The earth is 85 percent crystal. Its crust is largely silicon and oxygen, combined with
aluminum, iron, calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium. From these chemi-
cals come a wide variety of crystal colors, shapes, sizes, and hardness. Different crys-
tals are formed under varying conditions of temperature, pressure, space, and time.
Diamonds, for example, are found only at a few locations in the world because the
exact conditions for their formation are relatively rare.
Crystals are solid minerals with a symmetrical internal atomic structure and can be
classified according to their external appearance: cubic, tetragonal, hexagonal, trig-
onal, orthorhombic, monoclinic, and triclinic. The most desirable crystals are called
precious or semiprecious gemstones such as diamonds, amethyst, aquamarine, rose
quartz, opal, topaz, and turquoise. Crystal healing works on the principle that every
animal, plant, and mineral has an electromagnetic field that enables organic beings
and inorganic objects, such as crystals, to communicate and interact as part of a
single, unified energy system. Imitation or synthetic gemstones are material made to
look like a gem but have a different chemical structure and physical properties. An
example would be blue glass cut to imitate sapphire. As such, synthetic crystals will
not display the same electromagnetic properties as natural crystals.What Is Bioelectromagnetics?.
In the 18th century, Guigi Galvani, an Italian physician conducted experiments on
frog muscle to demonstrate that bioelectricity exists within living tissue. Shortly after
that, Alessandro Volta, a physicist, found that animal tissue was not needed to pro-
duce a current and went on to invent the electric battery in 1800. Michael Faraday,
a British chemist, became the greatest experimentalist in electricity and magnetism
of the 19th century, produced the first electric motor, and succeeded in showing that
a magnet could induce electricity. From this early work came many devices for the
diagnosis and treatment of disease, including many that are in use today.
In the late 1950s in Japan, doctors began to see a new syndrome of low energy,
insomnia, and generalized aches and pains. After extensive research it was discov-
ered that these complaints came from people who spent large amounts of time in
metal buildings and were thus shielded from the earth’s natural magnetic field. The
disorder was labeled “magnetic field deficiency syndrome,” and symptoms were alle-
viated by the external application of magnetic fields to the patients’ bodies. Today,
magnetic healing continues to be a significant part of mainstream medicine in
Japan.
Similarly, early Russian cosmonauts who spent more than a year in space were
amazed to find that they had lost nearly 80% of their bone density. As a result,
spacecrafts were designed to include strong artificial magnetic fields on board to284 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TOALTERNATIVE MEDICINE