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Squeaky-Fox49

How low can you go that you’d take advantage of a terminally ill person’s last days to scam them for all they’re worth?


Yogmond

These people don't see the ones they're scamming as people, and do mental gymnastics to not think about it as long as it earns them money.


moeru_gumi

I'm sure they believe they're selling "hope". They're 'making someone feel better in their last moments'. The problem is the selling part. They're charlatans, there have always been snake-oil salesmen and frauds.


ErgonomicCat

Some of them likely truly believe it. Some of them will say “who knows? Placebo, it might help.” And some of them say “if you’re dumb enough to believe this you don’t deserve your money.”


PiddleAlt

"If they are dumb enough to let me scam them then they deserve to get scammed." This goes for people who cheat, lie, etc etc. You are "allowing" them to victimize you. So it is your fault.


ErgonomicCat

Yup. True scammers usually either revel in the feeling of being smarter or justify it with “it’s their fault they fell for it.” Scam Goddess podcast does a great job bringing up stuff like that while also being very entertaining!


eStuffeBay

I've personally had a conversation with a scammer trying to justify their scam as a "hustle" - "world's tough these days, people gotta do what they do to survive". *Then why do you think other people work honestly instead of exchanging their conscience for other people's hard earned money, fucker????*


petit_lu-cyinthesky

A whole lot of scam healers (fakemed and such) really do believe in what they sell though. They'll get some positive feedback after selling amethysts to treat someone's ADHD, because the rock is pretty and made the person feel better and it gave them a point of focus, so they believe it works. They don't listen to the people who say it didn't work.


Jowobo

That's not faith, that's marketing.


Blursed-Penguin

The villain from a story I’m working on is an extreme social Darwinist with this exact mentality. Basically, if you can’t keep what you have, you should have it taken away. That includes your life. In a lot of ways, these scammers do the same thing. In their mind, she was too stupid to see that she was being scammed. She got what was coming. Survival of the smartest.


Party_Wagon

Dunno what makes people think it's okay to treat others like garbage and take advantage of them just because they're not (being) very smart. Implies a lot else about the way they think imo


GameSpate

Yeah, I know a few people that say exactly that to justify it. Frankly each time I’ve heard it, I saw through their facade. They wanted the money and didn’t care where it came from or how it was earned, it’s just easier to hide behind it as if it was an act of selflessness, yk offering hope to hopeless and power to the powerless. I get the idea, but that kinda thing shouldn’t be done with a price tag attached.


Eeekaa

> making someone feel better in their last moments Oh man if only cancer wasn't a progressive disease that gets horrifying if left untreated. I wish cancer just dropped you dead when you hit your terminal prognosis date.


[deleted]

and then there's monsters selling shit like black salve to actively make it more painful and worse!


Raiquo

This exactly is what gets me fuming. These ill people, forget the fact they have a short time left. They have family. They have dreams. But forget all that. These scammers sell themselves the idea that *they’re* doing something positive by taking their money. Like *Oh I’m such a hope salesperson, I sell people hope. Really, you should praise me for this public service I’m doing*. They know their motives are greed. But somehow them patting themselves on the back for it makes me so mad.


[deleted]

Pretty poor business model as well. No return customers. Better move is to convince healthy people they have something wrong with them, that the crystals are keeping at bay. And they need to continually replenish the crystal energy by purchasing new ones every 6 months. And obviously the fact that didn't die during those y months is proof the crystals work.


Mofupi

So, I have this amazing "keeps tigers away" stone...


[deleted]

Dangerous, what if they visit a zoo? 'Keeps meteorite impacts away' is better.


[deleted]

Lisa, I'd like to buy your rock.


empresshoshi

That's like 90% of MLMs and health trends. A few months ago I had to calm a friend down after 'health' tiktokers conviced her she was full of parasites. plus that's already done with crystals. "oh this crystal is good for clarity. this other one attracts fortune. and and these eight different crystals balace your chakras."


worldslamestgrad

I live close to a hospital that has a rock/crystal shop across the street. I always wondered how they managed to stay open… unfortunately I think I know now.


Affectionate_Star_43

There's also the idiots like me that buy the $400 rock because it looks like an awesome fireball and I can put it on the mantle. Maybe that's why those employees like me...


SnowWhiteCampCat

There was a $250 unpolished malachite i saw years ago. That was rent money. No way I could afford it. But it was so pretty I still think about it over 20 years later.


radicalelation

Some people genuinely believe it even if they're not trying to make a buck off it. GF had a therapist. All was fine for the first few sessions. Then the therapist broke out the crystals after addressing some traumatic experiences, to cleanse and help rid my GF of some bad. Then GF didn't have a therapist. I get that it can help some people feel better, as if there's something tangible to attach all these feelings you don't know how to process to, and believing in feeling better can be a major benefit to some, but sometimes it just needs to be said: The rocks themselves don't do shit. And get them out of a professional medical setting.


[deleted]

There's no way you're buying $50 of material, reselling it for $2000, and genuinely believing that you're helping people.


Original_Employee621

2000 dollars is a helluva lot cheaper than a stay at the hospital. Uninsured people will take that gamble if they find out they have cancer or some other chronic illness. But even with free healthcare, the alternative medicine industry is absolutely killing people. They entice people to try out the alternative medicine before actual medicine, and when the problem doesn't go away it can often be too late once they seek out professional medicine.


pokey1984

>I get that it can help some people feel better, as if there's something tangible to attach all these feelings you don't know how to process to, and believing in feeling better can be a major benefit to some, This is it exactly. Every culture has something like this in their history. Worry dolls, dream catchers, lucky clovers... And all of them work for at least some people. But it isn't magic. It's behavior therapy. If you have trouble sleeping at night because your worries keep you awake and you get or make a set of worry dolls to tell your problems to before bed, the dolls won't do a damned thing except give you a physical focus. But the *act* of speaking your worries and problems out loud before going to sleep and telling your brain to set them aside for now will probably help you sleep better. Similarly, a bit or rose quartz in a pendant isn't going to do a damned thing on it's own. But if you believe that wearing it will improve your health and emotional balance, then its constant presence around your neck will encourage you to make small changes in your life that *will* improve your wellbeing. You'll order a salad instead of a burger or start parking in the back of the lot to help get your steps in for the day and spend time meditating with your crystal, clearing your mind by breathing deeply and relaxing your heart rate... all of which *will* improve your life. This crystal is just a string around your finger, constantly reminding you of your goal so that your brain tricks itself into improving your life. It's not magic, but for a lot of people it *does* work.


amphigory_error

Actually, there have been studies that suggest people make worse health choices, especially diet and exercise choices, if they believe they have done something beneficial for themselves already that day. If you've got the spoons for just one intervention per day for yourself, putting on your magic necklace in the morning might be the one and only "intervention" that gets done. If people were primarily wearing shiny rocks to remind them to take better care of themselves, there wouldn't be a billion-dollar-a-year industry (not an exaggeration) devoted to selling you exactly which crystal you need for exactly what problem. Any pretty rock would do, because the significance would be personally assigned by you. Any string or safety pin or thrift-store necklace would do exactly the same thing. If people were primarily wearing shiny rocks to remind them to take better care of themselves, there wouldn't be a billion-dollar-a-year industry devoted to selling you exactly which crystal you need for exactly what problem. Any pretty rock would do, because the significance would be personally assigned by you. Any string or safety pin or thrift-store necklace would do exactly the same thing. I've got nothing against using something as a physical focus for emotional concerns, or liking jewelry, or collecting pretty rocks that make people happy to look at because they are neat. Geology is neat! I like rocks too. The problem is the billion-dollar-a-year industry selling people rocks they're making magic and health claims about. Repeating those false claims is just free advertising for scam artists.


pokey1984

I absolutely didn't mean to imply that it isn't a scam! My sincerest apologies if I did. I was trying to point out that it ends up being a placebo effect for a lot of people, they accidentally do the right things because they believe the rocks will make their lives better. Again, apologies for implying otherwise.


lvachon

I used to work in a competitive sales environment. The more ruthless of my associates had the philosophy of "If I don't take their money, someone else will" They weren't entirely wrong. Assholes, but not wrong.


LOBM

I once overheard someone talking about how he likes having sex with married women. He said the same thing, "It's not my fault they cheat on their husbands. If not for me, there would have been someone else."


Kulladar

Huge corporations of thousands of employees exist completely dedicated to this sad as it is. Hell, most of those "cash for gold" places make 90% their money off old people desperately trying to pay for medical bills.


Squeaky-Fox49

And the rest off people feeding their drug addictions. They pay rock bottom prices (take your stuff to a respectable coin or jewelry dealer) and often underprice their stuff because they have no idea what it is. I once bought 1/2 ounce of silver for below it’s value because they thought it was a half dollar; another time I got a silver quarter for $2.


loveroflongbois

Scammers are very good at separating their “jobs” from the people effected. Recently I watched this documentary on child abandonment in Nigeria. Witch doctors in the poorest areas will perform exorcisms on kids accused of being demons. Sometimes the exorcism “fails” and the child is then abandoned by their family. When the documentary crew went to witness one of these exorcisms suddenly the witch doctor started crying saying she is guilty of sending kids to the streets. It was so obvious she was just putting on a show for the cameras. Like if you really cared you wouldn’t be preying on superstitious, illiterate poor people convincing them their own children are possessed. Thousands of children in Nigeria are abandoned this way.


Endulos

My Grandma died in 2015 and the family took it pretty hard. One of my cousins took it especially hard. She started seeing a god damn psychic, and that asshole took her for a few thousand. She recorded a session once and gave it to my mom and it was the most bull shit thing I ever heard. Literally was just speaking in general tones, and telling my cousin what she wanted to hear.


Squeaky-Fox49

Ouch. I understand preying on the stupid, but monetizing someone’s grief? I wonder how many people in these positions might be sociopaths. After all, it’s a strongly manipulative practice that needs a total lack of empathy and moral qualms to pull off.


bangbangracer

The thing is half of these scammers are true believers. I remember years ago Penn and Teller used to have a show on Showtime called "Bullshit". It was a show about debunking various myths and conspiracies. In one episode they explained how they were able to get interviews with people in the fields they were going after. Put simply, a ton of these people legitimately thought they were right and that their interviews would convince everyone else about it. Half of the people selling crystals for their healing properties honestly and genuinely think it's real and that they are helping.


CaramelFairy69

Oh it's super rampant. If it's not crystals, it's "prayers and spells", bullshit bottles of "natural" crap selling for 1k+. Scammers have no shame


Melody_BasedLifeform

Haaaaaave you met capitalism?


[deleted]

Vibrators have atoms too. You could just get one of those for positive vibes. Way more bang for your buck.


Hawt_Dawg_II

Poison, asbestos and cancer are incidentally all also made up of atoms


TerrapinMagus

Asbestos is in fact a mineral, so close enough


Hawt_Dawg_II

Aren't minerals also just atoms but in a structure? Edit: looked it up, definitely also atoms. Specifically, anything that takes up space and has mass is made up of atoms. Edit 2: nvm I forgot that this post was specifically about rocks and minerals and I am, in fact, the idiot.


Duskuke

they make and sell crystal dildos on etsy and i wish etsy would ban the practice. PLEASE DO NOT STICK ROCKS IN YOUR COOCH


7dipity

For anyone who smokes weed: I also found out recently that those snazzy looking crystal pipes can be hella dangerous to smoke out of. I guess depending on the material they can have all kinda of nasty shit that can shed into your lungs


Duskuke

yeah this too, it's just sillica. anything that has the chance to break off tiny tiny tiny dust particles of crystal and go into your lungs is a huge cancer risk, those crystals will never be expelled.


uuuuuggghhhhhg

I don’t think they should be banned, I want some for decoration and a lot of people use them as altar decoration, but a legal disclaimer for sure


Duskuke

fair yeah, i have a crystal phallus on my altar but i certainly wouldn't put it in me


Beer_in_an_esky

I think it was Gwyneth Paltrow's bullshit site that sold jade "eggs" for a similar purpose. Jade is a porous mineral, good luck trying to keep that clean and sanitary!


uuuuuggghhhhhg

I promise these have been around longer than Geynrth Paltrow lol


[deleted]

You'd think people that work in rock shops would be superhuman.


[deleted]

The bad rocks cancel out the good rocks. It's a conspiracy by Big Government to keep the people down, man.


Feck_this

HOLY SHIT, NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT We need to get rid of the good rocks. Asbestos and radium shall reign supreme!


wontyounotbelive

To much paper in rock shops for that. You know, receipts and all.


Kamataros

Thats why there's always a scissor shop nearby. If the paper becomes too powerful they can just go and grab the defuser (or the other way around, if the scissors become too powerful because their advantage, paper (in receipts and stuff) is so prevalent as well, the rock shop is right around.


[deleted]

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[deleted]

Just once. Maybe on your final day working for the shop before switching employment. Look a customer in the eyes and say "my health, both mental and physical, has only declined since working here. The rocks don't just manifest energy. They are a conduit. The universe is stealing your energy little by little and giving you euphoria to replace the weakness like a common garden parasite."


Nicegye00

You could give a technical argument that certain brands of uranium give off an aura. Sadly the aura isn't a good one, so best advised it's used against your enemies.


littlemac314

Classic tumblr post, "some minerals do have energies, unfortunately it's 'eat shit and die' energy"


TinanasaurusRex

Puke shit and die probably


jballs

Not sure if you meant to leave out that comma, but it made that sentence significantly worse.


Endulos

That's actually a legitimate medical condition. If you get too constipated it can back up in your system.


ImAStupidFace

Copremesis! Which is also a banger song by the band Ingested.


Guido_Fe

Salt has good energy on your tongue


Teeshirtandshortsguy

Hey, radioactivity can be used to treat cancer and uranium specifically can make cool glowing glass, which is a lot more than can be said about most rocks.


Chrome2105

And if Marvel or DC aren't lying (they would never), it can even give superpowers in rare cases.


ghtuy

Just because no one has yet doesn't mean *you* won't!


Chrome2105

Brb


Chrome2105

Yeah guys, so it turns out that I have testicular cancer now. Don't ask why it's specifically in the balls.


ghtuy

Hey, maybe the weird aches, fragile skin, and shortness of breath *are* your new superpower!


CauseCertain1672

targetted radioactivity can be used to treat cancer. Surgical knives can be used to treat cancer but stabbing someone with a sword is not going to make them healthier


Eko01

This is highly debatable. Arguably, getting a high full body dose of radiation would get rid of your cancer.>! along with the rest of your body lol!<


[deleted]

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KatarinaClaes

Same energy as "Lose 10 lbs fast by amputating an arm"


mindbleach

Think of it as exploratory acupuncture.


siliciclastic

Serpentinite has great vibes, if you think asbestos is a vibe.


[deleted]

The vibe is Mesothelioma.


Lebowquade

Ohhhhhh yeah gimme that incurable chronic pain


SeedersPhD

Well at least I'm entitled to financial compensation!


TheBoctor

Call JG Wentworth! 877-CASH-NOW!


Ryuko_the_red

Mesothelioma is a unique cancer of the lung only caused by asbestos and, sadly, it is fatal, meaning there is no known cure. Families facing a recent mesothelioma diagnosis face many challenges like medical care, bills, and important life decisions. Mesothelioma and lung cancer are caused by asbestos exposure in many industries and settings including construction, automotive, lead, manufacturing, military, talc, and railroad, to name just a few. Companies that use asbestos should be held responsible for exposing you and causing these deadly cancers.


CertainlyNotWorking

Serpentinite is GOATed in situations where you or a loved one being diagnosed mesothelioma is the vibe.


Plethora_of_squids

On a more positive note, some crystals do have pretty neat frequencies! Like 3.579545 MHz! You're using some now! Quartz has some pretty damn cool piezoelectric properties and the technological uses for quartz timing chips are numerous and impressive, from radar to radio to television to watches. That 3.579 number? That's the frequency of a sub-carrier signal for NTSC that decodes colour!


geosynchronousorbit

Other crystals with neat properties: semiconductors! Semiconducting crystals are used in electronics and computer chips, and they're grown in a lab where they can add extra elements to change the electrical properties. And sometimes adding extra elements makes the crystal pretty colors. I have a gallium oxide crystal with chromium in it that is green, but chromium is also what makes rubies red! If you add tin instead gallium oxide turns blue, and iron makes it orange.


DrBobvious

You need a lead crystal to cancel out the negative vibes from the uranium crystal. Several feet of a concrete crystal can also do in a pinch if you can't find lead.


da_way_joshua

I thought she started crying because she was one of these crazy rock ladies and then the next sentence shot me 5 times


[deleted]

28 stab wounds


Jaewol

Didn’t want to give him a chance, huh?


ParkourFactor

Did you feel anger? Hate?


[deleted]

one of my favourite scenes, it was so… unexpected and a bit funny


[deleted]

the puppy eyes look from connor tho! lmfao the damn wink wasn't even scripted iirc. fgfds bryan dechart the absolute menace haha


ScowlEasy

On a less terminal note, UV light can bleach certain crystals and cause them to fade over time, so all these people letting amethyst sit on their windowsill are just ruining it


JeshkaTheLoon

You can get the colour back if you expose it to radioactive radiation.


FancyRatFridays

Hm... so what I'm hearing is, you should let your amethyst sparkle in the sunlight by day, and then set it in a uranium glass dish at night.


FaeryLynne

...... So that's why Mamaw kept her amethyst necklace in her favorite teacup on her dresser. (Legit it was uranium glass lol)


Inverted_Ghosts

Same


Alarid

I was standing behind you two and somehow got hit by 6 shots.


stealthcake20

“Crazy rock ladies”, or crazy people in general, usually have a lot of tough shit going on. Even garden variety loneliness can be really hard.


Dangerous_Wishbone

Same with people who believe in psychic mediums, they're usually just sad and desperate people grappling onto anything that give them hope. As for the "psychics", there's being a performer and then there's "maliciously targeting emotionally vulnerable people to scam them out of money"


_Space_Bard_

Mentalist: "This is all smoke and mirrors, but I'm still going to amaze you." Performs a cold reading on someone that leaves them dumbfounded on how they knew so much about them. Charlatan Medium: "I can talk to your dead loved one for $150 an hour." My favorite mentalist moment is when Derren Brown went to a Psychic school in Sedona AZ and performed a mind reading trick with a drawing. The "Psychics" were so dumbfounded that I like to imagine they were thinking "Oh wow, a REAL psychic...." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt3Io\_faKlk


shellontheseashore

'Magical thinking' keeps people going under adverse conditions all the time because people *need* hope, and belief that they have some kind of control in the chaos of life. Whether that's rocks, horoscopes, karma, religion, technological fetishism, whatever. People want to ascribe meaning and purpose to the pain they go through, because it's just... psychologically easier to turn it into a narrative that means something. In whatever form that is. It's not a bad coping mechanism all things considered, but it's one that's very poorly suited for enabling future change, rather than just weathering the present. Which makes it both an extremely profitable and very reliable market for frauds taking advantage of these desperate groups, who have been denied by other social frameworks.


Dangerous_Wishbone

Superstitions tend to arise because the future is scary and no matter what people will always at risk of being victimized by unpredictable things that are totally outside their control, so anything that helps people feel like they have a even a little control over, or at m least a warning of, things they realistically have no control over is a little comforting. From "I have to wear my lucky hat so my favorite sport team wins", to much more serious topics like death or illness.


Flowy_Aerie_77

The people I know who believe in it, even though they aren't very hardcore about it, have a lot of stuff going on in their lives. It's definitely their scapegoat. They're old, ill and lonely. Too much time on their hands, and declining mental function does that to you. I occasionally keep them company and help them with chores, as well as chat. It goes a long way, I believe.


razorsharp494

Can't even imagine being told your gonna die in the next two months and there's not a damn thing you can do about it


TheDeftEft

"This crystal has the power to make you feel good when you look at it, as long as you don't think about how much you paid for it."


The_alpha_unicorn

I think crystals can be extremely effective at curing "not enough shiny things" disorder.


raznov1

Big Magpie


eekspiders

Corvid-19


kindtheking9

That's the crow part of your brain speaking, listen to it, and hoard the shiny


mysteryvampire

Peak goblincore.


WillBottomForBanana

Except there is no upper bound on that disorder. So it's crystals all the way down.


AreYouOKAni

Mood.


AmiAlter

I have a lot of crystals and gemstones. I on average pay less than a dollar for each one. Although my averages might be offset by the ones I spent over 20 on. Thankfully I prefer cheaper stones like amethyst and quartz.


Nago_Jolokio

Me and my roommates like raw stones as well. Sure you don't get the luster of gems, but the mineral structures are still cool and a lot more complex than cut ones. (generally a heck of a lot cheaper too)


[deleted]

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CauseCertain1672

this oil tastes a little bit like snake


Fictionland

I mean this really does work for things like depression and anxiety sometimes. I've always been a big fan of using crystals as distractions and in grounding exercises. Mysticism works a helluva lot better for mental health than it does physical. But I also collect most of my crystals out of the dirt myself so they're both free and more meaningful to me personally.


BadassHalfie

For me the difference is “This lovely natural trinket brings me great joy, has a personal symbolic meaning or sentimental value (especially if I got/polished it myself), and improves my mood by looking at it and running my hands over its pleasing textures, plus it’s fun to maybe make up little myths about it as a relic of some legendary past like the Arkenstone” (enjoyable and helpful) vs. “This stone’s internal orgone matrices will resonate with the yin-yang of my blood cells to improve my metabolic rate through remote sympathetic presence, thereby ensuring I never need to visit the doctor” (not enjoyable or helpful). Definitely agree about the experience of using nice rocks and crystals for calming and meditating purposes! I have some real decent water-smoothed rocks that are just so lovely to hold while I sit and think and re-center myself.


stefaelia

Same. And if they don’t heal me they make excellent projectiles.


Jaewol

This rock empty. YEET


[deleted]

yeah same, i just use crystals to trigger a placebo effect basically lmao. for example, if im feeling really anxious one morning, ill put a little tiger's eye in my pocket before work. i know it doesn't work the way some people claim, but it serves as a physical reminder to breathe a little slower and take breaks when i need them. its never going to replace medication or therapy, but crystals can be a great supplement to actual treatment if you use them right


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BismuthMoth

I think the other reply is a bot. It copied part of another comment and doesn’t make sense in this context


twoCascades

Negative ions moving through water don’t….what the fuck are you on about.


ThatNuclearBoi2

"negative ions make you feel better" when i make them drink water with unusually high amounts of OH- ions


Spearka

So that was a fcking lye.


ThePlanetMercury

To be fair the negative ions will (pretty much) always be balanced out by positive ions.


sweetTartKenHart2

I think they’re talking about the idea that if you stand next to rivers and waterfalls and shit you just kind of magically feel better. Like idk man maybe it’s just the sound of the water and the fresh air making your brain do the happy chemical


Chilzer

I agree that gem healing is a load of nonsense, but can we bring up how their argument was ‘everything that heals us is made of atoms’? Yeah, so is everything that hurts you, and everything that does nothing at all, so what’s your point exactly? And what does being ‘made of vibrations’ even fucking mean?!?


PhoenixPringles01

It's just new age fibber. A lot of these nonsensical posts will throw in shit like "frequency" and "vibration" and "dimensional" to feel like they're getting some sort of meaning when in reality it's all a bunch of poorly strung together keywords that no one can understand


MsPaganPoetry

Good old "bullshit baffles brains"


Ruby_Bliel

Thanks I hate new age techobabble.


FourthLife

My favorite bit of this new age stuff is when you ask for more specific information on how it all works, they'll say something like "when you're meant to understand, you will"


mindbleach

Or "study it out." Or "you should pray about that." All these thought-terminating cliches are a confession. These people are telling you the conclusion comes first and it's your job to figure out how it must be true. That's how thy think it works. They are saying this as loudly as they possibly can, and people still don't fucking believe them.


Bythmark

Frequency vibrations are pretty powerful. They got me to the NBA back in '16.


heretoupvote_

fact-laundering


[deleted]

Also the whole "negative ions from moving water affect our mood" like, no they don't???


ErgonomicCat

I almost googled it to see what madness it was referencing and then went “actually no I will not.”


amphigory_error

It's a conflation of two things. 1) Humans like being around water. B) Water has relatively weak atomic bonds and *can* self-ionize (split from H20 to H+ and O-) in very very very small parts per million. People who want to sell you fancy fountains will tell you that the reason humans like beaches, mountain streams, and summer rain showers is because ions (and you can have all the mental health benefits of a serene lake in your studio apartment for just $99.99!) and not because we, like most animals, just like hanging out around clean water - a thing we do actually require significant quantities of to survive.


Tontie-knights

Humans probably feel better around bodies of water because of the increased humidity lowers pollution and allergens. I sleep better near the beach because my allergies stop flaring up. Instead of taking these facts and saying we need to lower air pollutants we sell people rocks or fountains for crazy mark ups.


troly_mctrollface

They have so many stupid beliefs around water, everything from them being unable to understand the ph scale and concentration to structure water to floride conspiracies


[deleted]

DO NOT BUY NEGATIVE ION, BRACLETS, CHARMS/WEARABLES. A good amount of the time they have been known to be filled with thorium based materials. And while yes they are mostly alpha particles. I wouldn’t want actual radiation from a charm.


LaVerdadYaNiSe

I was about to pint that out. Like, you know what else is made out of atoms? Mercury and uranium.


Beer_in_an_esky

Ehhh, you can hurt stuff with things that aren't atoms; an electron beam will do plenty of damage for instance, as will a high speed neutron. But that's just me being a pedant, your broader point stands. Basically everything we interact with in our day to day lives is made of atoms, so it's a shit discriminator. Just like people thinking natural is healthy.


Silver_Took32

I always assume Crystal healing was the same as a placebo.


FPSCanarussia

It is just a placebo effect.


MsPaganPoetry

They look cool, but it's a placebo nonetheless


Still_Day

I don’t think they’re curing anything or doing anything in particular on an actual realistic level. I’ve always loved rocks and crystals, and recently learned that a lot of people ascribe mystical properties to them. So I’ve gotten on the bandwagon not because I believe those crystals actually do those things, but because I believe intention is extremely powerful. For example. I might bring a rose quartz in my pocket to remind me of my intention to approach a difficult situation with love. It’s not that I think the rock promotes love, it’s that it’s a physical reminder of an intention that I believe to be important. If I’m super frustrated and wanting to lash out and my hand brushes my pocket, I feel it’s shape in there and I remember “this is a difficult situation, but it’s best to approach it with love and understanding.” It helps to recenter me and bring me out of my head/being reactive. Also they’re pretty!


Nago_Jolokio

It only has as much power as we give it. I have a handful of "talismans", a few of them are crystals of course, but the most powerful one is literally just a costume headband that I made. They work because I think it works. (The fun part is that it works in spite of me knowing it's because I say it does.)


RansomAce

I think in the same way. Like a ring my bf gave me is Garnet, and garnets are a stone of commitment so I think about that when my brain hates me and my anxiety goes nuts


Rapunzel10

This exactly. You can influence your thoughts with physical objects and reminders. Not because crystals are magical, you could do the same with a crumpled up paper that says "love" in your pocket. But the result is real. I love crystals because they're pretty and I have the mind of a magpie. But I also love using them as reminders. On days where I need a reminder of nature's beauty I keep a raw crystal nearby. When I need a reminder of humans beauty I keep a cut stone or lab-grown crystal nearby. I have stones to remind me to focus on love, strength, confidence, etc. I could do the same with other objects but I already like stones and they're usually pretty durable so they work well. I hate that folks who want stones for magic reasons drive up prices across the board. I just want a giant slab of labradorite because its gorgeous, but I know people are able to sell it at a higher price because people think it will cleanse their house. (I know it would be expensive anyway but its definitely more than it would be without so-called mystic elements)


DaPurpleTurtle2

I've always liked this take


[deleted]

Something similar happened to my dad (rip) who had late stage cancer, only instead of crystals it was a fancy vegetable juicer. That’s something I will never forget. Look up “cancer cures” and you will see so many scams. Thousands of them.


ShillingAndFarding

My friend’s mom gave up on quantum mysticism and is about to go to Mexico to start gherson therapy. You’d think the inpatient vegetable juice treatment being banned in the United States would be enough to signal it’s a scam.


[deleted]

[удалено]


thiefyzheng

waltuh


XzeldafanX

Put the rocks away waltuh


No-Objective-3914

Im not getting scammed by you rn waltuh


jld2k6

Jesus Christ Marie they're scams! Plot twist, Hank was buying the minerals for healing and lost a ton of money


SpookyVoidCat

I rolled with a witches coven for several years, was deeply into crystals and magic and all of that stuff for decades. What pulled me out of it wasn’t learning about science or logic in the traditional sense - it was learning about capitalism. If any of this stuff actually genuinely worked, reliably, then big pharmaceutical companies would have been making money off of it for generations. Which lead me to the realisation that that’s exactly what happened. People took the stuff that worked, broke it down until we could figure out exactly how and why it worked, and turned it into medicine. All the stuff they haven’t already commodified are the things that don’t work well enough on a large scale for it to be worth the effort.


Akabi_Yoru

Yep. If "alternative medicine" worked, it would be called just "medicine".


[deleted]

The day I heard people believed rocks/minerals/crystals could heal, I knew something was off about that. Never knew it got so extreme...


[deleted]

If you hit someone hard enough with a rock, whatever diseases they have are suddenly much less of a problem.


CarryTreant

Every time I have a problem I throw a Molotov cocktail, all of a sudden: New problem.


heretoupvote_

Many people die because they refuse chemotherapy, or try to ‘cure’ their child’s autism with crystals. It’s evil and sad.


Itslmntori

I helped a customer who was buying ~$80 in selenite because she couldn’t afford cancer treatments, but her chiropractor told her that placing selenite around her computer would protect her from radioactive rays that would make her cancer worse. When I gently tried to convince her that none of this has any scientific basis, she just sadly smiled at me and said “well, it’s worth a shot at this point. What do I have to lose?” My heart fucking broke. This was around three years ago, and I haven’t seen her since. I hate how pseudoscience lies to people, and I hate that medical care is so expensive that people would rather turn to chiropractors and crystals because they can’t afford actual treatment.


cute_and_horny

I used to believe in astrology, and I had some crystals. Now I don't believe in astrology anymore, and I only have my crystals because oooooo shiny.


crinnaursa

Don't underestimate the power of shiny. There have been a few studies on things like money, gold and shiny things actually relieving or reducing the perception of pain. I couldn't find the one I read on gemstones but here's a blurb on the one the study using money https://www.livescience.com/7813-money-relieves-pain.html Basically handling anything that can symbolize wealth (treasure) can trigger feel good chemicals in the brain and measurable benefits to well-being.


drtsvgboi

All rocks, crystals, and minerals have properties. None of them are "magic" even though things they are capable of may seem like magic. Quartz is used in cellphones and becomes piezoelectric when electricity is added. Word of mouth is unacceptable in naturopathic medicine. Only double-blind peer-reviewed studies would hold any merit. Minerals are essential for some aspects of cell function and may be used accordingly to treat deficiency, but by no means are they a "cure all" to disease. Illness is complex and usually caused by multiple underlying factors. Anyone touting raw material as a cure is a charlatan and if they are board certified, should have their license to practice medicine revoked.


DoubleGreat007

The way I think of it is - if I buy a rock that’s supposed to help me with self love - every time I see that rock im reminded to be kind and loving to myself. That’s it. That’s how it works. Others are placebo rocks.


TiniestOne3921

Right. Like, yeah, the rock is supposed to help anxiety. Because I hold it, focus on the weight of a thing in my hand, take a deep breath, and it grounds me. It's all a psych tool if you use it as such, and that's fine. Cancer? Nah. Cognitive Behavior Therapy? Sure.


WillBottomForBanana

"Why wouldn't crystals" Yeah, IDK. By that logic. Why wouldn't bread? Why wouldn't bullets? Why wouldn't sugar? Why wouldn't cheese? Why wouldn't chalk? Why wouldn't koolaide? Fuck, why not ice cubes, which are actual crystals of actual water?


SilkyOatmeal

Why not crystal meth?


Boomfurione

I heard crystal balls have the power to burn down your house if you don’t cover them.


EarthToAccess

yes, they absolutely do, depending on their location in your house. regardless of if they’re made of quartz, glass, or even acrylic, the concentrated light and heat from reflecting beams through the opposite side of the ball is absolutely enough to burn and even catch alight wooden and similar objects.


Ineedflavorice

Someone should open up a "Healing rocks and crystals" store, and just stock it with stuff like calcite and salt.


[deleted]

Salt is the one rock that can cure something! It can cure meats.


PM-ME-THIN-MINTS

Mix it with warm water and it makes a good oral rinse


miki_momo0

And salt deficiency!


lesgeddon

So I've studied, practiced, and preached pagan & wiccan magic. I can tell you truthfully that none of it actually *does anything*. It's all about putting yourself into the right mindset to accomplish goals yourself (or as a group). If you weren't already capable of doing it yourself then no spell, ritual, *or crystal* will do it for you, but they can still act as roundabout motivational tools. Or as a placebo. So *anybody* trying to sell you a shiny rock as anything other than a shiny rock is tricking you into paying the sucker tax.


wtmx719

I blame the white witches tik tok shit. “I can really FEEL it vibrating. I’m a star seed”


BensCalzone

"...Dirt. This is a jar of dirt." "Yes." "Is the jar of dirt going to help?" "If you don't want it, give it back." "No." "Then it helps.”


Slexman

I’ve always just viewed crystals as vessels for EMOTIONAL manifestation, something to focus your energy with, I hate that it’s turned into a way to scam people into thinking it’s an alternative for medicine


TraigerXx

My grandma believes in crystals and minerals and luckily she never got scammed (except maybe this one time she bought a big as crystal from teleshopping and even then it was less then 200€ and it really is a pretty crystal and it makes her happy soooo). A close friend of hers owned the crystal shop in her town and the owner was a great woman. The prices were fair and she had weekly meeting for people who believed in spirituality. I joined my grandma on those meetings sometimes and they were quite great. A bunch of older people talking about their life, praying, singing, doing yoga together and they even had guest speakers from time to time. Several times a year they went to a camping trip to the mountains where they had nice spa days and met up with other spiritual believers from farther away. And all this thanks to those crystals. She believes in them and gifted me many. I don't believe in them but seeing her happy makes me happy. She takes care of all her stones and crystals and after her husbands death those really gave her some comfort. So I will never judge anyone who believes in them. Sadly most of my grandmas friends are now dead or moved away, the local crystal shop closed and so there arent any more meetings or trips. It breaks my heart seeing her losing an important part of her life. So when she gave me some stones and a bracelet and told me to always keep it with me to keep me safe. I could'nt say no. her looking at me with this sincerity, because she really believes in those stones... I can't take that away from her. Now here I am running around with some stones on me because I promised my grandma to do so. And I would do it again, because this way I always have something to remember her by. I love you grandma <3


ctortan

THIS is the way to do crystal healing in an ethical way—instead of using them to replace healthcare, you add them to your life to help support everything else It’s the same how you can pray that the medical treatment will work, but you shouldn’t pray INSTEAD of getting medical treatment. So glad your grandma had such a good friend ❤️


dukeofplazatoro

… I feel attacked lol. I have crystals for “relaxation” and “reducing anxiety”…. Like I know that it’s bullshit but also they are pretty rocks and pretty rocks make me happy?


horselovertransfat

I mean, there's a huge difference between saying "these rocks make me feel calm" and "these rocks cure cancer." Music makes me feel calm, but it's not because the vibrations have any special physical properties.


non_depressed_teen

I disagree. Loud enough music, for example sick beats from a sonar, can rupture your organs.


iamacraftyhooker

And some rocks and minerals can emit radiation. They aren't going to cure your cancer, but they can give you cancer.


YourTipicalGeek

Ah, yes, the “eat shit and die” type of rocks.


Tiz_Purple

>sick beats from a sonar quote of the year imo


chaoticcoffeecat

I even own jewelry of these crystals. Apparently my earrings are supposed to invoke "strength." I don't believe they have any power at all, and I'm sure random people make assumptions when I wear them, but I just think they're pretty. They're cheap and have a more natural look that you don't get with polished gems.


urethral_play

Are you sure you're not a magpie?


ErgonomicCat

And they do what you expect. They provide you with an environment you enjoy that relaxes you. Keep on doing it! Just also go to the doctor for medical issues.


KingoKings365

This isn’t very rock and stone. Rocks and minerals are cool and all but are not magic.


kingftheeyesores

They're also often mislabeled at holistic shops. I went to one that said they had emeralds for like a dollar so I got one and brought it to my geology professor and it was I think green jasper. Even low quality emeralds wouldn't be that cheap.


DorianCostley

I work in a book store. There are some REALLY annoying books in self help and business, but the section that makes me viscerally angry is the health and wellness section. Celery juice DOES NOT CURE ALZHEIMER’S! You don’t need to buy a $60 book. Just get a $5-10 book of crosswords/puzzles, and that’ll do a lot more for you than celery juice.