I can’t make up my mind about crystals. While I’m willing to put blind faith into certain practices, there’s something about crystals that makes me unable to shake at least a little bit of skepticism until I can exactly understand just how they’re supposed to work. Maybe because they’re adjacent enough to science that I can’t help but look for proof more than, say, caring about how tarot cards are supposed to work? I was just dipping my toes into crystals, unable to resist their draw any longer, when I listened to an episode of one of my favorite witchy podcasts, The Serpent Cast, where the guest - Rowan Alexandra - discussed piezoelectricity. This explanation of the electric charge that occurs in solids that have undergone mechanical stress was the closest thing I’d heard to evidence that there may be something to the whole crystal thing after all. It gave me a bit more solid of a ground to stand on while exploring crystals further, even though I don’t really know how piezoelectricity necessarily translates to all of the powers we ascribe to different stones.
Here’s what I do know, though. I know that crystals are pretty and feel luxurious. I know that I’ve gotten most of my crystals in the creaky old farmhouse that serves as the shop on the Tweefontein Herb Farm I like to visit on my trips to my hometown, and I like having these connections to a place that so embodies the spirit of where I grew up. I know that crystals remind me of trips to the Museum of Natural History as a kid, where I loved to hang out in the dark Gems and Minerals rooms and gaze at the ancient stones with my dad while we were playing hooky. Even if I fluctuate on believing that rose quartz is going to help me find true love or whatever, these crystals still steadfastly hold an energy that comforts me in the same way the owl statue I inherited from my grandpa does.
That being said, as a fairweather crystal devotee, I’ve never been entirely sure how to use them and haven’t bothered to put too much effort into finding out. I like to use them to enhance my tarot readings sometimes, or to hold one as I’m setting an intention or meditating. But mostly, I just look at them. So I was excited to dive into the gorgeous Elemental Energy: Crystal and Gemstone Rituals for a Beautiful Life by Kristin Petrovich in order to learn more about them and delight in the drool-worthy photography.
When I read that Petrovich created a “crystal-infused organic skin care” line (sjal Skincare), I figured the book was mostly going to be a lark in a flipping-through-the-Goop-gift-guide kind of way. But I was surprised to see that the first couple chapters go deep into a scientific understanding of crystals - both in how they’re created and how they’re supposed to work - as well as an historical overview of how people have been incorporating them into their lives and healthcare throughout time and around the world. It established some trust for me and I was ready to take what Petrovich had to say much more seriously.
Following that is a general intro to how to choose, find, and work with crystals with an overview of what kinds of crystals serve which purpose. Then there are the chapters explaining how to use them by: creating elixers, using them as a tool for massage, incorporating them into bathing, working with chakras, making face and body treatments, and weaving them into your lifestyle. I was surprised by how accessible Petrovich’s suggestions, rituals, and recipes were and I learned a ton. The chapters on massage and chakras are especially useful because you don’t even really need crystals at all to try her exercises involving acupressure and chakra clearing. (Plus it gives you a nice overview of the whole philosophy behind both of those things if you, like me, only had a vague understanding of them beforehand.)
I assumed the chapter on creating crystal face and body treatments was going to be laughably elitist; I was imagining having to source $700 a gram diamond shavings or something in order to make a serum. But most of the recipes use some combination of a crystal elixer (essentially soaking a crystal in water), aloe vera gel, essential oils, and sea salt, with the most out-there ingredients being silver and gold colloidals and pearl powder, which aren’t exactly cheap and available at a bodega but on the spectrums of “witchcraft” and “skincare” aren’t that bad either.
All in all, Elemental Energy is an absolutely stunning book with a lot more depth to it than meets the eye. It’s a delicious indulgence while also being a thorough primer on how to work with crystals.
Level: Any - It’s both a great introduction for beginners while also having ideas that even the most advanced crystal practitioners likely haven’t tried before
Accessibility: Low - Petrovich breaks down even complicated concepts in an inviting way
Usefulness: Moderate to high - Maybe I won’t be whipping up a pearl powder and gold colloidal illuminating face mask every day, but I can definitely see the massage chapter, for instance, quickly becoming worn down
Entertainment: High - I think looking at the photos has just as much of a calming effect as the kind Petrovich claims crystals have
I plan on living in New York City until the day that I die, and anxiously await my time as an eccentric old broad, shuffling down Bleecker in my giant fur coat and extravagant hat, stacks of bangles jangling with every step that I take.
Yet, there is always going to be a strong part of me that's deeply connected to nature. I grew up in the Hudson Valley, and it was in the woods behind my house and at the shore of the river that flowed through my hometown and on the trails of the mountains that watched over us that I first found my idea of magic.
As a twelve-year-old I walked barefoot into the woods armed with my Teen Witch spellbook and gathered my materials and knelt in the dirt of my hidden, secret forts and attempted to create some sort of power within myself and over my life, desperately seeking ways to heal the sick around me. As I got a little older and began realizing that it hadn't just been the typical early aughts preteen witch phase for me, I understood that whatever idea I had of a concept of god and religion was rooted in nature, and that aligned with paganism far more than any other religion I had studied. I treated the big questions of life with a two year old's curiosity; with each scientific response to an inquiry I would ask "why?" and keep drilling down until the very limits of our knowledge, to the atoms or the boundaries of space, and at some point when you ask "why?" we no longer know the answer, and it is in those mysterious spaces that I leave room for religion. It is where I leave room for magic.
As much as I am a City Person, I need to return home or to nature elsewhere, so that I can immediately feel that jolt of magic. I feel it when I run into the ocean each summer or lie in the park in the sun on the first warm day each spring. I need to "recharge" in this way. But because of my affinity for the city, I never felt fully comfortable identifying as a nature witch in any sense. Hell, I barely buy organic and essential oils mostly just make me feel nauseous. But as I've been getting older, I've been finding myself drawn more and more to nature-based solutions to problems like I was perhaps destined to do with my hippie roots. I've swapped leave-in conditioner for coconut oil, turned to ginger and echinacea for colds, and leaned fully in to combatting stomach issues with kombucha.
So I've been eyeing books like The Green Witch: Your Complete Guide to the Natural Magic of Herbs, Flowers, Essential Oils, and More by Arin Murphy-Hiscock lately, even while being unsure that they were for me. Thankfully, this book does away with the notion that green witches can only live off the grid at the edge of town in a cabin in the woods right away, and begins with a comprehensive overview of what being a green witch even really means. I really love Murphy-Hiscock's discussion of magic in relation to the philosophy of the green witch: "Most green witches find the use of the word 'magic' to be irrelevant. Magic implies something our of the ordinary. But to a green witch the mundane is magical. When she senses, responds to, and gently nudges the flows of natural energy around her, nothing could be more natural." She then quotes Marian Green, author of Wild Witchcraft; "Magic is the art of learning to recognize these elements of change: the natural patterns of flow and ebb, the times of progress, of standing still and retreating." Murphy-Hiscock continues, "Magic is learning to harmonize yourself with the forces of nature and understanding how they flow through your life...In short, by opening yourself to the energy of nature, and by accepting that you are a part of that grand symphony of energy and power, you allow yourself to partake of that energy to rebalance your life...The green witch works from the inside out and moves with the natural flow of the energies instead of seeking to manipulate them."
This has always been my idea of what I'm doing when I consider myself to be performing "magic," and it was wonderful to see that theory expanded upon into a full philosophy that serves as the first few chapters of The Green Witch. This book works best as an introduction to a lifestyle. While there is plenty of practical information in here, my biggest takeaway was this overview of a belief system. If you've been nature-witch-curious, reading The Green Witch will definitely settle whether or not this type of witchcraft is for you.
If it does end up being your thing, you'll find rituals for the changing seasons and changing moons, helpful overviews of the magical and healing properties of plants, flowers, herbs, and crystals, guides for creating altars and spell bags, and recipes for bath potions, healing oils, teas, and more. I was excited to try and make nearly everything in this book. But. This is one of those spellbooks where you're going to have to go out and hunt for an ingredient to make basically anything. You'd really have to have a well-stocked magickal cabinet full of expensive and difficult to find ingredients to even get started. A protection charm, for example, requires a snowflake obsidian (I have regular obsidian! I didn't even know there was snowflake obsidian!), caraway seeds, and mugwort. Or a tonic tea includes rosemary, sage (with you so far), catnip (I guess I can steal some from my cat), and then yarrow and horehound. I'm not sure I've heard of yarrow or horehound before, let alone know where to go out and find them. So, that's a bit frustrating, but for this focus of witchcraft it isn't much of a surprise that you're going to need a wide variety of herbs, plants, and stones in order to carry its instructions out.
I think The Green Witch is worth it even if you don't ever complete one of the recipes, though. It gives you a foundation of knowledge that you could start experimenting yourself with the concepts you learn, regardless of whether or not your pantry is fully stocked. It has more of a textbook feel (there aren't any illustrations or photographs in here, if that's important to you) and I could see using it as a resource for quickly remembering which herb is best for what. And I think getting a coven together to make a day out of doing one of the more complex activities would be an excellent time.
