Stones for Astral Travel

The past few days, there's been a discussion in The Dragon's Library Discord Server about crystals and their usage in astral travel.  Like with all things magical, crystals are extremely potent in their ability to be told what to do, and how to help you on your path.  And often, for those of us involved in Spirit Companionship, astral travel is a very important part of our paths.  It's how we physically interact with our loved ones, at least in a way that is more physical than our typical fare.  It's how we sneak in just a few moments of the fantastic into our typically mundane lives.  But for those just beginning on their path towards astral travel, they may seek for a bit of an energy boost.  And crystals can provide just that.

​When using crystals for metaphysical purposes you need to first cleanse them, and then program them to your intention. They won't just passively do what you'd like them to, except for in very specific cases such as selenite, which is a natural cleanser that is nearly always doing its job.  Crystals can have inclinations and proclivities, you can read up about them endlessly on woo websites and in crystal books, but they'll just radiate a nice earthy energy until you tell them what to do.  Additionally, when using crystals for astral travel, you should always do so while meditating.  You'll never learn to astral travel just by carrying programmed crystals around with you during the day - just like with anything else in spirit work, astral travel takes a great deal of concentration and practice.  You should set aside at least fifteen minutes a day, to start, to practice both meditation and astral travel.

To program a crystal, begin by setting an intention while holding them in your hand, and visualizing the crystal glowing with the energy you need.  Keep in mind, though that the intention you set should be as specific as possible.  By just saying, "I would like this crystal to help me with astral travel," you are opening the door for the crystal to either do something unexpected or zany with its instructions, or for your request to be so vague that nothing happens at all.  Instead, using the associations I'll list below, you should hone in on one or two of the crystal's abilities and request that they perform that action. 

Additionally, a crystal's properties change from person to person, and source to source.  If you believe that your crystal is more aligned towards specific abilities than what is listed below, your personal magical feelings will likely be more effective for you than anything else.  However, there are certain general energies that are going to be fixed in place - while quartz and its varieties, for example, tend to be rather multi-purpose and flexible in usage, stones with strong and earthy energies like tourmaline are a bit less likely to go along with your whims.

It's important to note that every stone you use, when attempting to astral travel, should fit in its place and work for you in tandem with the other stones in your collection.  You can physically place them around you or on your body, you can create a crystal grid with them, you can keep them in your pockets, or you can just have them generally near you, depending on your own personal preferences.  However, the most important thing is that the intentions you set with the stones are clear.

If you have a limited number of crystals, and are unable to currently visit a metaphysical store or otherwise obtain crystals, there is no need to fret.  In fact, there's a fair chance that the crystals in your collection can be utilized in some way to facilitate astral travel.  Most of the information I've said below comes from my own personal experiences, and from The Crystal Bible by Judika Illes.  If you're a beginner with crystal magic, or you want to get more into it as a craft, I really recommend picking up this book.  It goes very in-depth in regards to each crystal's origins, its geological construction, and the metaphysical associations of that stone and all of its varieties.  

Stones for Facilitating Astral Travel

Amethyst: a great calming and stimulating stone, amethyst is great for focus, making it ideal for a beginner in astral travel.  It helps with enhancing the visualization process during meditation.  You can use it to stimulate your third eye, especially by placing the stone physically on the third eye.  In particular, chevron and pineapple amethyst are great varieties for connecting with the otherworldly, due to their whimsical colors and structures.

Citrine: this stone is most generally used for bringing in wealth, but citrine also has great natural protective properties, grounding and absorbing negative energies.  It's also a stone of optimism, and is great for promoting an inner calm and overcoming fears and depression.  I would recommend using it in combination with any other stone that stimulates the third eye.

Ametrine: a natural combination of amethyst and citrine; see above for the benefit of each stone.  With amethyst stimulating the third eye and citrine bringing about protection and optimism, I would say this is a wonderful, easy to obtain cure-all for beginner astral travelers.

Calcite: a stabilizing stone, calcite is great for alleviating emotional stress and replacing it with serenity.  If you have a mind that is too chock-full of thoughts to effectively meditate, calcite can help to quiet those down for a little while.  It naturally encourages sight of the truth, making it ideal to teach discernment. It's a diverse stone in color, but I would recommend gold or yellow calcite for astral travel, as their energies are uplifting in both mood and vibration.  It should be used on or near the crown chakra.

Celestite: this is another stone of inner peace, of sharpening and calming the mind and promoting mental clarity.  I would highly recommend celestite for general spirit communication, especially when used on or near the throat chakra, but it's also great for stimulating clairvoyant communication and out of body experiences.  It's a stone with a very high vibration, stimulating thought of other realms, that you can place on your third eye when utilizing for astral travel specifically.  I would recommend choosing to program this stone for one or the other purpose, cleansing and changing the programming when you need it to do so.

Howlite: this stone has a very cool and calming energy, like taking a cold shower.  It's another calming crystal, and its energies work to quell an overactive mind.  It can also be used as a link into the spiritual dimensions.  If you're in the market for crafting portals into the astral realms you wish to frequent, it would be a perfect anchor point.  It's a wonderful stone to program for feeling anchored and in-control of what you're doing when traveling.

Brown Jasper: this stone is similar to howlite in usage in that it grounds and balances you while astral traveling.  However, it's a bit 'earthy' in feel, so I wouldn't use it until you're already quite comfortable with astral travel.  This would be a wonderful stone for someone who is training themselves to enter and slip out of astral travel easily, for those who wish to utilize it on and off during their daily life and feel grounded right away.

Lilac Kunzite: Kunzite already is generally stone with a very high vibration, which radiates feelings of peace, love, and understanding.  Not only can it connect you more potently with human relations, but it can also help you to feel closer to any of your spirit companions.  Lilac Kunzite in particular is also known as the "Celestial Doorway," and can help break through mental blocks and barriers against astral travel.  It can be used for either purpose, facilitating your relationships during the mundane day, and helping to break down those barriers between worlds when it's time for your meditation sessions.

Lapis Lazuli: another third-eye opening stone, lapis lazuli is also well-known as a crystal that's adept for contacting spirit guardians and companions.  But lapis really packs a punch: it's a great multi-purpose stone.  It brings feelings of peace, but also amplifies thoughts and ideas, making it wonderful for anyone who has big dreams when it comes to their practice.  It also is a stone that's inclined to create self-awareness, which is a skill of utmost importance for astral traveling.  It forces you to confront truths, which is great for discernment.  This is one of those stones that I would likely not program for one specific purpose, because it's already so powerful in its wide range of abilities on its own.  If you're looking for another all-purpose stone for astral traveling, a piece of lapis lazuli is going to be your best bet, and will work wonderfully in combination with ametrine.  

​​Lepidolite: this stone is typically one of those that's advertised for  protecting one from EMF energies.  However, that power does extend to astral travel.  Like an air filter, lepidolite clears blockages and negative energies.  It can keep you safe, clean, and clear before, during and after astral travel.  It can also assist with obsessive thoughts and help to bring your awareness outside of your body, but  its most useful purpose would be to filter out the negativity when traveling between realms.

Labradorite: is one of my personal favorite stones for connecting with the otherworldly.  It's an extremely mystical-feeling crystal with its ethereal fire, and I wear it constantly. If you need encouragement to strengthen your belief in the otherworldly, or stay connected to things that are more-than-mundane, labradorite is your best bet.  It's also a passive protector, helping to strengthen your auric shields.  Carry labradorite in your pocket or wear it in order to facilitate a constantly open mindset.

​​Merlinite: being somewhat more rare, merlinite is absolutely not a necessity for those learning astral travel.  However, it's a stone that, as you might guess by its name, has a lot of magical associations and is wonderful for anyone who needs a magic boost.  If, in general, you feel weak in energy and ability, or you're new to magic, merlinite may provide that extra bit of energy that allows you to feel more capable of performing large feats like astral travel.

Electric-Blue Obsidian: obsidian is glass, or a type of volcanic glass, so don't be shocked when you go looking for this stone and find it looks exactly like... glass.  But do make sure it is the real deal: when shopping, the seller should be aware that obsidian is volcanic glass!  Obsidian in its purest forms already presents a great deal of grounding energies, protection, and uncovering truths, but it doesn't have a 'heavy' energy, making it ideal for use in astral travel without weighing you down back onto the Earth.  This particular variety of obsidian is on the more intuitive side of obsidian, making it great for maintaining a balance while opening the third eye.

Rutilated Quartz: quartz of any kind can always be recommended as the most basic stone for those beginning in crystal magic, as it's the best 'all-purpose' stone.  Rutilated quartz in particular is also known as an illuminator for the soul, drawing off negative energy and breaks down the barriers to spiritual progress.  It allows your non-physical body to cut through its binds and travel where it needs to go.  It is also a great cleansing stone, and wonderful for filtering out negative energy while traveling.

Tanzanite: this stone is great for astral travel in the same ways that labradorite is.  it's a Zoisite stone that has been heat treated to have beautiful, shifting colors, which makes it ideal for raising consciousness and inspiring one to believe in the existence of other worlds.

Other Helpful Stones

While the list above covers a great deal of stones that are wonderful options for beginning to open yourself to astral travel, the following can be used in combination with them to have a more stable experience:

Angelite: this stone is frequently recommended for astral travel practices, but I would consider it to be a bit more linked to "angel energies." In general, it's helpful for awareness and telepathic communication, and also encouraging truthfulness.  If you have been struggling with developing telepathy, I would personally use the angelite for this purpose rather than astral travel, or to use it as a communication stone during astral travel.

Astrophyllite: has a great reputation for being a wonderful stone for astral travel, also called a "gateway to the stars."  When meditated upon, it's said to expose the many layers of reality, and for expanding spiritual perception.  It's recently become popular as a recommendation for astral travel.  Placing it on your heart chakra during astral travel may help you with feeling your experiences and recalling them a bit more clearly.

Black Tourmaline: this is one of the most earthy and powerful grounding stones out there, and it's also a wonderful crystal for protection.  Don't hold tourmaline in your hand while meditating or astral traveling, but instead place it near you for protective purposes, and then palm it afterwards for grounding.  This is one of those rare stones that doesn't necessarily need to be programmed, because its energies are already so strong on its own.

Fluorite: this is a grounding and protection stone.  It can help one to move beyond narrow-mindedness and work on expanding their awareness.  Use it as a stabilizer during astral travel - something to keep you feeling steady and attached to the Earth, without the same earthy intensity as tourmaline.  Place it on or near your root chakra.

Iolite: known as a "vision stone."  It's wonderful for activating the third eye and astral travel, and has very few other metaphysical functions.  This is another stone to place on your third eye or crown while attempting to astral travel, and would be a great energy booster for astral travel in general.

Quartz: as mentioned above, quartz is a great all-purpose stone.  It's wonderful for cleansing a room or a space when it's clear itself, but its energy can get muddied up pretty easily and it needs to be cleansed regularly (usually after one use).  Program quartz for whatever purpose you need it for at the moment, if there are any ability gaps in your army of stones.

One Final Note

Where your crystals are sourced, who has interacted with them, and how they've been treated can impact their meaningfulness in your practice.  While some work very well with tumbled stones, if you have been using tumbled stones due to their affordability and have been struggling with them, I recommend trying raw stones.  Find a store where you can handle them, and see how their energy affects you.  Tumbled stones have kind of a reputation among people who work frequently with crystals for being kind of diluted in energy - they've been touched by so many hands, and put through so many machines.  But each one of these stones listed above has the potential to help you, regardless, in one way or another!  As with all magic, so much of it comes back to your personal feelings and practice.

Sources and Further Reading

• The Crystal Bible by Judika Illes