CRYSTAL RESEARCH

On the trail of the mystery –
The crystal healing research project

While esoteric crystal therapy was enjoying its initial great boom in the 1980s, a small group – fittingly in Steinstrasse No. 7 (Stone Street No. 7) – quietly and unnoticed, was beginning its work in Stuttgart. On Michael Gienger’s instigation, about 15 researchers met once a month to work on the basic principles of a purely empirical crystal healing project. The goal of the group, called ‘Forschungsgruppe Steinheilkunde Stuttgart’, was to research the effectiveness of crystals independently of any kind of esoteric-philosophical umbrella, on the basis of purely empirical-scientific experience. The homeopathic medicines’ testing ‘model’ was used, whereby certain substances are tested on voluntary test subjects, and  then, through the careful documentation of all phenomena of a physical, mental and spiritual nature that arise during the test, a picture of the medicine’s effect can be gained. This model was transferred to the application of crystals. All the test volunteers carried a specific crystal over an agreed period of time and then document –initially spontaneously, later with the help of questionnaire sheets – all the phenomena they observed.

Some of the results were quite astonishing! In one of the first tests with Lapis Lazuli, at the end of the agreed time period all the female participants suspected (either hopefully or fearfully) that they were pregnant. Nobody had reckoned on a result of that nature! The power of collective suggestion was not a possible explanation as no book had yet reported anything like it. The thing was, it turned out that none of them were really pregnant; instead, what was demonstrated is that if Lapis Lazuli is worn day and night over a longer period it will affect the hormones, and the menstrual cycle may be extended by something like seven to ten days. A later test in a school for alternative medicine in Stuttgart came up with similar results. With other crystals too, conspicuously similar results were noted by participants in various tests, though few perhaps as spectacular as with Lapis Lazuli. In this way, from 1988 to 1993, almost 30 crystals were thoroughly tested. On the basis of these empirical, scientifically identified ‘healing crystal medicine portraits’, an entirely new direction in therapy called ‘analytical crystal healing’ was founded.

Analytical crystal healing was able to identify, for the first time, four basic principles that form the foundation for understanding the healing effect of crystals. The total effect of a crystal consists of the following: (1) the special qualities of the mineral colour, (2) the minerals contained in the crystal, (3) the crystalline structure of a mineral, and (4) the characteristic manner of its creation. For each of these four qualities one can find correspondences in human nature, so that through these principles exactly the right healing crystal can be identified for a certain person, in a certain situation, with a particular problem or illness. Analytical healing crystals are thus a very precise instrument for diagnosis and therapy with crystals.

After a gap of three years, during which time results were examined and published, (See Crystal Power Crystal Healing / Cassel Illustrated 1998), the Forschungsgruppe Steinheilkunde Stuttgart began a new working phase in 1996. On the initiative of Walter von Holst, chairman of ‘Steinheilkunde e. V.’ (a crystal healing association), a new research project on crystals was created, a project that now includes all parts of the German-speaking world, with more than 50 research groups and 300 participants currently involved.

It is thanks to these research groups that analytical crystal healing is enjoying continued development towards becoming a serious and legitimate natural healing method. The efforts made to check observed effects and to objectify them through broadly based tests, are helping to convince sceptical experts in other fields that there is merit in crystal healing. Of all the streams of crystal healing, it is analytical crystal healing that is currently enjoying the most acceptance among physicians and non-medical practitioners. This is not least because of the extraordinary precision practised in this therapy, which can be read about in Michael Gienger’s fourth publication, The Healing Crystal First Aid Manual.
 
© Original German text: Michael Gienger.
World © Neue Erde GmbH, Saarbrücken.
Used with kind permission of Michael Gienger and Neue Erde Verlag.
© English translation: Astrid Mick
Editing: Claudine Bloomfield

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