Chakras & Colorful

Healing Gems, Stones,

and Mineralsby Margaret Ann Lembo

42 May/June 2018 | retailinginsight.com

The use of color and crystals as therapy is a truly holistic, non-invasive therapy which dates back thousands of years. Evidence of this can be found in ancient texts from India, China, and Egypt. Chakras are circular petal-shaped fields of energy lying across seven different

points on the human spine. The energy associated with each chakra has an effect on the mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual levels of consciousness.

There is nothing new about chakras though the trend continues to expand and so does consumer awareness. Due to increased awareness of yoga practices, the word “chakra” is no longer that unusual. Chakras and the need to balance them goes hand in hand with healing gems. Chakras are the energy centers of the body, mind, and spirit. These centers hold the vibration of well-being or out-of-balance conditions that affect the mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual aspects of consciousness. To improve or balance chakras, gemstones are a beautiful tool to restore well-being.

Colors Have Meaning and an Effect on Moods and Your SalesPeople like color. Bright, pastel, jewel-tone, muted, earth-tones – all have a vibration that amplifies or brings out thoughts and feelings. Colors affect people - your customers - on all levels. With or without conscious direction, colors and the rainbow of gemstones are an unexpected energy that has the ability to bring balance to out-of-balance conditions. Start by learning how colors affect you and those around you. Then it’s easier to build upon the knowledge of colors by an understanding of the chakras and then apply that knowledge to how a gemstone can assist you in your life.

Do you know about the power of bright pink? In Adam Alter’s book, Drunk Tank Pink, he explains about the “miraculous tranquilizing power of bright pink” used in correctional centers and in public places. It was discovered through several color experiments that holding cells painted bubblegum pink brought a sense of calm and peace. Detention centers and correctional institutes place agitated and aggressive new prisoners into a bright pink cell and they emerged calmer after about fifteen minutes. County jails started putting the violent drunks into pink holding cells and that’s when these cells were named Drunk Tank Pink. For close to 30 years, the event room (The Angel Room) at my store, The Crystal Garden, has been painted this shade of pink though the studies of Drunk Tank Pink was unbeknownst to me! Customers have marveled at how much better they felt after spending time in The Angel Room. Based on what Adam’s research uncovered, combined with the energy of the angels, it’s no surprise customers felt at peace after a visit in our pink room.

Even if your store’s primary focus is on other areas, it’s a good idea to incorporate a shelf or a department that relates to the body, mind, and spirit community. The associated principles are becoming more mainstream every day.

Healing Gemstones and Merchandise for All ChakrasChakra products are available in almost anything you can imagine. Crystals and gemstones are more commonly incorporated into many products from wind chimes to pottery. It is helpful to organize the displays in chakra color order when possible.

There are so many choices of gems to carry in your store. Quartz crystals including amethyst, citrine, rose quartz, and smoky quartz, are the most commonly recognized stones; however, there are a vast array of gemstones. They include azurite, beryl, chalcedony which includes agate and jasper; corundum which includes ruby and sapphire, diamonds, garnet, and so many more. They relate to the chakras and various emotions, thoughts, and situations, which also vibrate at different frequencies. The choices are many.

Each of the seven chakras has an associated color, and this color can be represented by various crystals. An understanding of the meanings of color and the chakras, will enable to know the basic qualities of gemstones and crystals. Pair color and gemstones with intentions to amplify the ability to design your own reality. Product knowledge for you and your staff is beneficial to assist customers.

A Journey Through the Chakras and ColorThe human body is multi-dimensional with subtle bodies. While you are very aware of your physical body working with the energy of colors and chakras helps you get in touch with your mental, emotional and spiritual body. These other bodies comprise your thoughts (mental body), your feelings (emotional body) and your connection with spirit (spiritual body). Even though you can’t see your thoughts, feelings and your spirit, you do know they exist. Within all four bodies there are seven chakras —the crown, the third eye, the throat, the heart, the solar plexus, the navel, and the root, each associated with a specific color. The lower three chakras are related to the physical part that connects you with the more mundane aspects of living here on planet Earth – food, shelter and water. The upper three chakras are the spiritual chakras helping you remember your Divine connection with your spiritual nature or the heavenly connection. The heart chakra is the bridge between the upper three and the lower three chakras, bringing Heaven to Earth and Earth to Heaven. Here is a little synopsis of the chakra system with a few key words and gemstones to get you started.

Root ChakraColor: RedThe foundation of your physical nature is located here which include basic survival needs like food, shelter, and water includes financial success and abun-dance as well as physical vitality. Motivation, focus and grounding are key elements of this chakra.Associated Gemstones: garnet, ruby, hematite, black tourmaline

Sacral or Navel ChakraColor: Orange Creativity, the ability to take action and manifest and your gut feelings of intu-ition reside here. This is the center where your energy gives birth to your reality.Associated Gemstones: carnelian, orange calcite

Inspired Living | retailinginsight.com 43

Solar Plexus ChakraColor: Yellow Self-esteem and the courage to live to your full potential are key for this chakra. Diges-tion of food and the digestion of life are important aspects of the energy here and how you integrate life.Associated Gemstones: Citrine, golden topaz

Heart ChakraColors: Green & Pink Love, kindness, tolerance, compassion are the main focus of the heart chakra. This chakra is the bridge that brings heaven to earth and your connection with blessings and well-being.Associated Gemstones: green aventurine, jade, emerald, rose quartz, pink calcite.

Throat ChakraColor: Light Blue or turquoiseCommunication is the main focus here at the throat and your ability to express yourself, be heard, and to listen well. This center helps you align with intuition and divine timing.Associated Gemstones: angelite, blue lace agate, blue topaz, turquoise

Third Eye ChakraColor: Indigo Blue The third eye, located in the center of your brain, is the place of intuition and the ability to pay attention to your inner knowing.Associated Gemstones: lapis lazuli, sodalite, amethyst

Crown ChakraColors: White, Gold, and Purple Mental clarity, spiritual connection, and your personal connection with the Divine is the energy of this chakra.Associated Gemstones: amethyst, apophyl-lite, clear quartz, pyrite, selenite

What Is Intention and What Are Affirmations?An intention is simply a plan, a goal, or a focus. It is the starting point to anything and everything. Everything we do, from the simple or mundane to the extraordinary, starts with an intention. Thoughts create reality and using gemstones help to focus on what you want to create to live the life of your dreams.

Gemstones are tools to focus your inten-tion on what you do want versus what you don’t want. It is likely many of your customers are aware of this and that is why gemstones – tumbled rocks as well as specimens – sell so well. These beautiful tools can help you in your spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical realignment and personal development.

44 May/June 2018 | retailinginsight.com

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Crystals, minerals, rocks, metals, and gemstones are tools from the earth that can be used to assist you in staying focused on your intentions to create and maintain positive change in your life. All of your conscious thoughts and feelings—as well as the subcon-scious and unconscious ones—create the life you are currently living. This basic principle is at the heart of most universal laws, including the law of attraction and the laws of physics.

When a gemstone is paired with a daily affirmation, the stone amplifies that inten-tion. It is a tool that helps you maintain your focus on what you do want. In my work with color and crystals over the course of three decades, I’ve found that to use a stone most effectively, it is best to associate an intention with it. And the more informa-tion you provide to your customers about the qualities associated with certain stones, the more stones you will sell and you’ll be helping them by providing valuable tools to improve their life while improving your bottom line.

Six Areas of LifeUsually the questions most people have are regarding how to change their reality. The only way to change reality is to realign our thoughtforms and then take the matching action necessary to create the desired reality. People want to improve six main areas of life and each one has colors and gems that partner well with each category. It is through focus and intention that these questions are answered, and results are actualized.• Love, Friendship and Romance• Health and Well-Being• Money and Motivation• Safety and Protection• Happiness and Self-Confidence• Intuition and Communication

Matching Gemstone Vibration with IntentionGemstones are a tool for meditation, inspira-tion, creation of reality, and transformation. Crystals, minerals, and stones are simply tools that provide you and your customers with a

reminder of intentions and goals. Just as you might light a candle to help you focus on an intention or tie a string around a finger to remember something, a gemstone can provide that same nudge. These sparkling treasures from deep within the earth can help distract you from any troubling thoughts that might be getting in the way of your progress. The following provides you with a short guide of a few gemstones to get you started with crystals and minerals to carry in your store:

1 Love, Friendship and Romance• Rose quartz, pink calcite and other pink

stones to open your heart to give and receive love. Pink-colored gems are perfect stones to help attract romance and love into your life. They aid in attracting your soul mate. The soothing pink color of the rose quartz crystal is perfect for situations when you need to feel comforted. Use it when you need to amplify your own feelings of unconditional love.

Inspired Living | retailinginsight.com 45

There are miracles inside everyone just waiting to appear, and the step-by-step guidelines in Shortcut to a Miracle will bring them to life. The principles are universal, but the application is individual — based within. Start from where you are and learn to head towards a richer, fuller, more rewarding life filled with wondrous opportunities as you allow the miracles to transform your life.

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• Garnet and ruby in zoisite amplify love with romance. These gems vibrate with the energy of spiritually aligned romantic love. Use them as a magnet to attract the perfect life partner. Allow it to help you open your sacred heart to a higher vibration of loving and being loved.

2 Health and Well-being: • Ruby’s hardness and red energy aligns you

with your core inner strength. Red rocks are beneficial to rev you up with the fuel required to live life to the fullest when used with conscious intent. Keep red stones on your person when you are healing to encourage vitality and endurance.

• Green aventurine and other green gemstones like jade, serpentine, and peridot help you stay focused on eating healthy and exercising regularly to maintain a healthy heart. Use green gems to align you with the right health care and practitioners. Use it to maintain focus on the fact that you are in optimal health.

3 Money and Motivation• Emerald is the stone of extreme wealth. With

your health and vitality intact, use this stone to attract financial success through your focused actions. Green tourmaline and all green stones including green aventurine and jade mentioned above are excellent tools to remind you to that there are plenty of people with plenty of money who want the goods or services that you offer.

• Use red calcite and other red gemstones to integrate new core beliefs into your mindset surrounding money, wealth, and prosperity. Use this stone to activate your “millionaire mind.” Red jasper, garnet, ruby, red aventurine and all red gems are beneficial for motivation and as an anecdote for procrastination. The vibrant red vibration promotes well-being and inner strength. The red energy also increases endurance.

4 Safety and Protection• Black obsidian, black tourmaline, jet, and

all the black gemstones are beneficial to release negative energy and increase feelings of safety and protection. They are perfect to ground you and keep you focused. If you have a tendency to get easily distracted or off center, use this stone to keep your mind on the task at hand. It is also beneficial for maintaining a positive outlook by keeping negative thoughts at bay.

• Hematite and tiger’s iron removes scattered energy from your energy field and repels negative thoughts from your mind as well as from the minds of others. Hematite works wonders in shifting negative feelings by calming and relaxing your attention on the source of the emotional challenge.

5 Happiness and Self-Confidence• Citrine, golden topaz, golden calcite and

yellow gems are helpful to activate self-confidence and joy. Use yellow stones to help you out of depression and relieve any feelings of inferiority or unworthiness. These gems help you remember your magnificence, to sparkle and shine, and to live to your full potential.

• Sunstone and goldstone offer mental clarity. These gems connect you with positive thoughts. Use these stones with the intention to shed light on obstacles and brings luck and good fortune. Sunstone and goldstone are helpful for manifestation and the power of the mind to create reality. Sunstone reminds you of your own personal brilliance.

6 Intuition, Spiritual Connection and Communication• Selenite and clear quartz align you with

your spiritual nature and clarity. They are helpful during meditation. Use the clear or white stones for help with situational awareness. With this stone in hand, allow your intuitive nature to meld with your intelligence, combining your knowledge with spiritual connection.

• Turquoise, blue lace agate, angelite and all the light blue and turquoise colored stones are the stones to help you to know your truth, speak your truth, and live your truth. They are good gems to keep nearby when you need assistance with the timing of things.

Stocking Your Store with an Array of GemstonesRegardless of whether you have a small section or a fairly large selection, gemstones are trending and customers buy them like candy. Tumbled stones are favored by people because they can be easily carried in a purse or pocket. They are reminders of their goals and intentions. These gems are amulets and good luck charms to help them focus on the positive.

Include a ‘stone sign’ in the bowl of each type of rock with a little description, price, and the code to ring it up in your point-of-sale

system. The ‘stone sign’ is easy to create. The logo and the website are included on the ‘stone sign’ so customers will remember where they purchased the stone and it encourages a return visit. Some customers take a photo of the stone with the ‘stone sign’ and keep an album of their tumbled stone purchases in their phone or computer to enable stone identification.

How to Choose a GemstoneCustomers will ask for a stone that will help them with these areas of life listed above. You can direct them to choose based on your recommendations or you can empower them to use their own inner knowing to pick the right stone. For example, you can say something along these lines:

As you are looking through the tumbled stones (and the larger stones, if you wish), think about what you want to attract or change in your life—in other words, what do you hope to accomplish by working with the crystal you will choose? Contemplate what you will think about every time you touch or look at the stone. Continue looking at the various stones. Allow your higher self to be naturally attracted to one of them. Choose the stone by color and how attractive it is to you. If you think a stone is pretty or if it piques your interest in some other way, pick it up and see if you like the way it feels in your hand. Ask yourself, “How does this stone make me feel?” Begin your work by using your intuition and feelings about the chosen stone without searching out its description. Then, look it up in the books we have available to find out why you were attracted to it and the many ways you can use the stone.

Crystals and gemstones make a great

addition to your product mix. Visit the warehouse of a gemstone dealer or find them online. My favorite gemstone dealers include The Gemstone Factory, Craftstones, Oceanic Linkways, Raiders of the Lost Art, and Vicion.

Regardless of the reason someone is attracted to having a stone on their desk or their nightstand, the bottom line is they are pretty and the sale of these sparkling treasures make a positive impact on your profits.

Margaret Ann Lembo is the author of Chakra Awakening; The Essential Guide to Crystals, Minerals and Stones; Crystal Intentions Oracle; The Essential Guide to Aromatherapy and Vibrational Healing; and Animal Totems and the Gemstone Kingdom. Find out more at www.thecrystalgarden.com and www.margaretannlembo.com.

46 May/June 2018 | retailinginsight.com