Several shamanistic cultures practice crystal healing, including the Inuit of Canada, which was adopted by New Age healers. Healing with crystals is also recorded in India's Ayurvedic records and in traditional Chinese medicine from around five thousand years ago. The Ebers papyrus states the medicinal uses of many different gems. The earliest records of crystal healing come from ancient Egypt. Crystal healing also allegedly gives the body a chance to relax, which may aid in the body’s natural abilities of the immune system. Using the vibrations of the crystals a trained practitioner can allegedly move, absorb, focus, direct and diffuse energy within the body, using the structure of the crystal for the body to emulate. By using the appropriate crystals one can allegedly 'tune' an energy system or rebalance energies, thus improving well-being due to the vibrations produced by the crystals, according to color, chemical composition, atomic structure and overall physical form. Some crystal healers claim that each living organism has a 'vibrational energy system,' which includes chakras, electromagnetic fields around the body known as auras, subtle bodies and meridians.

Today it is becoming popular among certain countercultures within Western society such as the new age movement, but is regarded as baseless by scientists and medical professionals. Charmstones were used in prehistoric Native American cermonies for broader spiritual purposes including securing of productive harvests. Jigme Lingpa in the Vajrayana tradition wrote a treatise on charmestone usage which Namkhai Norbu mentions. Charmstones are evidenced by the Shalagram and lingam in the Hindu tradition and by maban in the indigenous Australian tradition. For example, the Miwok and Pomo tribes of Northern California have left thousands of charmstones in the bed of Tolay Lake in Sonoma County.

The mineral specimen may either be naturally occurring or honed from a natural stone in some cases, the specimen may be entirely manufactured as in the case of certain Mayan pottery finds. This belief has been part of several indigenous cultures for centuries, e.g., cintamani. A charmstone is a mineral specimen which certain prehistoric, historic or contemporary peoples invest with healing, mystical or paranormal powers.

Charmstone chin hung