I got my crystal education a few years ago and ever since I've always packed an edited version of my collection in my travel pack wherever I go. Though it's prompted the same joke from my friends over and over again, 'you literally have rocks in your bag?', I count them as non-negotiable essentials for a few reasons.

It's not so much that I can necessarily prove that crystals have magical powers, though I do think that different things hold different energies. But I absolutely believe in the power of human intention and that crystals, if nothing more, can serve as physical things that represent a certain intention or meaning.

I think they can help focus and strengthen human conscious intention on something you can touch and see in the physical, seen world. They make intangible concepts tangible for us humans.



Particularly when you don't have a lot of tangible things in your life to make you feel grounded, abundant, loved, connected - friends, family, possessions, a stable routine, a stable income - these tokens can help make our intentions and feelings more real, they can be a comforting companion.

When you travel, it can really help to have daily reminders you can see to make you stop and focus on positive concepts like higher guidance, intuition, abundance, unconditional love and grounding your energy.



So my traveller friend, asked me yesterday, 'do you travel with crystals?' and it prompted a whole show-and-tell of the crystals we each travel with, so I thought I'd share them with you here.

Amethyst: Higher Guidance + Intuition

When everything's up in the air and the ground beneath your feet is always changing, a bit of guidance from the ether is always helpful. Focusing your intentions on staying open to guidance and intuition when you travel means you call in and ask for this. Then, whether through noticing it in little signs that pop up during your days, song lyrics that stick in your head, a page you open to in a book, trying to remember your dreams in the morning, card reading or listening in for messages during meditation, you'll be open to receive this guidance.

Citrine | Manifesting + Abundance

Almost every traveller I have ever met has been on a pretty major budget most of their life. Whether they're at home working in a job and saving up for their next big trip, out in the world spending their savings, living abroad as an expat or working on the road as a digital nomad, money is always a bit tight. Citrine serves as a reminder to hold the feeling of abundance often to manifest more abundance. I keep mine in my wallet! But abundance doesn't just relate to money, you can call in more abundance in love, health, friends, good food, fun, anything really. Believing in your own power to manifest all the abundance you need is important for a traveller. We don't have all those concrete, steady guarantees of income, a home, friends, love relationships, things are always changing and trusting that you can get all these things if and when you need them is hard some times. Carrying this stone around reminds me to affirm the belief in my own abundance and manifesting abilities regularly.

Clear Quartz | Healing Energy

Your energy gets messed around so much travelling you're no doubt going to feel a bit off-kilter often, you're prone to getting sick or feeling disconnected and you're definitely going to feel exhausted and tapped out of energy at times too. Clear quartz is your healing stone, your source of light and energy when you feel depleted. Holding it in my hands, I try to picture all my energy being drawn back to me as light rays, wherever I've left it across time and space. This crystal also amplifies the intentions of the other crystals you have around it so placing all your stones together in a circle with this one at the centre is a good idea when you're not using them.

Hematite | Grounding

Ok so this one's pretty straightforward as to why a traveller would need some extra help with grounding to the earth. You're in planes, trains, cars and buses, moving at un-human speeds. You're moving your body across countries, continents, seas. On the ground you're taking rickshaws, tuk tuks, bikes, scooters. Everything is new all the time. You can't underestimate how ungrounding all this movement and change is to your energy. For me, being ungrounded feels like my thoughts are racing, I can't focus on one thought or solve one problem calmly at a time, I feel unsafe and anxious, irritated, easily upset and led by my emotions. Having a physical symbol of your grounding to the earth, a stone that came from the earth no less, holding it in your hands, with your bare feet planted in the earth preferably, can really help to feel connected to the earthly plane. I like to picture a beam of golden light connecting the bottom of my spine to the core of the earth too when I hold my hematite, and I do this grounding exercise every morning.

Rose Quartz | Unconditional Love

It's easy to feel a little unloved and lonely at times when you travel a lot, in fact it's inevitable you will feel lonely at one point or another. It's a downside you have to accept and learn to weather. You can feel disconnected from all the people you love strewn all over the world and you can feel disconnected from yourself not having the mirror of all these familiar people around to reflect back the love to you. But love is always present, it's what every thing on earth is made of, so no matter where you are, it makes sense that you can always call it up. No matter the situation you can always summon the feeling of love. Carrying rose quartz around with you close, in your pocket, your bra, your bag, serves as a tangible reminder that you are always loved, unconditionally, and that you can always choose to act with unconditional love towards others too, strangers on the street, your Mum on the phone, your new friend. Love is always there.

So all these crystals and intentions are great for travellers, expats, digital nomads but I think they can apply to everyone no matter what you're doing in life too.