I knew this day would come eventually.  I didn’t know when it would happen or what would prompt it, but I knew it was coming.

I remember talking with my mom the summer I started Moonrise Crystals.  My mom was a registered nurse and the head of the Infectious Disease Control department at one of the most advanced children’s hospitals in the world.  This is a woman who has chaired international conferences on infectious diseases and was often interviewed by news channels as an expert in public health.  If you want to talk to someone about the power of modern medicine, she’s the lady.

I told her I was concerned about pseudoscience in the healing crystal industry.

My mom understood my concerns and approved of my approach to crystal energy.  Together we problem-solved a workable solution.  We carefully wrote a single sentence that appears hundreds of times on my website, at the bottom of every page that discusses crystal healing.  The sentence: “Please use wisdom when considering crystal therapies for healing.”

The phrase “please use wisdom” was my nice way of saying “don’t be a dumbass.”

As the years passed and my business grew, I occasionally encountered customers with dangerous pseudoscientific ideas about crystal healing.  For example, I’ve received numerous emails asking me, “which crystal will cure my cancer?” or “what stone will heal my child’s suicidal depression?”  I always answer with exceptional care, as though I am handling a live bomb.  I strongly encourage people to trust doctors and therapists rather than rocks.  Because a real life is at stake! This is not a game we can afford to gamble on.  Life is too precious for that.  Sometimes people appreciated my candor and concern.  I might even make a sale later on.  Sometimes people were angered or disappointed.  Presumably they went to find another alternative healer who could offer them a cheap and easy “cure.”

At least once a month I get asked to explain How It Works.  People believe in crystal healing and they want to use the stones correctly.  When directly asked, I always answer candidly.  I don’t have a ready-made copy/paste response or a generic article to share with people.  Instead I thoughtfully respond as the moment prompts me.  The overwhelming response to my words of guidance has been pleasure and empowerment.  I help people act wisely, rather than hope for magical solutions.

In 2020, I heard about crystals being advertised to cure or protect against Covid-19.  I was livid at the idea but I didn’t do anything other than rant and rave to my best friend.  There were plenty of other things to keep me busy and distracted in 2020, so the Day of Reckoning was delayed.  But in the meantime, I watched the death toll in my nation and around the world grow higher.  In the meantime, I focused on ethical sourcing and explored crystal healing from an activist perspective.

I told the author, “While everything else in the book reads as pleasantly mystical, this sentence has a scientific vibe.  It’s “truthy.”  The information is presented factually, but this is a spiritual opinion not a definitive fact.  Those of us who feel energies, feel them.  But there’s no scientific evidence for it at the moment.  To present the idea of frequencies as a fact is pseudoscience and I strongly recommend against it.”  The author wrote back in laughter.  She agreed with me and had originally written a softer sentence.  Her editor was the one who had pushed her to claim crystal vibrations as a definitive fact.

The Day of Reckoning was still put off, but not for long.

A few days later, the US Capital building was attacked.  I wasn’t surprised but I was saddened.  I went to Facebook to offer calm words and comfort to my customers during a stressful collective moment.  But personally, I was anything but comforted.  I spent the next few days train-of-thought-researching, mostly on history and psychology topics.  I didn’t know exactly what I was searching for, but knew I was on the scent of something.  I knew there was something I needed to better understand about my fellow countrymen and myself.  How did it get this bad?  How can we heal a nation so sharply divided?

Five days after the attack, I noticed something very curious.  I had personalized the attack.  The spiritual maxim Peace Begins With Me had taken on a very literal energy.  I asked my sweetheart, if I might bounce around some ideas with him.  When I told him, I was taking it personal, he was quick to defend me and make sure I knew I was NOT responsible for what had happened and that I’m a wonderful person.  Yes, yes, blah, blah, blah… but I asked him to let me explore the concept a bit anyway because I’m a curious cat.  I reassured him I wasn’t blaming myself for what happened, but I was curious to see if I did bear any responsibility.  I wondered aloud:

  • Have I allowed conspiracy theories to take root?
  • Have I encouraged confirmation bias?
  • Have I ignored science and logic?
  • Have I opposed toxic energy or given it space to grow?
  • Have I been so eager to preserve my own self-image as the “good guy” that I’ve refused to entertain any culpability, whether intentional or accidental?

My partner insisted I had done nothing of the sort.  That I’m nothing like “them.”  I reminded him

I sell healing crystals on the internet.

For a minute or two we danced around the subject, neither one of us wanting to say the word.  Until I simply had to name the elephant in the room – how do the words on my website promote pseudoscientific ideas about healing?  Especially when it comes to healing the physical body.  Especially in light of a global pandemic when I live in a country where millions of people don’t believe in masks or vaccines and don’t trust the medical expertise of people like Dr. Fauci or my mom.  While I don’t want to think I promote pseudoscience, how easily could my words be misinterpreted?  Could someone read on my website that a stone is good for the immune system and use that as permission to rely on a rock rather than a mask or vaccine?

The Day of Reckoning had formally arrived.

Interestingly, I immediately felt a sense of peace and pleasant anticipation settle into me.  I am exactly where I’m supposed to be and doing the work I’m supposed to do.

My partner asked me if I could just delete the physical healing sections.  I told him that would be the easy thing to do, but not the right thing.  When a million voices are singing the wrong note, silence isn’t the correct response.

When describing how crystal healing works, there’s currently three options available:

  • Present crystal healing in pseudoscientific terms.  This is very dangerous and does everyone a disservice.  Unfortunately, the majority of crystal teachers and authors do this.
  • Present crystal healing as “for entertainment purposes only” while still promoting pseudoscience.  This is also dangerous, but has the advantage of keeping the crystal seller or author from being sued if someone dies or is horribly injured.
  • Present crystal healing vaguely and poetically using words like vibration, attunement, aligned and healing which can be interpreted metaphorically or literally.  Up until now, this is where I uncomfortably placed myself.

There’s needs to be another option.  One that is no-nonsense, emotionally intelligent and explains exactly what it means to “use wisdom” in regards to crystal healing.  I haven’t written it yet, but I already know it’s going to feel good to me and to anyone who can feel crystal energy.  It’s also going to feel good to people who don’t feel or believe in crystal energy at all.  In fact, the only people who are going to dislike my words, are the people who are actively profiting off of pseudoscience.

Over the next few months, I will be completely overhauling every part of my website where I discuss physical healing or where it ventures into the gray-zone where pseudoscience thrives.  This is hundreds of pages of work, so it will take me some time.  The biggest monster is the physical healing index; it’s going to be a beast to grapple with, but I’ve got some ideas about how to handle it appropriately.  I want to keep this index, because if I don’t address it directly and only offer my silence, then the pseudoscientific words of others aren’t being challenged.

I will also be offering clear definitions to help people better understand science vs pseudoscience vs mysticism, and how those terms relate to crystal healing.  Best of all I will finally officially explain

This doesn’t mean I’m going to strip away the magic.  Instead, I’m going to reveal something very beautiful and true.

Just like I once explained that crystals come from mines and good energy requires ethical sourcing, now I’m going to explain how crystal healing works in real life to bless and not to harm.

Stay tuned and stay curious.