Crystal healing is the belief that crystals have energies and properties that are able to improve health. It is not part of standard medical theory, but it is included in a broader view of crystal power that says crystals, which are minerals with a periodic atomic structure, possess metaphysical abilities. Quartz crystal A crystal is a solid in which the constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are packed in a regularly ordered, repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. ... Crystal power is a belief that crystals have healing, mystical and paranormal powers. ... Anomalous phenomena are phenomena which are observed and for which there are no suitable explanations in the context of a specific body of scientific knowledge, e. ...

Quartz crystal

Crystal healers say that it works because every living thing has a vibrational energy system, which includes chakras, subtle bodies and meridians. By using the appropriate crystals one can allegedly "tune" an energy system or rebalance energies, thus improving well-being. Commons:Image:Quartz Crystal. ... Commons:Image:Quartz Crystal. ... In Hinduism and its spiritual systems of yoga and in some related eastern cultures, as well as in some segments of the New Age movement -- and to some degree the distinctly different New Thought movement -- a chakra is thought to be an energy node in the human body. ... The concept of meridians (Chinese: jing-luo) arises from the techniques and doctrines of traditional Chinese medicine including acupuncture and acupressure. ...

The earliest records of crystal healing come from ancient Egypt. The Ebers papyrus states the medicinal uses of many different gems. Healing with crystals is also recorded in India's Ayurvedic records and in traditional Chinese medicine from around five thousand years ago. Ayurveda (आयुर्वेद Sanskrit: ayu—life; veda—knowledge of) or ayurvedic medicine is a more than 2,000 year old comprehensive system of medicine based on a holistic approach rooted in Vedic culture. ... Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) also known simply as Chinese medicine (Chinese: 中醫學, zhōngyÄ« xué, or 中药学, zhōngyaò xué) is the name commonly given to a range of traditional medical practices used in China that have developed over the course of several thousand years of history. ...

Criticism

Most scientists, health professionals, skeptics and others consider crystal healing to be a pseudoscientific quack therapy, noting that there is no scientific evidence that healing can be achieved by it or that the claimed "energies" even exist. A scientist is a person who is an expert in at least one area of science and who uses the scientific method to research that area. ... Scientific skepticism or rational skepticism (UK spelling, scepticism) sometimes referred to as skeptical inquiry, is a scientific, or practical, epistemological position (or paradigm) in which one questions the veracity of claims unless they can be scientifically verified. ... Phrenology is seen today as a classic example of pseudoscience. ... Look up Quackery on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Quackery, is the practice of producing medicine which may lack any commonly respected evidence of their effectiveness. ... Evidence has several meanings as indicated below. ...

See also

Skeptic's Dictionary entry on crystal power