Tag: rocks

Daily Feng Shui News for March 20 – ‘Proposal Day’

On ‘Proposal Day’ I’d like to propose a Feng Shui way to get that perfect partner fully committed. If your mate can’t seem to make up their mind about marriage, then this tradition says to do the following: Get eight small boulders (or large rocks) and paint them gold. Position the rocks in a small pile in the ‘Relationship and Romance’ area of your yard or living space (far back right hand side of your living area). Before placing the last rock on top, tie nine, 18 or 27 inches of red ribbon, string or thread around it. Leave these rocks in place for 49 days. This cure promises that sometime within that time frame these rocks will place a stone of another kind on your left hand.

By Ellen Whitehurst for Astrology.com

MALACHITE

MALACHITE

SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION: Malachite is a basic copper carbonate. It’s
chemistry is Cu2CO3(OH)2. It ranges in color from emerald green thru
grass green to shades of silky pale green. The streak is light green.
It’s hardness is 3-1/2 to 4.  Crystals are rare. Most gem specimens
display distinctive concentric colorbanding; (alternating dark green and
light green bands.)

ENVIRONMENT: Malachite is a secondary copper mineral and develops in the
zone of alteration in massive, lode, and disseminated hydrothermal
replacement deposits.  Associated minerals are azurite, limonite, and
2621

chalcopyrite.

OCCURENCE: The copper mines at Bisbee, Chochise Co., Arizona, are famous
for their fine specimens of massive malachite and pseudomorphs of
malachite after azurite. Mines at Morenci in Greenlee Co., and at Globe
in Gila Co., Arizona, have yielded beautiful malachite specimens, of
which some consist of alternating layers of green malachite and blue
azurite. Fine malachite has also come from copper mines in California,
Nevada, Utah, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee.

NAME: The name is from the Greek [moloche], “mallow,” an illusion to the
mineral’s leaf-green color. Malachite is used as an ore of copper and as
a gemstone.

LEGEND and LORE: It is said that if malachite is worn, it will break
into pieces to warn the wearer of danger.

MAGICAL PROPERTIES: Used to direct power towards magical goals.
Protective, especially towards children. According to Cunningham, “Small
pieces of malachite placed in each corner of a business building or a
small piece placed in the cash register draws customers. Worn during
business meetings or trade shows, it increases your ability to obtain
good deals and sales. It is the salesperson’s stone.” (2)

HEALING: If the malachite is of the blue-green variety, it can be
associated with the Sacral Center, or Splenic Chakra (Svadisthana).
Here, it’s energy branches to the left, to the spleen. (It is intended
in this position for those who are celebate.) In addition, if it is
grass-green, it can be used at the Lumbar/Solar Plexis Center. “When the
malachite is placed at the solar plexus and a piece of green jade is
placed at the heart center and a double-terminated quartz crystal is
placed between them, people may remember events that have been blocked
for years. They may cry or scream. As these buried emotions are brought
to the surface and released, a great weight is lifted and they soon feel
renewed.” (3)

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE: I am very careful about using Malachite. It has
been my experience that the emotions that it releases can be very
powerful, to the point of overwhelming some people. On the other hand,
if the individual is ready to deal with them (in a “growth” period) it
may work out just fine. You could “balance” the emotional content with
a pink stone (such as rose quartz) to cut down some on the intensity.

A few years ago, I broke my arm. To do so, I damaged the muscles and
nerves in my wrist. I was in a lot of pain, and was searching for what
I could do to help the situation. During a journey, I saw malachite, so
I found a malachite heart which I held in the palm of the broken arm
while meditating. I got a lot of relief from it. Now, if the wrist acts
up, I use the heart, taped over the wrist area when I go to bed at
night. It seems to help quite a bit. I now recommend malachite for
nerve/muscle damage with some success. (4)

——-bibliography——-

1. Scientific, Environment, Occurance and Name are from (or paraphrased
from) “The Audobon Society Field Guide to North American Rocks and
Minerals”.

2622

2. Legends and Lore, Magical Properties are from “Cunningham’s En-
cyclopedia of Crystal, Gem & Metal Magic”, by Scott Cunningham.

3. Some of the healing information may come from “Color and Crystals, A
Journey Through the Chakras” by Joy Gardner.

4. Personal Experience is from MY personal experience, journals and
notebooks, by <grin> Tandika Star.

Circle Stones

Circle Stones

Author: Crimson

I never realized the importance of rocks and crystals when I started on my path. Not really. I collected them for all sorts of reasons: they where pretty, or full of energy. Then as the years progressed, in my studies of the stones in the earth I realized each stone had everything from a number to energy to a point of view and sometimes even its own voice. Sounds crazy, the voice part, but when one studies the Druid arts one becomes passionate about listening.

My trial and error use of circle stones started many years ago. Call me an experimenter of sorts. I would simply place them on the altar, use the energy, and go about my business of casting the spell or ritual. Then I tried something within the past five years that got the stones to become part of the circle. I put one at each corner for each guardian, Like an offering, they were there for a specific energy. One night, I forgot my little rocks at their gates and I heard, yes I heard and felt, “you’re forgetting something; you’re forgetting us”. I didn’t think, went about the ritual, and nothing happened. A few more times, same thing: the guardians didn’t answer. Everything went wrong. So I put the stones back in the circle and instead started using colored ones for each gate. I didn’t realize the guardians had blessed those stones for protection. In fact it wasn’t until I got into a nasty bit with an old friend did I realize that my circle stones had hundreds of uses.

For example, in that nasty bit, a person one day psychically attacked me. I was in a whirlwind of mental pain and sick on my stomach. I grabbed up my stones and set them around my room and suddenly it was as though I had an energy circle about me. The guardians were right there to protect me, sending the energy back to where it came from. I have also learned carrying my smaller stones around in my pocket does the same thing. It’s a protective device, a gift from the other realms. There is a sense of calm relief that the gods are right here with me. Whenever I pick up a stone or gem, I can sense the guardian of that gate and the energy flowing through me for a specific need in a ritual.

It’s become a habit now. Whenever I do any ritual or spell work, I put up my circle stones. Although I did not ask for the blessing I realize it’s one of the greater gifts the guardians have given me.

To each gate I put a colored stone first — and glass works just as well sometimes better, because glass sometimes doesn’t have an attitude. (Yes, I’ve had rocks with attitude and they are angry stones that don’t want to be touched. They get hot in the hand, or I get a headache.) For East: citrine and amethyst work great (purple and yellow) . South: it’s carnelian and hematite (reds, golds, fire colors) . West: sodalite, clear quartz, or blue lace agate (blues and aqua) . For North: moss agate, aventurine (earthy colored stones) . Or to make it easy, clear quartz works for every gate. Colors help me remember where to place the stones but simply being sincere goes a long way with the guardians.

In another one of my experiments, I tried putting clear glass stones at the gate and then mixing them up next time I had circle until each guardian had touched it. They thus become part of the circle and the ritual and they will have hundreds of uses. The energy needed will always be there. To clean them, take the stones into the sun. All negativity will wash out and the good energy will stay behind.

Picking a stone, this became my first lesson, and I learned to be very picky with the stones because of the energy fields around me. Taking the stone in the left hand (if your right handed) or right (if your left handed) , pull the stone close to the chest and ask it silently (or out loud) if it wants to go home with you. If your body leans forward, then it’s a yes; if it leans backwards as though the body is pushed away, no. Stones are like fairies; they have simple answers for everything: yes and no. I have been in a stone shop and gone through them all wondering which stone is calling because they all seem to be saying no. It’s simple and fun.

For ritual uses, I learned that sometimes even my favorite stones could say no. The guardians seem to have more than an idea at what’s going on. Like I said, they are there, without my ever drawing down a circle or calling them. This works out great when going out into the wild or if a circle is being casted after dark and I can’t remember which way is east. For this, I use my clear stones and go on about my ritual work.

It’s taken me years to learn the right and wrong way of these small little stones. They want to be apart of the magic. They always have been there. I just didn’t realize when I started my circle work that they could go in more than one place. It really is a gift.

Footnotes:
Love is in the Earth
The big book of Stones
Twenty one lessons of Merlin

HEALING STONE

HEALING STONE

What you will need: any stone , a green candle and a white one
To make the healing stone: take an average stone from your yard or anywhere else
(if you have no yard or they all really suck) or you can purchase one like a tiger’s eye.
Once you’ve got one cast your circle, call your quarters.
Do an alter devotion then cleanse consecrate, and empower it.
Instill the flame of a green candle and a white one to empower it with healing magic and purify it.
While doing this hold your pentacle over it and say as many healing spells as you know.
Then pour holy water on it and you’re done.

Earth Stones

Earth Stones

  

Brown jasper: Brown jasper works well as an aid for grounding and centering.

Coal: Coal has a well-known reputation as a money-attracting stone, but there is more to it than that. Coal can also absorb any negative influences, making way for a clearer understanding of situations. It removes psychic blocks

Emerald: Emerald has a long and distinguished magickal reputation. It is said to increase psychic powers, attract money and love, banish negativity, heal, improve memory and protect the wearer. Emerald has even been assigned the power to promote your business.

Green Agate: Folklore holds that washing this stone in water and then drinking the water will safeguard one against sterility. Green agate improves vision when worn. It is also reputed to reward the owner with a happy life.

Green calcite: Green calcite is known to attract prosperity.

Green Jasper: Green jasper is a healing stone, both to the mind and body. It is also said to increase empathy.

Green tourmaline: Can be worn to increase business success and to stimulate creativity.

Jet: Jet holds the attribute of becoming electrically charged when caressed between the palms. Due to the electrical qualities of this stone, it is helpful in transformations. Jet is absorbent and can remove negative influences. It is also said to protect, increase psychic powers, and heal.

Malachite: Malachite holds a unique attribute; it is said to break in half to warn the owner of impending danger. It increases magickal power, protects (works especially well with children), brings business success, and attracts love and peace. It is also rumored to protect against falling.

Moss agate: Moss agate is the gardener’s stone. It is reputed to work as a magickal safeguard to the garden. It is a healing stone and is said to be especially good for relieving a stiff neck. Moss agate can be worn to draw new friends. It works well in spells that involve happiness and riches.

Peridot: Peridot is a protective stone. It is said to be especially effective in protecting the wearer against the magick and jealousy of others. Peridot is also a healing stone. It attracts prosperity, calms rages, and reduces stress

Salt: Salt was so valuable in some parts of the world that it was used as money at one time. The religious use of salt goes back for centuries. It is cleansing and protective, increases prosperity, and work well to help one ground properly. Salt is also absorbent and therefore serves to remove any negative energies that surround a person.


Turquoise: Turquoise protects against danger. It is also said to increase courage and attract money, love, friendship and luck. It works well as a healing stone.

Drive away Evil

Drive away Evil

A charm to drive away evil

The following ingredients are needed:

Iron Nail (rusted)
small flat stone
Hammer

Set the nail on the stone and with the hammer strike it 3 times at each stroke say thus;

Clavus Ferreus Malleus Ferreus Ferrum rufulum Ferrum Nobilis

Score the stone thrice across with the nail’s point, then take the stone away and quickly bury it in the earth far from your house. The nail should afterwards be carried with you as a charm agains evil.

2 Winter Solstice Projects

2 Winter Solstice Projects

  • Cait Johnson

Each solstice falls upon the ecliptic midway between the equinoxes, when the sun reaches that midway point, generally about June 21 and December 21. Winter Solstice on December 21 is the shortest day of the year. After Winter Solstice each day becomes longer until the longest day of the year arrives around June 21st. The solstices have been observed and celebrated by cultures throughout the world.

A central aspect of the winter solstice rites observed by many Native American tribes includes the making and planting of prayer sticks. Prayer sticks are made by everyone in a family for four days before the solstice. On the day named as the solstice, the prayer sticks are planted – at least one by each person – in small holes dug by the head of the household. Each prayer stick is named for an ancestor or deity.Here’s how to make a prayer stick; they are usually:

  • Made out of cedar and are forked;
  • Are equivalent to the measurement from the maker’s elbow to the tips of
    their fingers; and
  • Are taken from a tree that the maker feels connected to.
  • Tobacco is offered to the largest tree of the same species in the area and
    permission is asked to take a part of its relative.
  • The bark can be stripped.
  • The bark can be carved on the stick.
  • One feather should be added to the prayer stick; traditionally this is a
    wild turkey feather.
  • A bit of tobacco is placed in a red cloth and tied onto one of the forks.
  • Fur or bone from an animal that the maker wishes to honor is tied onto the
    stick.
  • Metal or stones should not be tied to the stick.
  • It is also customary to say prayers silently as one makes the prayer stick.

Winter Solstice Project II: Discover Stones

All matter whirls at incredible speed, atoms in constant, breathtaking motion. But the rock people are seemingly still. We are all of us surrounded by the stillness of stone; if you dig in any patch of earth, you are likely to find bits and pieces that are unimaginably old and likely to outlast us by countless lifetimes.

Just as trees may be intuited to have individual spirits and personalities, so the humble rocks beneath our feet may be known and their energies felt in ways that have much to teach us.

Children are inveterate rock collectors, often seeing unique power and beauty in a rock that looks plain and nondescript to us. By seeing with the open inner eyes of our children, we can share their fascination for the magic of stone. And when we surround ourselves with rocks that are special to us, when we take time to hold one in our hands or stroke its weighty smoothness or striation, we make a bodily connection with the oldest matter on this planet and with the element of winter.

Particularly at this often harried time, building a relationship with rocks–allowing them to permeate our consciousness in quiet and stillness–is a great gift of peace for the entire family.

 

First, find some. This shouldn’t be hard to do, but you may be surprised at the variety of rocks you and your children can come up with, and you may notice that particularly varieties attract some children more than others. Take small trowels or large spoons outdoors with you to help pry things loose. After al of you have brought your finds inside and thawed your numbed fingers, you may want to wash the rocks in warm water to remove loose dirt and bring hem to room temperature.

Now spread them out so everyone can look at them. Pick them up one at a time and really examine them, turning them slowly to savor the complexity or simplicity of their shape and color. Do any rocks remind you of something else? Are there shapes hidden in the stone?

Try this simple exercise: Ask your children to close their eyes and choose a rock at random, and then hold it in their hands without looking. Allow them to sense the rock–does it feel light? dark? heavy? Does it make you feel anything in your body? tingly or slow? energetic or relaxed? Then put the rock aside; choose another and repeat the process, making sure to notice any similarities or differences. Then ask the children to open their eyes. Look at the two rocks and compare them.

Rocks that make your children feel a particular way may be utilized to help relax and ground them, or to energize them when needed. A rock that your child experiences as slow and soothing may be placed near her or his bed to be held before sleep. A small bright-energy stone may be worn in a pouch or carried in a pocket to school.

We have found that keeping special rocks all around the home is a wonderful way to stay balanced and grounded: simply seeing the stones becomes an inner reminder of stillness and serenity.

The stone project is an excerpt from Celebrating the Great Mother, by Cait Johnson and Maura D. Shaw.

Crystal of the Day for October 4th is Azurite

AZURITE

SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION: Azurite is a basic copper carbonate. The chemistry is Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2. It varies from a rather dark blue thru “azure” blue. The streak is blue and the hardness ranges from 3-1/2 to 4.

ENVIRONMENT: Azurite is a secondary copper mineral and develops in the zone of alteration in all types of hydro-thermal replacement deposits, where it commonly occurs with malachite, limonite, and chalcopyrite.

OCCURRENCE: The copper deposits at Tsumeb, South-West Africa, have yielded some of the finest Azurite crystals in the world. The copper deposits in Arizona and Utah that yielded many fine specimens of Malachite also yielded outstanding specimens of Azurite. Fine Azurite crystals have also been found in the San Carlos Mine, Mazapil, Zacatecas, Mexico.

NAME: The name is from the characteristic azure-blue color of the mineral.

LEGEND and LORE: It is said that the priests and priestesses of ancient Egypt used this stone to enhance their spiritual consciousness. Edgar Cayce spoke of Azurite helping him attain a meditative state more easily. This mineral is associated with Sagittarius.

MAGICAL PROPERTIES: Azurite is associated with divination. When you are practicing precognition, hold a piece in your hand. This is a stone that likes to be touched…and touching it will help to release it’s energies.

HEALING: This stone is said to restructure molecules, revitalize the brain, rebuild gray matter and aid in developing embryonic babies in the womb.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE: I usually include Azurite in layouts that are for the purpose of increasing divination, or Third-Eye abilities. It is also useful at the Third Eye Chakra for making sense out of a very emotional situation. Very often, the Azurite found in the Southwestern part of the U.S. is mixed with Malachite. This results in a beautiful blue stone with small green marks on it. When cut and polished in a spherical shape, these remind one of a planet. They are soothing to look at and hold.

NOTES: Azurite is an ore of copper and a minor ornamental stone.

——-bibliography——-

1. Scientific, Environment, Occurrence and Name are from (or paraphrased from) “The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Rocks and Minerals”.

2. Legends and Lore, Magical Properties are from “Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem & Metal Magic”, by Scott Cunningham.

3. Some of the healing information may come from “Color and Crystals, A Journey Through the Chakras” by Joy Gardner.

4. Other material may be from “The Crystal Handbook” by Kevin Sullivan.

5. Personal Experience is from MY personal experience, journals and notebooks, by Tandika Star.

Gemstone of the Day for May 20th is Hematite

Gemstone of the Day

HEMATITE

FOLK NAME: Volcano Spit

ENERGY: Projective

PLANET: Saturn

ELEMENT: Fire

POWERS: Healing, Grounding, Divination

MAGICAL/RITUAL LORE: Hematite is a strange stone. It is heavy, solid, and silvery black. Its name alone is something of a mystery. To ancients, hematite was what we now know as bloodstone, so virtually all magical information relating to “hematite” in old books refers to bloodstone. This hematite, though, when worked on a lapidary wheel, “bleeds” and produces stains that look much like blood.

Hematite is a fine, showy stone. In Italy and elsewhere, it is fashined into necklaces which are sold as “volcano spit.” Magical information relating to this stone is scarce.

Hematite possesses the curious property of “healing” itself. Make a small scratch on the surface of the stone, then rub your finger over it. The scratch may disappear.

MAGICAL USES: Hematite is said to be powerful in drawing illness from the body. As with all stones, it is held in the hands while visualizing, then placed on the skin directly over the afflicted area. A necklace of smallstones can also be worn for healing.

Hematite is worn for grounding and stabilizing purposes, and to focus the attention on the physcial plane.

A scrying: In a darkened room, light a red candle. Settle before it and hold a large piece of hematite so that the candle’s flame is reflected on it. Gaze at the reflection and visualize a question. The answer will come to you.