One of my very favorite and most surprising elements of SouLodge Earth Medicine School is something that came about when we were going narrow and deep with our stone families in the second module last Spring. We had a beautiful conversation about what drives the crystal and stone mining business-in part, us. We healers and students of magic and manifestation are the ones combing the rock and gemstone stores online and in our towns, giving reason for mass mining to take place in order to feed our hoarding tendencies.
The issue with this is that beautiful specimens end up in drawers and boxes, cluttering our spaces and mixing energy with one another in discarded piles. We made another way!
What we did was opened up the trade floor. Women were holding off on impulsive shopping and enhancing to their collections by trading and asking the others in their community group, for example, if they had a piece of clear quartz to donate to their wheels and charging stations, making it a communal altar and even more special. It was amazing to see how many women had “extras” and were willing to mail them to a sister in need. This led to all sorts of abundant exchanges and helped us build our gratitude for one another, too.
Gemstones are formed by geothermal activity (lava cooling underground) in layers (veins) of different types of igneous and metamorphic rocks. It’s true that there are different kinds of mining, some which do damage to the Earth (explosives commonly used in ore mining) and some which do…less damage (rock hounds and hobby collectors harvesting by hand or removed in underground or dug-out pit mines). To avoid environmental and safety concerns associated with over-harvesting, another solution to working with the stone people is looking in thrift stores or going to estate sales to pick up low-cost items which may resonate with the work you’re doing. In the end, working with tons of different kinds of stones may be less effective than getting intimate with a few good relatives from the deep Earth.
If everything has a spirit, then it makes sense that we treat them accordingly. If rocks provide protection from the elements and habitats for other creatures, then we can even educate our children and limit their hoarding of surface rocks for a future with the Mama more in tact. These resources are not replaceable, and they work their own energetic magic inside of the Earth where they formed, perhaps better than in our drawers and boxes. We can ask ourselves why beautiful rocks give us a fix, and then take a few steps to enjoy everything in moderation.
More isn’t always better. Sometimes it’s just more.
I love this so much – I am obsessed with crystals. I must have over 200 – I have at least three on me at any given time. They and my energy work really well together. BUT I have all of those feelings of guilt over the mining. One summer when I was back home in Canada, I picked up two rocks from one of my favourite places in the whole world. When I was back in the UK I did a drumming journey with them and they asked me to take them home – to put them back. So the next summer I did. I haven’t had that with any of the crystals I work with, but it does make me think about how to best care for and use and gift mine in the future. Such a good question!
I have a crystal that I place in a glass jar full of water, I place it in my window and drink the water during full monns.
Love this so much. I have a handful of crystals and rocks that I work with and firmly believe that if you have them only as ornaments that you might do better to rethink your relationship. I am, however, a hoarder of found bones! This summer those in my collection have asked to be sent back to the earth and I’m doing this for them. Everything has a spirit. If we listen, we are guided. X
Love this action of trade, in all things….there is something about passing on and receiving from another in this way that adds to the medicine, the magic, the deeper meaning of the item…
I love this
I love you
love and light
Yes, Pixie! This speaks deeply to me. I have so much spiritual ephemera in boxes in storage – stones, gems, feathers, books, incense; yet on tour I have to go light so I travel 2 tarot decks, a stick of palo santo & a candle. It’s made me reconsider what’s needed to do good spiritual work, and it’s also given me pause when I see spiritual teachers who guide students to rely so heavily on the tools – often the teachers are also selling those tools, and that can get sticky, can’t it? Do I really need a platter full of gemstones to be in touch with Source? Do I really need ten different smudging sprays and a new cloth for my tarot cards and a different colored candle for each new moon? As a recovering shopaholic and gatherer of things, there is something very refreshing about reminding myself that what I truly need to do the work is a quiet space within (whether I find that while meditating or while ecstatically dancing), simple ritual (lighting a candle and calling in the quarters does the trick) and high-vibrating intention. Less is more and invites clarity about what insecurities or weakness of self-identity I might have been feeding by gathering the outward accoutrements of a spiritual life when most or all of the work is internal. Thank you for writing about this. <3
I posted this on MeWe then thought about it some more.
Something that stuck with me from Girl Scouts – if everyone came to a field of pretty flowers and took a flower, then all the flowers would be gone. It’s better to take a picture, or draw a picture, or just enjoy the moment and scenery than to take the flower.
I also remember being told that taking leaves off a tree is like someone coming along and pulling my fingers off my hand to take with them just because they want them. Harvesting with intention, or waiting to be given the harvest (limbs and leaves fall from storms) has always resonated like that. And if I pick up rocks, I say thank you, observe them, and replace them unless they ask to go on adventure with me.
I’ve worked with plants far longer than with stones, connecting more with woods and flowers, so the module on working with stones gave me some interesting insights, too!
I want to do a rock garden but rather than buy them from a box store, I’ve started looking for them on the sides of roads and near rockslides in the wilderness. We have also gotten citrus trees, palm trees, and orchid trees from sites where they were being removed to “make room” for landscape engineering. I think the trading is so worthwhile and a lot of fun. Reminds me of baseball cards – I’ll give you a so-and-so for so-and-so. Love this idea a lot!