This week (and next week) we’re going to be talking about crystals with Phantoms. Phantoms are mineral inclusions formed evenly throughout a crystal. They are formed when the crystal is growing, still in solution, and a different mineral (or even a more gas-filled layer of milky quartz) gets introduced. The forming crystal point is then surrounded by this now mineral-filled (or different consistency quartz) solution. Settling of the mineral causes the solution to return to clear. Sometimes Phantoms will even have layers of Barnacles on them, inside the crystal, like the one below:

Arkansas crystal with Phantom and internal Barnacles
To illustrate the settling and subsequent Phantom formation, imagine sitting in your bathtub and dropping mud in your bathwater and stirring it around until you have a nice even brown color. Now, continue lying in your bathtub, deathly still for hours and hours, until the mud settles out of the water and onto you. You represent the crystal before the Phantom (I guess we have to also pretend you are clear, like a person made of crystal), the mud is the Phantom and the now-returned-to-clear water is the crystal which forms over the Phantom.

Arkansas crystal with partial Phantom
In a forming crystal, when the solution clears up, the crystal resumes growing, so a “Phantom” of the other mineral is trapped within the crystal point. Sometimes this happens several times, with more than one Phantom forming inside the resulting crystal point. Mineral inclusions will introduce different energetic properties to your crystal (whether they are freeform or Phantom) depending on the type of mineral introduced.

Arkansas crystal with Phantom
Like I said, there might be only one, or there might be many layers of Phantoms. Many layered Phantoms which can be viewed through the side of a crystal occur when the solution in which a crystal is growing has a current or flow. Only one side of the phantom forms in these cases. The crystal on the right is one in which the Phantoms only formed on one side, allowing you to see the layers of Phantoms. (The one to the left also has a few layered Phantoms but they are less prominent.)

Polished Brazilian crystals with layered Phantoms
Layers of Phantoms are created if the solution clears, is covered by another layer of clear crystal and mineral is reintroduced into the clear solution (creating Phantoms) several times over.
To visualize what am I talking about when I speak of layered Phantoms and single Phantoms, imagine a little stacking Russian doll with the outermost doll being made of glass. Looking in, you only see the largest nested doll, right?

KhokhlomaRussianNestingDolls photo altered
There might be dolls inside dolls (Phantoms inside Phantoms), but you wouldn’t see them unless you either cut the doll in half lengthwise (oh no!!) or cut the bottom off the doll and looked in from the base.

photo credit: amazon.com Khokhloma Russian Nesting Dolls
In the case of a crystal, if there was more than one Phantom and the bottom was polished, you would see the smallest Phantom in the center and hexagonal rings of Phantoms out to the largest Phantom (mimicking the round base of each nesting doll). I used to have some crystals from Brazil like this.
Geologically, I’m sure there is much more to the creation of Phantoms than I am describing here. However, because I am a crystal lover, not a geologist, I’m just describing the presence of Phantoms in a way that is easy to visualize.
So how would a person work with these Phantomed crystals? One way that the energy of Phantom crystals are handy to work with is in past-life work. Imagine that each Phantom a crystal displays is showing you a definite time period in that crystals’ life. That could be translated to mean past life work during THIS lifetime (revisiting childhood or teen years, or a specific event, etc) or past life work in other lifetimes. Try gazing into the crystal and imagine accessing your past lives as easily as you see the Phantom/s in the crystal. One could also imagine that the crystal would represent the “soul” or constant, and the Phantoms inside, the physical vehicles the soul inhabited at different times.

photo credit “thespiritscience.net”
On meditating about this, I also think that Phantom crystals are good to work with issues requiring patience. In the same way that muddy water will eventually settle if not stirred, emotions will also eventually settle if not stirred. If the inclusions which created the Phantom hadn’t settled, there wouldn’t be a defined Phantom inside and it would be a different kind of crystal altogether. So we might take a lesson from that and remember that if we let our problems or worries (anger, sadness or other conflicting emotion) settle; get still, breathe and let the circumstances surrounding it clear, then we will be left with a less muddy environment in which to deal with the issue.

photo credit: farmbody.org tumblr
As far as other metaphysical properties of Phantoms, in a crystal with non-crystal minerals present (eg: chlorite, hematite, shale, etc) the metaphysical properties of the included mineral will be enhanced or amplified by the quartz.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the discussion this week on Phantom crystals. Next week we’re going to cover two other types of Phantoms, those are 1. Snow Quartz/Reverse Phantoms and 2. Gas Phantoms.
Here is a recap of the past posts featuring the metaphysical configurations and links to where you might find these various crystal configurations if you decided you might like to work with them:
PHANTOM CRYSTALS (Access Past Lives, Embody Patience) purchase Phantom crystal read blog post
MANIFESTATION CRYSTAL (Assistance with Attaining Desires) purchase Manifestation crystal read blog post
LINEATED FACE CRYSTAL (To Reach Deeper Levels in Meditation) purchase Lineated Face crystal read blog post
LINEATED SIDE CRYSTAL (To Access Deeper Understanding) purchase Lineated Side crystal read blog post
LASER WAND (For Extremely Precise Energy Direction) purchase Laser Wand read blog post
ISIS FACE (Connect with Goddess Energy) purchase Isis Face crystal read blog post
INCLUSIONS (Minerals Trapped Within Crystal During Growth) purchase Included crystal read blog post
KEYS and IMPRINTS (Answers to questions and Adapt During Growth) purchase Key purchase Imprint read blog post
GROWTH INTERFERENCE (A Lesson in Adaptation) purchase GROWTH INTERFERENCE read blog post
GOLDEN HEALERS (for healing applications) purchase GOLDEN HEALER read blog post
GENERATOR or MERLIN CRYSTALS (For precise, direct, focused energy) purchase GENERATOR or MERLIN read blog post
FEMININE, MASCULINE & YIN/YANG CRYSTALS (An anatomy lesson) purchase FEMININE purchase MASCULINE purchase YIN/YANG read blog post
FAIRY FROST & MIRROR FRACTURES (To connect us to Nature Spirits and to care for Mother Earth) purchase FAIRY FROST crystal read blog post
FADEN CRYSTALS (For astral travel or connecting) purchase FADEN crystal read blog post
E.T. CRYSTALS (Access otherworldly beings or boost distant healing) purchase E.T. crystal read blog post
ETCHED CRYSTALS and SACRED SIGILS (Surface features with special energies.) purchase ETCHED crystal purchase SIGIL crystal read blog post
EMPATHIC CRYSTALS (To bring out and amplify compassionate feelings.) purchase EMPATHIC crystal read blog post
ELESTIAL or ELESTIATED CRYSTAL (To connect with angelic energies.) purchase ELESTIAL crystal read blog post
EIGHT-SIDED FACE / GROUNDING CRYSTALS (Any time you need to refocus and ground.) purchase EIGHT-SIDED FACE or GROUNDING crystal read blog post
DRUSY (To assist with ideas or thought forms ready to spring forth and grow such as thoughts or dreams, desires or wishes.) purchase DRUSY read blog post
DOW or TRANS-CHANNELER CRYSTALS (For divine balance, and a connection with the self and Universal Truth.) Note: Dow crystals are rare, and I don’t always have very many of them. Sometimes the ones I have are Dow by count (7-3-7-3-7-3) but have one large 7-sided face (present as a Channeler) or two large 7-sided faces and one small 7 (present as a Transmitter). If you order one, I will let you know at time of purchase what I have available. purchase DOW or TRANS-CHANNELER crystal read blog post
DOUBLE TERMINATED CRYSTALS (Useful in any application in which you want the energy to flow in both directions) purchase DOUBLE TERMINATED crystal read blog post
DOLPHIN CRYSTAL (To encourage teaching in a loving, fun, joyful way, or alternately, to assist one to enjoy learning) read blog post
CURVED CRYSTAL (To assist with flexibility “go with the flow” or to cleanse or brush your aura) purchase CURVED crystal read blog post
CLUSTER CRYSTAL (Raise the vibration in an environment or to assist with group dynamics) purchase crystal CLUSTER read blog post
CATHEDRAL or LIGHTBRARY CRYSTAL (Raise your vibrational frequency or access Akashic Records) purchase CATHEDRAL or LIGHTBRARY crystal read blog post
CHANNELER or CHANNELING CRYSTAL (To access higher wisdom, guides, other-world beings) purchase CHANNELER crystal read blog post
BRIDGE or INNER CHILD CRYSTAL (To help Bridge between worlds or help to access your innermost self) purchase BRIDGE or purchase INNER CHILD read blog post
BARNACLE QUARTZ CRYSTAL (Wise energy; ‘new souls’ attracted to ‘old soul’ energy) purchase BARNACLE read blog post
See you next week for Snow Quartz/Reverse Phantoms and Gas Phantoms.
Genn is AMAZING! She *KNOWS* what she’s talking about when it comes to crystals! After having read so many dozens of articles on the net, I’ve most frequently been left confused, unsure of how to identify the different formations, and completely confused on how to best use the different crystal formations for their best healing and self-evolutionary abilities. Genn’s blog posts along with a wonderful personal email she responded to in response to a few questions I had only furthered her incredible expertise. I look forward to all of her upcoming articles! Please post a few for us on Lemurian Seed Crystals and Atlantean Record Keepers! Everyone always wants to know more about these, including myself 😉
Awww Thank you, Natalie! I am working on the response to your follow-up email. I’m so happy you find the information digestible!! I will add these to my list to cover.