It's best to get to know stones before using them in magic. Becoming
familiar with them allows you to work with their powers. After attuning
with, say, an amethyst, you1l develop a 'magical knowledge' concerning
that stone. This is a true tool and is one of the three necessities of magic.
Meditate on ten or so stones to begin with, and add more later as
they come into your life, as sugilite recently entered mine. When a
situation requiring a magical rite occurs, you1l know the stone to
use.
Work with the stones individually. Ifyou study citrine, say, in the
morning and switch to aventurine in the afternoon, your associations
with these stones won't be as clear as if you'd split your session over
two days, allowing for more in-depth study of each.
Try to repeat sessions on each stone at least two or three times in
the same day, for full immersion. If nothing else, after your main
attunement, simply look at the stone a few times throughout the day,
or hold it for a moment.
To 'hear' the stories within stones, you might try a method like
the following. It is designed, in the best shamanistic sense, to allow the
stone to teach you. The universe is constantly speaking to us, to all of
us. Remember to listen!
Cleanse the stone if necessary (see Chapter Seven). Then set
aside a time, say a half-hour to an hour, depending on your desire to
work with stones.
Find a quiet spot. It may be in your garden, the living room when
the rest of the household is asleep, or a quiet valley in a nearby forest.
Even a city park or a rooftop will do. Ideally, any outdoor location is
preferable to in-home working but, again, do what you can.
This is a two-section stone exercise. The first one utilizes the psychic,
subconscious, deep conscious mind. At least a part of this has
lately been dubbed the ''right brain.'' The second utilizes the intellectual,
conscious, societally controlled mind, nowknown by some as the
''left brain.''
Settle down comfortably before the stone on the ground, floor, or
in a chair at a table. The stone should be within arm's reach. Close your
eyes and listen to your own mantra, your breath. Still your conscious
mind. Breathe deeply, rhythmically.
With your eyes still closed, hold out your receptive hand (the left
hand for righties, the right for left-handers). Keeping it a few inches
from the floor, move it back and forth gently. Pinpoint your concentration
or your awareness on the palm of this hand. You are searching
for the stone. Don't try to feel the stone's energies; simply allow yourself
to do so.
Say I was doing this with a small quartz crystal. As my hand
passes over it, I might feel a strong emanation rising from the stone,
perhaps manifesting as a warm, throbbing spot on my palm.
When I move my hand away from the crystal, the feeling stops.
Passing over it once again, the energy stream moves through my
palm. This may seem strange or supernatural, but it's a perfectly
natural use of our senses, and it is vital in magic.
When you have located the stone, pick it up, again using your
senses to determine the exact location of the stone. Your fingers
should close around it perfectly. If not, work on it again.
Your eyes are still shut. You are utilizing the psychic mind. Hold
the stone in your receptive hand for a while. The energies will be
easier to detect now that you are closer to their source. How do
they feel?
Do they affect your mood? Are you happier? Calmer? Energized?
Aroused?
With your eyes still closed, move the stone slowly up and down a
few inches from your bodyfrom your belly to the top of your head. Do
you feel anything different?
----------~------------''----
Do you feel the energy of the stone within you, almost like a
warm ray of sunshine? Or a cool ray of moonlight?
Next, transfer the stone to your projective hand. Feel the stone. Is
it smooth, glossy, rough, or striated (rippled or grooved)? Does it
crumble? Is it cold to the touch? Warm?
Once you've surveyed it with your fingers, sense the stone's
weight. Is it light? Heavy?
Remember all this-all impressions, sensations, and emotional effects, if
any.
Open your eyes and look at the stone. With all the information
you've just received in mind, study it with your eyes. You've certainly
looked at the stone before, but never with all these sensations.
Gaze at it for a while, perhaps, simply seeing it-for the first time.
See it with a shaman's eyes. Penetrate it with your vision, analyze it,
flex your conscious mind.
What shape is it? If it hasn't been worked by a lapidary, is it a
smooth, natural crystal, a rough chunk of mineral or a water-buffed
stone? If it is crystalline, how many sides does it contain? Are they
regular or unevenly shaped? Smooth or deeply grooved?
Nowfocus on the stone's color, letting it fill your consciousness.
Is the shade intense or pale? Bright or dark? Pleasing or discomforting?
Does it affect your mood? What are your associations, magical or
otherwise, with the color?
Is the stone solidly opaque, translucent, or transparent?
Let the stone answer these questions. Study the stone as a doctor
would a patient. The stone has been speaking to you, revealing its
magical nature and uses.
When you feel your concentration wavering, or when you are
simply bored (a good sign that the 'conversation' is over), and especially
if you're interrupted, hold the stone with both hands, move it
up to the sky, move it down to the ground, and then press it against
your belly. This is a simple ritual defining the end ofthe session, utilizing
a symbolic presentation of the stone to all the energies above
and below.
Now look up magical information relating to the stone in this or
other books. See if it agrees with what you've discovered.
If you're the type that likes to record things, write a summary of
the session. Note the stone, its energies, your feelings.
Ifyou wish, carry or wear the stone for a few hours during the day
or night after your attunement. Sense any changes within yourself while wearing the stone.
Otherwise, put the stone in a safe place, perhaps on your altar or,
if you have one, in your power bag.
Your stone meditation is finished.
Again, do this as many times a day as you feel necessary. It might
take only one session for you to process all this information, but it may
take several. You might try doing the'conscious' half of this exercise
during the day and the 'subconscious' half at night. Sunset or sunrise
are ideal times to perform this, for they symbolize the shift from the
psychic mind (night) to the analytical mind (day).
Ifyou have friends who use stones in magic, ask them about their
impressions of the stones. Share information, if you wish, for no one
has a monopoly on such matters. Remember that others' impressions
may be far different from yours.
Sure, this may seem complicated. After all, won't the stone do its
magical work without such a ritual? Perhaps it would. Certainly it
does, sometimes. But in stone magic, the powers we sense in the raw
materials are only part ofthe energies we use. Stones are often used as
focal points for personal power, which we rouse within our bodies.
Through ritual we release this personal power into the stones,
which act like lenses that focus and concentrate the energy while adding
their ownto the 'transmission'. The energy is then sent out toward
the magical goal.
Our intimate knowledge of stones, of their form, color, and
powers, gives us a firmer connection with them, allowing a surer,
stronger projection of energy into them. Perhaps stone magic will
work without the magician's familiarity with the tools. But just as practice
and desire can turn a whittIer into an accomplished wood-carver,
so too can sessions such as these determine the effectiveness of the
practitioner's magic. To skip them is to miss half the magic.
Thanks to the author Scott Cunningham.
Blessed be all sue xx
Stories within stones
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