Crystal

Pyrite Crystals resonate a harmonic sound when exposed to evil. However, a witch may bless or "charge" a crystal. when five charged crytals are placed in a pentagon any demon or other evil being who steps into the pentagon will be immediately shot down by five bolts of lightning, one bolt fired from each crystal aiming at the being's neck until it dies. For this to work all five crystals must be in place within the trap, if even one is move the lightning will stop, but if it is replaced whilst the demon is still inside it will retsart again.

This idea was first used by the Charmed Ones in 2000, when Prue placed five charged crystals around the Book of Shadows (expecting Belthazor to come after it.) She had a sixth, enchanted crystal that she carried with her, that would glow when the cage was activated. When Belthazor did enter the cage, the Book repelled itself out and away from Belthazor and electrocuted him forming, a collar of energy around his throat and knocking him out. The trap was also used on Troxa later. ("Sight Unseen"). The tactic was more often used merely to hold evil in place for questioning purposes.

The Crystal Cage


When 4-5 crystals are set in an East-West orientation they form a magical cage of bright energy around a being that isolates them from the outside world and protects the trickster from the being trapped. However, although the cage lets nothing out it does let some forms of magic in, such as Potions.

The Charmed Ones used it next to temporarily hold back the Source when he attacked. Initially in the Seer's vision, Paige Matthews would have orbed the crystals around the Source, deflecting any of his attacks back at him. But he prepared for this by stealing her powers with the Hollow. Although they were able to manually place them around him, once the cage formed he brought it down by orbing one of the crystals into his hand breaking the pentagram. ("Charmed and Dangerous")

Later, when a handsome man, a creepy clown, and a chainsaw murderer came out of the Charmed Ones' dreams, they placed all three if them in cages of three crystals. The man and the clown disappeared when Piper and Paige came to terms with their dreams, but when Phoebe's dream got worse, two more chainsaw murders appeared, and kicked two crystals out of the way, disabling the remaining cage. ("Sand Francisco Dreamin'")

When a Kazi demon attacked at the manor, after a bit of a fight Phoebe was able to place the crystals around him to trap him. Paige had prepared some substance she could throw at the cage, that would cause him pain whenever she did. She did several times, trying to get him to answer what the Kazi king had done with their whitelighter, Leo. When the Crone killed the Kazi King, the Kazi warrior vanquished inside the cage as well. ("Sense and Sense Ability")

Limitations of the Crystal Cage
Paige, believing darklighters to be after an innocent, summoned one to the attic in a prepared crystal cage as a trap as a means of interrogating him. He accurately told her it wasn't darklighters, but she later got distracted talking to Piper and he tried to move one of the crystals. It at first shocked him when he tried to get near it, but then he managed to fight through it to knock one out of sequence disabling the cage so he could fire an arrow at them. Paige then vanquished him using his own crossbow. ("Siren Song").

After Barbas managed to steal Cole Turner's powers, and vied for the Source's throne, the Charmed Ones figured they could vanquish him the same way they vanquished the Source. So Phoebe astral projected (with the use of a tweaked version of the Mind Link Spell to Barbas, luring him to the manor, where they trapped him in a crystal cage before reading the spell to call upon the Halliwell Ancestors. The resulting explosion deactivated the crystal cage, but was not enough to vanquish Barbas. ("Sympathy for the Demon")

Paige orbed crystals around the demon Jinny to trap her in the conservatory until she had time to deal with her. But before she could, Jinny summoned the magic carpet to fly in and at the cage, incinerating the carpet and short circuiting the cage disabling it so she could walk out. ("I Dream of Phoebe")

It could possible that the more crytals set in the trap the weaker the cage's shielding ability as the only times the crystal cage has been broken has been when there were five, not four, crystals in it.

Further appearances

 * "Once In A Blue Moon"