Crystals have a regular atomic structure and it is the most orderly structure in nature. Their atoms are arranged in a geometrical pattern called a crystal lattice and these structures enable crystals to absorb, reflect, transform, transmute, direct, amplify, balance, clear and focus energies.

Many people are currently awakening to the power of crystals and trying to find out how they can be of use in their lives. They may own crystals and even use them for healing but now feel as if their knowledge must go deeper in order to find their unique link. Some feel that as the vibration of mother earth raises so do the crystals and Mineral Kingdom which hold it together and in this way feel as if it is the crystals themselves which are awakening them and enabling them to hear their songs.

In this part of the site we look at crystals from a three-dimensional scientific and higher-dimensional esoteric perspective and their relationship to sound.

Starting with a look at the scientific evidence
Before delving deeper into the metaphysical secrets of the crystals you may want to look at the valuable place they aleady hold in our daily lives, acknowledging their many uses and giving them the full credit and respect they deserve. We can start by grounding this knowledge and bringing it down to earth!

A mineral is composed of the same substance throughout i.e. if you were to cut a mineral sample, it would look consistently the same. They have an inner regular atomic structure which forms a three-dimensional crystal lattice. Most of the earth's crystals were formed millions of years ago and the process requires immense heat and pressure. In the case of Quartz a single silicon atom fuses with two oxygen atoms to form a single crystalline cell of silicon dioxide which is then replicated, under the right conditions, to form the crystal lattice.

Crystals are in fact minerals that have had the chance, by way of space, to grow in the shape they were meant to be and this means manifesting in beautiful outer geometric shapes. Some exceptions to this are when a mineral forms in a space where there is not enough room for it to manifest its crystal shape and the mineral is then called a massive mineral or when it cools very quickly thereby not having enough time to grow it’s crystalline structure as in natural glass and this mineral is known as amorphous. All minerals belong to one of seven crystal systems which describe their internal symmetry in the arrangement of their component atoms or molecules.

Crystals then form when the liquid rock from inside the earth cools and hardens. Sometimes crystals form when liquids underground find their way into cracks and slowly deposit minerals. Most mineral crystals take thousands of years to "grow" but some like Rock Salt (Halite) can form so quickly that you can grow them at home.

The first is that due to their regular atomic structure (which is the most regular found in nature) crystals vibrate at a constant frequency. In fact each crystal has its own (unique) vibratory rate which is determined by it’s colour frequency, chemical composition, inner atomic structure and outer form.

The second is due to something called the piezoelectric effect (discovered by Jacques and Pierre Curie in 1880) which is the ability of certain crystals to become electrically polarized when subjected to mechanical stress that is to say that tension and compression generate voltages of opposite polarity. Furthermore they also confirmed that the effect could be reversed and this was termed the inverse piezoelectric effect.

To put this into a context we may be more familiar with watches work by the quartz being jolted by electricity externally – and use the constant pulse to move the second hand and microphones in recording equipment using Quartz to convert sound waves into electrical signals which allow sound to be amplified.

A more esoteric look at crystals
Each crystal has its own unique vibratory rate which is the result of its colour frequency, chemical composition, inner atomic structure and outer form. When something vibrates on our planet it creates a mechanical sound wave which is carried from one location to another. Usually the medium through which this is carried is air although it could be any series of interconnected and interacting particles or material such as string, steel and even water. This means that every object has a sound although some sound waves are below or above our audible hearing range (read more about sound in the voice section).

Esoterically the properties of crystals include amplification and it has long been muted that the rocks at Stonehenge were amplifiers – the Quartz in the Granite amplifying the drums, or the singing, occurring in the middle of the stones out to a larger audience. As mentioned previously, everything has a sound and although we may not be able to hear it with our regular sense of hearing, there are reports of standing stones at stone circles and at sacred ancient sites being heard by "attuned" human ears. There are also reports of underground humming which is known as Hummadruz (a word coined in the 19th Century for an enigmatic low humming noise).

What might be meant by "attuned" hearing? Our everyday hearing is one of our five senses and linked to left-brained Beta wave activity which is associated with the frequencies of our linear three-dimensional world. Once we slow down, relax, close our eyes, meditate or focus on the present moment we step out of linear time and can move into right-brained activity to Alpha brainwaves and beyond. Alpha, Theta and Delta brainwaves are associated with the frequencies of expanded multi-dimensional consciousness which uses the whole energy system and allows us to hear with our "inner ears" (read more about multidimensional consciousness and our brainwaves in the voice section). It is from such an expanded consciousness that we can also hear with attuned ears the sound of crystals and perceive and communicate with their presence. From this point we can also access their stored messages, possibly recorded up to 4.6 billion years ago!!

Current third dimensional science has not proven that minerals have any awareness as we recognize it, although a crystal presence has been captured on video by the scientist Harry Oldfield, on a video imaging system using the technology of Kirlian photography. However, healers and shaman, who work with more than just the three dimensions through an expanded multi-dimensional consciousness, have been recognizing the power of crystals and using them as healing tools for many centuries. Esoterically, their lattice-like structures enable crystals to absorb, reflect, transform, transmute, direct, amplify, balance, clear and focus energies. This esoteric or sacred knowledge has now been appropriated by the New Age philosophies, particularly in the West, along with the belief that we are returning to ancient ways, as prophesized, for the next stage in our evolution (read more about this in the light section).