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"She Said", Metaphysical Properties of a Stone

She Said: The Metaphysical Properties of Ammonites

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Ammonites WTH are Ammonites?
Ammonites are fossils. Fossils are rocks that used to be critters. The organic matter of the critter has been replaced by the rock so the appearance of the critter is more or less maintained in stone. Fossils are old.  Really old.  OMG old.  If you don’t mind, I’m going to remain vague about the exact age of ammonites because 1) it’s Christopher’s job to get technical 2) some people don’t think the world is that old and I have ZERO interest in having a conversation about how old the Earth is with anyone.  Less than zero, actually.

Ammonites BC
In this instance, “BC” means “Before Chris”.  Christopher is my co-host of the Metaphysical Department.  We have been working together since he began here at Enter the Earth back in 2012.  While we do have a strangely common foundation in the way we have studied energies before we met, we also have our own things.  Fossils were a Chris “thing”, more so than a “me” thing, and he spent way more time dancing with them than I did.  I was kinda like… fossils. Meh.

My understanding of the properties of ammonites “Before Chris” was that they were “Dream Guards”.  In other words, the ammonites that I had worked with seemed specifically useful for protection during sleep. I hadn’t dug much deeper into the energies of ammonites beyond chucking a nice one into my sleep pouch.  Interestingly, that is one of the historical/traditional uses of ammonites.  (Imagine that, my intuition is in alignment with traditional info. Ha.  I love it when that happens.)

Ammonites AC
Chris began working for ETE about the same time that I began to have significant “kundalini misfiring” issues.  Kundalini is the energy said to rise up your spine as part of a personal spiritual evolution process.  Apparently, this process isn’t always a tidy thing.  Doah.  For those of you who are unaware of kundalini misfiring issues, let  me sum it up for you in one simple phrase, “Hurts like a Mo Fo.” We’re talking, “kneeling-on-the-floor-doubled over-while-crying” kind of pain.

Christopher recommended that I work with ammonites to help me release the blockage that was creating the misfiring pain.  Since I’m not a fan of pain as a general rule, I began attuning to and working with some ammonites.  I went many months with an ammonite in my pocket to mitigate the rather brisk pain that I was experiencing and it DID help.  I have to admit, Christopher made a believer out of me.  I am no longer someone who says, “Fossils, meh.” 

Chris is still far quicker to grab them for active working sessions, but you know, my memory isn’t as good as it used to be and he will remind me of nifty things I may be forgetting. Yay.

Since that time a couple of years ago, Christopher and I have created ammonite pocket rock sets that were intended to support energy body health and flow, such as in “Kundalini Rising” and “Chakra Aligning & Protection“.

Keeping them in the pockets would be useful, but placing them at the site of suspected blockages would be good too.  Breathe with them and get that stuff moving again. We also integrated ammonites into our energy body support specific grid, called the Chakra Alignment Whirlwind Grid.

This grid is a trip, actually.  We like to set it up on the ground and put a chair over it so that the central vortex of the grid literally interacts with your immediate energy center.  I call that technique a “sit and spin” and it’s very effective when you want to use grid energies as an intense energy healing session.  We had our non-wooey co-workers sit on the chair while we were trying out the combinations and everyone got a sensation of “wind” or whirling motion around the energy field.  It was pretty cool. When I did the sit and spin of that grid I was in the middle of a fair amount of personal crisis and trauma, so …. good golly, it took me ~down~ and did major work.

We’ve used that grid in workshops for emotional alchemy before too… even one that we facilitated at Asheville’s Therapeutic Salt Cave.  Wee haw.  It’s not a party until someone cries!! Christopher will cover all the geological, historical, and traditional information about ammonites when he catches up to my “She Said” articles.  🙂  He’s really quite the smarty pants about rocks.   To see ammonites at our website, click on the photo of the big ass ammonites in crates at the top of this article.

Copyright 2015 Stacie Coller & Christopher Lee Matthews

Updated 2/17/2015

"She Said", Metaphysical Properties of a Stone

She Said: The Metaphysical Properties of Carnelian

I’m not sure why, but I like to say the word carnelian like I’m Doctor Evil from Austin Powers.

~Car-neeee-leeee-annnn~ *Stacie puts her pinky finger against the corner of her mouth*

It’s just a fun word to say.

I also have to confess to having one of the world’s strangest collections.

I collect carnelian specimens that whistle.

I have three spheres at home from grapefruit size to plum size that have hollow  geode pockets inside with a small hole on the outside surface.  When I blow into those holes ~*tada*~… I get a screaming carnelian sphere.  I’m not sure why this makes me so happy, but it does.

So, carnelian.  It’s one of the most popular stones out there and for good reason.  It’s got a biblical shout out, by some translations, to being one of the 12 stones in the breastplate of the high priest.  It is also one of the more readily attainable stones in the market and isn’t terribly expensive as far as stones go.  It is also the semi-precious alternate birthstone for the month of July.  The precious birthstone for July is ruby.  They actually play together quite nicely, too.

At the end of the day, regardless of how history or economics sort out this stone, it’s got a lot of ~juice~.  Meaning, it’s got the “zoom zoom” in all the right places.

I see this stone as being intimately connected to the physical and material worlds.  It is, quite literally, carnal, or of the flesh.  To me, it feels like a stone of passion, desire, and sexual energy.  It also has the qualities of strength, endurance, and vitality.  I consider it as being aligned closely with the element of fire.  It feels hot to me energetically.

Carnelian Flame

I grab carnelian when I am feeling drained and exhausted and when I am at a deficit of vital, physical, life-force energies.  My general nature is to be creative, but when I’m tired, I can’t muster up the inspiration to engage any projects.  When I’m tired or worn out, everything about living life is more difficult.

Creative energy, inspiration, and passion are all woven together, at least in my world, and carnelian helps me to plug back into my inner fire, the ~zest~, that allows  me to give a crap about engaging in life and all that it has to offer in my physical reality.

OK, now I’m seeing the 7 Dwarves from Snow White marching off to work while whistling.  Carnelian is actually summed up nicely in that image…. the joyful engagement of physical reality.

My favorite techniques for carnelian:

Pocket Rocks: I place carnelian, sometimes with another stone, in my pockets during times when I feel low on physical energy.

Carnelian & Hematoid Rose Quartz Pocket Rock Set

Crystal Grid: I also tend to put them in any grid that relates to passion, creativity, sexuality, or the support of vitality.

lovegrid

Chakra Layout: The color of carnelian align it with the belly chakra and those related issues.  I almost always include carnelian in any chakra “laying-on-of-stones” session because of it’s good punch of the luscious reddish-orange colors.

Gem Elixir: I would use carnelian as a gem elixir to help get me get some gasoline on whatever fire I was trying to start.

Well… I also like for them to whistle, too.  But that might just be me. 😀

Copyright 2015 Stacie Coller

Updated 2/17/2015

"She Said", Metaphysical Properties of a Stone

Rose Quartz Crystals – Exotic Varieties

I have written a fairly comprehensive blog article on your regular variety of rose quartz that you can see by clicking here.  It’s a good place to start  to learn about the basic foundation of rose quartz’s meaning and healing properties.

And then there are the exotic varieties of rose quartz that are pretty dang potent and ah-mazing.  Va-va-voom.

I call them “exotic” rose quartz because it’s like taking the sweet goddess next door and blending her with something mysterious and beguiling, and perhaps a little less subtle.  One of the reasons I work for Enter the Earth is because I was floored by all the different exotic rose quartz they imported from Madagascar.  I mean.  Seriously.  Who knew that rose quartz had all this in her?

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Click the photo to see Star Rose Quartz at etemetaphysical.com

Star Rose Quartz: This rose quartz is a very “gemmy” or translucent  form that also has tiny little dumortierite fibers that create an asterism effect on the surface of the stone when a bright light is shining on it.  Three rays, or lines, of light will intersect at some place on the rock and create a 6-ray star.  Stars symbolize the heavens and so bring in a higher aspect of Divine Love to the mix. There is also the energy of being in “Divine Alignment”. Dumortierite is actually a blue mineral.  Blue quartz is basically quartz with a bunch of dumortierite in it.  Even though you cannot see it, it adds psychic expansion and sight to the mix as well.

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Click the photo to see Pink Girasol Rose Quartz at etemetaphysical.com

Pink Girasol: Star rose quartz and girasol quartz often grow in the same area and can sometimes toddle into each other’s territory.  This can make it challenging to determine when star rose quartz stops and girasol begins.  That is why girasol is sometimes called “white rose quartz” and very pale star rose quartz is sometimes considered “pink girasol”.  I’ve noticed that pale star rose quartz/pink girasol may not have as distinctive of a star, although it will have other more girasoly characteristics, like appearing with a golden hue when you look through it at a light, as well as looking like it is illuminated from within.

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Click to see this point at etemetaphysical.com

Lavender Rose Quartz:  Obviously, this kind of rose quartz is one that goes off into light or darker violet, purple, or lavender tones.  It’s like rose quartz and amethyst had a baby when this happens.  It’s quite beautiful and adds another layer of spiritual expansion, but it also seems to be a bit more “protective” than other forms of rose quartz.  I did a crystal whisper on a piece of lavender rose quartz years ago and a bunch of Amazon-like women warriors were associated with it.  “Warriors of the Heart” might be a good way to describe them.

sacred heart
Click photo to see more Sacred Heart Rose Quartz.

Hematoid Rose Quartz:  I didn’t even know this was a possible combination until this past year. Whew.  This is basically hematite included rose quartz. It’s rare and it’s awesome.  I did a separate reading it, which I call “Sacred Heart” Rose Quartz.  The easiest description I use to describe it is that Mother Mary and Kali had a baby.  It looks like there is blood within the rose quartz.  Yeah, not a very subtle version, but extremely useful when things are not going very well.

magenta
See this Magenta Rose Quartz “Flame” by clicking the photo.

Magenta Rose Quartz: The magenta rose quartz is just really, really dark rose quartz.  It doesn’t necessarily go into the violet area, but sort of does.  The magenta rose quartz has more distinctive purification energies associated with it.  When I did a reading on it years ago, it gave the name “Flame of the Rose”.  Hot stuff.

 

Blue Rose Quartz Sphere
Click the photo to see Blue Rose Quartz at etemetaphysical.com

Blue Rose Quartz: I can’t believe I forgot this super rare form of rose quartz when I first wrote this article.  It really is so special.  Blue roses are a symbol in alchemy as something that is impossible because it doesn’t happen in nature.  It is also a religious symbol of Mother Mary.  Blue Rose Quartz is a type of in-between Girasol and Rose Quartz that does actually have a blue hue to it in some light, pink in others, and when you hold it up to the light, gives a golden glow.

Energetically it deals with the integration of the heart and mind and of the emotions and intellect. I actually see it as a type of “sacred union” stone because it is also very much like the joining of the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine.  It is one of the stones that I have in my pillow case that I make sure is in my energy field for extended times each day. Christopher and I have only ever found them in the batches of rose quartz from Madagascar and we gave it the name Blue Rose Quartz because of its amazing properties.

It would be especially useful to hang out with Blue Rose Quartz to crank up spiritual and intuitive abilities or to assist you to move into that internal sacred space though meditation where you are more deeply plugged into the spiritual level and the Divine.

Elestial Rose Quartz:  Super rare.  This is rose quartz that actually forms terminations, or points.  Usually, the points are teeny tiny, but boy are they buzzy.  If you can even find some, it’s a great resource to have.  Yeah, I don’t have a photo for that it’s so rare.  Google it.  Google knows everything.

Thanks for reading!  If you  enjoyed the article, would you be a super sweet person and g+ or share it with your rose quartz loving friends?   It’s just below.  Thanks!  Muah!

Updated 6/1/2015

Metaphysical Properties of a Stone, Workshops

Stones for Psychic Development, Intuition, and Divination

stones for psychic development

(Intuitive development workshop crystal grid: lapis lazuli, Moldavite, azurite, iolite, scolecite, Spectralite, precious opal, moonstone, Ocean Jasper, apatite, and amethyst.)

What is an energy “signature”?

Most of the metaphysical properties of stones are derived from their “energy signatures”, insights said to be encoded in their physical qualities, geology, or symbolism. Although the concept is found cross culturally, the term signature originated in 16th century Europe, from the Latin, signatum, meaning “signed”. The belief was God or nature had hidden the uses of a material upon it symbolically.

The main energy signatures for stones that support psychic development, intuition, and divination are:

A: Corresponding Chakra Colors: The rainbow color scheme for the chakras is the foundation of modern stone books. Although the placement of the chakras is traditional, these colors only originated during the late 1960’s. Stones are typically given the qualities of the chakras that correspond to them in color. Therefore minerals in the colors of the Heart to Crown chakras, associated with the spiritual rather than the physical, are used for psychic development:

Crown: Purple, white, colorless
Third Eye: Dark blue, purple
Throat: Light blue
Heart: Green, Pink

Of all the chakras, the Third Eye is the one most linked to psychic development. Dark blue stones are consistently recommended for it. The association between the color and intuition is older than the modern color model though. The early 20th century American psychic Edgar Cayce was an early advocate of crystal healing. He recommended lapis lazuli and lapis linguis (Latin, “speaking stone”), believed to be azurite, for meditation, healing, and psychic development.

B: The Chakras and the Five “Clair” Senses: In the original Hindu model, the five lowest chakras are associated with both the five elements and five senses, in both a physical and psychic sense. For example, the third or navel chakra is associated with fire, vision, and clairvoyance.

Traditionally people looking to spiritually connect with fire or develop their spiritual sight work on the corresponding third chakra. Today that may include using yellow stones as a support.

The historical correspondences between the elements, senses, and chakras and their modern colors:

Throat Chakra: Ether: Hearing/Clairaudience: Light blue
Heart Chakra: Air: Touch/Clairsentience: Green or pink
Third Chakra: Fire: Sight/Clairvoyance: Yellow
Second Chakra: Water: Taste/Clairgustance: Orange
Root Chakra: Earth: Smell/Clairalience: Red

C: Stones that Contain Water: Water is the element most closely associated with the emotions, intuition, and accessing the spiritual realm. Therefore stones that contain water, in their chemical formula or due to inclusion, are commonly used for psychic development. For example, quartz may capture water or other liquids like oil while it forms, known as “enhydro quartz”. Many minerals are produced by moving water and retain a percentage of it in their crystal structure. For example, opal, turquoise, and malachite.

D: Materials that Come from the Water: Some minerals and other precious materials that literally come from the water are likewise associated with intuition. For example, pearl, shell, and coral. Also stones that have been naturally polished by an ocean, river, or are found near water. For example, Ocean Jasper. Much of its metaphysical properties are derived from its locality, literally on the coast. The deposit was originally only accessible at low tide.

E: Lunar Materials: The Moon traditionally rules the liquid cycles of Earth, from menstruation in women to the oceanic tides. Both the moon and ocean commonly symbolize the “feminine”. They are given traits culturally associated with it like feelings, empathy, and the unconscious. Stones symbolically connected to the moon or ocean have taken on these associations. For example, moonstone, a trade name given to different varieties of feldspar that display a sheen across their surface. Selenite, which translates as “stone of Selene”, a Roman moon goddess, a trade name given to the mineral gypsum.

F: Clarity, Light, and Reflection: We are surrounded by transparent materials today but they were rare historically, associated with insight. Light is a traditional metaphor for energy work so materials that transmit it are also associated with altered states. For example, not only does clear quartz transmit light like a prism, it sparks when struck and glows when rubbed.

G: Cloudy: Paradoxically stones that are translucent rather than transparent may be used. They are thought to represent the veil between realms, like the divide between the living and the dead. For example, chalcedony, the white to blue milky mother stone of many other semi precious stones, is traditionally associated with vision, seeing ghosts, and discerning illusion vs. reality.

H: Reflection and Optical Effects: Minerals that reflect or alter light, producing different optical effects, are also popular. For example, the different colors of labradorite are caused by light scattering off and between the layers of the mineral.

I: Eyes and Orbs: Materials with eye shaped patterning or eye shaped optical effects are associated with perception. Tiger’s eye and cat’s eye have an eye shaped flash created by the physical structure of the mineral, reflecting back light as a shimmer.

intuitivedevelixir
(Intuitive development workshop gem elixir: black tourmaline cat’s eye, landscape quartz, clear quartz, amethyst, and blue rose quartz sphere.)

© 2014, Images and Text, Christopher Lee Matthews

Metaphysical Properties of a Stone, Salt (Halite)

The Metaphysical Properties of Salt (Halite)

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Salt is the common name for the mineral halite (NaCl, sodium chloride), a combination of the metal sodium and chloride, an ion related to the gas chlorine.  The name comes from the Greek halos “salt, sea” and the suffix “ite”, derived from the Greek lithos, “stone”  It is pronounced “hay-light”.

The main metaphysical properties of salt are:

* Abundance, manifestation, and anchoring spiritual energies
* Connecting to the ocean, the Moon and its cycles, and grounding spiritual energies into the material plane
* Devotion, spiritual development, and an alchemical return to wholeness
* Hospitality, house warming, and domestic harmony
* Purification, spiritual protection, and releasing unwanted influences
* Insights on life, death, and spiritual rebirth
* Intuition, balancing the emotions, and altered states like dreaming
* Traditionally used for physical well being, vitality, and longevity

The metaphysical properties of salt are derived from a wide range of influences like its functions in the body, cooking, and industry, its association with the ocean and Moon, and its uses cross culturally.

1: Life, Death, and Rebirth: The liquids in the body like blood carry a memory of the ocean.  They have a chemical makeup similar to seawater, although the exact proportion of minerals is different.  Salt reminds us of the origin of life.  Salt is also necessary for life, used by the nerves, digestive system, and for fluid regulation, but too much brings death instead.  For example, conquered enemies may have had their land “salted” in antiquity, salt spread over their soil, to discourage reconstruction because of crop failure.  However this harsher quality of salt may also be harnessed for “beneficial destruction”.  Salt is used to preserve food and clean wounds because it discourages the growth of microorganisms.

Because of its traditional medicinal uses and connection to the origins of life, salt is said to support physical well being, vitality, and longevity.  It also has more metaphorical associations with life and death.  Water often represents spirit.  Because salt dissolves in water but may later precipitate out as new crystals, salt symbolizes both the body and its rebirth, resurrection, and immortality. Similarly salt water is a common tool in the metaphysical community to return people, places, and objects to energetic wholeness.  Just as it dissolves in water but can later recrystallize, salt represents the alchemical process of things being broken down into their individual elements, purified, and returned integrated to the whole.

2: The Ocean, Moon, and the Feminine:  Deposits of rock salt were created by the evaporation of shallow seas millions of years ago.  Because of this literal connection to the ocean and the Moon, the classical ruler of all water, salt is given qualities culturally associated with the “feminine” like balancing the emotions, intuition, and altered states like dreaming.  Because of its age, salt that is mined rather than evaporated from sea water is associated with deeper emotional patterns, like those rooted in our childhood, the past, or past lives.  Rock salt usually contains trace amounts of other minerals, especially gypsum (selenite), another mineral closely associated with the Moon.  Lunar substances like salt and selenite are said to support personal growth, bless the home, and help individuals spiritually harness the cycles of the Moon.

3: The Cube of Earth, Manifestation, and Anchoring Spiritual Energies:  Although it comes from the sea, salt is an ancient symbol of the Earth instead because of the cubic growth of its crystals.  The cube is a symbol of stability, equality, and the material world, often paired with a celestial sphere.  A cube or groups of cubes were often the model for temples, altars, and thrones historically.  It expands the symbolism of the square, representing things like the four directions, to six, because of its six faces.  Six based geometric figures like the hexagram (Star of David) symbolize the union of opposites like male/female, the six directions (East, South, West, North, Above, and Below), and concepts like the six days of Creation in the Bible.  Because of salt’s relationship to the cube, it is associated not only with grounding but manifestation and anchoring spiritual energies into the material world, mirroring cosmology like sacred architecture.

4: Incorruptibility, Purification, and Protection:  Salt represents the Divine and our own spiritual development because of its incorruptibility.  It does not spoil and prevents other things from spoiling.  Because of its preservative qualities and association with holiness, salt is cross culturally used for purification, spiritual protection, and releasing unwanted influences.  Many religions use salt against “spiritual decay” by sprinkling it, creating circles, lines, or piles of it, and adding it to holy water.

5: Abundance, Hospitality, and the Sanctity of the Table:  Like all former luxury goods, salt continues to carry the signature of abundance.  It was once so precious that your proximity to it at meals revealed your social standing.  Nobility were seated “above the salt”, closer to the head of the table.  Cross culturally the sharing of salt, especially the sharing of salt and bread, became a symbol of hospitality, friendship, and mutual respect between guest and host.  Those who had shared salt together should not harm one another.  Salt became associated with peace, domestic harmony, and the sanctity of the shared table.  Many cultures in antiquity, from the Greeks to the Jews, added salt to their offerings. This not only purified them spiritually, it adapted a custom for honored guests to show respect to the Divine.  Salt came to symbolize a renewal of one’s relationship to God.

6: Colored Salts and Specific Chakras: Salt may be colored by trace inclusions of other minerals or deformations of its crystal structure that change the way light passes through it.  Contemporary metaphysical sources associate these colored varieties of salt with the chakras that correspond to them in color.  Because of salt’s association with the ocean and emotions, they are also said to balance feelings attributed to those chakras.  For example, modern sources say pink halite is connected to the heart chakra and balances feelings related to love, self worth, and one on one relationships.

saltcave

This handout was produced for “The Sacred Mysteries of Salt”, a workshop on the metaphysical properties of halite, presented by Stacie Coller and Christopher Lee Matthews of the Metaphysical Department of Enter the Earth and hosted by Jodie Appel of Asheville’s Therapeutic Salt Cave.

Asheville’s Therapeutic Salt Cave is located at 12 Eagle St. l Asheville, NC l 28801.  For more information, please visit www.ashevillesaltcave.com or contact us at 828.236.5999.

Enter the Earth is located at 1 Page Avenue Suite 125 Asheville, NC 28801.  For more information about the Metaphysical Department, please visit www.etemetaphysical.com or contact us at 828.350.9222.

To see our upcoming workshop schedule, check out:

Metaphysical Department Workshop Schedule
WNC Crystal Toting Tree Huggers

©2014, Christopher Lee Matthews, Enter the Earth