Intuition vs. Paranoia

As you work more with crystals and develop your Third Eye Chakra, you may notice yourself sensing things. Maybe you were thinking about your partner and they called. Maybe you’re noticing a repeated number, or a new colleague at work just makes you feel uncomfortable, even though they’ve never done anything to you.

These observations can be just coincidences, or they can be the result of a heightened intuition.

But how can you tell? When are you receiving a sign from the universe or your spirit guides, and when are you just misinterpreting things because of anxiety?

Is It A Sign from the Universe?

You’ve probably heard some variation of Ockham’s razor: the simplest solution is usually the correct one.

For example, if you come home from work and find the mug you left in the sink broken, you have a few possible explanations. Maybe an angry neighbor snuck into your home and broke the mug. Or maybe your playful cat jumped into the sink and accidentally knocked it over.

In general, Ockham’s razor applies, and most “spooky” events are no more than coincidences—but not all of them.

Signs tend to have specificity and repetition, whereas coincidences are random, one-off events.

Our intuition communicates with us in many ways. Sometimes it’s just a gut feeling, an instinct that you can’t shake, or a particularly vivid dream. Many people experience “angel numbers,” or repeated numbers that are messages from angels; 11:11 is a very common one in pop culture. For others, seeing a certain animal over and over again may be a deity or spirit guide reaching out.

Personally, I have always found a heads-up penny when I needed encouragement; it’s like a little hug from the universe. I found one right before a major breakup, but I found four as I nervously made my way to my first date with my fiancé.

If you are unsure whether something is a sign, ask yourself some questions:

• Did you ask for a sign?
• Is it a recurring event, such as repeatedly noticing a certain color, number, or animal?
• Are you emotionally compromised due to fatigue, anxiety, hunger, or anger?
• If you’re getting weird vibes from another person, is there a reason they might be emotionally compromised?

Your ability to recognize signs will develop along with your spiritual growth. Remembering Ockham’s razor and engaging in some deep introspection can guide you. But if you need more insight, reach for a crystal!

Crystals To Help Recognize and Interpret Signs

Crystals channel divine energy, and if you think your intuition is trying to talk to you, they are your best bet. Simply meditate with any of the following crystals to understand whether or not something is a sign and interpret its meaning.

Amethyst is one of our favorite crystals for signs. This stone resonates strongly with your Third Eye and Crown Chakras. It unlocks your intuition and channels divine wisdom, so that you can recognize signs more easily and understand them more effectively. Amethyst is especially powerful for dream work.

Blue Lace Agate links your Crown Chakra to the Throat Chakra to help you grasp divine messages. This crystal also promotes deep introspection, and, if you are misinterpreting something because of negativity, Blue Lace Agate will gently redirect you to the truth.

When you encounter a sign but don’t know what it means, reach for Angelite. This crystal is your direct connection to the angelic realm. Angelite encourages communication with your spirit guides, and it gives you the wisdom to truly understand and apply their lessons.

If you still don’t know how to approach a sign, use Clear Quartz! As its name implies, Clear Quartz is perfect for clarifying a situation. This crystal will immediately reveal the truth.

Signs are a powerful way that the universe communicates with us, but sometimes we need help recognizing and understanding them. In those moments, crystals are the answer!

Staying Focused in a World Full of Distraction

Have you ever been working on something, only to find yourself suddenly on social media, with no recollection of even opening the app?

These days, it can be hard to just watch TV without reaching for your phone.

While it’s amazing to instantly communicate with friends across the country and get live news from around the world, the constant influx of information can also be overwhelming.

When the notifications and blue screens are too much, crystals are here to help. They channel nature’s vibrations to help you focus on the present and the important tasks you need to do now.

Whether you are looking to finish a major project or simply reconnect with the Earth, there is a focusing crystal for you.

Clear Quartz

Clear Quartz reveals the truth at the heart of any situation. It encourages profound self-reflection so that you can set the best, healthiest routines for your life. This crystal will help you re-evaluate your habits, such as screen time or credit card usage, to eliminate stressors and distractions. Clear Quartz’s restorative energy increases both your focus and energy levels so that you can really get stuff done.

Fluorite

Fluorite is a clarifying, protective crystal that sharpens your mind. It assists with information processing, organization, and concentration. Fluorite also absorbs negative energy and stress, allowing you to cut through the noise of life to focus on what needs your attention most. If you are struggling with decision-making, this crystal will guide you to the right choice.

Hematite

Known as the “Stone of the Mind,” Hematite balances your brain. It resonates strongly with your intellectual side and encourages critical thinking skills, memory, and concentration. If you are in school, Hematite is the perfect study buddy. Hematite is also a profoundly grounding stone, keeping you stable even when life gets crazy.

Howlite

When everything seems to be moving too fast, Howlite reminds you to be patient. This calming crystal promotes knowledge, trust, and relaxation. Howlite allows you to channel your emotions and creativity into productivity. It helps you identify which tasks require your attention and inspires the dedication needed to complete them.

Obsidian

A highly protective crystal, Obsidian keeps your heart, mind, and soul free from negativity and blockages. This alignment shines a light on any issue so that you can see it clearly. Obsidian works with your Root and Solar Plexus Chakras to instill you with confidence and balance.

Tiger’s Eye

When you are working towards a goal that feels unachievable, reach for Tiger’s Eye. This crystal empowers you to work hard and overcome any setbacks. Tiger’s Eye channels this energy to your mind, allowing it to remain focused and dedicated. Meditating with Tiger’s Eye helps uncover your life’s purpose, so that you can channel this newfound energy toward the things that will truly enrich you.

Modern life is amazing, but it can be stressful, too. Reach for any of these crystals to help you focus so you can achieve your goals and build a healthy, balanced life.

Mining for Crystals: Did Someone Say Road Trip?

The snow is melting, the ground is thawing–spring is here! What better way to celebrate the warm weather than with a good, old-fashioned road trip?

While you should still hit up Root 66 and all the wacky roadside attractions you can find, we here at My Dream Crystals have some other locations you should add to your list.

Did you know that you can mine your own crystals? From California to New York, there are mines all over the United States where you can have the profound–and profoundly fun–experience of pulling your own crystals out of the Earth. Wherever you live in the US, there is probably a crystal mine within driving distance!

Here are some of the best hotspots for mining your own crystals—perfect for day trips, spiritual connection, and family fun!

Crystal Grove Diamond Mine (St. Johnsville, New York)

North of the Big Apple, Crystal Grove Diamond Mine specializes in Herkimer diamonds, a lovely form of double-terminated Quartz that only forms within Dolomite deposits in upstate New York. The mines also contain Calcite and Pyrite.

The open pit Crystal Grove Diamond Mines offers three collections sites, as well as a campground, making it a great road trip stop. You have the option to find crystals by sight, sift through dirt, or do some serious mining.

Emerald Hollow Mine (Hiddenite, North Carolina)

The 70-acre property at Emerald Hollow Mine is obviously an amazing source for our favorite Beryl variety (Emerald)–in fact, it is the only Emerald mine in the US open to the public–but it also has Amethyst, Aquamarine, Citrine, Garnet, Sapphire, Topaz, Tourmaline, and the town’s namesake mineral, Hiddenite.

Emerald Hollow Mine offers three different crystal-hunting options: sluicing, creeking, and digging. Sluicing is great for families, because it is a non-strenuous activity that guarantees you’ll find a precious stone. Creeking adds another layer of adventure, where you can search through a creek bed made from water that carries minerals from the mine. Finally, digging allows you to hike up to the mine and pull your own crystals right from the rock.

Emerald Hollow Mine also has a lapidary who can help you create jewelry with the crystals you find!

Cherokee Ruby and Sapphire Mine (Franklin, North Carolina)

Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Cherokee Ruby and Sapphire Mine is home to an extremely rare form of Ruby, Pigeon-Blood Ruby, as well as Clear Quartz, Garnet, Moonstone, Sapphire, Smokey Quartz, and other crystals.

Tourists visiting the mine are given the opportunity to sort through buckets of soil. While some might find the buckets less visceral than getting down and dirty, Cherokee Ruby and Sapphire Mine is one of the few places where the soil isn’t “salted”–enriched with outside crystals–so it is still an authentic experience. This less strenuous mining option is perfect for kids!

Cherokee Ruby and Sapphire Mine operates on a seasonal schedule and is open from May to October.

Gem Mountain (Spruce Pine, North Carolina)

The Blue Ridge Mountains are full of wonderful mines. Family-owned Gem Mountain has been a tourist attraction for over 30 years, and for good reason! Gem Mountain encompasses two mines: the Bushy Creek Mine, full of Aquamarine, Garnet, Morganite, Quartz, and Tourmaline and the Hoot Owl Mine, full of Aquamarine, Emerald, and Quartz.

Gem Mountain offers multiple mining options, including flume mining and guided digs to private mines that include transportation and equipment rentals. If you want to make your own jewelry from your finds, lapidaries are also available. Gem Mountain operates seasonally, from March to December.

Graves Mountain (Lincolnton, Georgia)

Tiffany & Co. made Graves Mountain famous in the 1920s, when it mined the mountain’s rutile to polish their diamonds. Aluminum Silicates, Inc. and Combustion Chemicals, Inc. also used the mine for industrial Kyanite. Graves Mountain has a rich array of other crystals, including Hematite, Pyrite, and Quartz.

Today, Graves Mountain remains rather exclusive; Georgia Mineral Society members can arrange digs by appointment only. However, twice a year, in April and October, the caretaker opens the mountain for three-day long digs that draw crystal enthusiasts from all over the US. The digs also boast a barbecue and rock swap, so they’re truly events worth visiting. The dates for 2022 are May 20th-22nd and October 7th-9th.

Craters of Diamonds State Park (Murfreesboro, Arkansas)

Craters of Diamonds State Park is built over the world’s eighth-largest volcanic Diamond crater, and it is the only Diamond mine open to the public in the US. So, if you’re looking for Diamond’s signature shine and strength, Murfreesboro is the place to be!

This state park has so many Diamonds that they can be found simply lying on the ground, and visitors have found over 33,000 Diamonds to date! Although Diamonds are the most common, you can find other gemstones as well, including Agate, Amethyst, Garnet, Jasper, and Quartz.

Like Emerald Hollow Mine, Craters of Diamonds State Park has multiple options for crystal hunting, with varying levels of intensity. You can surface search a 37 acre field to find Diamonds by sight, dig down a foot into the Earth and sift, or get really down and dirty by mining in deep holes.

Rental equipment is available for serious miners, and there is an appraiser on property who can identify your gemstones and tell you how much your find is worth.

Craters of Diamonds State Park isn’t just great for crystal hunting, though; it also has beautiful scenery, a campground, hiking trails, fishing, a geology museum, and even a water park! If you’re RVing in the Little Rock area, it’s a must-visit!

Wegner Quartz Crystal Mine (Mt. Ida, Arkansas)

If you need Quartz’s clarifying, amplifying energy, head to Arkansas! The Wegner Quartz Crystal Mine offers different mining options for every level: surface mining by sight at the Crystal Forest Mine, sluicing, sorting through salted dirt in the Ouachita National Forest, and digging at Phantom Mine (home to beautiful phantom crystals).

Mine owner Richard Wegner discovered it by accident after buying the property in the Ouachita Mountains. In addition to Quartz, the Wegner Quartz Crystal Mine also has Amethyst, Opal, Ruby, and Tourmaline, as well as a geode cracker!

Gem Mountain Sapphire Mine (Philipsburg, Montana)

The name says it all: Montana’s Gem Mountain is full of Sapphires! Gem Mountain Sapphire Mine has two options for finding your own crystals: sorting through gravel from the mine and exhibitions within the sapphire mine, which is one of the largest and oldest in the world.

Professionals are on hand to appraise your find, and you can purchase sapphire gravel to take with you for at-home crystal hunting.

Rainbow Ridge Opal Mine (Virgin Valley, Nevada)

For Opal’s nurturing, renewing energy, head to Nevada! The Rainbow Ridge Opal Mine gives you the unique opportunity to mine your own. This mine will ask you to get down and dirty (and bring your own tools along), but it’s worth it for the adventurous Opal lover: Opals found here have been worth over $50,000.

Rainbow Ridge Opal Mine operates seasonally from May to September.

Jade Cove (Big Sur, California)

While some crystal hunting spots, such as Emerald Hollow Mine, have robust support for amateur miners, Jade Cove is much more rough and ready. You won’t be able to rent tools or have a guide; it’s just you and the cove. If you’re looking for adventure and a bit of a challenge, Jade Cove is for you!

Once you brave the steep path down to Jade Cove, you will be rewarded with green, black, red, blue, and white varieties of this powerful crystal. You can find Jade just by sight; simply comb the tideline. For a more daring approach, you can shore dive as well.

There are a few regulations for taking crystals from Jade Cove, so do a little research before you take any Jade home with you!

Are you heading out on a crystal hunting expedition this year? Let us know where you’re headed in the comments, or tag us @mydreamcrystals on Instagram!

Aragonite and the Heart

Dusky red-brown Aragonite is known to many as a Root and Earth Star Chakra stone, but did you know that it also has heart healing benefits?

Aragonite resonates strongly with the Earth, but it also connects to Water, the element of emotion. Aragonite occurs naturally in a lot of ocean creatures, including mollusks, coral skeletons, stalactites, and fossils of the extinct cephalopod, ammonite.

Aragonite’s unique combination of Earth and Water promotes emotional stability and wisdom. This crystal carries a profoundly nurturing energy. It channels the deepest, most ancient creativity from both the land and the sea to support your emotional development. When working with your Heart Chakra, Aragonite soothes and balances your emotions. It promotes understanding, both of yourself and others.

Aragonite is also very protective. It cleanses your heart of past trauma, and it helps you avoid toxic relationships in your present and future. Aragonite empowers you to see your true worth so that you don’t allow others to belittle your emotions.

Sometimes, our feelings get out of control, but Aragonite comes to the rescue. It grounds wild energy, bringing you back to a calm, centered place. Aragonite is the perfect tool to combat overwhelming anxiety, sadness, or rage. For anyone experiencing a period of intense change (especially moody teens), Aragonite is a must-have.

Aragonite doesn’t suppress emotions; it simply channels them. This stone promotes flexibility and openness, all while balancing you. With this mindset, you can use your emotions in a constructive manner for self-expression, interpersonal connection, and spiritual growth.

Pisces: Once Bitten, Twice Shy

It’s Pisces season, and there is no better zodiac sign to usher us into spring than the gentle, dreamy fish.

Early spring is usually marked by rain, and, as a Water sign, Pisces taps into the introspective, emotional nature of a rainy day. Being empathetic is truly a superpower, but sometimes it gets in Pisces’ way.

Pisces are naturally compassionate and trusting. They don’t want to believe that someone might have negative intentions; however, we all encounter a toxic person eventually.

Pisces can sometimes find themselves being taken advantage of. Rather than recognize their abuser, Pisces have a tendency to blame themselves, making it even harder to leave a toxic relationship. If this situation happens one too many times, a Pisces might shut down completely, cutting themselves off from even positive, fulfilling relationships.

Neither result is good. No one deserves to be cut off from love, whether through an abusive relationship or disconnecting from others—tender Pisces included.

If any of these issues resonate with you—no matter where Pisces lands in your natal chart—crystals can be a great way to develop healthy emotional processes, especially when combined with mental health resources like therapy and support groups.

Sensitive Pisces benefit from always having Amethyst around. This crystal offers divine protection, especially on the psychic level. Amethyst protects Pisces’ empathetic nature by deflecting negativity, while also providing a boost of courage.

If a Pisces finds themselves stuck in a negative relationship, situation, or habit, Stromatolite will help break the cycle. This stone is actually a fossil, and it channels ancient Earth wisdom so that Pisces can take advantage of the planet’s support.

Once Pisces leaves the toxicity behind, Diopside will help them heal. This Heart Chakra stone gently cleanses Pisces’ emotional body and replaces negativity with uplifting energy. Diopside also fosters healthy relationships so that Pisces can move forward with confidence and protection.

When Pisces is ready to open up their heart again, Turquoise is the go-to. This emotionally intelligent crystal is also a powerful protector. It is the Stone of Truth, nurturing clear communication and only attracts healthy relationships. Turquoise allows Pisces to search for new friends and partners freely, without any fear of being taken advantage of again.

With a little help from crystals, Pisces can push past toxicity and become their best selves: creative, compassionate, sensitive, and wise.