How to choose your crystals
As well as researching crystals that are relevant to your individual concerns, Knowles recommends "choosing your stones from your gut". This is because "using your senses will drive you to what you need rather than your mind dragging to what it thinks you should." By working in this way, she suggests, we "energetically reach out for what we need – be it the colour, feel or what we've learnt about the stone".
In terms of colour, in general, dark-coloured crystals are said to focus on safeguarding an individual, with black for protection and brown for cleansing, while white is considered the colour of purity, and green the shade to choose when seeking moments of calm. In a similar way, pink-coloured stones are said to focus on love; red on energy; and yellow on wealth and plenty.Crystals that are round are also said to help emit energy equally around them, while those with a point direct positive energy inward or negative energy out from the body (or in both directions if they are pointed at both ends).
How to use crystals
There are various different ways to utilise crystals, either alone or working with a professional. For the latter, Knowles explains that she "lays the crystals along the key chakra line of the [client's] body to aid in balancing the energy field." For her, "the chakra – or energy points – in our hands, as well as the third eye (the point between the eyebrows), are the most effective when starting therapy with a 'beginner'." This is because the sensations here, such as a buzz or heaviness, are particularly effective and you are less likely to attribute them to a placebo effect.
If you want to start at home, simply choose an individual crystal and then set your intention. This means, as Knowles explains, "deciding upon what it is you want the crystal to aid or promote you in". In a meditative-like state, hold the crystal in your hand and then focus on your goal, silently repeating a mantra, such as "please help me see my soul purpose" if you are looking to overcome self-doubt.
Knowles feels that while you can't really make mistakes with crystals, and that "just having them in your pocket, on your desk or in your bathroom brings in a hub of energy", you should make their presence intentional. "Give the crystal a job or purpose so you can correlate that more with a ‘result’," she says. "Equally, we have to remember that crystals work with us all so uniquely, so get curious and explore them and, most importantly, have fun in your crystal adventures rather than using them as another tool of self-sabotage."
This all speaks to how crystals are considered a powerful tool for manifesting. "Manifestation is not as simple as just asking the universe for what we want; it’s an enactment of personal power and a direction of energy," explains Knowles – which is why you can work with crystals "to clear, direct and heighten our energy, connection, and flow" when manifesting.
In her newest book, Crystals to Manifest, Knowles explains that crystals can be used in every stage of the manifestation process, "by getting energetically clear about what we truly feel we want (rather than what or who we think we want), we can work with them to direct the flow of energy out to the universe with intensity". Meanwhile, they'll help to "clear any limiting beliefs in our energetic body that makes us feel disbelieving, untrusting or undeserving of this coming into fruition for us – which can, in turn, weaken the speed or power in which our manifestations are returned to us".
Her guide lists the crystals to work with depending on your vision, as well as offering crystal manifestation practices, rituals and mantras that allow for deeper energy connections "to pull that creation into reality".
How to keep and treat your crystals
You can store your crystals wherever you wish, but keep them close to you so that they have an effect on the energy around you. For example, Knowles, just like Kerr, likes to keep them on her skin, so that they are always close to her chakras.
Try wearing crystals as part of your jewellery – such as a statement design from Crystal Haze, or Roxanne First's R.F. Vibes collection of crystal necklaces – allowing you to keep your stones close.
You can also incorporate crystals into your beauty routine, using a face roller or gua sha made of jade, rose quartz or amethyst to massage and meditate with. And try salt crystals for bathing, or – when soaked in essential oils – for inhalation.
It is necessary to occasionally cleanse and charge your crystals too, as "much like a sponge, your crystals soak up the remanences of your emotion or day," instructs Knowles. To do so, "bathe them in cold water before laying them out in the moonlight or on your windowsill during a full moon. When a full moon feels too long away – you can either wash them through or nest them in sand or natural salts."
