Quartz Power: The Properties of Crystal Bowls

Many stories have been told about the mythic lost continent of Atlantis, the ancient, fabled civilization that was supposed to have flourished for some 100,000 years, beginning in 150,000 B.C.E. Atlantis is said to have been an extremely sophisticated culture, its citizen possessed of a highly developed knowledge of science and technology as well as the healing arts. Among the tales Ive read about Atlanteans is that they travelled by flying ships, which were fuelled with solar energy that had been transformed into a power source by specially cut quartz crystals.

According to the myth of Atlantis, crystals were an integral part of Atlantis's progressive approach to diagnosing and treating ill health. Patients were brought to a special room in the temple that was built of crystal, where diffused solar energy was used to heal, not the physical body, but the etheric or energetic body that surrounds the physical body and holds the disease.

The temple priests also used bowl-shaped vessels made of quartz crystal to treat the sick. According to one legend of Atlantis, a High Priest discovered that the sound vibrations emitted by his bowls could cure various conditions, ranging from emotional stress and imbalance to headaches and sore throats. As the bowl was sounded, the pure note range clearly, and was felt in the waves in the bodyIt was very peacemaking. He [the High Priest] experimented and found three gongs were right for some, while others, not being quite as sick, needed only one or two.

Although the people of Atlantis were highly evolved, both spiritually and intellectually, there were many who ultimately debased their knowledge to further their own selfish goals. A select group of righteous citizens foresaw the inevitable and left Atlantis, taking with them the secrets of the crystals. The rest of the civilization was destroyed through a series of calamitous earthquakes and floods, visited upon them by the Creator as punishment for their corruption of power.

We don't have to believe in the lore of Atlantis to grasp the significance of its mythology. For many hundreds of years, people have accepted the complex properties of quartz crystals. Today, scientists and healers alike acknowledge the particular characteristics of quartz. In Vibrational Medicine, Richard Gerber, M.D. writes about the scientifically based electronic uses of quartz crystal, which provide a window into its potential healing properties.

When electric current is applied to quartz crystal, it will induce mechanical movement, and since each plate of quartz has a unique resonant frequency, say Gerber, the charges oscillate back and forth at the resonant frequency of the crystal. Gerber says that this phenomenon is the basis for crystal oscillator components used in electronic systems and computer chips to generate and maintain specific energy frequencies.

The same phenomenon appears to be the reason for using quartz crystals to generate and maintain energy frequencies in the human body-mind system. Moreover, proponents of therapeutic touch and energy healing believe that crystals absorb human energies and feed back those energies in an altered form. Gerber explains:

The crystalline structure will respond in unique and precise ways to a wide spectrum of energies including heat, light, pressure, sound, electricity, gamma rays, microwaves, bioelectricity, and even the energies of consciousness (i.e. thought waves or thoughtforms). In response to these varying energetic inputs, the molecular structure of the crystal will undergo particular modes of oscillation, thereby creating specific vibratory frequencies of energy emission.

These vibratory frequencies of energy emission may explain the healing properties of quartz crystals as used by psychic and medicinal healers, whether they are Native American shamans or New Age practitioners. As Michael Harner explains, The tribal shamans of cultures throughout the world have quartz crystals among their collections of power objects. In such widely separated peoples as the Jivaro in South America and the tribes of Australia, the quartz crystal is considered the strongest power object of all.

Thus, the bowl sound may resonate in a uniquely harmonious fashion with the human body, since as Marcel Vogel says, our healthy human tissues are more crystalline than fluid in nature. Moreover, the framework of bone and collagen is partly comprised of calcium phosphate crystal. All these crystals must have a resonation potential, and no doubt the sounds produced by quartz crystal are more harmoniously in tune with our own crystalline structures than sounds emitted by other bowls or instruments.


This is an extract from Healing Power of Sound by Mitchell L. Gaynor, M.D. 1999 by Mitchell L. Gaynor, M.D. and by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc., Boston. www.shambala.com

Crystal Singing bowls by Stephen Halpern

The field of sound healing has always been eclectic, encompassing both passive and active participation. Listening to specially composed music is one modality. Making tones with your voices is another.

Making sustained tones with singing bowls, bells, and tuning forks are other ways and ones that are exploding in popularity. There are several reasons: these instruments or sound tools, are easy to play and you can feel an effect right away.

Hitting a bell or bowl or gong to produce a tone is one of the most ancient sonic psycho-technologies. They are included in many cultures and spiritual traditions, from Tibet and China to the Catholic Church.

Quartz Singing Bowls

About 15 years ago, information came through a channelled source that resulted in technology to create bowls out of pure quartz crystal. The tones they produce are typically very clear, without the pulsations that metallic bowls produce when they are rubbed around the edge. Its not that one is necessarily better than the other, but there is a difference. And more and more people are discovering that these crystal instruments can have specific applications for massage and other forms of bodywork, chakra activation, and as an aid in general medication.

Playing one bowl is wonderful. Playing several together with friends, or in a crystal bowl meditation group is a new kind of jam session. I consider it a nice balance to the more active and dynamic drum circles.

In addition to playing several bowls that have quite different pitches together, there is a whole world to explore by playing bowls that are tuned very close to each other. In this case, the fast pulsing sound seems to act as a sonic portal, opening up emotional and physical blockages. Playing bowls that are octaves apart opens up other possibilities.

This is an extract from Stephen Halperns May 2002 Newsletter that you can read in its entirety at www.innerpeacemusic.com