Updated Post. Imma be real for a sec, some of the new information that was brought to my attention is amazing and, in fact, very helpful, so I'm making an updated post to this one here.
A Beginners Guide to Crystals.
How to spot fakes (typically glass) and dyed crystals, Crystal Shapes, and Crystal Color Associations are the topics in this post.
How to spot glass, resin, and other types of fake crystals. (You can still 100% use them in witchcraft, but if you want genuine crystals, then this guide may help you do just that!)
If you think that your crystals are fake, here are some things you can look and do to tell.
Rubbing your crystal with a finger should reveal tiny pores on the surface of the crystal. If it does not have any pores and is instead completely smooth, then it's possible that it's glass or resin.
While some crystals can have naturally formed air bubbles in them, it is rare and may just be glass that was shaped into the crystal.
You can easily search up "fake crystal name" vs. "real crystal name" and compare the two pictures.
You can also look up "dyed crystals" vs. "undyed crystals" to see what a natural coloring of crystals should look like.
If you're worried that your turquoise is fake, then you can take the tip of a hot pin and press it into the crystal, if it burns then it's real, however if it starts to melt its a fake.
Opalite and Goldstone are glass crystals, man made.
9/10 times if your Crystal looks very brightly colored it could have been dyed.
I'll put in some pictures of glass/resin crystals next to the real crystals to show the difference.
Natural coloring of crystals occurs because of the different metals and other minerals that are absorbed during the creation of the crystal. Quartz is just silica and oxygen, so it's appears colorless, but when iron is absorbed, it creates purple or yellow, depending on how oxidized the iron was in the creation of the crystal.
Natural citrine does form, but it's not going to look burned or splochty.
Splotchy color in crystals usually means that it's been dyed, as you can see in the first two images. Dyed crystals also very obviously look dyed because of how brightly they are colored.
Even in Malachite, the green in the fake malachite is brighter than the genuine malachite. You can also look at the unnatural banding on the fake and compare it to real malachite.
Real opal is not see-through like Opalite is. Real opal is more clouded with spots of color, while opalite will have streaks of color or look like the see-through ones above.
Real turquoise is going to have brown or black webbings and cracks or chips, while dyed howlite is going to be smooth with brown or black inclusions. You can take a swab of acetone and rub it across the crystal to see if any coloring comes off. If the color does come off or the crystal looks lighter in the spot, then it's more than likely dyed howlite. You can also do that hot pin trick mentioned above.
The picture on the left is dyed howlite, while on the right is the natural turquoise. You can see that the natural crystal has deep webbing into the stone, very obvious cracks while the holite doesn't have cracks, only webbing that looks like it but it's going to be smooth along those lines.
Crystal Shapes in witchcraft
Double pointed- absorbs and emits energy.
Cluster- Radiates energy.
One point- concentrates and directs energy.
Raw- Strong open energy.
If the crystal is more round then the energy is going to be calmer
If the crystal has multiple points, then the energy is directed off of each point.
The size of the crystal doesn't dictate the amount of energy it gives off.
Different crystals have different energies that they give off. The ones most commonly used in witchcraft and their properties are listed below.
Clear quartz- Clarity
Amethyst- Grounding
Citrine- Happiness
Rose quartz- love
Black Tourmaline- Protection
Obsidian- also protection
Aventurine- luck
Tigers eye- money
Labradorite- aura healing and protection
There are many other crystals that give off similar energies that can be used. As stated, these are just some of the more commonly seen ones.
Now, different crystals can give off different energies depending on the person using them. Some people may see use amethyst as protection rather than obsidian or black tourmaline. Some may use aventurine for money spells over tigers eye. That's 100% okay.
Crystal Color Associations.
Color associations can depend on how the witch feels about a color. This is the general association plus how I use colors in my path.
Red- Anger/passion
Orange- Courage (or in my case repulsion)
Yellow- Happiness
Green- Luck and money
Blue- Calming or sadness (depending on the mood)
Purple- Spirituality
Brown- grounding
Pink- self love
Grey- solemn, seriousness.
With some crystals, the color is also associated with the things listed above. However, again, not all witches will use the color associations of crystals this way, and that's 100% okay. Each witch has a different path and different associations when it comes to the tools they use in their path.
If you're interested in learning about what energies different crystals give off, often just googling "what is crystal name used for in healing" and you will receive an answer.
Though with any type of research, please look at 3-5 other sources that say the same or similar thing. Though it may take more digging to come to a conclusion.
Thank you for reading the updated post, and let me know if I missed anything or if you'd like to add anything. A big thanks to everyone who has corrected the previous post on this subject and any posts that may have contained misinformation in them.
