Review: The Crystal Bible by Judy Hall

The book's directory format and beautiful, full-color photos ensure that the crystals are easily identifiable. Descriptions, which accompany each of the crystals, provide all the information on their appearance, worldwide distribution, attributes, actions and healing properties. All the major and less known stones currently available are contained inside, including those only recently discovered. A comprehensive index cross-referencing crystals to applications, aliments and conditions make this book a vital reference for all crystal users.
--Goodreads

I am so happy I finally got this book! I've had bronchitis for the past month and I very much needed something beyond meds to make me feel more powerful than my respiratory problem. Not only are crystals beautiful, they also vibrate positive energy that can treat pretty much any ailment that is humanly possible to have--and some for animals, too.

The Good: What I love about this book is that it's not only a reference guide but an instruction manual. Though the content is limited, the majority of the book is dedicated to information on the individual crystals. I was a bit disappointed that she only covers a bit over 200 crystals. I also read her book on healing crystals that went more into depth. In that book, she offers twelve fundamental stones for Chakra clearing/healing and not all of them are covered in the Crystal Bible. What a bummer, considering I have so many stones but not all the ones I absolutely need for a full spread.

The beginning of The Crystal Bible starts with the "Background of Crystals" which covers the creation of the crystals in the Earth and explains that crystals "emit energy, especially on the electromagnetic waveband." The chapter (or, rather, the section with the big heading) on crystal healing was what I was especially interested in. One of the few downsides with this book is that it made me realize how many additional crystals I need to get in my collection. I can't afford that, man. Fortunately, the back of the book, the index, covers all the properties of each crystals, so for different ailments there are often several crystals that can treat the "dis-ease" of the body.

Also covered is the care and keeping of crystals and crystal selection. Then begins the reference part of the bible. Each crystal has an extensive wealth of knowledge offered, including the color and appearance; attributes; healing; position; and covers specific colors if there are several for each stone.

And then comes the back of the book: a long description (separated into little sub-catagories) of all the possible crystal shapes and how they can be used for healing. Under "Quick Reference" the Chakras and corresponding stones (with several options for each) are addressed with more variety than her other book (more about that later). The association of "Crystals and the Aura" are addressed as are various body parts and crystals.

The Bad: Although this book is 400 pages there just aren't enough crystals covered. I would imagine that the size of the smallish, thick book can't be much longer than it already is, but I still need more. However, this book covers the basics. I just don't know what else I'm missing! There is not enough information in this book for one to cleanse/purify, discharge, charge, and set an intention to the crystal, so another book is necessary to educate oneself on those matters. But, that's not something I expected in a crystal reference book. I was led one in the beginning, however, and expected such information.

There wasn't enough pictures of the various rocks for my liking. Some pictures would cover the raw crystal, while others just showed a tumbled stone. Not all variations of a single crystal were shown and that made it difficult for me to

The Verdict: There are several sections, like making gem elixirs, that don't apply to me. There is no way you'll find me drinking water that a crystal has been in, just because I'm not confident that I can assure that I truly cleansed them; however, that could easily apply to the person next to me. There are not detailed instructions in this book on how to purify crystals, but I'll shortly be reviewing another book that does.