IMPORTANCE OF STONES

You may recall that I’m fond of stones. I wrote a whole blog about Shiva Lingam, the sacred stone of India.

Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park in Australia’s Northern Territories

But think of the many important stones worldwide, for example:

Stones for Power and Beauty

If visiting stones is good for you, why not just wear them? Many people wear precious and semiprecious stones for more than just eye appeal.

Whenever I am in Corolla, NC, I always visit The Mystic Jewel. (They also have a store in Duck and sell online.) Each purchase has been accompanied by a card. Based on these cards and information in a stone “bible” by Simmons and Ahsian, I venture to assert that there are no bad stones!

Robert Simmons and Naisha Ahsian have written The Book of Stones: Who They Are & What They Teach, an interesting guide to crystals, minerals, gemstones, and the many ways people use them.

For example, one of my favorites (because it coordinates with my go-to black pants or jeans) is black onyx. (Fyi, onyx can be red, green, or several other colors.)

According to Ahsian, “Black Onyx teaches the appropriate use of power and the focusing of energy into positive force. It is excellent for those who are working to develop their telekinetic abilities.” And physically, “Black Onyx can be used to help stimulate the connection between the feet and the first chakra. This can be helpful for those suffering from weak legs, or who have difficulty grounding or eliminating bodily waste or excess energy.”

You can research virtually any stone for its purported spiritual, emotional, and physical qualities, and any astrological connections as well.

Chakras

Millions of people worldwide wear chakra jewelry for such reasons. Chakra means wheel in Sanskrit. The basic belief is that the body has seven main energy centers that look like spinning wheels or Chakras. They permit energy to flow from one part of the body to another. When these Chakras are aligned and functioning properly, we feel a sense of balance on all levels—physical, emotional, and spiritual. Gemstones are often used to strengthen and balance the Chakras.

The concept of the chakra arose in Hinduism. Beliefs differ between the Indian religions: Buddhist texts mention four or five chakras, while Hindu sources often have six or seven. The modern “Western chakra system” arose from multiple sources, starting in the 1880s.

Chakra Stones

Crown

  • 7th chakra
  • Center of wisdom and knowledge
  • White stones (quartz, selenite, or moonstone)

Brow or Third Eye

  • 6th chakra
  • Center of insight and intuitive powers
  • Purple stones (quartz, amethyst)

Throat

  • 5th chakra
  • Center for communication and creative expression
  • Blue stones (turquoise, sodalite, or lapis)

Heart

  • 4th chakra
  • Energize love, compassion, and forgiveness
  • Pink or green stones (rose quartz, aventurine)

Solar Plexus

  • 3rd chakra
  • Center of energy and emotion
  • Yellow stones (citrine, tiger eye, calcite)

Spleen

  • 2nd chakra
  • Center of creativity and social interaction
  • Orange stones (carnelian and amber)

Root or Base

  • 1st chakra
  • Center of safety, stability, and grounding
  • Red or black stones (garnet, hematite, black tourmaline)

All sorts of jewelry—rings, bracelets, pendant, earrings—featuring stones for all seven chakras, in order, is readily available. If you search for chakra jewelry, for example on eBay or Etsy, the seven-gem option will come up as a “best match” although jewelry designs featuring a single stone are touted as well.

Bottom Line: Wear, touch, seek out, and treasure stones, whether for esthetic, fashion, or other reasons. Even if they don’t actually help, they won’t hurt!

Beauty With Benefits

beauty benefits
The Book of Stones is a guide to the world of crystals, minerals, and gemstones, and their metaphysical energies. Many people believe that stones are useful for spiritual awakening and self-healing. Each entry in the book includes the mineral’s scientific properties, history, lore, elemental energies, chakra correspondences, and which stones work best together.

 

So why am I bringing this to writers’ attention?  For one thing, you could have a character who believes in the spiritual awakening and/or self-healing powers of stones.

For example, I relied heavily on this book when I wrote a magical realism story, published in 2015 in Clare Magazine, about a woman who turned to many non-traditional methods to heal herself after treatment for breast cancer left her with radiation poisoning. In this story, the character turned especially to stones reputed to ameliorate cancer, pain, nausea, and low energy. Among others, these stones include jasper, unakite, snowflake obsidian, green tourmaline, diamond, serpentine, and aragonite star clusters.

 

 
You might create a character who needs to be informed about stones and their properties for business/work purposes—a store proprietor, museum curator, or geologist.
 
mystic jewel
 
One of my favorite stores is The Mystic Jewel in Corolla and Duck, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Every piece of jewelry one buys comes with a small card with a brief description of the stone’s properties.
 
beauty benefits
 
Maybe you just want your character to have an unusual worry stone or favorite piece of jewelry. For example, green onyx.
 
green onyx
Green onyx [Source: Gemsmore]
 
Everyone is familiar with black onyx, some know about white onyx, but green onyx is more of a statement stone.
 
Last but not least, consider that your character might have an attachment to a particular stone or stones for personal reasons: each month has a birthstone, many anniversaries have stones attached to them, etc. Unakite is the state gem stone of Virginia.  I have a special fondness to vivianite for obvious reasons! Not so obvious, vivianite’s key words are compassion, love, inner peace, gentleness, refreshment, inspiration, and mystic awakening; the elements of earth and water; and the heart (4th) chakra. What’s not to love?
 
vivianite
Vivianite [Creative Commons]
 
Bottom line: You can add a little pizzazz to your writing in many ways by bringing in stones.