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Crystals for Beginners A Guide to Collecting & Using Stones & Crystals

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Crystals for Beginners makes it easy to learn about crystals and how to use their positive energy in a variety of practical ways. This friendly introductory guide explores crystal magic, folklore, and wisdom. It features an alphabetical guide to crystals, along with advice on collecting, cleansing, and charging them. Handy reference charts help you quickly find information on birthstones, zodiac stones, precious metals, and more. You can empower, clarify, and illuminate your life with the help of these beautiful gems. —Balance body, mind, and spirit —Calm and center emotions —Tap into inner wisdom —Amplify and focus energy —Experience richer dreams —Develop intuition and creativity Corrine Kenner Llewellyn Trade Paperback | 9780738707556 English | 264 pages | 5 x 8 IN Pub June 2006

Unknown Binding

First published November 1, 2011

56 people are currently reading
174 people want to read

About the author

Corrine Kenner

38 books105 followers
Corrine Kenner is a certified tarot master and the author of several books, including Simple Fortunetelling with Tarot Cards, Tarot Journaling, Tall Dark Stranger: Tarot for Love and Romance, The Epicurean Tarot, and the forthcoming Wizards Tarot and Tarot for Writers. \r
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Corrine has lived in Brazil and Los Angeles, where she earned a bachelors degree in philosophy from California State University. She now lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her husband and their daughters.\r
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Corrine organizes tarot classes and workshops on a regular basis. For more information, visit her website at corrinekenner.com."

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5 stars
36 (27%)
4 stars
42 (32%)
3 stars
39 (29%)
2 stars
14 (10%)
1 star
0 (0%)
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
Profile Image for Kathleen O'Neal.
471 reviews22 followers
June 21, 2018
Some of the content in this book was rather helpful such as the list of crystals and their spiritual associations. The scientific information at the beginning of the book was worthwhile too. However, the content in the middle part of the book was somewhat ridiculous. I like to read out loud to myself and I was reading this book out loud to my best friend and we both just started cracking up at how ridiculous some of the information presented was. Here is one gem that had us howling: "First, do what you can to accomplish your goals without resorting to crystal magic. If you want a new job, polish up your resume and start sending it out. If you're hoping to find love, get a good haircut and learn how to dance. If you want to lose weight, spend more time walking than watching TV. Direct action is always the most effective way to change your life." I think that this book could have done a better job of explaining the spiritual significance of crystals. Instead I found myself laughing at the book.
Profile Image for Mia.
36 reviews1 follower
July 23, 2025
Not perfect but very good.
In first I need to note that before this book I knew just a bit about crystals.
And while I read this book I made huge amount of tegs which I will using in the future.
But in any way some chapters was like out of title.
For example, as a beginner I would love to see which crystal I can use for chacras, but I don't want to read exactly about chacras. Or some crystals description includes spheres and the way where I can use it, but some crystal does have only colors palette and history/mythological legend, and I'm curious why, because some of that crystal I actually have right now and I would love to know where I can use it.
So in general I can advice to read this book for beginners in crystals but do not be shy to skip some chapters and be ready to read more then this one book.
Profile Image for Dominika.
366 reviews4 followers
March 11, 2019
I do have a few crystals but like with a wide variety of things, I consider them more a good luck charm or a psychological booster and less of a metaphysical powerhouse. You should always take these things with a grain of salt (I say, as I can sometimes use these things as my own psychological soother). You should also talk to real doctors about your physical ailments, because these things aren't cheap anyway.

I think this is a good beginning guide for just crystal work and it has given me some good ideas for crystals to look for and how to use them. There's a small encyclopedia of crystals and a lot of general information and ideas. I don't think I'd pick this for anyone's first book, but it's still pretty ok.
Profile Image for Barb.
550 reviews23 followers
March 19, 2018
I thoroughly enjoyed learning about crystals from this book. I was able to absorb information on types and styles of crystals, how they are formed, and various ways to use them for mediation. I only gave this book a three star rating because I felt some elements of information were a little too spiritual in regards to general crystal education, but I can also see why those elements are essential. If you're interested in learning about crystals, give this book a try.
Profile Image for Liz.
547 reviews5 followers
August 11, 2021
This was super informative about the collecting, use, cleansing, and other information dealing with crystals. It would have been a bit more helpful if the book had included color pictures of the crystals (it only had a few diagrams here and there of specific cuts and a black and white color wheel), but this is the 21st century, so it is not too difficult to find pictures of the crystals myself.
Profile Image for Maya Elkins.
68 reviews
March 13, 2023
I’m a skeptic, so obviously this is coming from someone who is biased, but it became even harder for me to trust this as a source when some of the claims about history were false information (for example, all the information included on the Crystal Skull). I did enjoy learning about different crystal properties, which is mostly what I came for.
Profile Image for Ariani.
113 reviews1 follower
October 2, 2022
it was kind of dragged out but i learned a bunch and it’s cool if you want to know about spirituality but i’m out of my crystal phase so i wasn’t super interested. But the book itself was cool and teaches a lot about how to use crystals is different ways and what the different crystals are
Profile Image for Colleen.
216 reviews19 followers
June 18, 2017
Gets a big New Age woo-woo at times, but overall it's a decent overview of crystal properties and how they can be used for magickal purposes.
Profile Image for Willow.
132 reviews13 followers
December 30, 2017
Excellent introduction to the uses of crystals. Useful reference tool.
Profile Image for Brittany Garcia.
306 reviews4 followers
May 31, 2020
Truly a book for beginners with basic and repetitive knowledge. Lack of illustrations.
Profile Image for Jaqui.
120 reviews12 followers
July 21, 2017
Very basic overview. Goes a little too far into the...eh...new age stuff. Which is funny coming from me -- you know it's gotta go really far woo woo, ha. Some useful and original info on how to use crystals, but definitely not overly much to recommend it.
Profile Image for Empath Warrior.
180 reviews18 followers
June 22, 2015
Upon first borrowing this book from the library, I thought it would be a very basic text with maybe a few gems of knowledge. I found myself highlighting (Kindle version) all over the place! This book has tons of great information for all crystal users, beginners and up. If you are interested in crystals, I definitely recommend reading this book.
Profile Image for Kristina.
561 reviews23 followers
did-not-finish
December 22, 2019
Another crystal book that fell by the wayside in the midst of reading a lot of crystal books at once. It just didn't glimmer like the others. I could blame it on the lack of photos, but there are a few crystal books without photos that I do like. The biggest turn off was how the author organized the information. Not my favorite.
Profile Image for Rita Robinson.
2 reviews
July 6, 2015
This was an excellent read for me as an beginner. The print wasn't to small and helped me to recognize the various stones well that I had purchased. It informed me also of the meaning with the colors of my stones. Enjoyed the book!
Profile Image for Connie.
723 reviews18 followers
February 9, 2009
I like this book, but it contradicts another book with which stones go with which gods and which planets.
I also would like pictures in it.
Profile Image for Brandy.
24 reviews6 followers
August 31, 2011
One of the clearest written, straight forward & useful books I've ever read on the subject! I HIGHLY Recommend it to anyone interested in the subject of crystals & their metaphysical uses.
Profile Image for Willow.
14 reviews1 follower
September 6, 2012


I absolutely love this book!!! A must have for the beginner and a great edition to the experienced.
Profile Image for Larissa.
44 reviews
July 5, 2016
This was a disappointment. It's not organized in a way that makes sense to me. There are no photos and few diagrams. It's clumsy to navigate and use for reference. The information seems spotty.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews

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