Grounding Techniques Using Smoky Quartz Crystals

Have you ever had the feeling that your feet aren't quite touching the ground and it's not because you're jumping for joy? You may be ungrounded. To be grounded is to feel connected to the here and now instead of being too focused on the past or future.

Sometimes, in fact, quite often for a lot of us, we could use help to achieve this feeling of groundedness. In order to do that, grounding techniques are used which usually involve meditation and visualization.

There are many crystals that help in grounding, some more deeply than others. For now, we'll be concentrating on the beautiful smoky quartz. We'll also focus on another correspondence to groundedness and that is the root chakra, a concept originating from Eastern spirituality.

Chakras are spheres of energy usually visualized as balls of colored light existing beyond the physical body. The root, also called the first chakra, is located at the base of the spine. The color usually associated with it is red but red and black spectrum stones including gray ones are often used in conjunction with this chakra. One of the techniques mentioned later will involve a visualization combining smoky quartz and the root chakra.

Smoky quartz, just as it sounds, is a form of quartz that almost looks like clear quartz infused with smoke. This gives it an ethereal gray color. Sometimes it grows together with citrine and these pieces are especially beautiful with gold and gray tones.

It's a stone that while helping you feel more grounded still allows you keep your spiritual senses open. Other stones such as hematite and obsidian don't necessarily have the gentle quality that smoky quartz does. If you're very ungrounded and sensitive to these latter stones, you may even get a sense of falling back too hard to the ground while meditating with them. This isn't a hard and fast rule—nothing with crystals is—but if you want to come down to earth slowly, then smoky quartz may be your best bet.

With that being said, smoky quartz may not be exactly the stone you want if you need grounding after experiencing a sudden scare or trauma. That may be when deeper grounding is needed. Smoky quartz is great for those times when you feel muddle headed or that you aren't as quick on your toes as you usually are.

If you know that you may be going into a situation where you'll lose your grounding, then wear smoky quartz jewelry or carry a stone or two in your pockets. You can easily remove them if you begin to feel too heavy. Although this stone is a gentle grounder, even the most avid smoky quartz fan may feel they've had enough of a good thing.

You can also take smoky quartz elixir internally. Gem elixirs can be homemade or purchased and are usually taken as a few drops in a few ounces of water or under the tongue.

This is an easy, quick visualization you can do with smoky quartz in order to ground, though you can do it for as long as you like and adapt it to your needs. Lie down on your back with a piece of smoky quartz on your root chakra area or stand with it in your hand at your side. Two single terminated smoky quartz crystals, one in each hand with the points pointed downward, would be great for this, but one small stone will do.

Take a few deep breaths and relax your muscles. When you feel relaxed, inhale deeply and visualize light the color of smoky quartz emanating from the stone to your root chakra and surrounding this area about 12 inches from your body on all sides. Let it fill this area and then visualize the light rays reaching down deep into the earth's core latching onto it. You may want to imagine this core as another crystal.

Now draw energy from the earth through the smoky quartz light back up into your body at the root center. Let this light now engulf your entire body in a sphere shape extending out 12 inches from all sides as before. Let it permeate every cell. Verbally or mentally affirm that you're releasing any sense of flightiness or ungroundedness. You can simply state, "I am grounded and standing firmly on my own two feet." Hold this visualization as long as you feel necessary and then gently bring yourself out of this state knowing that this energy is still with you.

You may have received intuitive impressions from the stone during this process. You might want to jot these down as they often provide insight on issues you're dealing with and will also help in developing your own working relationship with crystals.

Once you being working with crystals, you'll come up with your own way of interacting with them. But some other ways to work with smoky quartz include candle magic and ritual. An example would be to charge a gray, brown, or black candle with your intent for grounding and staying present in your current reality.

Begin to burn this candle before you start the visualization above. When you bring the light up from the earth, also envelope the candle with it. After you're done with the meditation, keep the candle burning and lay the stone next to it to further charge it. As it burns down, be reassured that the intent you placed into it is coming true.

These are just a few suggestions to get you thinking about how to work with smoky quartz. This stone also has other qualities outside the scope of this article. May you trust your own guidance and enjoy your partnership with what I like to call nature's gray beauty.

This information is presented for educational purposes only and is not meant to be used to replace the advice of your healthcare provider.

Sources consulted:

• Dolfyn. Crystal Wisdom: Spiritual Properties of Crystals and Gemstones. Earth Spirit, Inc. 1989.
• Melody. Love is in the Earth: A Kaleidoscope of Crystals. Earth-Love Publishing House, 1995.