i was wondering is there a possible way to imbune stones/gems with not just the basic fire,water,air and earth elements, i mean the more complex ones such as chaos and balance, body and mind, ice and lava.. or possibly even life and death..! it might sound crazy but im just curious.
Stones are one of my more prominent areas of study. Every stone and gem and natural material has its own metaphysical properties that can be worked with, as well as the capability to hold energy that you send into it.
Now, say you want to charge rose quartz with a harmful energy, its natural inclination is to heal it. You will want to find stones with properties that coincide with your goal. You will have a hard time finding stones whose properties are on the negative side: I think it is just lack of material on the subject; in my experience, stones tend to be very 'neutral', and working with their positive properties is what makes them seem like their only purpose is 'good'.
Stones like obsidian and hematite can enhance negativity. Whereas 'Apache Tear', a type of obsidian, is much more gentle in its healing effects.
I highly recommend "The Crystal Bible" by Judy Hall for identification of crystals and basic properties, and "Love is in the Earth; A Kaleidoscope of Crystals" by Melody for a much larger list of crystals* and more comprehensive examination of the properties.
If there is anything you'd like me to look up, please ask!
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* The book also contains materials like petrified wood, amber, fossils, abalone, metals, etc which aren't really 'crystals' but I suppose they are 'gems' in a way :).
Hello Kikuyo I am very interested in the use of stones and crystals in my magical works but I am constantly frustrated because it seems each source I try to use tells me something that conflicts with the last thing I read on a particular stone. Do you consider Judy Halls perspective to be acurate? I have her encyclopedia of stones. Any help on the mater would be greatly appreciated.
Is the encyclopedia the tall flat one? I've been meaning to get it because I like the pictures, but I haven't read too much from that book. The explanations are too short for me, lol.
If you mean The Crystal Bible, it says almost the exact same stuff as the Encyclopedia. My experience with her definitions is that they are correct (though, I haven't tried out every stone in the book lol). I think every crystal book out there can be traced back to once ancestral source because they all seem to say relatively the same thing, give or take a few details. Where are they conflicting? I'd like to hope that the author really does know her stuff and isn't just pulling it out of her you-know-where.
This is the book that I have. http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Crystals-Judy-Hall/dp/1592332668
as to the conflicts I've found, I'm currently at work so I'm speaking only from memory but I'm pretty sure that Cunningham recommends tigers eye as a good money drawing stone but judy hall says otherwise. I could be wrong on this because my library is at home.
