While there are tons of posts I could do on oils and herbs, I think today I will change the topic over to one that is a little more controversial...yep, let's talk about crystals and other gemstones.
The belief and use of gemstones goes back to Biblical times and even further back in time to the legends of ancient civilizations. Gemstones are believed to contain all sorts of properties, from the abilitity to help heal to the abilitity to contact higher forms of consciousness.
On my desk as I write this I see a small container of various stones I placed by the computer, to help ground the effects of unhealthy frequencies from the electronics...a crystal ball to my right, an aromatherapy burner which I have placed tiny little crystals, and to my left there is a small bowl of dark stones which are said to help one stay grounded and centered. Sounds a little nuts doesn't it?
Well, let's take a look at some of the claims:
AGATE: A stone of good fortune, health and long life. Said to attract the love of others, increase courage, intelligence, strength and modesty and to benefit the heart. The blue lace variety is used for its calming effect. Comes in many colors and usually has a banded or striped appearance.
ALEXANDRITE: known as the “stone of good omen.” Used to bring inner peace and to benefit head, spine, neck, eyes and memory.
AMAZONITE: For soothing the nervous system, strengthening the meridians and improving thinking abilities. Blue green and white.
AMETHYST: For meditation, soothing the mind and re-balancing the spirit. For protection from unhealthy vibrations, healing and easing pain, purifying blood and encouraging sleep. Also said to help with addictions. A stone of love and friendship and a fortunate gem for lovers and friends. When worn with Carnelian, said to restrain those who are domineering and highly strung. Deep to light purple/violet, sometimes banded with white.
AMBER: A stone of sympathy and understanding, healing and attracting. Calming and healing, uplifting and absorbing negative energies from the body. Said to give children strength if hung around the neck and also to help rheumatism, toothache, headaches, bleeding, intestine and bladder problems, earache, asthma, bronchitis and throat irritations. Often carried for luck. Amber is believed also to benefit the performances of actors and actresses, when worn with amethyst. Yellow to orange.
AQUAMARINE: A stone of joy, hope, love and spiritual vision. Calming the mind, lifting the spirits and preserving innocence. A good stone for seers and mystics and those seeking intelligence and self knowledge. Soothes emotions and nerves and is healing for eyes, liver, stomach, glands and swollen feet. Pale aqua blue.
AVENTURINE: Green - healing, blue- upliftment, congestion, circulation.
AZURITE: Believed to reveal to the owner the purpose of life and open pathways to truth. To aid psychic development and help open the third eye. Encourages sympathy, understanding and intuition. Used in meditation. On the physical level, helpful for rebuilding cells, dissolving diseased tissue and for arthritis, knee problems and hip pain. Rich deep blue, sometimes with areas of green as it grows with malachite.
BLACK ONYX: Helps in changing bad habits, grounding.
BLOODSTONE: (A variety of Jasper). For idealism and for strengthening the will to do good. Helps those inclined to extremes, wards off harmful vibrations, calms negative emotions and encourages a pleasant disposition. Also used to purify blood and detoxify organs (especially liver, kidneys, and spleen) and to help stop bleeding. Black/red, flecked.
BOWENITE: (Korean Jade) Helps depression, insomnia and indigestion. Sharpens spirituality. Green
CALCITE: For mental clarity and anxiety, and to aid awareness and intuition. Many colors
CARNELIAN: Encourage friendship and cheerfulness and to protect from evil, to ground energies and concentration and strengthen family love. Also used for understanding and vitality, overcoming negativity, bringing wisdom and combating depression and sluggishness. Helpful for lower spine problems, rheumatism and infertility or impotence. Said also to strengthen the voice and increase appetite. Orange/deep orange red.
CITRINE: For improving confidence and self image, for clarity of thought, cheerfulness, fairness to others and emotional control. Helpful for circulation, toxic conditions, purifying the blood and for diabetes.
CRYSTAL (Quartz) Helps focus awareness and meditation, calms mind and eases anxiety and pain. Also helpful for dizziness, kidney problems, spasms, and vertigo Amplifies the effects of other stones. Has many important uses. Clear or milky white.
DIAMOND: Love and fidelity and bringing courage and longevity. Also helpful in overcoming enemies. Amplifies the energy of other stones. The diamond is worn on the “heart” finger in marriage to encourage faithfulness and purity of heart - an ancient folk charm that we still use today.
EILAT STONE: (a form of chrysocolla) A stone highly valued by King Solomon. Believed to aid intuition and wisdom.
EMERALD: Intelligence, business success, emotional stability and understanding. Promotes love and is believed to be a link with divine forces. Used in healing for eye troubles, skin ulcers, insomnia, epilepsy, colds, headaches, asthma and the pains of childbirth. From bright, clear or mossy green (depending of quality of stone).
FLUORITE: For encouraging positivity, balancing the energies, opening chakras and strengthening bone tissue. Usually clear or purple shades.
GARNET: Believed to help in the development of clairvoyance and to help the mind to be pure, hopeful, cheerful, confident, honest, frank, faithful and sincere. Stimulates the imagination, calms the mind and helps depression and laziness. Believed also to aid skin problems and strengthen the base of spine (when worn as beads or carried in the pocket, is said to calm, over-activity and restlessness, especially in the young). Used as a symbol of remembrance between parting friends. Deep red/purple.
HEMATITE: For courage and endurance, strengthening heart, regulating pulse, and for ulcers, cramps and blood disorders, plus inflammation of joints, fatigue and melancholy. Silver grey.
JADE: Believed to be a lucky charm. Used for warding off spirits, safe journeys, wisdom and long life and for slowing down ageing. Brings peace and serenity and is a good for high blood pressure, heart and circulation problems, diabetes and kidney and bladder problems. Green - shades of green vary according to type of jade, (nephrite jade tends to be a mossy olive green). Some is dyed other colours.
JASPER: Encourages the person to do good deeds. Also used for improving the sense of smell, calming emotional problems and guilt feelings, lowering blood pressure and helping kidney, stomach and bladder complaints. Usually yellow/orange.
JET: Quietening fears, aiding the grieving process (hence its popularity in the mourning jewelery of the Victorian period) and protecting from violence and illness. Used for headaches, toothache, glandular swelling, stomach pains, epilepsy and hysteria. Black.
LAPIS LAZULI: Said to help in the development of psychic abilities. Aids depression, builds hope and self confidence and improves health. Believed to encourage fidelity in love. Helps one to find the inner truth and elevates consciousness. In healing used for heart, spleen, blood and digestive problems. Deep blue, sometimes with tiny metallic flecks of silica.
MAGNETITE: (lodestone) for honesty, wisdom, and integrity. Used to help postural imbalances, (of spine and related headaches, rheumatics, neuralgia, liver and eye diseases. Grey/black.
MALACHITE: For raising the spirits, increasing hope, health and happiness, attracting prosperity and removing blocks to spiritual growth. The copper in malachite is said to help irregular menstruation and this stone is also valued for toothache, asthma, eyesight problems and rheumatism. Green, banded.
MOONSTONE: For success, inspiration and calmness, for reconciling parted lovers, uplifting and balancing emotions and attracting good things. A good stone for travellers. In India this was regarded to be a lucky gem if given to a bride by her groom. Helpful for dropsy and water retention. Peach, for comfort, white for balance, the blue variety is considered best.
MOSS AGATE: Attunement with nature and growing things. Moss agates are considered the most powerful of the agates. It was the agate of warriors. Moss agate is the most powerful of the agates that helps balance emotional energy. It helps the user to let go of anger and bitterness, so the emotions are balanced. When used in jewelry the moss agate is believed to bring the wearer health, friends and riches.
Moss agate enhances concentration, persistence, endurance and success in one's endeavors. It is an abundance stone.
MOTHER OF PEARL: For self confidence and attracting friendship. Also believed to enhance the appearance of the skin.
OPAL: This stone carries both the sun and moon's energy. It is basically a moon's stone or female energy but has it's flash of male energy in the iridescent colors and carries the sun's energy. These flashes encourage intuition and insight. These flashes also represent an "inner fire" that gently stimulates you towards the Spiritual realms.
The opal is tied to our emotional side. Brings clarity by amplifying and mirroring feelings. Brings buried emotions to the surface so they can be dealt with. Helps a person to "loosen up" and become more spontanous.
OBSIDIAN: Can be used for removing blocks to the healing process. Good for divination. Reflects flaws in one’s own nature and reveals subconscious, hidden truths, sharpening external and internal vision, helping stomach and improving muscle tone. It's been said that if you are not ready for the hidden truths to reveal themselves, stay away from this stone. Black or black with white blotches. (snowflake).
ONYX: Aids thinking, imagination and decision- making. Also said to promote fidelity and attract fortune. Green, brown or black.
PEARL: For endurance and emotional stability and to benefit the lungs.
PERIDOT: Believed to be favoured by the inhabitants of Atlantis. Said to help psychic vision and protect from delusions, to help the timid, balance and uplift the mind and encourage serenity and trust. Aids muscle function, counteracts some of the effects of alcohol and is useful for stomach acidity, digestive problems and calcification. Golden green.
POPPY JASPER: For happiness and positivity.
RHODOCROSITE: For integrating physical emotional and mental fields, reducing depression and retarding aging. Inspires forgiveness and helps owner face reality and new situations.
RHODONITE: Helps lessen worry, depression irritability, confusion and inconsistency, eases foreboding and disturbing etheric influences. Ideal for mediums. Helps thyroid function, central nervous system, digestion and muscles and when worn on third finger of left hand is believed to induce compassion and sensitivity to higher values. Orange
ROSE QUARTZ: The pink colour is due to the manganese. This stone is used for enlivening the imagination and calming emotions. Promotes love, friendship and an appreciation for beauty, hastens recovery, and brings inner peace. Believed to ward off harmful vibrations by absorbing them, helpful for aching bones and bruises and for encouraging recovery from illness. Soft rose pink.
RUBY: Loyalty and courage, and to protect against loss, unfaithfulness of partner, envy or nightmares. For pains, spasms & fevers.
RUTILE QUARTZ: Rebalances the different levels of consciousness and also the endocrine glands. Increases tissue regeneration. Good for bronchial sufferers. Used as an aid to mental and psychic activity. Clear with gold threads or fibres throughout. Sometimes called Angel Hair Quartz.
SAPPHIRE: Symbol of truth, associated with saints, yogis, mystics and healers. Stimulates imagination and brings devotion, faith and peace, curbs impulsiveness and encourages sympathy. Helpful for nervous complaints and asthma. Blue.
SMOKEY QUARTZ: Purifies energy centers and has stabilizing effect. Heals and lifts depression and is used to aid psychic ability and meditation. Said to benefit the abdominal areas, kidneys, pancreas and sexual organs. Transparent Smokey Brown.
SODALITE: For courage, endurance, open-mindedness, logic and rationality and for bringing light-heartedness, youth and freshness. Used to lower blood pressure and fever. This stone is believed to have a healing effect on animals if placed near their domain. Dark blue, looks a lot like Lapis
SELENITE: For clarifying thoughts and expanding mental powers.
SUGILITE: Uplifts and brings energy, absorbs negativity.
TANZANITE: helps with change, uplifts the heart. I really like this one and have a beautiful necklace made out of small tanzanite beads.
TIGERS EYE: For good luck and protection against witchcraft and the evil eye. Brings insight into one’s own faults and guides seekers towards right path. Used to help hypochondria and asthma. Golden brown, in bands or stripes of varying shades. Has translucent sheen associated with the cat’s eye, hence the name.
TOPAZ: Believed to bring happiness, wealth and honor, improve intellect, calm the mind and aid psychic development. For mental balance, for strengthening the blood vessels, helping circulation, varicose veins, menstrual pains, liver problems, nervousness, insomnia and for improving appetite. Golden yellow or aqua blue.
TOURMALINE: Green - helps balance and healing, best for males. Pink, helps balance and protection, best for females. Used in meditation. Possesses many healing properties. For cheerfulness and reconciliation, intuition, protection form enemies, negative vibrations and misfortune. Brings confidence and calm. Helps clear the chakras. Used for lymphatic problems, indigestion, neuritis, weight problems and for helping muscles and nerves. A stone favoured, by artists, musicians, authors and those in showbusiness. A lucky stone. Comes in many shades.
TURQUOISE: Brings wisdom and protection against misfortune or harm. Considered fortunate for horses and their riders. Reminds us of our spiritual nature and of earthly beauty. Used in meditation and for helping intuition. Good for throat chakra, higher abdomen, muscle weakness, eyes, headaches, fevers, foot and leg problems. Encourages positivity. Regarded as a powerful talisman. Turquoise, in clear or mottled (matrix).
ZIRCON: Promotes development of higher mind and prophecy and reduces melancholia. In healing, used for lungs, liver, brain, and skin problems. Clear or white.
I want to stop here for a minute and send out a huge thank you to LilLadyReg for taking the time to help me with this and the other posts I have written lately. Her knack for finding just the perfect graphics amazes me! I have tried and what would take me days of searching, she has done in hours. Thank you!
NOTE: None of these stones (just like oils, herbs and other alternative helpers) are to ever be used instead of medical/emotional/spiritual support, but rather as an helpful addition.
More on this topic later... Have a great week everyone!
Dragonflower
(references- lots of books from my bookshelf)
