Crystal Grids and Reiki
For the past two weeks, we’ve talked about using crystals to support your healing (Click to read the first one and the second one). Today I want to talk about one more crystal topic: crystal grids.
Crystal grids are created by placing crystals on some sort of grid pattern. There are all kinds of instructions about how to do this. Some of the most common ones are: Work from the outside in. Use points to “beam” the energy out to the universe. Add quartz to amplify the energy. Write down your intentions for what you want to manifest from the grid.Select stones that attract what you want to manifest. Make sure the stones are placed in geometric patterns.
Crystal grids are created by placing crystals on some sort of grid pattern. There are all kinds of instructions about how to do this. Some of the most common ones are: Work from the outside in. Use points to “beam” the energy out to the universe. Add quartz to amplify the energy. Write down your intentions for what you want to manifest from the grid. Select stones that attract what you want to manifest. Make sure the stones are placed in geometric patterns. you do with them. You select crystals that “attract” something you want in your life and you arrange them to “beam” your intention into the universe. You also add crystals to “strengthen” that beam and you use geometric patterns to make sure those “beams” go in all directions.
This type of crystal grid works looks beautiful and is not without energy, but you won’t be surprised to know that I don’t subscribe to most of this. First of all, as I discussed in my earlier crystal posts, crystals don’t necessarily “attract” what I want to manifest. Instead, crystals have energy that can support me in my self-healing work. If I cannot create what I wat in my life, it means that something energetic is blocking that manifestation. Only by clearing and healing that energy block can I begin to manifest what I want. The crystals essentially work locally with my own energy body. There really isn’t a need to “beam” energy anywhere or “strengthen” the reach of the grid.
Using this concept of crystals as partners in my energy clearing and healing, I realize that it is the energy of the crystals that matters, not so much the shape, color, or “strength.” With this in mind, I use my intuition to select crystals and place them on a grid so they can work together to support my self-healing. This creates a grid that may not be beautiful or geometric but has deep energetic meaning for my healing work. Below is one of my current crystal grids that I am working with now.
As you can see, it’s not nearly as pretty as the ones you find on the internet (if you look carefully, you will even see that I have an essential oil in the middle of the grid!). You might argue that it is ugly, ungeometric, and unbalanced. Just looking at it, you are absolutely correct. However, when I feel the energy of the grid, I know that it is exactly what I need right now. That’s because the stones were selected to support some energy healing I have been working through, rather than selected based on trying to attract something to me (or to look pretty). You will also see that I don’t repeat stones. I know that looks pretty in a grid, but having more than one of the same crystal doesn’t amplify it or change the energy of the grid in any way. If there is a crystal that wants to work with my energy body, then just having one in the grid is sufficient. I do find that the placement of the crystals matters, but not in the way most of the popular instructions for crystal grids imply. There aren’t hard rules for how to do it (outside-in or inside-out). The placement depends a bit on the intention you set and the grid you use.
I’m not saying that crystal grids that are created based on some of the popular guidelines are worthless or wrong. The grid will still have energy that will do its best to support your healing, but it may not be able to support you as well as it could. Or it may be more expensive to create than is necessary (some grids use tons of repeat crystals!). Or maybe it will just look pretty and feel good, even if it’s not doing a whole lot to “attract” what you want. Or maybe it is exactly what you need and exactly as effective as it needs to be to support you. All of these are possibilities. However, I do think that understanding how crystal grids help you clear energy and heal will give you information you need to build better grids.
Last summer I also took a class in Crystal Reiki and learned a bit more about using Reiki along with the crystal grid. Some might say that the Reiki “strengthens” the grid or “amplifies” the energy. This language, however, is still based on the same misunderstanding that the grid reaches out into the universe and draws what you want into your life. Instead, the Reiki becomes another energy that works with the crystal energies to support your healing. Reiki is often described as the energy of love that can clear and heal energy blocks in the body. Alone, none of the crystals or the Reiki can clear every energy block you have. Together, though, they have a wide range of energy frequencies that work with you to clear energy blocks and heal. That’s why working with crystal grids and Reiki can be such a rewarding experience.
So, let’s pull all this together and I will tell you how I go about creating a crystal grid. Know that none of these are hard and fast rules. They are just guidelines to work with.
I state an intention for what I want to work on. Writing it down is helpful, but not necessary. Key to this is the understanding that I’m not just attracting good things to my life, but I'm also clearing and healing what is keeping me from accepting those things. My intention focuses on something I want to heal or something I want to create by removing barriers keeping it away.
I select a grid that will support me in achieving my intention. There are many different kinds of grid shapes. Some are simply geometric while others, like the seed of life, have traditional meanings associated with them. Once I select a grid, I print the grid I on paper.
With my grid and intention in place, I start to sort through my crystal collection (or I go to the store and wander around). Using my intuition, I select the crystal energies that will support me in the clearing and healing process. I don’t look at the crystals, but I feel them. I pick them up and sense if their energy wants to be a part of this grid. I believe that my body knows what it needs. This includes knowing what crystals will help me clear and heal my energy.
Once I have selected the crystals that want to be a part of this grid, I begin to lay them out. There are no rules to this. I sometimes work in circles, outside in, inside out, left to right, or whatever works at the moment. I use my intuition to feel where each crystal wants to be placed in relation to the others.
Once all the crystals are placed, I send Reiki into the grid to activate it.
I then spend some time feeling the energy of the grid working to help me clear and heal whatever it is keeping me from making my intention reality. Often those first few minutes after a grid is activated can bring a huge rush of energy and insight to my attention. It can be a pretty awesome feeling!
I then leave the grid for a few weeks but continue to pay attention to see what comes up regarding my intention. Maybe I suddenly see my problem in a new way that gives me creative ideas of how to move forward. Maybe I become aware that I need different kinds of help to heal and move toward my intention. Sometimes I break through a wall that I had never been able to breach before and suddenly see my intention becoming a reality! Waiting to see what comes up is part of the process.
Has every grid I created resulted in a manifestation of my intention? No, not all of them. To be honest, I seem to manifest things remarkably slowly. I know that some of my intentions are still in the works. Other grids have helped me break through barriers and brought me closer to my goals. Others were wildly successful at helping me heal whatever I was working on. The results are varied, but no grid I have ever created was ever worthless. They were all supportive in some way as I have moved closer to realizing my intentions.
Are you ready to create some ugly crystal grids? Start with what you have and don’t be afraid to make a grid that FEELS right even if it isn’t picture-perfect. The ones that flow out of your intentions and intuition will be much more supportive of your healing than one selected based on assumptions of attraction.
Want some help building your grid? Send me an email and we can chat! There are many ways to do this. Maybe you just need a little help ditching the rules, connecting with your intuition, and creating a grid that feels right to you.
