Crystals for Spiritual Protection, Possession & Curses

Stone Medicine for Spiritual Healing: Crystals for Possession, Curses and Spirit Disturbance

"I feel like something is attached to me." "Ever since that house, I haven't been myself." "I think someone cursed me." Patients say things like this more often than you might expect, usually quietly, and usually after being dismissed somewhere else.

Chinese medicine has never dismissed these experiences. Its earliest healers, the wu, were as concerned with the spirit as with the body. The classical texts describe ghosts (gui), spirit-poisoning (gu), and a set of acupuncture points named specifically for clearing spirit disturbance. Stone medicine, which the earliest Chinese materia medicas list before herbs, has always been part of that work.

This post walks through how the tradition understands possession, curses and spirit disturbance, and which stones are used to protect, clear and restore. It draws on the stone medicine of Jeffrey Yuen, an 88th-generation Daoist priest of the Jade Purity tradition, and on the Wu-tradition teaching I trained in.

Spiritual distress is real, and so are the medical and psychiatric conditions that can feel exactly like it. Please read the section "Spiritual or Medical?" before anything else. Stone medicine complements medical, psychological and pastoral care; it never replaces it. If you are in crisis or having thoughts of harming yourself, call or text 988.

How Chinese Medicine Understands Possession, Curses and Spirit Disturbance

Possession is a spectrum, not a horror movie. In the Wu tradition, a person is "possessed" whenever their spirit is no longer fully under their own control: anything that has them gripped. At one end that might be a cruel remark that keeps looping in your head for days. In the middle sit a trauma, a divorce or a loss after which you were "never the same." Only at the far end are the rare, frightening cases most people picture. On this definition, all of us move in and out of small possessions, which is why traditional healers did clearing work first and often.

A Vatican exorcist interviewed by the New York Times made a similar point: the evil spirit, he said, slips through the fault lines of the mind, destroying trust and preventing people from loving and living fully.

The soul has several parts. Yuen teaches the five spirits: the hun (liver, our record-keeper and sense of past, present and future), the po (lungs, the body-bound soul), the shen (heart, imagination and awareness), the zhi (kidneys, will and survival) and the yi (spleen, thought and memory). Shock can scatter them; trauma can split off a piece. Much "spirit" work is really gathering the parts of a person back together.

Gui and gu. Gui means ghost or entity. Gu is the classical term for spirit-poisoning, the condition behind what we would call a curse or hex. The tradition linked both to parasites, worms and to dampness and phlegm: things that feed on a host and have no life force of their own. Sun Simiao, the great Tang dynasty physician, recorded a formula to "clear six generations of ghosts" and the famous Thirteen Ghost Points.

Strong emotion attracts entities. Yuen teaches that ghosts are drawn to highly charged places, such as hospitals, theaters, temples, arenas, because they feed on emotions and thoughts rather than bodies. That is why intense emotional release, in therapy or on the treatment table, calls for protection afterward.

Stones reach the deepest level. Stones work on the yuan qi, our constitutional essence, where long-held patterns live. Certain mineral families are especially clearing: sulfur, chlorine and fluorine compounds, oxides like hematite, and carbonates like calcite.

Spiritual or Medical? Signs to See a Doctor First

Many treatable medical and psychiatric conditions can feel like possession or a curse from the inside. Thyroid disease, seizures, medication side effects, substance use or withdrawal, sleep deprivation, infections, postpartum changes, bipolar disorder, psychosis and PTSD can all produce voices, visions, dread, "not being myself" or sensations under the skin. Getting checked is not a betrayal of your spiritual life. Most religious traditions, including the Catholic Church, ask that medical and psychological causes be ruled out before any spiritual intervention.

Please see a doctor or mental health professional promptly if you or someone you love has:

• Hearing voices or seeing things others don't
• Strong beliefs that you are being watched, followed, poisoned or controlled
• A sudden change in personality, behavior or speech
• Going days with little or no sleep while feeling energized or driven
• Confusion, memory gaps, blackouts or episodes of lost time
• Crawling, biting or burning sensations on or under the skin
• New symptoms after starting or stopping a medication, alcohol or drugs
• Thoughts of harming yourself or someone else

If anyone is in immediate danger, call 911. For thoughts of suicide or self-harm, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24/7).

In my practice, the most healing path is usually both/and: medical care to steady the body and mind, spiritual or pastoral care that honors what you are experiencing, and stone medicine and acupuncture to support the whole person. Yuen himself teaches a healthy skepticism here. When someone's imagination is running ahead of them, he asks two questions: is it possible, and is it probable?

How to Find the Points at Home

Acupuncturists measure the body in cun, a unit scaled to your own body:

• 1 cun = the width of your thumb at the knuckle.
• 3 cun = the width of your four fingers held together, measured across the middle knuckles.

Points are usually in a slight dip or tender spot, so press gently and feel for it. Several of these are among Sun Simiao's Thirteen Ghost Points; their "ghost" names are given in the table.

Point	Where it is	How to find it
CV 8 (Ren 8, Shenque)	Navel	The center of the belly button.
CV 17 (Ren 17, Shanzhong)	Center of the breastbone	On the midline of the sternum, roughly level with the nipples.
Yintang	Forehead	Midway between the inner ends of the eyebrows.
DU 20 (Baihui)	Crown of the head	On the midline at the top of the head, on a line drawn up from the tips of the ears.
DU 23 (Shangxing; ghost name Guitang, "Ghost Hall")	Front of the scalp	On the midline, 1 cun back from the front hairline.
CV 24 (Chengjiang; Guishi, "Ghost Market")	Chin	In the dip in the center of the groove below the lower lip.
PC 7 (Daling; Guixin, "Ghost Heart")	Inner wrist	In the middle of the wrist crease, between the two tendons.
PC 8 (Laogong; Guiku, "Ghost Cave")	Center of palm	Make a loose fist; it is where the tip of your middle finger lands.
BL 62 (Shenmai; Guilu, "Ghost Road")	Outer ankle	In the hollow directly below the outer ankle bone.

Crystals for Feeling Possessed or "Not Myself"

The classic description is someone who seems not quite present: a veiled look in the eyes, looping thoughts, reactions that don't feel like their own, a sense that something else is driving. The Wu teaching I trained in adds a striking observation: possession tends to take hold when we stop making choices and hand over the wheel of our own life. Addiction is a clear example, a hunger that must keep being fed. Clearing, then, is always paired with taking back sovereignty.

• Aegirine, a dark chain silicate that looks like slender black tourmaline, is the Wu teaching's stone for when what someone is struggling with truly feels like "my demons." It is described as exacting and powerful.
• Sphalerite, a zinc-iron sulfide, is called the most underrated clearing stone there is. Its sulfur clears, while its iron and zinc build blood and essence, so it suits people worn down by a long, hard road.
• Fluorite is used for a "dusting off" and release of possession; its name is linked to helping things vanish.
• Calcite, a favorite of Sun Simiao's tradition, cools heat and agitation and is placed on the ghost points.
• Labradorite is Yuen's anchor when the imagination starts fabricating. He teaches that it helps you become more attuned to who you really are than to who you imagine you could be.

Where to place them

• Calcite on PC 7 and BL 62, the "Ghost Heart" and "Ghost Road" points, for 20 minutes.
• Aegirine or sphalerite held in the hand during prayer or meditation, or placed at DU 23 at the front of the scalp.
• Labradorite held whenever your thoughts start racing toward the worst explanation.

Yuen's trauma release. When the grip goes back to a specific trauma, Yuen opens with two stones: obsidian on CV 8, the navel, to warm the lower body and bring held trauma to the surface, then rhodonite on CV 17 while the person talks it through. Rhodonite is his stone of forgiveness. This is deep work; do it with a practitioner or therapist, not alone.

Crystals for Feeling Cursed, Hexed or Under a Spell (Gu)

In classical Chinese medicine, a curse falls under gu, spirit-poisoning. The character itself shows worms in a vessel. The tradition saw gu working the way a parasite does: something foreign that attaches, feeds on your vitality and leaves you weaker, which makes you more open to the next attachment. Physically, it was associated with stubborn dampness and phlegm, chronic gut trouble and lingering infections that never quite clear.

That gives the work two halves: clear what has attached, and rebuild the host so nothing can feed on you again.

• Green garnet (uvarovite, tsavorite or grossular) is Yuen's stone to purify the blood from contamination. He teaches that it specifically protects against entities that have become parasitic.
• Amber is fossilized pine resin, and often holds tiny insects trapped inside it. The Wu teaching reads that as its signature: it captures what crawls on and feeds off us. It is the stone for anyone traumatized by a frightening spell, ceremony or haunting, because it also moves the blood.
• Sulfur, the bright yellow mineral, is described in old Daoist texts as the most transmuting of all stones. Keep a piece nearby rather than wearing it; it is brittle and best handled briefly.
• Hematite builds the blood and rebuilds the host.

Where to place them

• Amber on CV 17 while lying down, or worn as a pendant over the heart.
• Green garnet worn as a bracelet or pendant every day while you feel vulnerable.
• Hematite held in the hand at the end of each session to rebuild.

Because gu was tied to the gut, the physical side matters too. Ask your practitioner about a parasite or digestive workup if you have chronic bloating, loose stools or unexplained fatigue.

Protection Stones for Psychic Attack and Absorbing Others' Energy

Some people come home from a hospital shift, a crowded concert or a hard conversation feeling drained, heavy or "not alone." Empaths and caregivers know this best. Yuen explains that highly charged places are where entities feed, and that strong emotional release opens us to them.

Yuen's signs of spiritual attack after an intense experience or session:

• The face turns ashen
• Dark rings appear around the eyes
• Nightmares, or being unable to sleep
• The room feels suddenly cold
• Lights flicker

Yuen's protection stones

• Turquoise is his first protection stone. He notes that Native American traditions wear it as an amulet against spiritual attack. Its phosphate holds your energy in place, and its copper protects the liver, which Yuen says absorbs other people's stories when we take on their narratives as our own.
• Green garnet (uvarovite, tsavorite or grossular) protects against entity infestation and purifies the blood.
• Indicolite (blue tourmaline) is the amulet he gives patients to wear at home after a strong catharsis.

For the empath, the Wu teaching recommends chiastolite, the cross stone, for those who absorb the world's suffering. It forms by embracing the dark carbon inside it and shaping it into a cross.

Where to place them

• Turquoise and green garnet worn together as a bracelet or pendant, especially on days you'll be in hospitals, crowds or emotionally charged places.
• Indicolite worn for a week or two after deep therapy, a funeral or an intense healing session.
• Chiastolite on CV 17 for 20 minutes after a draining day.

Crystals for Shock, Trauma and Soul Loss

An accident, an assault, a terrible diagnosis, the sudden death of someone you love. After a shock, many people say part of them never came back. Chinese medicine takes that literally: shock scatters the hun and po, and a severe trauma can split off a piece of the self.

The Wu teaching describes the signs of a soul fracture: fear living in the eyes, an inability to make even small decisions, no clarity about the way forward, and an eerie feeling of being "a ghost in your own life."

• Black tourmaline (schorl) or charoite is Yuen's choice for PTSD, for veterans and for people who were bullied or harmed.
• Fluorite is in Yuen's list for rage, hysteria and shock.
• Apophyllite flakes apart when heated. The Wu teaching reads that in reverse: a stone that knows how pieces come away can help call the flaked-off parts of us back in.
• Pyritized ammonite, a spiral fossil, gathers the scattered self back to the center.
• Bloodstone, used with garnet, thaws the "frozen blood" of trauma.

Where to place them

• Black tourmaline or charoite worn daily during recovery from a trauma.
• Apophyllite or ammonite on CV 17, while you breathe slowly and picture the parts of you returning home.
• Bloodstone and garnet held together in the hand.

Soul retrieval is gentle, gradual work. Trauma-focused therapy (such as EMDR or somatic therapy) pairs beautifully with it and is strongly recommended alongside.

Crystals for Hauntings, the Dead and Unfinished Grief

Feeling a loved one's presence after death is one of the most common human experiences. Sometimes it is a comfort. Sometimes it feels heavy, as if neither of you can move on. The Wu teaching describes earthbound souls as "suspended," usually because something was left unresolved: deep guilt, heartbreak or a sense of having been victimized.

Yuen's three-orifice circuit. Yuen explains that in Chinese funerary custom, the three souls leave through different gates at death: the shen through the eyes, Yintang or the crown (DU 20), the hun through the mouth, and the po through the base of the spine. Traditionally, stones were placed at these gates. His modern, gentle version creates a circuit:

1. A stone placed under you to sit on.
2. A stone resting just under the lower lip, at CV 24.
3. A stone on Yintang, between the eyebrows.

Stones for letting go

• Apatite is Yuen's stone for grief that sinks deep and keeps reliving the loss as if it is still happening. He teaches that holding on this way keeps both you and the one you've lost from moving forward.
• Sodalite is the Wu teaching's stone for what lingers around guilt and remorse, the "I should have" that keeps a loss alive. It can be placed on the brow, crown and heart.
• Rhodonite, Yuen's stone of forgiveness, for both the living and the dead.

Where to place them

• The three-point circuit above, using smoky quartz or amethyst, for 20 minutes while you say what was left unsaid.
• Sodalite on Yintang and CV 17 when guilt is part of the grief.
• Apatite carried in a pocket on anniversaries and hard days.

Many traditions also pray for the dead, light a candle or have a Mass or memorial said. Stones sit comfortably alongside those practices.

Crystals for Ancestral and Generational Patterns

Some burdens feel older than we are: the same addiction, the same broken marriages, the same illness or fear passed down a family line. The classical healers looked carefully at what was coming down the lineage, and Sun Simiao recorded a formula to "clear six generations of ghosts." Its primary stone was hematite.

The Wu teaching offers a powerful question for anything that runs in the family: if this pattern were a consciousness, what would it be? Fear? Lack? Insecurity? Naming it is the first step toward not living it out again. As that teaching puts it, "I am not heart-diseased because my father was."

• Hematite, an iron oxide, draws things to itself and clears them. It is the stone of Sun Simiao's ancestral formula, and it is also used to clear and recharge other stones.
• Petrified wood is Yuen's stone for reaching into the past. Fossils, the Wu teaching adds, go to the past.
• Meteorites come from completely outside the Earth, so the Wu teaching uses them for what came to us from outside ourselves, including inherited patterns we want to step out of. Meteorites go to the future.

Where to place them

• Petrified wood on LV 14 on both sides (directly below the nipples, two ribs down), Yuen's placement for reaching into the past.
• Hematite held in both hands while you name the pattern and the ancestors who carried it before you.
• A meteorite or moldavite worn as a reminder of the future you are choosing.

Crystals for Nightmares, Night Terrors and Sleep Paralysis

Night is when the hun is meant to rest in the liver. When it wanders, we get vivid nightmares, night terrors, or the terrifying experience of waking unable to move while sensing a presence in the room. Sleep paralysis is common and usually harmless, and it is strongly linked to sleep deprivation, stress and sleeping on your back. If it happens often, or comes with sudden daytime sleep attacks, please mention it to your doctor.

• Flint under the pillow is the old Chinese custom Yuen describes for nightmares. Its warming yang protects against fear in the kidneys.
• Agate on CV 17 before bed draws energy back to the heart. Yuen recommends it for children who sleep with their eyes slightly open, a classic sign of a restless hun.
• Pearl is the Wu teaching's stone for panic, frantic states and children frightened at night.
• Blue sapphire or magnetite helps seal off the outside world when you can't stop picking up on everything around you at night.

Where to place them

• Flint or agate under the pillow, or agate on CV 17 for ten minutes before sleep.
• Pearl worn by a frightened child (supervised, and never loose in a young child's bed).
• Magnetite on the nightstand.

Avoid screens and frightening media in the hour before bed, and sleep on your side if sleep paralysis is a problem.

Clearing and Protecting Your Home

The old healers cleared places as well as people. Some homes simply feel heavy, especially after an illness, a death, a bitter divorce or a previous occupant you never met.

Tend the south. In ancient China, the Yellow Spring, the realm of lost souls, was placed in the south, the direction furthest from the heart. The Wu teaching suggests giving the southern part of your home, or even your bedroom, extra care: keep it clean, bright and uncluttered, and place a clearing stone there.

Hold the center. In Yuen's teaching on the nine palaces of the home, the center is the palace of home and self. It has no direction; when you are truly at home in yourself, no direction is needed. Keep this area calm, and place a stone there with a clear intention.

A simple home clearing

1. Open the windows and let fresh air move through every room.
2. Place a bowl of hematite or a piece of sphalerite in the south of the home.
3. Place amethyst or clear quartz at the center of the home as a harmonizer.
4. Soak sodalite overnight in water, then lightly mist doorways and corners with that water (not for drinking).
5. Hang or set turquoise near the front door as a protective amulet.
6. Finish with whatever prayer, blessing or words of intention belong to your own tradition.

If you share the home with others, involve them. A clearing works best when everyone wants a fresh start.

A 25-Minute Stone Clearing Routine

The Wu teaching stresses that clearing is subtractive. It takes something away, so it must always be followed by building the person back up. Yuen adds a step many people skip: protection afterward, because release attracts what feeds on strong emotion. This routine puts those together.

1. Settle. Lie on your back with a pillow under your knees. Place peridot on CV 12, the upper abdomen, to quiet the thinking mind. Breathe slowly into the belly for a few minutes.
2. Clear. Place calcite on PC 7 (inner wrist) and BL 62 (below the outer ankle), two of the ghost points. If guilt is part of the picture, add sodalite on Yintang.
3. Gather. Place apophyllite or a spiral ammonite on CV 17 and picture the scattered parts of yourself returning.
4. Harmonize. Hold amethyst in your hand, Yuen's strongest harmonizer. Rest for 15 minutes.
5. Rebuild. Remove the clearing stones and hold hematite for a few minutes to restore the blood.
6. Protect. Put on a turquoise and green garnet bracelet or pendant.
7. Close. Wash your hands, drink water, step outside or open a window, and say a prayer or intention that belongs to you.

Do this once a week, or after any experience that leaves you feeling not quite yourself. If you feel worse rather than lighter, stop and talk to your practitioner.

Safety

Never ingest these stones. Several clearing stones are sulfides or contain toxic metals: sulfur, sphalerite, pyrite and, historically, cinnabar and realgar. Yuen notes that five Tang dynasty emperors are recorded as having died from alchemical elixirs. Use stones on the outside of the body only, wash your hands after handling sulfides and malachite, and keep all stones away from young children.

Don't do heavy clearing alone. Even experienced healers in the Wu tradition are taught to get help for the most intense cases. If something feels frightening or overwhelming, stop and reach out to your practitioner, therapist, doctor or spiritual director.

Keep your medical care. Never stop or change a prescription because a reading, healer or website suggested you were cursed or possessed. Talk to your prescriber first.

Beware of curse-removal scams. No legitimate healer will tell you that you are cursed and then demand large sums of money, ask you to hand over cash or jewelry "to be cleansed," or warn of disaster if you tell anyone. If this happens, walk away and talk to someone you trust.

Respect your own faith. If you belong to a religious tradition, involve your clergy or spiritual director. These practices are meant to support your spiritual life, not compete with it.

In a crisis, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24/7), or call 911 if anyone is in immediate danger.

Frequently Asked Questions About Crystals for Spiritual Protection

What is the best crystal for spiritual protection?

In Jeffrey Yuen's stone medicine, turquoise and green garnet are the core protection stones. Turquoise holds your energy in place, and green garnet protects against entities that become parasitic. Wear them together as a bracelet or pendant.

Which crystal helps if I feel cursed?

In Chinese medicine, a curse falls under gu, spirit-poisoning. Green garnet purifies, amber captures what feeds on you and helps with trauma from a frightening spell, and hematite rebuilds your strength afterward.

What crystal clears negative entities?

The Wu tradition favors sulfur-bearing and clearing stones such as sphalerite, aegirine, fluorite and calcite. Calcite is placed on Sun Simiao's ghost points, such as PC 7 at the inner wrist.

What are the 13 ghost points?

They are acupuncture points recorded by the Tang dynasty physician Sun Simiao for spirit disturbance. Each has a "ghost" name, such as PC 7, "Ghost Heart," and BL 62, "Ghost Road."

Which crystal helps with nightmares?

Yuen describes the Chinese custom of placing flint under the pillow for nightmares, and agate on the center of the chest before bed to settle a restless spirit.

What does Chinese medicine mean by possession?

In the Wu tradition, possession means your spirit is no longer fully under your own control: anything that has you gripped. It is a spectrum, from a looping thought to deep trauma, and clearing is always paired with taking back your own sovereignty.

Should I see a doctor if I think I'm possessed?

Yes. Many medical and psychiatric conditions feel like possession from the inside. Most religious traditions, including the Catholic Church, ask that these causes be ruled out first. Stone medicine works best alongside medical and pastoral care, not instead of it.

Spiritual Acupuncture and Stone Medicine on the Upper West Side

At Fire Over Water Acupuncture & Functional Medicine, Christine Palma, L.Ac., DACM, FABORM, integrates stone medicine with acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, functional medicine, FSM, red light therapy and Mayan abdominal massage. Christine has studied stone medicine through Jeffrey Yuen's teachings and trained in classical spirit-clearing protocols.

If you feel gripped by something you can't shake, you don't have to explain it perfectly or prove it to us. We'll listen without judgment, help you rule out what needs medical attention, and choose stones and points for your own pattern. Book an appointment at our office at 125 West 72nd Street, Suite 3F, New York, NY.

This article is for educational purposes and is based on the author's study of Jeffrey Yuen's teachings and the classical Chinese spirit-medicine tradition. It is not medical, psychological or religious advice and does not replace care from your physician, a licensed mental health professional or your spiritual advisor.