As many of you know, I am a part owner and the general manager of our family Metaphysical shop. Crystals are our biggest seller! We have even been mining ourselves a few times. I love learning about crystals, so I pick up and read any book I can; everyone has their own bit of information to add.
There are many beginner books you can use when looking to learn more about crystals and this is what this book promised to be. So, I knew that I had to read it. Sadly, I did not enjoy the book as much as I thought I would and we will get to that, but first…the information about the book!
Crystals: An Introduction 
Author: Cass Jackson and Janie Jackson
Publisher: Hampton Roads Publishing (Red Wheel Weiser)
Published: March 4th 2024
Book Length: 158 Pages
Genre: Spirituality, Nonfiction, Paganism, Witchcraft
Rating: ♥
Buy the Book: Amazon, Red Wheel Weiser
*I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for my honest, unbiased review*
Your Plain & Simple Guide to Using Crystals for Healing, Meditation, Divination, and Protection
Throughout human history, crystals have been used to heal, bring luck, reduce stress, and offer protection. Through this clear, practical guide, discover the many ways crystals can cure physical, emotional, and spiritual problems as well as divine the future and enhance psychic powers. See which ones work best to aid meditation and visualization, clear a room of negative energy, promote creativity, or foresee the future. There’s advice on buying, purifying, programming, and charging the stones, and a breathtaking gallery rich in information.
Other topics covered include:
- Crystal legends and folklore
- Healing with crystals
- Crystals, colors, and chakras
- Birthstones
- Growing your own crystals
- Crystals for meditation and visualization
- Crystal correspondences
- Crystals through the zodiac
Whether it is sardonyx, which was used in Persia to protect against the evil eye; amber, used for healing throat problems since at least Roman times; or hematite, which enables the holder to connect with the unseen and develop great psychic powers, this book will help you find the proper stone for the moment in need. A splendid and concise book for the curious and for beginners on the crystal path, Crystals will entertain, enlighten, and inform.
This title was previously published as Crystals Plain & Simple.
I really wanted to love this book, but I just couldn’t. This is my first one-star review of the year. The first flaw I noticed is there are no citations for information…at all. That means that you are telling me that these two authors just happened to know all of this information and never used another source to learn from? Wrong! In the metaphysical community, it has become more and more prevalent to see work without proper citations, which, for me, is an automatic no-no. Immediate red flag!
Secondly, the book reads as if it was written by an AI rather than actual authors. I would love to read the other books in their series to see if they read the same.
“Double terminated crystals have points on both ends. They can be used in the same way as a single terminated crystals but are considered superior to them.”
The quote above is at the very beginning of the book. First, there is a grammar issue, but that aside, a double-terminated crystal is not superior to a single-terminated one! It all depends on how you are using it and which one is more suited to your needs. For example, in a crystal grid where I am pulling energy in and concentrating it, a single termination crystal would be ideal. However, in mediations or even my Reiki healings, double terminations are more suitable because the energy can move in either direction. This statement was yet another red flag.
“The larger sizes of crystal ball are usually made of glass rather than crystal, so if you want a real crystal one, it will probably have to be fairly small.”
Again, incorrect! While many of the completely clear “crystal balls” that are larger are indeed glass, there are loads of chances to buy a crystal ball made of authentic quartz, obsidian, or any other stone. The only caveat is the bigger the crystal, the better the quality and the higher the price tag. The authors should tell readers how to differentiate glass and quartz rather than telling them every big one is likely fake or glass.
The next big thing that got me upset was the authors’ advice not to buy treated or man-made crystals. When I first began buying and even selling crystals, I shied away from anything treated or man-made. However, when you work with stones such as goldstone or opalite, you will realize that, indeed, even these man-made ones have energy and metaphysical properties. Also, the readers are told not to buy a crystal if they have never heard of it before…Well, I guess in that case, we will never experience any new crystals. Will we? Miners are always finding new minerals and crystals.
At one point, we are told to put crystals in our windows without warning that some, such as amethyst and fluorite, can fade in direct sunlight. They even mention 
washing your crystals in water or giving your pet crystal water to drink, but they do not mention that some crystals, when added to water, are toxic!
When the chakras are discussed and associated with crystals, they don’t even mention that you can use other crystals aside from what they listed. Some of the metaphysical properties they list don’t even align with the most common ones we find. I will say that everyone feels stones differently, so maybe they really do feel that the Apache tear is a good luck stone rather than one used to grieve the loss of someone. There is an entire story about the legend behind the Apache tear. I will say that they did mention crystals are not a replacement for traditional medicine, so there is one good thing here.
Overall, I understand what the authors were trying to say to readers, but they did not say it adequately. This book would make any beginner afraid that sellers will give them fake stones or that they should only buy popular ones because others could be fake. For me, this book is not something I would recommend to a beginner. It is filled with too much, which I find awful about this book, to consciously offer it as a learning experience to someone who may come back with a lot of misinformation. There are so many amazing crystal books out there for beginners, but sadly, this is not one of them.
Do you work with crystals? What is your favorite crystal book? Let me know in the comments below.
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links.
Great review post.
It can be so hard to know what to read when you are first starting out with crystals. There’s so much information in the crystal world as there is, it can easily get confusing as you try to work out what is true or false.
Absolutely! And a huge part of what I do is help people sift through that.