Crystals and pseudoscience
What should I believe in?
Recently I’ve been getting ads on Instagram about the AuraBloom VIP Crystal Club. The ads tell me that I could receive one free crystal a month, with an explanation of its therapeutic properties, so long as I provide them feedback on each crystal I receive. I just need to fill out an eligibility questionnaire with questions like “Do you go to therapy?”, “Do you own tarot cards?”, and “What is your zodiac sign?”, and then sign up if admitted to the program.
It turns out that you still have to pay for shipping and handling, which may be worth it for some. I honestly wasn’t sure. I passed their eligibility test, and I felt very tempted to subscribe. Regardless of whether they actually have therapeutic properties, crystals are visually attractive and seem like cool items to possess. I already have a cheap selenite wand from Five Below, which I have used to aid in breathing exercises to center and “cleanse” myself.
Ultimately I waited too long, and the last few spots in the VIP Crystal Club filled up. But this made me think about how much I want to engage with spiritual practices that really are pseudosciences. As a person who was taught to be logical and who highly values clear reasoning as a counterweight to their emotional intensity, I cannot fully believe in theories stating that crystals have specific therapeutic effects, or that the arrangement of the planets and stars at the time of your birth determines your personality, or that the orientation of buildings and furniture in relation to “life energy” significantly affects your health and good fortune. But crystals, astrology, and feng shui are popular practices among people who describe themselves as “spiritual but not religious.” It can feel like even if I don’t believe in these practices, I am bombarded by them anyway and can’t really ignore them.
The other problem with crystals in particular is that they have become a commodity, to be mined from the Earth in potentially unethical ways, to be bought and sold and bought and sold, to be possessed by the affluent and lacked by the poor. Why should spirituality be something you must buy into? Is it ethical to promote the usage of crystals in spiritual practice, when there are plenty of other practices that don’t rely on extraction from the Earth and of other people’s labor? One person passionate about crystals doesn’t harm much, but a whole subculture of society does.
But of course, a lot of activities in general perpetuate hidden harms; that is the nature of global capitalism. So I shouldn’t stress too much about the ethics of all this, only try my best to make choices that are right for me. And I think I can let myself be satisfied with my selenite wand and my jade necklace as the crystals I use to aid my healing. As my therapist reminded me this week, crystals are symbols. It’s not the rocks that heal us, but rather the symbols that do.