{"id":38291,"date":"2020-03-13T15:37:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-13T15:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/crystals-reality-behind-booming-new-age-healing\/"},"modified":"2020-03-13T15:37:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-13T15:37:00","slug":"crystals-reality-behind-booming-new-age-healing","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/crystals-reality-behind-booming-new-age-healing\/","title":{"rendered":"Crystals: The Reality Behind Booming New Age Healing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Crystals fascinate and mesmerize&#8211;opaque, shadowy colors that must hold ancient secrets, carved into angels, birds, or any object that may imbue meaning. Thanks to celebrity zeal (like Gwyneth Paltrow&rsquo;s Goop), and the rise of New Age spirituality, crystals have exploded globally. Hashtags for #crystals run into the millions on Instagram. <em>The New York Times <\/em>declared 2017 the year of &ldquo;the great crystal boom.&rdquo; In 2018 crystals were regarded as &ldquo;the year&rsquo;s biggest health and wellness trend.&rdquo; A recent trade show in Tucson, Arizona attracted 4,000 vendors and 50,000 customers.<\/p>\n\n<p>Crystals are believed by many to have mystical properties and the power to heal. Author Emma Knowles, explains it to me like this:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>We work with crystals to draw out the &lsquo;negative&rsquo; and &lsquo;heighten&rsquo; the positive, such as love, protection, abundance or seeking to detoxify from fear, guilt, worry. Crystals are formed under pressure, much like ourselves. The power of life force &ndash; what&rsquo;s not to love about that?<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><em>Guardian <\/em>journalist Tess McClure exposed the dark side of this modern-day healing movement. One of the poorest countries in the world, Madagascar has a treasure trove of these gems. &ldquo;And in a country where labor regulation is in short supply, it is human bodies rather than machinery that pull crystals from the earth. More than 80% of crystals are mined &lsquo;artisanally&rsquo; &ndash; meaning by small groups and families, without regulation, who are paid rock-bottom prices.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<p>McClure visited several villages that mine Madagascar&rsquo;s large rose quartz deposits. Most of the homes have no electricity or running water and the residents live below the $1.90-a-day poverty line. McClure spoke to the area&rsquo;s deputy mayor:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Between two and four men died each year in the crystal pits surrounding this village &hellip;. Landslides are not the only danger for miners. Fine dust and quartz particles can penetrate deep into the lungs &hellip; increasing the risk of lung cancer and silicosis. Child labor is also widespread: the US Department of Labor estimates that about 85,000 children work in Madagascar&rsquo;s mines.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3552,3951,3953,3954,3955,4127,4128,4412,4448,4511,4536,4555,4667,4900],"tax_ctp_topics":[392,396],"class_list":["post-38291","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-celebrities","tax_ctp_tags-false-gods","tax_ctp_tags-false-religion","tax_ctp_tags-false-teachers","tax_ctp_tags-false-teaching","tax_ctp_tags-healing","tax_ctp_tags-health","tax_ctp_tags-magic","tax_ctp_tags-meditation","tax_ctp_tags-mysticism","tax_ctp_tags-new-age","tax_ctp_tags-occult","tax_ctp_tags-postmodernism","tax_ctp_tags-secularism"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Crystals: The Reality Behind Booming New Age Healing - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/crystals-reality-behind-booming-new-age-healing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Crystals: The Reality Behind Booming New Age Healing - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Crystals fascinate and mesmerize&#8211;opaque, shadowy colors that must hold ancient secrets, carved into angels, birds, or any object that may imbue meaning. Thanks to celebrity zeal (like Gwyneth Paltrow&rsquo;s Goop), and the rise of New Age spirituality, crystals have exploded globally. Hashtags for #crystals run into the millions on Instagram. The New York Times declared Read more...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/crystals-reality-behind-booming-new-age-healing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/crystals-reality-behind-booming-new-age-healing\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/crystals-reality-behind-booming-new-age-healing\/\",\"name\":\"Crystals: The Reality Behind Booming New Age Healing - CT Pastors\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-13T15:37:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-13T15:37:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/crystals-reality-behind-booming-new-age-healing\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/crystals-reality-behind-booming-new-age-healing\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/crystals-reality-behind-booming-new-age-healing\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Crystals: The Reality Behind Booming New Age Healing\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"description\":\"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Christianity Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"caption\":\"Christianity Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Crystals: The Reality Behind Booming New Age Healing - CT Pastors","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/crystals-reality-behind-booming-new-age-healing\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Crystals: The Reality Behind Booming New Age Healing - CT Pastors","og_description":"Crystals fascinate and mesmerize&#8211;opaque, shadowy colors that must hold ancient secrets, carved into angels, birds, or any object that may imbue meaning. 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