MAGICAL CRYSTAL TREASURES
VOLUME 3
Picture #1
1.5-inch-wide Brazilian Citrine Ball
With Inner Striations
Table of Contents
Copyright Notice
Note to Contributors
Author’s Preface
CHAPTER 1 COMMUNICATING WITH CRYSTALS
CHAPTER 2 QUARTZ CRYSTAL CLARITY
CHAPTER 3 QUARTZ CRYSTAL SURFACE TEXTURES
CHAPTER 4 TWINNED CRYSTALS
CHAPTER 5 CRYSTAL CLUSTERS
CHAPTER 6 BRAZILIAN TWINS
CHAPTER 7 DOUBLE-ENDED CRYSTALS
CHAPTER 8 UNUSUAL CRYSTAL SHAPES
CHAPTER 9 SCEPTER CRYSTALS
CHAPTER 10 CRYSTALS AROUND THE WORLD
CHAPTER 11 SELF-HEALED CRYSTALS
CHAPTER 12 DRUSY QUARTZ
CHAPTER 13 WHITE QUARTZ CRYSTALS
CHAPTER 14 ROSE QUARTZ
CHAPTER 15 CITRINE QUARTZ
Picture #2
10-inch-high Brazilian Phantom Quartz with Silica Pyramids
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of ElegantCrystals.com, except in the case of brief quotations, less than 100 words, embodied in critical articles and reviews.
All images within this book are copyrighted by the author or specified photographers listed within.
Images cannot be copied or sold under fair use law.
Printed in the United States of America
Publisher: The Elegant Crystals Partnership
Editor: Nancy Silverhawk
All Cover Designs by Adam Balesteri Graphics
adambalesterigraphicdesign.com
Note to Contributors
Dozens of wonderful miners, collectors and dealers have contributed crystals for the photography in this book series.
If you see your crystal pictured, without a credit, please contact me so I can add your name, mineral description and contact information to the crystal.
Email [email protected]
Please enjoy my FREE E-book called Crystal Treasure Trove
at my websites ElegantCrystals.com and CrystalBook.shop
Picture #3
For the Love of Crystals
PREFACE TO
MAGICAL CRYSTAL TREASURES
Did you know that millions of people around the world collect quartz crystals in their many forms?
The miners of Earth, numbering tens of millions of strong men and women, dig up countless beautiful crystals every year.
What are the great attractions of these amazing stones?
Natural quartz crystals have precise glittering shapes that look like tiny sculptures.
Some of them grow to HUGE sizes- up to 10 tons or more.
These ancient rocks remind me of the eternal presence of divine creation.
Silica quartz crystals bring their amazing energy qualities into our technology as well as our spiritual quests.
Quartz crystals enhance communication technologies that we find in computers, radios, satellites, cell phones and cameras.
On a more personal level, many people can tap into the energies and frequencies of crystals for personal inner growth and healing.
Picture #4
3-inch-long Brazilian Single Point Crystals
Since quartz crystals are so plentiful in the ground, smaller stones are very affordable in a variety of sizes and colors.
“Rock hounds” can start their collections for a few dollars at a rock shop, or by digging in a crystal mine.
As you look into the many varieties of quartz, and other mineral crystals, you will find a million different shapes, patterns and colors imbedded in the ancient rocks.
I want to share some of my discoveries with you through close-up photography of these natural gems.
Over a 44-year span, I developed techniques for lighting and recording these amazing stones.
I hope to show you both the types of quartz commonly found in different countries of the world, as well as exotic rare specimens that occasionally appear at gem shows and museums.
We will look at hundreds of natural crystal shapes and colors, as well as carved and polished quartzes that are hand crafted into sculptures and gemstones.
Each crystal photo has a description telling you the size, locale and special qualities of the stone.
Hopefully, these captions will help you with further research into the fields of crystallography, minerals, and alternative healing.
I also offer vignettes from the miners and “little miracle” stories from my own life experience with the crystals.
For more background information on collecting crystals, please check out my free e-book,
Crystal Treasure Trove
Available at www.ElegantCrystals.com and CrystalBook.shop
Picture #5
Arkansas Quartz Cluster
This book addresses the basic shapes and colors of quartz crystals from a multitude of mining locations with distinctive stones.
A later book, Quartz Crystal Castles, looks at some of my favorite shapes, where the crystals take on architectural forms that echo our buildings, cities, castles and cathedrals.
I believe that human architecture is based on the crystalline models that our ancestors dug up from the ground.
I also show photos of gems that are related to quartz, or commonly mistaken as quartz.
In my rainbow books, I take my camera viewpoint inside the quartz crystals to show you the stunning varieties of colors, shapes and details that are eternally preserved in water-clear quartz that formed millions of years ago.
Some of the ancient crystals are an estimated 600 million years old.
I like to think of my books as three-way conversations.
It is a chance for you and me to talk with the crystals.
What impressions can the stones share directly, through their images and energy?
Are you willing to open your heart and mind to the “language of the rocks?”
CHAPTER 1
COMMUNICATING WITH CRYSTALS
Picture #6
Six-inch-wide Clear Quartz Crystal Ball
I always ask my crystals to show me how they want to be photographed.
They always answer with amazing imagery.
This is a big part of my conversations with the rocks.
Communication with the mineral kingdom is often beyond words.
Of course, we can admire them out loud and talk to our rock pets or Pet Rocks™.
Can they talk back?
Perhaps they can relate to you through images, colors, impressions, tones, energies or frequencies.
Can you really see images in a crystal ball?
If a crystal spoke on an intuitive or energetic level, how would you respond?
Does your heart speak the language of love, through intense feelings and deep connections with the magnificent mineral mysteries?
This is not a scientific series of books.
I bring in a little technical discussion to help point out that quartz energy fields are real, omnipresent and powerful.
Nor is this book about 1,001 different kinds of rocks and their energy qualities.
There are plenty of wonderful titles available presenting the energies other people associate with their gemstones.
Instead, I address my images to the great passion of my life: studying the different colors and shapes of quartz crystals and how they affect me.
I am always looking for breath-taking beautiful rocks and photos.
As part of our three-way conversation, please feel free to provide feedback on your views about crystals and this book. [email protected]
Picture #7
2-inch-long Quartz and Beryl Polished Gems
Designed by Sean Davis, Bernice Straub and Crystal Bill
People used to define gemstones in terms of “precious” versus “semiprecious” stones.
This distinction is no longer used.
Each type of crystal and gem that comes out of the ground has various quality grades.
Because of this, a purple quartz crystal (amethyst) can be cut into a precious gemstone.
A diamond crystal could be worthless because of cracks, inclusions or murky color.
I would rather distinguish the various natural crystals according to how much work or polishing has been done to them.
This volume will primarily address those crystals that have come out of the ground, then been washed and cleaned, but have no human polishing, gluing or repairs on them.
The most common question asked by beginners in this field, goes like this:
“Crystal Bill, how do they cut and polish all those little facets on the crystal clusters?”
I then explain that the precisely faceted stone they are holding was created by nature, not mankind.
I enjoy watching people’s wonderment when they realize they are holding an ancient treasure, formed by the Divine Creator, and made inside the earth, not by people.
Once a craft-person starts cutting and polishing a rock or gemstone, it becomes a piece of “sculpture” whether it winds up as jewelry or as a massive carving in a museum.
This book is intended to highlight some of the hundreds of shapes and colors that quartz crystals achieve naturally.
Picture #8
Sparkling White Light On a Quartz Iris Rainbow
Perhaps the most important thing about collecting gemstones and crystals is enjoying their sparkles!
Every time a stone sparkles, it means that light is reflecting off a mirror-like facet creating a high-contrast situation with the shadow areas around it.
Our eyes see this flash as a sparkle.
When a tiny gem facet is surrounded by many other facets, a twinkling universe emerges through the stone.
Cut and faceted gemstones are perfect examples of this.
As you move your treasure from side to side, the twinkling light moves from facet to facet and from edge to center.
In the world of quartz collecting, you can also find a variety of microscopic mirrors that create colorful shimmering effects.
This includes
opalescence (opals),
labradorescense (labradorite),
adularescence (moonstone),
the Schiller effect (micro-rutile quartz),
asterism (rose quartz),
aventuresence (aventurine),
chatoyance (cat’s eye),
iridescence (hematite),
and fluorescence (chalcedony phantoms.)
Picture #9
Fluorescence In Colorado Quartz
White Light Versus Black & White Light
Crystal Treasure Trove, my first book, is an overview of techniques for collecting and buying crystals.
You can learn where to find crystal sources and mines, how to dig quartz crystals, and even how to clean them.
There are tips for photographing crystals, plus lighting and altar display techniques.
Meet the crystal miners and collectors who have been so important in the American crystal scene.
You can even learn how to move really big rocks.