Crystals for Healing Trauma

Three rows of five crystals on a white background.

This is advice on which crystals can support your trauma healing journey.

I’m no crystal expert, but as I was going through a rough divorce and ugly custody battle several years ago, I found myself in regular panic attacks with crushing anxiety. I had trouble grounding and remaining present.

Innately, without much knowledge about crystals, I gravitated toward them. I picked out a black tourmaline bracelet and wore it constantly for two years. I later read that it can help with grounding and releasing negativity. So I do feel like it was some sort of spiritual guidance that led me to the bracelet that I wore during that traumatic time in my life.

I’m now a trauma-informed certified coach helping people get through similar experiences. And while there are many healing modalities and support tools that can help you holistically heal trauma (which can be a complex but doable process), today I want to focus on the amazing healing properties of crystals that I’ve come to find assist in the journey.

The topics in this article include:

Where Spirituality Fits into Healing Trauma

Oftentimes, when healing trauma, having or starting a safe, grounding, and aligned spiritual practice can help you have faith (a.k.a. trust) in the healing process and know you’re not alone.

When you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel and know you’re in for a long journey, leaning into your spirituality (separate from your religion, even though it can be intertwined) can help to embrace the journey.

It can help you make meaning of your experiences and provide emotional strength where you didn’t know you had it.

If you don’t have a strong spirituality, haven’t given it much thought, or know it’s time to expand your existing practice, crystals are a great gateway to assist with that.

Crystals are Earthly manifestations of the ethereal and divine. Don’t they just look like little pieces of galaxies or heaven encapsulated in a solid shape? They connect us to the Earth, even if we can’t get out into nature as much as we’d like. But due to their ethereal nature, they also connect us to the divine.

Why Crystals Can Help Heal Trauma

Moving energy is a big part of healing trauma. When you’ve experienced trauma, your mind, body, and spirit can be imprinted. In other words, your physical body, mental and emotional bodies, your spiritual body, and your energetic body are impacted.

Even though we can’t all see energy, it exists. That’s a fact. It can’t be created or destroyed, but it can be transferred.

When you get stuck in trauma loops, not only is the fear and pain energy sometimes stuck in our bodies and minds, but to help move it, you must move energy. When your perspective shifts around an event and you can start to see the lessons learned and blessings that resulted afterward, even if you went through something unimaginable, then your energy starts to shift. And when your energy shifts, you start to heal. You start to become unstuck.

Movement of your body, mind, spirit, and energy help heal trauma. Trauma often happens as a result of being trapped or unable to escape or help in the face of adversity. So movement is the key to reversing that feeling — proving to yourself you’re no longer trapped or helpless.

Now, how in the world do crystals fit into this, you might ask.

Crystals are channels of energy. And they each have specific physical and metaphysical properties that attract certain things, repel certain things, and assist with moving certain types of energies.

Therefore, crystals invite energetic and spiritual movement into our lives. That energetic and spiritual movement oftentimes then supports mental and physical movement.

So, crystals are a wonderful tool to add to your trauma healing toolkit.

My Favorite Crystals for Trauma

I believe in the healing power and support available from crystals so much, based on my own experience, I use them in my coaching practice while I’m coaching. They help me set intentions for sessions, tap into my intuition, and clear energy in between sessions. Plus, they’re beautiful and joyful.

I also include a stress and anxiety healing crystal starter pack in my welcome kit to all new clients who sign up for long term coaching packages. I carefully considered with crystals would be the best to support my clients in healing trauma. To do this, I consulted a friend and owner of a little independent metaphysical shop based in El Paso, TX, called Abstract Serenity.

We tossed our ideas around with each other. I told the shop owner what areas my clients typically need support in, including grounding, nurturing the root chakra, and also being seen and heard (so throat chakra) as many of my clients have made themselves small and unseen as motivated by the need to protect themselves. Exercising voice while grounded and centered can be very powerful for my clients. Managing the stress and anxiety that comes with being in a trauma loop is also important.

Here’s what we came up with as the best crystals for the job:

(The descriptions of crystal properties below are a combination of my own learning over the years and paraphrasing from crystal sites that I like to visit. My insight comes in where I’ve connected the properties to how they help heal trauma. Because I’m not an expert on crystal properties, I’ve linked to the other sites below to give credit where credit is due. Also, if you’d like to learn more about crystal properties, a book I really love is The Crystal Bible by Judy Hall. These aren’t paid or affiliate links — they’re just links I like.)

Fire Quartz

Fire quartz has the amplification properties of clear quartz yet is combined with hematoid and therefore grounds, balances, clears, and activates the root chakra. The root chakra is where you get centered and find your inner stability and strength. When you work on strengthening your root, you can grow by leaps and bounds as it’s the foundation to build from.

Learn more here.

Amethyst

Amethyst is a beautiful universal healer. It can help decrease stress and promote balance, focus, and alignment. I do a lot of alignment work with my clients and the ability to discover who you truly are without all the conditioning and expectations of others can be very healing.

Learn more here.

Angelite

Angelite does a lot of things, especially when it comes to connecting with your angels and universal truths. But the reason it’s important to healing trauma is that it assists with healing your throat chakra. This means it assists with freely and honestly speaking your truth. It can give you strength when you fear being judged or rejected if you communicate your needs or desires. Not only does being seen and heard help with healing trauma, but clearer and aligned communication builds stronger and better relationships, and that connection in turn helps as well.

Learn more here.

Black Tourmaline

Black Tourmaline has powerful grounding capabilities. When you ground and center, you can self regulate and soothe when experiencing anxiety. You can be calm and feel safe with its protective properties and ability to dispel and/or absorb negative energy away from you. Thus, it can support you in replacing old patterns for newer, more positive ones.

Learn more here.

Blue Kyanite

Blue Kyanite supports communication and self expression. It helps eliminate blockages and to develop your intuition. Again, expression is important in being seen and heard, which is freeing for people who’ve made themselves invisible as a protection from trauma. But also, learning to trust your intuition again after trauma is an important step in healing.

Learn more here.

Clear Quartz

Clear Quartz is a wonderful beginner stone that amplifies any intention you have, so combined with your other stones and the intentions you set around healing, this beauty can really be a healer.

Learn more here.

Selenite and/or Ice Calcite

Selenite doesn’t really need to be cleansed because it’s a cleansing stone. It connects you to your dreams and helps clear out energy. Like selenite, ice calcite is a great clearing stone. It promotes balance, clarity, and assists with removing negative energy. Clearing out old energy is helpful in creating new habits. If we put that in “healing trauma” terms, that means letting go of old patterns and creating new coping strategies that serve you better now that you’re safe.

Learn more here.

All of these stones listed above are in some way related to you becoming closer to the truth of who you are and building confidence in that.

As the needs of my client base change (if they do) and I find other crystals that could help support trauma healing, I’ll add them to this list.

(To see what other stress and anxiety relief goodies are in the Welcome Kit, check out the coaching packages page.)

Other Healing Crystals to Add to Your Collection Later

The list above is great to get started. After you’ve been using them for a while in your healing practices, you may want to add others into your collection. There are plenty with metaphysical properties that draw in energy that can expand your awareness and bring more love into your life — all of which are great ingredients for healing trauma outside of reducing stress and anxiety.

One crystal that’s not included in my client welcome kit that I’ve also used in my own trauma healing is apatite. I was at a local festival and came across an artisan selling tree of life necklaces. The leaves of the tree were made of tiny crystals. I bought the one I was most drawn to, later to discover that it was blue apatite.

Blue Apatite

Another throat chakra goodie, Blue Apatite can help with speaking your inner truth and finding higher guidance when you need it.

Rose Quartz

Rose Quartz is all about increasing the love in your life and feeling all the love.

Elestial Quartz

I love this one. It connects you to ancient wisdom, the cosmos, your intuition, purification, protection, and grounding. It’s great for healing your spirit.

Aquamarine

This watery crystal helps with integration of all parts of yourself and enhances creativity. After trauma, parts of you become fragmented, so putting them all back together, acknowledging them, and loving them for what they are is extremely healing. Aquamarine is also a great crystal to have to help with empowerment.

Opalite

Opalite is a man-made stone ready to help with developing your intuition and business success. I believe it can help with success in general, however.

Moonstone

Moonstone helps with abundance, emotional clearing, and bringing joy and manifestation into the forefront. Healing and changing your life to be more aligned with who you are and what you want out of life requires manifestation — in other words, creation.

Celestite

A soothing crystal, Celestite connects you closer to your angels and promotes peace and harmony. Peace and harmony are the opposite of chaos, and come with healing trauma.

Seashells or rocks from a place that’s sacred to you

Whether you’re at the beach and love the relaxation and peace that comes from hearing the waves break on the shore or you’re hiking the Grand Canyon and are proving to yourself that you can do hard things, grab a little piece to bring home with you to remind you of the energy that healed something in you while you were there.

How to Use Healing Crystals for Anxiety

One thing all my clients show up with is some kind of anxiety — me included. So it can be helpful to use crystals when you’re trying to regulate and reduce your anxiety.

(Remember, I’m not a licensed healthcare provider and I’m not giving medical advice, so do be sure to ask your doctor any questions you may have about anxiety.)

Crystals can help with this because they’re channels of energy and a connection to nature and our natural world. They can be a very calming, grounding, and empowering presence.

However, they can hold onto residual energy that you may want and need, but that also means they can hold onto residual energy you might not want. This means crystals need maintenance from time to time. Here’s a great resource for how to care for your crystals.

So, you must first know how to take care of your crystals, cleanse them, and charge them properly. Then, you’re then ready to start using them. I typically cleanse my crystals in between every use. I charge them less regularly, but probably should do so more often.

Next, it’s important to ground.

After that, (and this is optional), you can call in your team of angels and spirit guides to assist you in working with your crystals and calming your anxiety.

Then, set your intentions with them. If you pray, this is sort of like praying over them. If you don’t really pray, this is like sending vibes out to them letting them know what you want and need help with — communicate what you intend to happen as a result of spending time with them.

For instance, you might say something (aloud or in your head) like:

“I’m safe and protected. I have the power to change what isn’t working for me. I want to soothe my body and mind so they can know this truth.”

Then, place them where they can be most useful. For example, you can place crystals around your house, office, car, or in your purse or bra even to bring in natural healing energy to your environment and to your body. You’ll want to place crystals in rooms where you’re stressed and anxious the most. Or, use them to clear the energy in those rooms. Place crystals on your body where you’re feeling emotions or sensations that could be related to your trauma. For instance, if you’re feeling grief in your throat, you can place a crystal on your throat while you lie down and let the emotion pass. If anxiety tends to reside in your back or jawline, you can lay crystals in those areas. Don’t leave them on for too long though.

When I’m using crystals, I like to place them in a grid in front of me.

Many crystals come in jewelry form, so you can easily wear them in a necklace, bracelet, or ring too.

If you’re able to meditate and like to do that to reduce or control your anxiety, you can incorporate crystals into that practice.

Finally, feel gratitude for your crystals and healing journey and go on about your day.

Be sure to cleanse them when you’re done and before your next use.

Using Crystals Intuitively

I use my crystals intuitively and encourage you to do the same. For example, this can be as simple as, if you get the urge to pick up a crystal, do it. If you find yourself drawn to a particular crystal, listen. That’s your intuition or inner guidance calling.

Observe the textures and crystalline patterns on and within them. Appreciate their beauty. Ask the universe what you need and pay attention to little signs and synchronicities that show up to answer you.

Crystals are beautiful reminders of your own power. Once you embrace that power you have within, you can navigate life with ease and grace. You can use your strengths to their utmost potential regardless of what’s going on in the external world around you.

What other ways can you think of to use crystals in your healing practices?