In animistic cultures, shamans and priestesses have always been the scientists of the sacred, entering into ecstatic trance states to venture into the world of Spirit and return with visions, messages, and healing energies. In the realm of Spirit these custodians of humanity’s spiritual spark enact rituals of discovery, propitiation, cure and salvation. They retrieve lost souls, healing the mind, the body and the soul of the afflicted. They operate as guides of the souls of the dead into the manifold worlds of Spirit, and communicate directly with the elementals, devas, angels, gods and goddesses whose activities affected earthly life, health and fertility.

Extending far into pre-historical times, in these ways, these practitioners of Sacred Science were the first Light Workers, spiritual warriors defending humanity against spiritual affliction, disease, death, and disasters.

The archetypal cosmology of shamanism depicts crystals as solidified Light, originating in the realms of Spirit and manifesting on Earth as a bridge to the powers that create this world and all its inhabitants. Crystals are given to shamans and priestesses in many traditions on all continents of this world upon their initiation into the mysteries of Spirit.

The shamanic initiatory process can be described as a “death” of the egoistic self and a rebirth into a “body of light”, and during this process, crystals have often been abraded, swallowed, or inserted into the initiate’s body.

The anthropologist Mircea Eliade describes the process in his book “Shamanism”. “. . .[The initiator] throws the candidate into the sky, ‘killing him’. Once they are in the sky, the master inserts small rainbow serpents. . .and quartz crystals (which have the same name as the mythical Rainbow Serpent) [p.132]. . .The candidate must silently submit to an operation performed by two old medicine men. They rub his body with rock crystal to the point of abrading the skin, press rock crystals into his scalp, pierce a hole under a fingernail of his right hand, and make an incision into his tongue. [p.47]”

Other traditions involve “singing” a piece of crystal into the initiate’s forehead or pouring “liquefied quartz” over the candidate’s body.

Australian shamans are self-selected members of the tribe, according to Joseph Campbell, who describes the shamanic initiation rites of various cultures in his book “Primitive Mythology”. These would-be shamans enter a sacred cave, and go to sleep. While they sleep, a spirit comes, and pierces the candidate with an invisible lance, which passes through the back of the neck, piercing the tongue, and leaving a hole big enough to pass the little finger through.

A second spirit lance pierces the candidate’s head from ear to ear. The candidate falls dead and is carried into the depths of the cave, where spirits live. The spirits remove his intestines and replace them with a new set of intestines, composed of quartz crystals. The new shaman returns to the tribe, in a state of insanity.

Eventually, he “graduates”, and attains the powers of the medicine man. Then he is able to project the quartz crystals into other people, with results operating for their good or ill, depending upon the shaman’s intention.

The archetypal theme is the same. The candidate dies to his egoistic self, and his dead body is refashioned into a “body of light” by the incorporation of the solidified Light of quartz crystals into his own body. This new body of light is the initiate’s Higher Self, the rainbow bridge that connects the initiate to Higher Worlds and enables the initiate to see, feel, hear and speak in the worlds of Spirit.

Crystals are quintessential shamanic power objects, perceived by initiates to be living beings who operate as their allies in the realm of Spirit. In medicine bags, crystals emanate Light,infusing all the power objects in the medicine bag with spiritual power. In ecstatic trance, crystals are used as a bridge to the realms of Spirit, empowering the initiate to communicate with beings in other worlds.

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