VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: 

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
Hello everyone and welcome my name is Dayna Schmidt-Johnson. I am the community manager of the Writual Society and the house astrologer. Today I'm so excited because we're going to be talking about crystals!

Seems like everyone in this spiritual space has at least not one or many, many, many crystals on their desk. Sometimes we're seeking something specific from a crystal that we selected, and sometimes we're just drawn to them, right?

So to tell us more about crystals, how to bring their energy into our own life is the owner of the Manic Moon company and Piscean witch Sam Carboni. Welcome, Sam.

Sam Carboni
Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to talk about crystals today!

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
And we are so excited to hear all about crystals. So I think you know, most people know what they are right? What gemstones and crystals are. But can you tell us a little bit more about what they can do for us besides looking gorgeous, right?

Sam Carboni
Yeah, definitely. So one of I think the biggest uses that people utilize their crystals for is like meditation rituals, trying to bring in that like calm and focus. Some other really good things. Um, a lot of people especially in the spiritual space, focus on their chakras and balancing their chakras, crystals can really help enhance some of that practice.

If you do Reiki, there are a lot of Reiki practitioners that actually use crystals in their practice to help kind of focus on an area, whether it be the root chakra, the sacral, heart, so on so forth. That's one of probably my favorite ways to utilize crystals because it really helps bring you back into balance and also see those areas in life that you really need to focus on.

Another big thing, and this is what got me into crystals, was the emotional and physical healing that people can actually use their crystals for it can be a great source for, you know, taming that anxiety, helping with depression. And I've even used crystals in certain aspects to alleviate physical pain that I've been in. And so that's something that you have to do with a lot of intention, but it's totally possible.

And then, you know, there's protection and energy cleansing, which I think is also a really big thing that people use them for placing them around the home creating protections in their home. And then energy cleansing if you just like maybe you had a guest over that left a bad taste in your mouth and you want to clear the air or if you're about to work in a spiritual setting, you want to cleanse the space using certain crystals. Selenite is a big one, clear quartz is the like Master Healer enhancer focuser I think almost everyone should have clear quartz.

And then last but not least some things like sleep, they can help with enhancing your dreams, promoting better sleep, and then just like enhancing your intuition and really like fostering that spiritual growth. I think that they're great tools to have around.

Some of my favorites are things like Labradorite. This is my if you can see that flash Labradorite is great for spiritual growth and enhancing your intuition also fostering transformation. Things like that. And then I can also talk about certain crystals that are good for certain chakras, if that's something that interests other people.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
Definitely! Tell us a little bit more about this working with crystals and chakras.

Sam Carboni
Yeah, definitely. So one thing with chakras is your they focus on certain aspects and kind of like of yourself so like the Root Chakra is all about grounding, physical world physical being. So I use things like red Jasper, which is a really like grounding and nurturing stone, it helps kind of bring you back down to feet on the ground kind of a thing as a Pisces with no earth in my chart. This is something that I need to focus on a lot.

So I have a lot of things like red Jasper, and then kind of moving to the sacral chakra. So Carnelian can actually be used for your route and your sacral your sacral chakra is kind of like about your like sexual health, reproductive, it's more in your pelvic area rather than kind of up like the base of your spine, which is where your route is. So things like Carnelian are really great for you know, sexual healing if there's trauma, just kind of self love too. So if you want to use a little bit of rose quartz, that's also a great tool.

And then moving up to your solar plexus, which is right here under your sternum outs for like power, self awareness, and where a lot of you will try to make their money in life where they assert themselves. So I like to use things like Citrine Citrine is good for abundance, fostering that really like inner power where you want to push yourself forward in life.

And then the heart chakra, I like to use things like Malikai, which is really, the green is like very like heart opening, very nurturing. Again, Rose Quartz is also very good for the heart chakra.

And then we have the throat chakra, being able to speak your truth, use your voice, I like to use things like Angel light, which fosters good communication.

And then we have third eye chakra, which I think that's probably the one that most people are familiar with, you'll see a lot of people talking about third eye on Tiktok, or, you know, people are kind of new in their spiritual journey. I use things like Spirit Quartz, also, Labradorite is good for the third eye because it's good for that spiritual growth.

And then the crown chakra, which is kind of like your Higher Self, your higher being your greater purpose. So purple crystals are really good for that. Here are some lepidolite, which talking about sleep. So lepidolite helps with sleep and enhancing your dreams, which is really that crown chakra kind of going into the next round being able to connect with your higher self.

So yeah, those are just like a quick rundown of some of my favorite ones to use for those things. And you can do meditations like I said, you can do Reiki and then also if you're ever just having like, a moment where there's you can tell something's out of balance. I like to, you know, place them in the area of the chakra that I need, you know, more assistance with and really just like, put the intention for with that. That's where I'm trying to heal.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson 
You've already taught us so much in like two minutes. This is amazing. How long have you been working with crystals to have all of this abundance of knowledge?

Sam Carboni
Yeah, so, I mean, it's really been my whole life I've loved you know, the spiritual world. I worked with Tarot, I loved having crystals, but I don't think I ever took it seriously in my life until about four years ago, right before the pandemic hit, I had really dove into my spirituality, I was really committed to turning a new leaf and creating a new life for myself.

And then when the pandemic hit, it just kind of felt like full force dive into it. And you know, I think a lot of us had a lot of times to commit into something. And I committed myself to really learning about crystals and gaining more spiritual knowledge and enhancing my craft.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
What a beautiful time how like aligned is that right to start something and then be able to really dive deep. That's amazing. Yeah, so what do you love about using crystals, using them in a practice but also just like crystals in general? What drew you to them?

Sam Carboni
Yeah, well, so I have struggled with anxiety and depression my whole life. And so I think it's really something that drove me towards crystals in the first place. I was kind of desperate for an answer. You know, I tried medication didn't really work for me. And that medication is different for everyone. But I was really looking for something that I could put my focus in and really rely on.

And once I introduced crystals into my life, I noticed a serious, like impact on how I was handling anxiety attacks, panic attacks, even to the point where my fiance would like hand me a crystal as soon as I went into a panic attack, like hold this you got it. And it would it was just a really grounding thing for me to find.

And then on the physical healing aspect of it, I've always been someone that's kind of dealt with like different chronic pain, like when I get my period I have like really bad back cramps, and that was something I could never alleviate. Just like shoulders, knees from sports growing up, and one of my favorite ones, I actually have a right here lapis lazuli. I got a bracelet. And it was time for my cycle. And I started to get these really intense back cramps, and I put on the bracelet, and I slept for like five hours straight. It was like, all the pain went away. And I was just like, found this sense of relief and it was so incredible to me that I didn't even believe it at first and so I waited until my next one and I did it again. And it worked again and I was like, this is incredible.

My whole life, I've been dealing with this pain. And something like this, like, I put the intention behind it. And I meditated on it. And it's actually helping me. So that was something that I was just like, wow, I need to share this with the world, I need to give, you know, people the insight to be able to find the same relief.

And then practicing kind of like witchcraft and doing spell work. I found that whenever I had crystals in my spells, or whenever I had crystals, kind of like in certain areas, I could feel the relief and the intention and that this was going to work for me. And then of course, they're beautiful. So to have them around the house doesn't hurt at all.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
No, absolutely. The more the merrier, right? Kind of along that lines, you mentioned a couple of these things. You know, you you wore a bracelet, you put the crystals on your chakras. How else can we utilize crystals in our daily practices?

Sam Carboni
Yeah, so first, and I think the one that's probably easiest for most people is like placing them around the home and certain rooms that you want certain things to happen. So at my front door, I always have some black obsidian, which is for protection, and it keeps kind of like anyone who walks through the door kind of gives me the vibe of like, okay, I need to cleanse I need to protect.So I will like place things in certain parts of my home.

In my office, I have things like Selenite, which just helps with cleansing and focus. So that's like a really big thing is that there are certain places in your home where you're trying to accomplish something and you kind of need that extra energy boost, placing crystals that kind of go along with that room.

And then kind of on the same leaf carrying things in your pocket. So when I'm traveling, I like to keep black Tourmaline on me, it's good for protection, you know, keeps good travel, I like to bring Labradorite with me wherever I go, just to make sure I'm always encouraging my best self in situations, especially situations I might have anxiety. Keeping certain crystals in my car again, just to keep that like protection of the vehicle. So those are like really common things. Love the boob crystals, the bra crystals, you gotta keep them close.

But then some other things and like I kind of touched on for with Reiki, using those in your Reiki practice, to help enhance kind of certain intentions in spellwork, to kind of keep things focused.

And then for energy cleansing, if you have something like Selenite or clear quartz, if even just going like this in a room, it almost has the same effect as like using sage in your house, it cleanses the energy clears the space. And Selenite is one of those crystals that no matter what you use it for. It's like self cleansing. So it's always ready to go, if you're going to use it in spellwork if you're going to cleanse your house, so on and so forth.

And then of course, something that I do for other people is like crystal readings, where I will use Tarot or use candles, mirrors, and I'll keep the crystals around to kind of enhance that reading and if I'm feeling drawn toward a certain crystal for a certain person that maybe they need that in the reading. I will use that in my practice.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
Ooh, tell us more about crystal readings.

Sam Carboni
Yeah, so it could mean a few things for a few different people. There are things like crystal scrying, crystal gazing where you have a crystal you sit with it, you put your intention and you just kind of like hone in and use your intuition to see what is going on in your life maybe in the area that that crystal enhances.

Again using tarot I like to use crystals to either cleanse my cards protect my cards during the reading. And again if I'm feeling drawn like okay, this person needs this energy I will use that crystal to kind of send that their way during the reading.

And then I love using them with candles. I think a lot of shops are actually doing this more where they're putting crystals in their candle spells to enhance the spell that that candle is kind of you know promoting so that's a big one I seriously I love candle magic with crystals because you can crystal scry and fire scry at the same time and I really feel like that's one of my most intuitive readings that I'll do. So yeah those are some of my favorite crystal readings.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
That sounds so cool. Now I see you, you know, waving the crystals around holding some of them up. And you were talking about like traveling with them or putting them in your car, things like that. Surely those are smaller crystals that you're doing that with, right?

And my question is, when it comes to crystals, does size matter?

Sam Carboni
No, I don't think size matters. I mean, again, the it's just beautiful to have when you have a big one like that on your altar space. I definitely think all crystals have a personality. And this is something people will laugh at me for all the time. But I name all of my crystals. And I talk to them with intention, because I truly believe that each crystal has a presence.

So you might notice maybe a bigger presence with a bigger crystal bigger personality, they definitely will hold the space of the room like this is Obi. Obi has a personality, he doesn't like being put in boxes, and he will let you know when the energy is off in the room. So things like that. But I love having, I mean, even just these little guys that fit in my pocket that in my purse, I do have a few like bigger ones that I will travel with just because I have a connection with like a specific crystal. And so those will go with me places. But yeah, I mean, the smaller ones for travel, the bigger ones for like spaces in the home.

But if you're talking about like the energy, all of them have big energy, and it's all about the intention that you put behind them.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I think, you know, talking to your crystals we've, we've talked to, you know, herbalist to talk to their plants. So that makes a lot of sense, it really seems like crystals are a good tool to bring into a lot of different types of practices that we've talked about here in this society: candle magic, plant work, like, little bit of everything. Crystals are pretty diverse in their capabilities.

Sam Carboni
Yeah, and it's crazy, because with the scientific properties too, like, people want to think it's all you know, spiritual woowoo. And sometimes, you know, maybe that is the case, but there is I like it's scientifically proven that crystals hold energy and will affect the energy in our room. Just like the moon affects water. So it's really amazing.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
Oh, that is really amazing. And so kind of to that point, because, you know, a crystal having its energy is derived naturally, right? It's, it's something that was in the earth, and we're honing in on that energy.

So I know there's a lot of fake crystals out there. How can we be sure that we're sourcing a real true crystal when we're buying one?

Sam Carboni
Yeah, definitely. And this is a topic I like to touch on a lot. So to kind of preface to there are some manmade crystals. And there are a lot of crystal practitioners that still believe that they hold energy and intention. And I, I can believe that because I think anything crafted with intention will do the job it's intended to do. But that's not saying that people don't try to manipulate the situation or create, try to maybe charge more for a crystal that's not actually that crystal.

So the first thing that I love to encourage people to do is research you know, educate yourself on, especially if you're going to make a big purchase on a crystal like, it's one thing if you're walking into a shop and you're like, I love this, it calls to me, I just want to buy it. Go for it. Like I said intention is everything.

But if you're, say buying moldavite, which was a really big trend there for a minute, people started creating green glass to fake moldavite and sell it for $200 for something that's this big. That is, in my opinion, morally wrong. So things like that.

Just using moldavite as an example, if it's clear, if it almost looks like say too perfect, the ridges aren't right. It doesn't have like imprints on the surface. Also you can do a scratch test, and this kind of goes along with research. Certain crystals are not supposed to show scratches like a diamond, like the how hard the crystal is. So if something is scratching really easily, it's probably glass. So that's always something I like to let people know.

Next is if you're buying, if you're making those big purchases, and you're looking for something really specific, do a reliable source, a trusted crystal shop, someone who, like I do research into ethically sourced wholesalers making sure that I'm not buying from. Like there are, quote unquote endangered crystals. Lapis Lazuli is something that is not commonly sold anymore, because mining has gone back due to child labor laws.

So again, research and education are so huge and the process we touched on the physical examination of it, pricing is a big one. So if you're buying a crystal, and you're like, oh, my gosh, I just got the best deal and all of the land, it's so crazy, I just bought $100 Crystal for $10, it's most likely not the crystal you think you're buying because nobody is bending $100 on a wholesale crystal to turn around and sell it for $10. That's not to say that people pricing things really, really high are also selling you something fake, but it's more likely that something that's really, really low price is not actually what you're looking for.

And then seeking expert opinions, if you are someone you know, that is a crystal expert, you could shoot me a message I'm absolutely open, my DMs are open to anyone who's like, Hey, Sam is this, you know, this seems like a too good of a deal is it and I will help you out with that.

But then last but not least, trust your intuition. If you pick up a crystal and it doesn't feel right to you, but it's what you're looking for, get a different one, it's totally okay to just be like, thank you, I'm going to wait until one calls to me, I think that's the biggest thing. Intuition is everything.

Even crystals that are real, you could pick up and it's not energetically aligned with you. So it's always good to go off of what you feel when you hold a crystal over like, like, I don't totally love giving crystals as gifts. Unless I feel like really strongly like this crystal was telling me that it wants to be with you. But I think people should kind of pick out their own crystals and use their intuition and have intention behind each one.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
That makes sense, especially when you're in a shop and you're just kind of twiddling around and you find something that you are really drawn to kind of out of the blue. And each of those crystals can also hold energy of other people who've picked them up and those kinds of things, right. So if you are passing it on as a gift, you may be passing on your own energy within that.

Sam Carboni
It's totally it's one of those things to where, like if it's like a close friend, and it's someone that you're like, I touched this crystal and I thought of you totally like trust your intuition. I mean, that's really just the bottom line, right? Like, if you really strongly feel something, I always say go for it. But if you're just like, Oh, I just bought you a crystal here, and they're like, great. The crystal is not gonna really help as much as you want it to.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
Oh, Sam, this is amazing. Thank you so much for being here today, covering so many different facets of crystals. We're going to learn so much more to in the Writual society in July when you come in as our teacher for our very own crystal workshop, which I cannot wait for because we have just scratched the surface as it were right. In the meantime, where can people find you and the Manic Moon Company?

Sam Carboni
Yes. So I am the Manic Moon on all platforms. That will be my more personal page. But if you want to go follow my crystal shop, the Manic Moon Crystal Co on Instagram, or go into my website, themanicmoon.com

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
Excellent. We will hunt you down for all things crystals. And in the meantime, we'll see you in the society in July. Thanks so much for being here today. Sam!

Sam Carboni
Thank you so much for having me. I am so excited for July. 

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
Yes. And we will see you soon. Bye everyone.