​Let’s start with the painful truth. The only way to enter into the full glory and splendor of the Beatific Vision, thus seeing God face-to-face and being in perfect communion with Him, is to be forgiven of every sin AND to be purified of every attachment to sin. This is a glorious invitation and a demanding endeavor!  
 
Purgation of all sin and all attachment to sin is not an option. Only when we are perfect in every way will we be ready to enter into what the saints have called “Divine Union” or “Mystical Marriage.” Think of it this way: If you are attached to sin in your life, even the smallest imperfection, that attachment cannot enter into the presence of God. God is all holy and pure love. God wants you to be in union with Him, but He will not accept your sinful attachments.  
 
The first step is forgiveness, but that’s the easy part. God, in His mercy, will forgive us of our sins if we are sorry and ask for forgiveness. The second step is to become completely detached from all remnants of sin. For example, if you have a habit of being critical of others in your speech and you confess this, then you can be assured you are forgiven of all past sins of being critical. But forgiveness does not mean you have been purified of the “attachment” you have to that sin. In this case, an attachment to the sin of being critical is the disordered tendency to find fault with others. An attachment is different from a temptation. An attachment is a habit you voluntarily formed.  
 
Purgation is the process of breaking every sinful habit you have and detaching from all habitual sins and even imperfections so that you can be attached to God and His holy will alone. But how on Earth do you do this? In the end, you don’t do it by yourself. Instead, you allow God to come into your soul and purify it of all sinful habits and attachments. And that will hurt! But it will be a purifying hurt that will be freeing.  
 
Purgatory refers to the purification process of all attachments we still have when we die. Ideally, we would go through the process of purification here on Earth, before death, so as to enjoy Divine Union here and now. But when we do not complete the process here on Earth, Purgatory will complete this process after death.  
 
If that sounds gloomy, it’s not. It’s beautiful when understood and embraced.

​The quick answer is “Yes,” the occult or “New Age” belief that crystals provide some sort of spiritual healing power is not from God. In fact, it is often a deception from the evil one who seeks to distort God’s creation by trying to turn something beautiful within creation into something allegedly magical.  
 
First of all, there are many forms of crystals, such as quartz, diamonds, jasper, turquoise, amethyst, sapphire, ruby, and many more. Crystals are part of God’s creation, and they are quite beautiful! Even the Book of Revelation in the Bible uses crystals to symbolically depict the walls of the new Heavens that await. We read in Revelation 21:18–20:  
 
The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, clear as glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every jewel; the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.  
 
So, crystals are good! They are from God. They are part of creation and they are beautiful to behold. With that said, anything that is good can be used in a way that is not from God. The modern fascination with crystals as “healing stones” and the claims of “crystal energy” have been around since the beginning of time. These are deceptions by which the evil one tries to turn part of God’s creation into a false god, which is a violation of the First Commandment: “I am the Lord your God…You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2–3). In other words, attributing spiritual power to crystals is akin to creating a false god.  
 
It should be noted that some of God’s creation actually does provide healing power. This is where we get medicine, but medicine is a scientific discovery of the natural healing power of certain plants and minerals. This form of healing power is not spiritual in nature; it’s natural and scientifically based. On the other hand, the claims that crystals have some sort of “energy” is not scientifically based. Instead, this belief is a spiritual claim, which means we must evaluate this claim from a spiritual perspective.  
 
From a spiritual perspective, the claim that crystals have some form of spiritual “energy” and the like stems from various occult practices that are today commonly grouped together under the “New Age” movement. But, of course, these practices are not “New.” They go back to the beginning of time. Even the Bible identifies various occult practices and condemns them. One of the clearest modern-day teachings on these issues can be found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church under the title of “Divination and magic” (CCC #2115–2117). Read that citation for a better understanding of the Church’s teaching.  
 
Why do some people believe that crystals have spiritual energy? Perhaps it’s because all people are spiritual beings and, therefore, deep down we all want to find some form of spiritual fulfillment. And when God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not central in our lives, we look for spiritual fulfillment in other ways. But the only other “spiritual” path is the path of deception by which satan and his demons try to mislead us and turn us from God. Oftentimes, they try to do this by presenting us with false spiritualities that can sound good but are not based on Truth. Most of the time, when people are drawn into “spiritual” practices found within the occult and New Age, they do so with good intentions. But good intentions that are not based in the Truth of God will ultimately lead us to spiritual destruction. Therefore, make sure you reject these false spiritualities and turn only to God as He has been revealed to us in the Person of Jesus Christ, our Lord and one true God.