Raghav Gadgil
It has been popularly believed that gemstones hold healing powers and attract money and that gemstones such as lapis lazuli, tourmaline, rose quartz, amethyst, and citrine, to name a few, hold magical powers. If these life-less minerals had inherent healing properties, the gemmologists would be the fittest and richest because they eat-drink-sleep with minerals (metaphorical, of course!).
But why do so many people believe in the alleged healing properties of gemstones? Are these powers for real?
This belief is similar to the faith-driven or symbolic practices of rituals offered to gods that bring prosperity. However, this continued belief might have less to do with the stones and more with human psychology. Gemstones, inherently, will not have any inkling about the human-made currency notes and the happiness they bring.
We have some brain bugs in play here, like the confirmation bias. Humans tend to focus only on those aspects that confirm their beliefs and dismiss those that do not. In the case of gemstones, if someone thinks a particular crystal will help with their stress, they are likelier to notice moments when they feel calm or relaxed while wearing it.
Being stressed makes them biased toward looking for good moments filtered out of bad ones. Once they get hold of those, with the gemstone on the finger or wrist as a bracelet, they will attribute those feelings to the stone, even if other factors—like getting better sleep or having a good day at work—make the difference.
On the flip side, when the stone does not seem to work, they will likely brush it off, thinking it was not used correctly or just an off day.
Businesses of gemstones use this fallacy. They also use a trick called ‘appeal to tradition’, which claims something to be true simply because it’s been believed for a long time. But just because something has been around long does not mean it is scientifically valid.
Correlation equals causation is another fallacy. For example, someone might wear a crystal bracelet and feel less anxious. It’s tempting to think the bracelet caused the improvement, but it could easily be a coincidence or the result of other factors. Sellers also play on the bandwagon effect, which means the more people use and talk about healing crystals, the more others are likely to jump on board, thinking that if so many people believe in them, they must be effective.
The placebo effect is at play here, too; it is a powerful phenomenon where simply believing that something will help you can improve your feelings.
In medicine experiments, out of a group of people given sugar pills (akin to medicines) and another group given actual medication, the group having sugar pills has shown improvement. The same applies to gemstones.
If you genuinely believe that a crystal will help you calm down or feel more energised, your mind can trigger accurate physical responses that align with that expectation. The stress reduction or the increase in positive feelings does not come from the stone itself but from the brain's ability to influence the body based on your beliefs. We are the servants of our thoughts.
The lens of science makes us more objective in our observations. People are not imagining their experiences—those experiences are real, but they’re driven by psychological factors rather than the ‘energy’, ‘vibrations’, or ‘waves’ emanating from the gemstones.
These adjectives are not grounded in scientific understanding of the human body or the natural world. In physics, for example, no evidence supports the idea that a gemstone can emit waves that interact with your body to heal it.
Gemstones are beautiful. But they should not be seen as replacements for medical treatment or solutions to health issues. Remember, the power within us (hopes and expectations) is likely to heal us.