Is it possible to use rough crystals? or do they need to be tumbled.

Some people say that they are better not tumbled - they have more natural energy the less they have been worked. There are threads and debates about this around here somewhere..

The majority of my crystals are natural.
What better energy can you get than the natural energy from a naturally formed crystal? Once it gets tumbled, it may look attractive, but it's lost it's natural crystalline structure. How could you use an apopholite point if it's not a point? Likewise, quartz crystals are far better in their natural shape. There are even said to be certain properties that a crystal has depending on the shape and nature of the facets on it.

Personally I tend to avoid polished or carved crystals; they simply do not resonate correctly for my liking.

All Love and Reiki Hugs

My husband and I are increasingly working with natural crystal forms where available for the reasons you mentions Giles.

A few years ago the owner of a shop I was working in, who is also a good friend, was offered Black Tourmaline tumblestones which just felt wrong. All that wonderful structure and shape gone along with much of the energy of the stone. I told her what I thought and they went back to the supplier in the van.

Likewise lamellar crystals (e.g. kyanite and lepidolite) are so much nicer, in every way, in their natural state rather than tumbled.

As long as your crystals are appropriately cleansed, dedicated etc you can use any you choose for healing work. Cautions exist around the use of certain minerals for making elixirs especially in their raw state and this information should be in any books you have. It is always useful to have a good geological/mineralogical text too for chemistry, Mohs scale, origin, natural crystal shape etc.

Hi Violetta,

There are pros and cons of working with tumbled stones, some of which are mentioned above. Strictly speaking, if a stone is tumbled it will still maintain its natural structure at a microscopic level . So tumbling a flourite stone doesn't stop it from maintaining its cubic structure. The internal structure will remain cubic even if on the outside it looks smooth and non-cubic, otherwise it would cease to be a flourite.

In my own experience and opinion a tumbled stone is likely to have a softer edge to it than the natural form. However, it won't lose all its oomph, and there may be practical aspects to take into account.

Take for example scolecite, a high vibrational crystal that's good for inner journeying. I have both tumbled and natural forms. For me the tumbled version is not as intense as the natural, but I still meditate with the smooth one with good results. In practical terms, I prefer having the smooth one on me whilst I sleep rather than the starburst sibling as I'm less likely to stab myself whilst I sleep! I don't feel I lose out energetically that much by going with the smooth.

However, if I was doing a layout I might choose to work with the starburst as I might want its potency.

Another question that comes up is how natural do our stones come? I doubt many common minerals on the market come unadulterated. For example, good ol' clear quartz typically comes out of the ground covered in iron oxide. To have your shiney sparkling natural quartz point someone along the way has used an acid bath to clean your point. Does that still mean the crystal is natural? Only you'll be able to answer that by sensing what feels good to you. Here's a good page explaining the cleaning process for quartz: .

Then you've got the topic of facetted minerals. A facetted gem stone is far from natural-looking, but is it's power affected? In my opinion, no. For example, just this afternoon I was doing distant work for a client and when I roused myself the finger with my engagement ring was thrumming. Diamonds amplify whatever work we do. The gem on my finger was effective enough in its facetted state to amplify my intention.

And that's where in my opinion we come to the real focus. INTENTION.

For me, what's more important than whether a stone is tumbled or natural is the intention I bring to my work. A strong intention goes further than the most natural stones you can dig up from your ground. The clearer your intention the further you can work with your stones. Isn't it funny how we think that cleaning up a stone will give us benefit? Think of all the threads on this forum that go on about how to best clean a crystal. Then think about what results we can get the more clean ourselves energetically.

Hope that helps.

I think I will continue to use polished in my bag as, I find that rough stones seem to be more fragile.
I like to see the differences between stones how they look when polished and rough. I think it makes a great talking point of the before and after.
I think too that some stones look far better in their natural state.
I have a piece of amethyst quartz and thinking of it polished into a tumblestone I wouldn't feel the same as, all the charcter is lost.