Ordinary yet extraordinary, colorful and clear, Quartz crystals are the most common and abundant in the world, comprising the largest and most diverse family in the mineral kingdom. "From ancient times to the present day, quartz crystals have been a source of Light to mankind. Highly valued by spiritual leaders and healers as well as scientists, the unique attributes of quartz have played a key role in mankind' evolutionary development." (Baer, R, "Windows of Light" preface)

Composed of silicon and oxygen (silicon dioxide), Quartz, from the European "quartz", is a key component in a wide array of minerals designated as "silicates." It occurs as prismatic hexagonal crystals in compact masses and druses, as well as in dense fibrous or grainy formations without visible crystals. It is also an important mineral element in common rock such as granite, quartzite and gneiss, and in sedimentary conglomerates like sandstone. [Simmons, 317][www.Quartzpage.de]

For all its variety, when most people speak of "crystals", they are usually referring to Rock Crystal (Clear Quartz), the six-sided prisms of pure light and energy known as the Perfect Jewel. In its sparkling light is contained the entire colour spectrum.

In the metaphysical world, Clear Quartz crystals are the supreme gift of Mother Earth. Even the smallest is imbued with the properties of a master healer teacher. Ancients believed these stones to be alive, taking a breath once every hundred years or so, and many cultures thought them to be incarnations of the Divine.

Today's healers agree, believing crystals are living beings, incredibly old and wise, and willing to communicate when an individual is open and ready to receive. Wearing, carrying or meditating with a Clear Quartz crystal opens the mind and heart to higher guidance, allowing the realm of Spirit to be transmitted and translated into the world of physical form.

Resonating at the level of an individual's needs, Clear Quartz also amplifies whatever energy or intent is programmed into it, and continues to broadcast that energy throughout the world and into the etheric realms. This may accelerate the fulfillment of one's prayers, intensify healing or spiritual growth, or simply allow the crystal to hold a pattern of energy long enough and strongly enough for the manifestation of a goal to occur.[Hall II, 22][Eason, 133][Simmons, 318][Ahsian, 319]

"Quartz crystals are the manifestation of the Creator's finest hour of expression. The are windows of light with many facets which show the myriad dimensions of life created from cosmic dust in an ever expanding universe. Divine plan as foreordained that all expanding life revolve around one common denominator, quartz crystal. Through frozen solidified light all creation could be monitored and assisted through the evolutionary process."Beverly Criswell "Quartz Crystals: A Celestial Point of View" ( quoted in "Windows of Light", by Vicki and Randall Baer)

Clear Quartz, pure silicon dioxide, is also called Rock Crystal or Ice Crystal, from the Greek word "krystallos", meaning "ice", because crystal was believed to be water frozen so hard it could never thaw. The prismatic hexagonal crystals have relatively smooth sides and naturally faceted terminations at one or both ends, and may be transparent as glass, milky or striated, often found in clusters and ranging in all sizes. The terminations have different facet shapes depending on the rate at which they were formed, and these shapes are deeply significant. [Simmons, 318][Hall, 225] 

Throughout history, Clear Quartz has been valued by nearly every civilization as far back as Atlantis and Lemuria, where the sun's power was believed to be harnessed through a crystal as a source of solar energy refraction. They, along with Native American Indians, African tribes, ancient Egyptians, Aztecs, Romans, Scots and countless other cultures used Clear Quartz in diagnostic healing, meditations and spiritual development, as religious objects and in funerary rites, and to dispel evil and magical enchantments.