Welcome to Gaia! ::

Rocks and minerals have been used throughout time for many purposes from construction to jewelry, ornamentals to pressure gauges. They're also the very stuff that supports all life, directly or indirectly, as both the ground we stand on and the bits of weather-eroded organic-mixed compounds we call soil. From the stones of the Earth we have come, fueled into forms by Sun's Fire. Rocks and minerals have many magical uses too and some stones have some interesting folklore associated with them. Amethyst (purple quartz) for instance was known for its ability to fight drunkenness, so vessels made of this mineral (though in part because you could ruse someone into thinking they were drinking wine due to how the gem gave the illusion of color to the liquid!).

arrow Think of a rock or mineral. What are some things you associate it with and why?
arrow Do you have a favorite rock or mineral?
arrow Are there any interesting magical or spiritual experiences you've had with a particular rock or mineral? If you use them in your practice, how do you work with them?
arrow Or just talk about anything related to sparkly things, metallic things, fossilized things, etc!

I just learned yesterday that Jet isn't a mineral. For some reason I always thought it was. It isn't. It's basically a variation of coal... fossilized wood. xd Puts a whole new spin on implications for correspondences to me.

Amatheyst is another stone I've done some work with. To me it's associated with healing energy and balance in your "ki".

I heard during my Reiki I class that there are various stones associated with different Chakras. Any one else come across this?

What bout Onyx?

At the last count I had nearly 200 examples of diffrent crystals.... I hord crystals like a stereotypical dragon hoards gold......

My favorite for looks is probably a nice slice of blue lace agate I have that's formed in such a way that it looks like dragon scales....that and my ethiopian fire opal.....and my opalised obsidan.....my cube formed dipotase (the viagra of the crystal world *laughs*).......and my druzzy crysocolla......damn it they are all so purdy I can't pick a favorite!

Favorite for an energy pick me up is my lump of moldavite when its sat on my lump of epidote.....its like a caffinee rush without the coffee!....get a wedge shaped peice of epidote and drop a peice of moldavite on it and you have an instant energy canon its brilliant!

at some point I'll post up my crystal inventory so you guys can ask questions about what i use each for and such like.

Oh, frack... this must be the topic I lost a post on because my connection dropped (but hey, when you're leeching off some idiot's unsecured wireless network, can't complain... though I'm very amused by the kid's shared music list. He doesn't have very good taste...)

Yes. I was mentioning tourmaline. That's a great stone to work with energetically. The stone is both pyroelectric and piezoelectric so it is just the perfect energy stone particularly for anything related to its color. I like schorl (black tourmaline) and I imagine that would work well for root perhaps?

I forget what else I said. Probably some other random cool things about rocks. Like the rock that looks like a poof ball the crystals are so fine. Or the fact that hematite becomes magnetic when heated...

Christoher Penczak mentions some of those stones in his Chakra balancing meditation that's part of the Inner Temple of Witchcraft book. I think my favorite stone is Amethyst. It just speaks to me in ways I can't really explain.

Has any one else heard of using stones for divination?

I only asked because some one on a mailing list I belonged to said they use stones for divination. Each stone has it's own meaning. It's probably related to Geomancy, but I don't know for sure. I don't know much about divination or stone magic.