5 Crystals That Will Bring You Good Luck & Positive Vibes For The New Year

I was recently gifted a variety of healing crystals by a lovely metaphysical expert and healer named Athena. She sent me a collection of crystals in small pouches along with a small guide explaining each one's purported benefits, and I've since been using them to help me with things like meditation, sleep, and everything in between. Whether it's a placebo effect or a real-deal energy movement through crystal vibration, I'm here for it. And as the new year draws ever closer, I'm particularly interested in finding crystals for good luck and positivity in all areas of my life to slide into 2018.

So, if you're not that familiar with crystals, you might be wondering how exactly they're supposed to work. Well, first of all, different crystals are believed to hold different healing properties. It's believed that crystals affect a person's energy fields and are able to absorb, change, move, redirect, rid you of, or attract different energies in and around your body. They can be used in more intensive "crystal healing" sessions by a practiced healer, who might place different combinations of crystals in alignment with your chakras or energy fields with the intention of healing or shifting energy. In general, holding them, placing them on different parts of your body, or carrying the crystals with you is believed to have emotional, spiritual, and/or physical benefits, depending on the particular crystal. Like vitamins, you choose a crystal for a particular purpose, like wanting mental clarity, emotional balance, or even less fatigue.

As a bit of a disclaimer, healing crystals aren't exactly a practice backed by scientific research, nor are the chakra/energy fields they're believed to work on. Some believe the positive benefits of this pseudoscience are simply a placebo effect, because the mind is just that powerful of a machine. But hey, whatever works, right?

Those of us who are interested in using crystals as everyday charms of good luck or positivity might just bring them around in a pouch or keep them near the bed as a practice of setting and remembering good intentions. Or, at least that's what I personally like to do!

If you're interested in delving into the world of crystals, here are a few you might want to check out that are especially great for cultivating a little extra good luck as the year comes to an end and another begins.