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Pearls are organic gems formed inside mollusks like oysters and mussels when an irritant penetrates the shell. They have been known for thousands of years, and therefore carry much myth and lore, as well as medicinal properties, throughout the world. Some of the legends concerning Pearls are described below: In China, it was believed that pearls were conceived out of the brains of Dragons, and when Dragons fought, pearls fell from the sky. Black pearls were said to carry infinite wisdom, and thus it was jealously guarded between a dragon’s teeth. The dragon would have to be slain in order for the pearl to be released. The ancient Greek and Roman cultures told the story that pearls were born in oysters after a drop of rain or dew had penetrated the layers of its shell. Wearing pearls would promote marital bliss, and prevent newlywed women from crying (there were a lot of arranged marriages during those times, and brides were often as young as 13 when they got married). A Ceylon myth says that the tears of Adam and Eve created a lake that gave birth to pearls. The Hindu associated them with clouds, elephants, snakes, wild boars and fish (and sometimes even oysters!). The Polynesian god of peace and fertility gave a pearl to Bora Bora, in token of his love. Another myth says that pearl are the tears of the gods, and yet another, that the moon bathes the ocean in its light to attract the oysters to the surface, so that they may be impregnated with heavenly dew. In medicine, pearls are believed to cure ailments such as heart troubles, fever, bleeding, poisoning and indigestion. Place several small pearls in a glass of water overnight and drink it the next day as a tonic to increase vitality, relieve eyestrain, and soothe burning urination. Pearls, like the Mother of Peal, are associated with the energies of water and the Moon, and as such, are sacred to the goddesses and all that is feminine. It is a symbol of purity, faith, sincerity, truth and loyalty, used to cement engagements and love relationships. Also a symbol of innocence it is used as a talisman to the innocent – to protect children. Used in meditation, pearls emit a calming, reflective energy, and provide inner peace, bringing a soft, healing energy, and attuning the chakras. They are believed to clear the mind so it can be a clean channel for wisdom and spiritual guidance. Pearls promote wisdom through experience, and quicken the laws of karma. The use of pearls in magic is much debated. Since the oysters must be killed to release the pearl, there is the belief that they carry negative karma, and shouldn’t be used in magical workings. This gorgeous green stone is the gem variety of olivine, found in many areas of the world, and sometimes also found in meteorites. It’s been mined for thousands of years, and it is mentioned in the Bible under the name of Chrysolite. It was also one of Cleopatra’s favorite stones in jewelry. Just looking at a piece of peridot will fill you with joy and love. It is the stone of friendship, and can be used to stimulate the heart and solar plexus chakras, bringing openness and acceptance of matters of love and relationships. A good stone to seal the aura, peridot should be removed when working chakras other than the solar plexus and heart. It is cleansing to the emotions, and can help us release feelings of jealousy, anger and egocentrism, dispelling negativity, and soothing the nerves. Peridot can help you achieve peace, good luck, success, prosperity, and better health in general. It can also assure a good night sleep. This stone is created of fossilized wood with mineral compositions of jasper, chalcedony, and sometimes opal. The organic wood is not changed into stone, but only the shape and structural elements of the wood are preserved. Like looking into the layers of the tree, petrified wood aids us into looking into our own past, and learning from our mistakes to create a better future. It can also aid in past life regression works, and help us understand the evolution of our own incarnations: past, present and future. It is very grounding, being able to stabilize emotions and help to release worries, bringing courage and strength. Especially useful to heal the skeletal system, skin, and hair; but it can increase our overall health and lifespan. Also called “Eagle’s Eye”, this beautiful chatoyant stone was named after its discoverer, Sid Pieters. It is an important healing stone, not only for it’s protective energy, but also because it carries the power to focus the inner eye, enabling the wearer to explore his own emotions. It teaches us about the beauty of the soul, and gives us courage to create and maintain beauty. Pietersite boosts the moral and teaches pride, builds self-esteem and self-image, making it a perfect stone for artists who think their work is not worth showing, or for teenagers who feel un-worthy and less important than their peers. Use Eagle’s Eye to protect and heal the eyes, and to cure endocrine system. Pyrite is formed of iron sulfide or disulfide, being of brassy-yellow or gray-yellow color. It’s name is derived from the Greek God of fire “Pyr”, since it produces sparks when struck with steel. Pyrite is also called “fools gold” and very often mistaken for marcasite. Ancients all over the world used this mineral. The Incas of South America, for instance, made beautiful mirrors by polishing large slabs of pyrite. Those mirrors were often used for divination, something that today’s mystics have learned to awaken psychic impulses. The Native American shamans, or medicine men, used pyrite as amulets in the course of many different incantations. It is also said that the Chinese symbol for the earth – a gold square – has been derived from pyrite. It is easy to realize that pyrite carries Solar and Fire energy, which can be directed to increase physical stamina and energy, stimulates the intellect, and protect the bearer when doing dangerous work. Pyrite has a interesting ability to link the conscious and unconscious mind, and the left and right sides of the brain. This ability is important because it helps us balance our creativity and intuition with logical, scientific reasoning, thus transforming creative thoughts into intelligent action, and helping to put ideas into words, improving communication. All this makes this stone especially helpful to people in marketing, education, or artistic fields. It is also useful to aid mental activity in general, to improve memory, aid in concentration, learning and understanding, as it promotes mental stability, and encourages logical, analytical, clever and creative thinking. A “shield stone”, it is very powerful in removing negativity from the aura and preventing negativity from entering and altering the physical, mental, and emotional bodies. Use it in wealth magic, to draw prosperity and success into yourself, or give it as a gift to help someone feel useful, worthwhile and powerful, by boosting their self-esteem. But beware: pyrite encourages eccentricity, so no giving it to that “crazy aunt” J. The myth and lore surrounding quartz is so big a whole encyclopedia could be written on it! Quartz is abundant all over the world – 12% of the Earth’s crust is quartz – so it is no wonder it has been used for thousands of years, by many ancient and modern peoples. The word quartz comes from a Slavic word that means “hard”. Crystal comes from the Greek, and means “Ice”. In fact, the Greeks believed that rock crystals were eternally frozen, and up until the 16th centuries, scientists firmly believe quartz was actually fossilized ice! Roman ladies carried quartz spheres around to cool their hands during hot summer days. It was sacred in many cultures and used for mystical purposes on most. The Native American shamans used crystals for divining and hunting charms. They believed that spirits lived within the quartz, and that they had to eat occasionally, so they rubbed dear blood against the quartz to feed those spirits. In Japan, the small pieces of quartz were said to be the congealed breath of the white dragon, while large crystals, were the saliva of the violet dragon. Legend says that the huge stones used to build Solomon’s temple and the Egyptian pyramids were levitated by focusing the mind’s energy through quartz crystal. Generator quartz were said to have provided the electrical power, communication, heat, light and transportation for the ancient civilizations of Atlantis and Lemuria. Priests and Priestesses have been known to light altar fires by drawing down the light from heaven through a quartz crystal (polished crystal balls work like magnifying glasses to draw sunlight and create spark). Quartz-focused sunlight was also used to cauterize wounds. Since the Middle Ages, quartz crystal spheres (best known as “crystal balls”) have been used to predict the future. But crystal balls have been found in a number of ancient tombs, dating as far back as 481 b.c.e. Crystal balls were also placed in the tombs of all the kings of France. Quartz can store information, which can later be accessed by holding it in your hand and requesting a “replay”. It is said that the history and science of ancient civilizations are recorded in quartz. The most “programmable” of all stones, it serves as a all purpose healing and magical stone, and can be used to replace any stone. Use it to balance and harmonize energy, amplify thoughts, bring happiness and optimism, clear and activate chakras, connect the physical and mental needs, and dispel negativity. A powerful aid to the psychic senses, it is very useful in meditation, divination, and trance work. In jewelry, wearing a quartz crystal with the point facing upwards will open the upper chakras and facilitate meditative state and psychic awareness, but it shouldn’t be used for prolonged periods of time. Pointing down, the crystal is grounding. A double-point quartz worn vertically incorporates the physical and material into the wearer’s life. Worn horizontally, it will connect the left and right sides of the brain. Some varieties of quartz and their properties are listed below, others, like Amethyst and Aqua-Aura, have their own sections in this article.
This calcite stone is usually found in raspberry-red and pink colors, but a faded pink and slightly orange coloration is also common. Its name comes from the Greek “rhodos”, meaning rose, and “khros”, meaning color. It has also been known as “Inca Rose” or Rosinca, since Northern Argentina (the worlds largest and best source of rhodochrosite) was once part of the Inca Empire. In 1938 a German born archeologist found Inca tombs containing jewelry made of this gem, and baptized it “Inca Rose”. The descendents of the Incas in the Andes still believe that the blood of their ancient rulers blood turned into stone where the rhodochrosite mine was found. This is the most powerful Love stone. It draws into the wearer the feeling of unconditional love, love for the self, love for the planet, friendship, etc. Working on the heart chakra, this stone heals emotional wounds, cleanses the heart and emotional body and reprograms it to receive joy, healing feelings of self-blame, and bringing acceptance and integration to life. It is also a stone of balance, clarity, curiosity and wonder. The patterns of the stone remind us that our lives have their waves, and it helps us to regulate life cycles. With its name also derived from the Greek word rhodos, meaning rose, the beautiful pink color of this stone only compares to that of the rhodochrosite, but the black manganese mineral and pyrite inclusions it contains makes it easy to distinguish between the two. This stone works on the heart chakra to dispel anxiety, increase attention to detail, and helps us to move in tune with our higher purpose and to respect and utilize our talents with an open heart. It is essentially a love stone, and its pink and black colors represent the perfect balance between passionate love and grounding energy. It balances our relationships in order to help us understand new concepts and lessons on a heart level. As a healing stone, it helps emphysema, joint inflammations, light sensitivity, sore throat, and heart disorders. This volcanic rock is light colored and contains silica. Named after the Greek word for “stream” (rhyax), because of its beautiful flow bands. It works on the 3rd and 6th chakras and it is know as the “stone of resolution”. It promotes change and progress, allowing us to reach our goals in a timely fashion. Rhyolite also balances emotions, enhances self worth and the capacity to love. It aligns the emotional and spiritual bodies, encouraging self-expression. This light-colored stone is not for the beginner. It possesses a great property of accelerating change. Like the fast flowing water of the rapids, riverstone acts to make everything move quicker towards a set goal. It is very powerful on humans, since our bodies are mostly composed of water. It gives energy to the aura, and everything in us, including karma, is sped up. Whatever mode your body is on speeds up: if you are in a healing mode, the healing will happen faster, if you are in a cleansing mode, the cleansing is accelerated, and so on. It is important to understand that negative focus is also accelerated… it can accelerate disease if the focus in healing is not clear. This is why it is not a stone for beginners. Without focus, riverstone will cause undirected changes and confusion. “Focus” could mean just wearing it with another stone for a specific purpose, or setting it in Silver or Gold will make the energy of those metals stronger and faster acting. In meditation, riverstone can be used to energize the aura and the whole self. It is associated with the moon and feminine forces, and as a healing element, it can help with bone and calcium deficiency. A member of the corundum group, ruby is red in color due to the presence of chrome, and sometimes iron, in its composition. It’s name comes from the Latin “ruber”, meaning red. In ancient Egypt ruby was praised not only by its beauty but for its properties to attract love protection and good fortune. It acts on both the Root and the Heart chakras, making it an important stone of passion and love, physical, emotional, and spiritual. It draws love into our lives and teaches us to love ourselves and others. It also helps us overcome fear of rejection and pursue love more openly. Ruby raises the flow of Kundalini in an orderly fashion. It stimulates sex drive, but helps us to control our amorous desires, tempering them with more realistic expectations. Another property of this stone is to intensify our life force by connecting us with the Earth, which gives us will power to live in the physical world. It enhances that will to live and survival instinct, which makes it useful not only to draw in courage to the self, but to bring in enough material wealth to go through life comfortably. It also illuminates the dark areas of the soul, bringing into the bearer the light of the Universe. As a side effect, ruby can make surface negativity and anger you already have inside. If this happens you should allow it to pass and learn from it, then let it go, never to bother you again. Ruby amplifies positive energies and boosts positive aspects of the self that you already possess, which makes dealing with the negativity that much easier. This unmistakable stone consists of crystalline aggregates of zoizite with non-transparent ruby inclusions. This powerful and energetic combination of stones can help us to reach and maintain trance states, stimulating the mind and amplifying both mental and psychic talents. It helps us maintain individuality while strengthening our connection to others. Works in the crown chakra. |
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