Book Review of Shadows: Crystal Healing and Sacred Pleasure by Vanessa Cuccia

🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮/5!

This is an absolutely beautiful book. The photography, the kind voice of the author, the language, the layout – everything. It’s gorgeous and I have hard time keeping on a shelf out of view. I bought this book for myself and the thought of reviewing it was really secondary to helping em heal some of my past issues with sex and relationships. It definitely did help, and it also taught me a lot about crystals and the chakra system I really didn’t know before. It is the first book I reach for when I want the details about a particular chakra- complete with ways to interact with or heal it.

Vanessa Cuccia is the founder of Chakrubs, the revolutionary crystal sex toy company. Chakrubs come in many sizes and shapes, but are all made from body safe crystals common in magic and spiritual healing. The pieces are all made from ethically sourced crystals, and the website (and book!) are all about sexual healing and education, and the importance of surrendering to pleasure.

The book is very auto-biographical, which makes it INCREDIBLY relatable. The author shares personal stories about sex and relationships and the lessons she learned from those experiences. She is also the model for all of the photographs in the book demonstrating techniques and exercises. It felt so personal and how comfortable she was sharing these personal stories and thoughts made me realize how UNcomfortable I was talking about it. Since a main message of the book is releasing shame associated with sex and sensuality, this came through very compassionately.

If you’re new to crystals the book does a great job of explaining different kinds of crystals (igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic!) and their spiritual associations, shapes and carvings, charging crystals with your intent, cleansing them, and how to be a better crystal consumer.

The real draw of this book are chapters 6-12 which each focus on a different chakra in depth and includes crystals and a ritual for working with them. Each chapter also includes information about how the chakra relates to sex, love, and sensuality, which was really interesting! The sacral chakra is known as the sex chakra, but every one has a distinct effect on how we love and connect with each other and ourselves and how we experience pleasure. Every chapter includes an exercise or ritual to help you connect with the chakra, and crystals that resonate with each. My favourite ritual was the Bells of the Heart ritual in the heart chakra chapter. This is something that’s become a regular part of my beauty and self-care rituals. The photos of crystals in these chapters is some of the best quality I’ve seen. Like, they’re absolutely beautiful.

Finally, at the end of the book is information about making crystal elixirs and massage oils (!!!!), a really well-done appendix of crystals and their uses and associations, and a bunch of resources – including companies that sell ethically sourced crystals.

This was a really great read all the way through, and is a really good reference book I pull out on a regular basis. It’s kind and compassionate message of self-love and pleasure, and connecting with your body really helped shift my perspective on some things. I also feel that my work with crystals has become much stronger! Though Chakrubs are the recommended pieces for exploring these exercises, as long as you’re not putting it in you your own crystal collection can be used to build grids or massage reflexology points in your feet. It never once felt like the book was trying to sell me anything.

I absolutely recommend this book, whether you’re a beginner or have been practicing a long time. If you’re interested in manifesting using sexual energy, or are looking for spiritual ways to support your sexual/emotional healing journey, this would be my first choice.