We feel one of the best books on the market on crystals is The Crystal Bible by Judy Hall. Because of this and other books on them we are not going to go over the use of crystals on this page. Instead we are going to talk about finding crystals. You can spend all kinds of money on crystals if you want, but most can be gotten for very little.
Getting them from the Earth. Find out what type of crystals are native to where you
live. Most bookstores have a local area which will include local authors as well
as books about the area you live. Look through these books and you may find what
is found in your area. Also look in some of the books like Rock and Minerals of North
America (or if you live outside of NA look in a book that's for your country). Once
you find what you have in your area make sure you know what they look like as these
will not be tumbled or cut. Some of the things you will need are shovel, screen,
and something to carry the stones in. Rivers and streams are good places to look
for stones. You are mostly looking for what called placer deposits. These are loose
stones, so you don't need a pick or hammer. Put dirt into screen and wash out -
Now you may live someplace were this is not possible or the you have all the local
stones you can find the next thing is buying. Best place to do this is a rock shop.
Now there are a few kinds of rock shops. We have the museum shops. These can be found
in Mall and the gift shop of Museums. You want to stay away from these, unless you
have money to toss away. The stones come mounted in cases and cost anywhere from
10 to 1000 times there actual value. You are paying for the "name". Now the best
type of rock shop is one where there are rocks all over the place and most of them
are loose. These place will also have some mounted rocks and things made out of rocks.
Usually you can get some good values here -
Another place to look is new age stores and bookstores. Sometimes you can find some
nice priced stones. Beware of really high priced stones -
Now my favorite place to get stones are "Mines". I'm not talking about place where
you tunnel into the earth, these you will find in flea markets, Fairs, and tourist
areas. They usually have a wooden flume with screen boxes and you buy dirt, usually
in buckets. You use the screen to go through the dirt and pick out the stones. The
most common "mines" are ruby mines. But in some you can find 20 -
Most stones you can find if you look, at a reasonable price. It just sometimes takes
time to find a good source for your stones. When traveling check for the "Mines"
-
Always check prices before "feeling" the stones. you don't want a stone calling to
you that you can't afford. If the price is right feel away and you will find stones
that will "call" to you. Now some stones you will want for certain things and these
don't need to call to you as you will be charging them and making them do what you
want them to. Again I'm not going into the charging of the stones -