{Buyer Beware}
One of the important things to know when you're getting into healing crystals, or considering high priced pieces as investments (which they can definitely be!) is to recognize when you're being swindled by marketing.
A friend sent me this GORGEOUS aqua aura grid! Seriously those quartz pieces and even the raw aqua aura points in the front are wow-factor. However, what is super disappointing is that the spheres, pyramid, and skull are very clearly glass, what's worse yet is that these pieces are marketed as high-vibe "Andara Crystals". Sounds fancy, right?
Andara Crystals are not what they claim to be, and it's been perpetuated in the healing and metaphysical community for a couple decades now. "Andara Crystals" claim to be simultaneously mono-atomic crystal while also being sold as made up of "etherium", a combination of 70 different elements. It's not possible for both those claims to be true, let alone at the same time.
What's worse is that Andara Crystals are often marked up for small pieces fetching $100s of dollars, if not thousands! It's not even a crystal as glass doesn't have crystalline atomic structure! What andara crystals are actually made up of is "slag glass"-- broken shards and chunks discarded from glass factories.
What gives crystals their form, like the various kinds of points you see in valuable quartz or the various crystalline shapes of plutonic solids that fluorite can be found in, is because on an atomic level that same shape is found in it's molecular structure. The crystalline atomic structure of the mineral composition is what lend crystals their healing properties as that crystalline formation has a much lower rate of entropy than organic materials. Take, for example, shungite: what gives shungite its incredible properties is that within that organic carbon-based material, the atomic structure of a form of the mineral carbon is that of remarkable "buckyball" formation-- and why the scientists who discovered that in the 80s won a Nobel Science Prize for it! (I can go on and on about the possibility of what buckyball atomic structure can lend for everything from medicine delivery efficacy to perhaps in the future being used to plate glass to protect against UV rays, as it is in development!).
While some crystal healers can debate whether or not man-made formations or enhanced versions of crystals are truly "healing", the consensus is that it's generally a no to mess with what nature produces perfectly in its own right. Some of these crystals that are contested are ones like aqua aura (or any of the "auras") and heat-treated citrine. The auras are created through extraordinary measures: aqua aura is created by putting quartz into a hot vacuum chamber with gold and other trace metals and the gold then bonds on an atomic level with the quartz. What this means is that if you were to slice an aura crystal in half or it chips, it won't lose it's iridescent shimmer. For this reason, I think science is incredible and thus combines the properties of gold with quartz to create new properties because it's crystalline atomic structure has been modified to create something completely new.
Long story short, do your research if you see ANY crystal marketed with a trademarked name. This is often a sign that you should do a little more research. Where did it come from? Who trademarked the name? Is it real? Know your sources and makes sure they are ethically in alignment with the properties and love you have for the crystal.
