the vast majority of all stones you see.
Rutilated Quartz contains Rutile. Tourmalinated Quartz contains Tourmaline. Rose Quartz has absorbed Iron, Manganese, or Titanium. Some contain oil, known as ‘petroleum’ Quartz. Some contain Actinolite, a form of asbestos.
Those are commonly identified inclusions. There are many, many unidentified inclusions, too. I do not check every tumblestone I sell, and I guarantee noone else does, either. They are display objects, not intended for catering.
In the minuscule quantities we are talking about, it is unlikely that drinking water ‘infused’ with any minerals or crystals will cause you any harm – but it isn’t necessary, either.
This is before you even consider the unnatural treatments and coatings that may have been applied to the stone. Common treatments of minerals include heat treatments, acid treatments, radiation (gamma) treatments, dyeing, metal film coating, sugar cooking, and more.
You should then consider whether the description of your mineral purchase is even accurate! There are many Chinese sellers delivering ‘Jade’ oddities that wouldn’t know a piece of jade if you hit them with it.
In the end, is it worth it? You can buy bottles that allow crystals to be added without ever touching the water, as people believe the energies can radiate into the water. Seems like a good alternative to me.
Most importantly, I am assuming that the consumer is aware of the mineralogical makeup of the crystal, rock, or mineral.
Many minerals and crystals are not as simple as ‘pure Quartz’. Sellers do not necessarily give you all of the information about any specimen!
Alright, so, what was that about vaginas?
In recent years, there has been an explosion in the crystal healing market, and some companies have started to sell ‘intimate healing items’ made of stones and crystals. Some are run by celebrities, with access to mass publicity.
This includes dildos, and so called ‘yoni eggs’, named after the word for the representation of female genitalia in Hinduism.
These pieces are meant to be inserted vaginally, for some sort of sexual healing. I’ll be honest, I haven’t read into it, nor will I.
Stones can be porous. Stones can be included. Stones can be treated.
Sellers can, will, and have covered up treatments, they may not even know what they are selling. They almost certainly can’t track the stones from mine to shipping.
Is it worth the risk? In the end, it is your decision. Just think about it carefully and learn about the mineralogical makeup and potential dangers.
I’m only a few years late to this party …
Here in 2022, putting rocks in your vagina is still a thing. So is soaking rocks in your drinking water. “Detoxing” comes up a lot.
I’ve seen retailers tout the powers of “green zebra jasper”, which is chrysotile asbestos; realgar and orpiment, which are arsenic sulfides; cinnabar, which is mercury sulfide; and galena, which is the main ore of lead.
I occasionally see people argue that crystal healing enthusiasts aren’t going to interact with their specimens in toxic ways, but I don’t see any grounds for their optimism.