Would you buy crystals online? Or do you prefer to buy them IRL

I have to admit I would prefer to buy them in a shop I like to feel them and see if they are for me. Having said that I have seen a gorgeous crystal at an online shop that I have not seen in a real shop, so do I keep looking in case I find one or buy the one I have seen online.

I suppose I could ask my local shop if they could get one for me ... what are your thoughts?

I bought most of my crystals from shops where I could go in and handle them. I'm probably not going to pick up any more now unless it's something that just screams my name as I walk past. I read on the pagan association website that a lot of crystals are mined in a very environmentally unfriendly way - link provided here: (just scroll through the stuff about the treasure hunt until you get to the bit about blast mining)
http://paganassoc.proboards25.com/index.cg...&num=1084882358

I've read about that too, but I'm afraid to say it hasn't stopped me buying them.

I buy a lot of my crystals online, the nearest shop is about 30 miles away and offers little selection now, plus it's not easy for me to get out and about these days. I tend to find that I can tune in to the crystals image from a online shop and use that to guide me as to whether that type will be suitable or not, and for me I've never had a crystal from an online shop that has felt wrong when it arrived

I've stopped buying crystals for the moment on ethical grounds. I have a few that I have bought for myself and a few that I have been given and I will make the most of them, I can't see me needing any others anyway. It will also remind me to not indulge the inner magpie.

I think that if you can find a small scale ethical supplier that the crystals you get will be more worthwhile to you. I have several pebbles that I hold in high regard, what could be better than a natural memento of a walk to the beach? Just becareful that you don't remove large quantities of someone's flood defences.

Spirited

I get online and in shops I've thought hard about the ethics of mining but at the end of the day, almost everything you buy anywhere is likely to have something connected to it's arrival in your world that you wouldn't approve of. Try to supprt ethical methods if you can afford to but I find a good cleanse of everything once you get it home resets any nasties that have attached to it.

Oh to be in the blissful coccoon of ignorance!

I suppose it's a bit like meat eaters who only eat meat that doesn't look like meat and who try very hard to forget just how awful factory farming methods are - but that's a different posting!

If you want bright shiny rocks why not get out and find some yourself, and then get them polished or tumbled for you.

If you look at the history of the uses of many crystals (which is rather short) then you'll begin to understand what a pile of BS the correspondences are.

There are very few crystals which have any provenance, we know a little about the more popular ones such as amethyst, or onyx, or for the precious and semi-precious stones, but "foreign" stones have no historical magical useage to speak of.

I guess it's a question of ethical consumerism - why do you want the crystals? What are you going to use them for?

To my mind, saying that it's okay to support an industry that kills people and is destructive to the environment, just to get a nice shiny object for your mantlepiece, is abhorrent. (But that's just my opinion - if you think bathing your new crystals in moonlight/saltwater/ribena/McDonalds Banana Shake is going to rid them of their history then that is entirely your perogative.)

Rhiannon

Now that's a bit of a sweeping statement really.

Who mentioned correspondences? 99% of them are a pile of bull as said elsewhere. Point is though, crystals do work for whatever reasons and forever need. I'm not particularly interested in the crystals history nor its claims. I use them for what I know they can do

Virtually everything we have that is consumerism is damaging to our environment, electricity to your home damages the environment in many ways, but I'm still going to have it. I need it, but actually I want it.

"To my mind, saying that it's okay to support an industry that kills people and is destructive to the environment, just to get a nice shiny object for your mantlepiece, is abhorrent."

Whether it's a nice shiny crystal or anything you buy for your house or food or clothes shopping someone somewhere will have been damaged by it in some way. Abhorent or normal life unfortunately?

And actually I do collect stones from all over, I don't tumble them though - my choice same as it is to continue to buy them

That is an excellent point, you type in the name of almost any company in the world and someone, somewhere will be boycotting it for some reason.

That is not to say I am against certain boycotts, but if you didn't use anything that wan't 100% unexploitative or unethical you would porobably be standing naked in the middle of a field

Yeah but what's the betting that the field has been sprayed with chemicals? Plus think of all the pollution in the air, even in the middle of nowhere there's all kind of nasty manmade things in the air

It's a minefield isn't it? Better to run through life with your hands over your ears shouting 'lala I'm not listening!'

LOL @ ww & esk

I have bought online, but I prefer to get a feel for them in 'real' shops. On the other hand, many of the most effective stones I've used were found on the beach! And I always keep my eyes peeled for a 'Witchstone' - one which naturally has a hole through it... I've also been known to use shells & bits of driftwood too...

If you can find me all manner of things which have been completely untainted by any nasties at all, I'll gladly use them. But, as has already been mentioned, there are pollutants in the very air we breathe & our very existance hurts the existance of other things - nothing & no-one is completely innocent of this. I'm sorry, but I would say that ignoring THAT fact would be being naive & slightly ignorant...

Hi Mabon et al

Your argument that everything we do damages something, whilst perhaps offering some slight comfort to you, is also flawed. That argument means that we might as well just use whatever we want to use, regardless of the consequences. So lets fill our fridges and aerosols with CFCs, continue to test make up on animals, drive gas guzzling 4WDs everywhere, allow tankers to pollute seas, tip rubbish everywhere, etc.

We cannot avoid damaging the environment, or hurting other people, but where does our responsility kick in? The food on my plate and the clothes on my back haven't got there (as far as I know) through the deaths of other human beings, or the blasting to pieces of a mountain, or caused deforestation in South America. We can't be perfect, but I don't believe that's an excuse to abuse our resources and other people, particularly not for the sake of vanity or prettiness.

Rhiannon

Rhiannon -

Yes, of course when there's the option of buying something which you know is going to do huge damage vs something that will do lesser damage, you'll go for the lesser of two evils.

But there's no point never buying cotton clothing because the cotton might have been sprayed with something that harms something else, and similarly, for some people there's no point not buying crystals because they might have been obtained through strip mining or whatever.

Nobody is saying "use whatever you want" - just "we can't be sure about everything". There's a limit to how much you can't use because you don't know where it came from. For some people, their ethical code includes not buying crystals, and for others, it doesn't, just the same as some people only buy free-range eggs, and others don't

That's what I was meaning - I'm sorry if I didn't word it very well. I never meant that we shouldn't consider the ethics behind whatever we do or buy, just that if we get hung up on every little detail we'd never be able to do or buy anything at all. I don't actually use many crystals or gems, as I really do prefer to find something myself - beach pebbles have worked every bit as well for me as anything else, but sometimes the vibrations from a particular gem are an extra boost.

We have no way of knowing the precise methods of excavation or mining for each individual piece of crystal or gemstone. Some may well have been found without mining & then tumbled, but unless we're told so by those selling them, we don't know. Yes, mining does a lot of damage & many peole are unfairly treated while employed by mines, but the same can be said for many food producers (remember when we all were first told about McDonalds & the rainforests?) & also manufacturers of cloth & clothes (remember all the hooha about child labour & sweat shops).

My only point is that although we all may try to do the right thing wherever & whenever possible, it's not always as straight forward or easy as that.

I agree. For me the reasons for having them don't really justify the way they are produced, so to speak.

I have either been given or bought most of my crystals in person. But I guess I'm lucky as there are 3 really good crystal shops in Brigton, and the gem and crystal fair comes to town twice a year. One of the shops, Hocus Pocus, is very aware about the ethics of crystals and are careful about which suppliers and sources they use for their crystals. They also know all the cons that are used - such as heat treating amythest to make it look like citrine, which commands a higher price - and actively avoid those suppliers as well. They have a website, but it's much more fun visiting them.

The only company I have ordered crystals from online is Eloise Kirlan. She's based in Essex and does a dececnt range of supplies, including ointments she makes herself. I've got about 10 crystals from her over the past couple of years, among which are moonstone, bloodstone, peridot, lodestone and jet. Every single crystal has been perfect for me and I would probably have picked the same stones if a selection were in front of me.

Somewhere I would love to go to though is the annual crystal fair in Arizona. It's THE place for crystals, evrything from diamonds to petrified wood. Every February for about three days... who fancies a holiday?

Oooh yeah! I'll come.my birthday's in February, it'd make a nice pressie!

(keeping mouth almost shut)

I work with crystals, some are "new" finds, especially those that are coming from Siberia and Russia. I agree, there is a lot of rubbish printed about what they can do, so I always find out for myself before using in my healing work. I meditate with the crystal, I live with the crystal about my person for at least a week, and then I finally have a few friends that don't mind being 'experiments' and give me feedback of how the crystal felt on them during a healing session.

It is not mumbo-jumbo as some might think - after all, crystals are used increasingly in modern technology for their special properties. Admittedly most of them these days are man-made, silicone for computers etc and rubies for lasers, whereas in crystal healing it is the complex energy of the natural stone that is being used. From experience, crystals that have arrived on my doorstep (not chosen by me) feeling sad and forlorn do eventually brighten when cleansed, charged and left in the company of their fellow beings. I have also seen crystals crack or change colour if under strain, and in these cases they should be returned to Mother Earth, together with the energies that they have chosen to take with them on behalf of the person concerned.

If you are in Cornwall and would like to experience a crystal healing session do pm me - I work by donation as I believe healing should be available to all, regardless of the ability to pay but that also an 'energy exchange' of some kind should also take place!

Blessings

AnMorgwynn
)O(

I prefer to buy crystals (and other things) in person really, so i can feel and have a proper look at the item,

i only buy crystals ive had in my hand...they kind of have to draw me...boy you should see my "big boy" crystal wand i use for meditation.....lovely piece of work...
but..if your drawn online..who's to say its wrong?

Then I'm pretty sure I know where she gets her crystals and it aint that much of a reputable place! I used to have a market stall and got quite cosy with a guy who supplies a large quantity of crystals to New Age shops and the like. It's very disheartening to go to a huge warehouse in Essex (location known to me and anyone in the trade LOL) and see the sparkly bones of the earth littering the floor. And the prices!!! Honestly, you wouldn't believe the amount of money you can make by selling them (which I think is the only reason some people do it!)

Alona- trying to suppress the inner magpie!

edited to edit out the mess of the quote that the board added!

On QVC the other night, I think they admitted to using conflict-diamonds. Now, I've always suspected them of this because I buy certified, guaranteed conflict-free diamonds and they are more expensive than conflice diamonds but to hear the woman admit to it - did she think all her viewers were stupid?

OK now many if not most of you won't know what conflict diamonds are. They are diamonds mined by kids usually used to buy weapons to fight the war in Sierra Leone. They are also called blood diamonds because they are the cause of blood being spilt.

I try and buy ethically. With the Rock Warehouse going bankrupt, we saw what I suspect may have been an unethical trader fall by the wayside but are the others any better with where they source crystals from? I know one woman I trust - her husband and she visit Brazil regularly and I trust that they are acting in as ethical a way as they can. The gemstones I get from Bali I have no clue about.

I don't know about my felloe shop owners but I try and act ethically always.

Judith Lewis
New Moon Occult Shop