by Maggi Lindsay
A slight departure on the crystal theme – here is a question I get asked quite often: “Does this stuff actually work?”
Oh, my, my, my, my...there I am, sitting in my little shop filled with crystals – how to answer? There are so many possible ways.
So my answer is usually to say simply, “Yes, for me these rocks and minerals are not only Earth’s beauty manifested (which is a good start), they also benefit my health and soul.”
Another concept worth debating – one’s soul. Mind – body – soul – spirit – work. On what do crystals “work”? As soon as we being to assign roles to crystals we need to agree on some definitions. Perhaps the question could be turned around – to you, out in reader-land.
You could share some of your crystal experiences. I already know all my stories. Like the day I was buying crystals from the Crystal Man (that is what he calls himself) out of the back of his old red pick-up truck in the rain in the parking lot of the Courtney ferry. He hands me a large smokey quartz crystal from Russia – the third time I burst into tears. So he hands me a box of Kleenex and quietly goes off for a smoke. When I come back to myself after twenty minutes or several lifetimes I have had a life-altering epiphany. He, of course, had seen it before.
I have only experienced such a profound shift upon touching a crystal once before – but that is another story.
So here is my invitation. I call upon you all to bring me (Maggi, Stoneowl Earthworks) your stories.
Let them be soul-changing, scientific, anecdotal, incidental, hearsay – they will all be of interest and with your permission I will begin to include them herein.
Perhaps it is not a story, but a question. Ask – someone may have an answer.
Maggie Lindsay
Who can resist a depiction of the glorious deep blue of a summer night sky...spangled with stars...?
Lapis lazuli is a combination of various minerals, mostly blue lazurite. Pyrite contributes the gold flecks and calcite streaks through with white threads. Often confused with the blue hydrated copper stone azurite, or jasper stained blue and sold as “Swiss lapis”, real lapis has been used for centuries to make ultramarine paint for painters.
A stone prized since ancient times, lapis is said to have existed before time was born. It is alleged to lead one to gain access to ancient mysteries while conferring the wisdom necessary to understand them. Lapis was said to be a stone set in the breast plates of high priests.
Vibrating with the third chakra, this stone can help one speak one’s truth to the self, to others, and to the universe, thus bringing balance to the throat chakra. That balance can extend to the second or brow chakra, providing release from emotional bondage as one gains third-eye clarity that allows fuller objectivity. Objectivity in turn allows one to acknowledge, accept, and release, as a pattern of balance, especially of the yang/yin, sky/earth, male/female energies. This is one way to promote a strong energizing, vitalizing connection between the physical and celestial forces. The resultant sense of connectedness enhances the awakening of the light of unification with all-that-is.
Some down-to-earth qualities attributed to beloved lapis are the alleviation of insomnia, balancing the thymus, resolution of throat disorders, and physical and psychic protection.