Markings and changes in my crystals: What do they mean?

Crystals are powerful things, but they can also be quite delicate. We’ve all had at least one heartbreaking moment when our favorite crystal cracked, broke, or we realized it just didn’t look right anymore. There’s nothing more tragic than that, but it would help to understand why it happens and that it’s not always a bad thing – heartbreaking, yes, but not necessarily harmful. Let’s take a look at different types of markings and changes that may appear in your crystals and what they mean. 

Cloudy Crystals 

Oftentimes, especially with quartz, crystals can lose a bit of their translucency over time. This can be due to a number of various factors, such as improper treatment or cleaning, or simply because some crystals do that – they are natural formations after all. One of the most common occurrences of a cloudy crystal can be observed when it has been used for cleansing or healing, especially by a healing practitioner who would most likely use the crystal for that purpose daily. And respectively, this also occurs when the person being worked on has an illness or a great stagnation of negative energy. Conclusively, cloudy crystals are an indication of energy buildup over time and are for the most part irreversible. Even with extensive cleansing, you may bring back some of the clarity in the crystal, however not completely. On another note, it’s inadvisable to work with such a crystal after it has served its purpose. If you must keep it, be sure to tuck it away. 

Change of Color  

It can be pretty cool to watch your crystal change its color, a true marvel of nature, but it can also be worrisome or at least something to be curious about. Interestingly enough, crystals change color quite often. Why does it happen? The answer is both simple and not. Color change in crystals can occur due a number of different things, one being the way light touches it. From different angles and in different levels of light, a crystal may appear to change color. Alexandrite, for example, is green in daylight, and red at night when there is no sunlight. This is completely natural of course like the crystal itself. Other “unnatural” occurrences of a crystal changing color may be due to a shift in energy. However, this is nothing to be alarmed about. Crystals are alive and change according to heat, cold, the weather and even your body temperature. This is simply a crystal’s evolution and it may return to its natural color soon. Metaphysical reasons why a crystal would change color are a little more complicated, but still nothing to worry too much about. Some may say it’s a spiritual detour – something to guide you in the right direction. In one account, a woman stated that her amethyst had suddenly turned black after she changed courses in her work life and had been experiencing a great deal of stress. She soon quit her new job as it obviously wasn’t suiting her and after a short while, her amethyst cluster slowly began to regain its rich purple color.  

Lines in your Crystals 

As with any other occurrence, lines can appear naturally in your crystal without necessarily having a negative meaning behind it. In some crystals, especially rutile, the lines you’re noticing are just inclusions of other minerals. It is quite strange for these to appear after some time, but it’s not impossible. And then of course, with every physical explanation, there’s always a metaphysical point of view to things. If this is a crystal you’ve had for some time and you just know something is off, then it most likely is. There’s no actual guidebook to the spiritual and metaphysical aspect of crystals, but we gather what we can from collective accounts, personal experience, and intuition. For instance, someone reported a similar occurrence of a dark line running through their rose quartz crystal which hadn’t been there before, even though they had been working with this particular crystal for a good number of years. It showed up specifically after the person had been working on a very ill client for an extensive period of time. The crystal had undertaken too much unwanted energy and its stress became visible from the outside. 

Broken Crystals 

The ultimate change a crystal can undergo is it breaking. You’ve probably heard some crazy tales about crystals protecting their owners, and you wouldn’t be far off to assume that this is the case when it happens. Legend has it that a crystal (particularly a crystal with highly protective properties) will break to save its owner. In one historical account, a man fell off his horse and heard a loud crack which he initially thought was his leg breaking, but soon realized it was his turquoise crystal. The stone had taken the injury in his place. Now if this happens to you, it might not be something so extreme, but rather that the crystal has served its purpose. The day a crystal cracks can be heartbreaking to say the least, but rest assured that it’s a blessing. A broken crystal obviously cannot be fixed, but rather than throwing it out, you can bury it somewhere special after giving thanks. 

Are these changes reversible? Most of the time, they aren’t (especially if it’s broken), but there are some things you can do to help bring your crystal back to its former glory. Sometimes your healing crystals just need a little bit of healing themselves. Spiritually speaking, there are a few ways in which you can ‘mend’ your crystal energetically. Consider the elements and celestial masses; nature and the universe, from whence crystals themselves came, can replenish what is lost from your precious. The earth, water, and especially the sun and the moon can have a powerful impact on the well being of your crystals. Burying your crystal in the earth can help to absorb some of the negativity and heavy energy that’s been stuck inside it. While giving your crystal a moon bath can help to cleanse and charge it. Sit them out in the sun for a while to charge them up, but be careful with quartz as the sun can sometimes cause further discoloration. Love your crystal and it will love you back. In the case of heavily damaged crystals, it’s safe to say they’ve been under too much energetic pressure and may never come back to their original state. Plus, you might grab some of that energy yourself, so it’s best not to use those for healing purposes again.