Molly talks about how she got interested in collecting crystals.

“I’ve always collected crystals as long as I can remember but my interest piqued over the past year while I’ve been isolating. I wanted to make my room beautiful with plants and rocks and other objects that make me happy. I can remember going to rock shops in Duluth, summers years ago, and I would pick out a few crystals and rocks that I liked and I kept them in a little clear container in my closet. One day I was cleaning out my closet and I came across the crystals and I saw them in a different light. I wanted to use them around my room as objects of art.”

Molly handled the crystals with love, turning them around in her hands while she seemed to be thinking about her history with the rocks. She keeps the crystals in a glass heart bowl. The crystals vary in size, shape, and color and most of them are shiny and colorful, and it almost looks like a bowl of hard candy.

I asked Molly about her favorite crystals.

“I don’t really have any favorites but I have three rocks that I like to sleep with under my pillow because they make me feel good. They are rose quartz, black obsidian, and malachite. The malachite is the newest crystal I have and I really like it. I have a really big amethyst that I use as a decoration on my shelf. Next to that I have pyrite or fool’s gold. Sam gave this one to me. [Sam is her brother.] This one is a smoky quartz that Frances [a friend] gave to me. It has little pieces of dirt inside the clusters.”

Molly listed the names of the crystals she has and she explained some of the properties and why she liked them individually:

• “Lapis—I like the dark blue color,
• Clear quartz—I really like the shape of this whitish clear crystal,
• Sillénite—I also like the shape of this one and my cat loves it too,
• Tiger’s eye—these are orangish brown and they have stripes,
• Amethyst—this is purplish and it is a protecting stone,
• Rose quartz—I like the color of this love stone,
• Smoky quartz—these are fun to collect but I don’t know a lot about the properties,
• Black obsidian—this is a production stone and it is good for unwanted negativity,
• Red agate—these are common in Lake Superior and they are orangish red in color,
• Citrine—I like this money stone and it is goldish whitish,
• Garnet—this dark red crystal is my birthstone,
• Onyx—this black stone is similar to black obsidian in appearance and it is also a good protection stone,
• Fluorite—I like how this bluish turquoise crystal looks,
• Moon stone—I don’t know what the properties are, maybe energy, but I like this whitish crystal that has blue highlights,
• Pyrite—this one is called fool’s gold and you can see specks of gold in it,
• Green malachite—like I mentioned I got this recently and I like how it looks.”

During the pandemic Molly’s interest in the crystals grew and collecting them provided her with a special hobby. As she handles them and decorates with the crystals she feels connected to each and every one. Most of the crystals she has acquired recently are from Mind Body & Spirit, a gift shop in downtown St. Cloud. Molly hopes to grow her collection slowly so that she can cherish each one. This is a hobby she thinks she can continue after the pandemic is over. She showed me three stones that looked pretty average except that they had holes in them. She explained that she found these special stones in Iceland with her dad. They plan to display them using wire.

How have the crystals helped you during the pandemic?

“They provided me a sense of peace and they also provided me entertainment as I decided how and where to display them. Learning about the stones and the properties has been interesting and I have a newfound appreciation for earth’s beauty. Even my cat Poppy loves the crystals!”

After we talked about the crystals, Molly agreed to make a video where she discusses some of the information in this blog. The video is posted on Facebook.