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It’s a common practice to make a resolution to better yourself each time the new year rolls around, but it’s even more common that after a couple of weeks into the new year, those resolutions get tossed aside and forgotten - just like the previous year. Would you like to try something new this year? Something that will change your life right away so that you’ll actually want to stick with it? Make a resolution to clear and balance every aspect of your life, and it will result in a year you won’t want to forget. Read on to discover how you can call upon your crystals for the New Year!   It's a new year! And many would have you think this means it's time for a new you. But... what if instead of a new you, you just gave the old you a little helping hand?   Here are the top 5 quick-fix ways to use crystals for the new year to help you get clear, cleansed, healthy, & balanced:     #1 - Clear Out Last Year's Energy to Make Room for Shiny, New Year's Energy We all do it... I do it, and you do it. You carry things from your past into the future. Sometimes these things are good, like happy memories, but other times, you carry around things that don't serve you going forward, like unresolved emotions. The New Year is a great time to start with a clean slate, so taking some time to dump your baggage is the #1 way to clear and balance your energy for the new year.   #2 - Cleanse Your Space to Welcome in Some Positive Vibes Now that you've left your last year's baggage in the past (where it belongs!), it's time to cleanse your space of any energy that's no longer serving your highest good.  By allowing stagnant energy to linger in your environment, you're inadvertently telling the Universe that you're fine with outdated, dare I say, "Meh..." energy in your field.  You need to clear this energy out of your space so that the Universe knows you're ready for bigger and better things. Make way for positive vibes! Click Here to Check Out Our Classic Blog Post on Using Selenite & Black Tourmaline for Cleansing & Protecting Your Space so that you can welcome in some positive vibes.   #3 - Clear Your Energy Field for a Positive Outlook You've gone through our first 2 quick-fix solutions for a great new year and you're on a roll!  Our #3 tip is to use healing crystals to cleanse your energy field.  There's no sense in clearing out last year's energy and cleansing your space just to be a big blob of energy that no longer fits in with the super positive vibes you're creating.  I recommend a quick-fix Selenite "energy sweeping" technique for clearing out any energy that's not serving you in the new year.   Click Here to Check Out Our Classic Blog Post, "Best Selenite Formations for Cleansing" so you can start the new year on the right foot. Having a hard time keeping your vibes positive?  Whether it's your own negative thinking or bad vibes from others, sometimes negative energy is tricky to deal with. Click Here to Check Out Our Classic Blog Post, "Using Black Tourmaline to Transform Negative Energy Into Positive Vibes" so that positivity will prevail in the new year!     #4 - Focus on Wellness & Self-Care Many of us remember to do the simple things like routine energy cleansing, but when it comes down to energetic self-care, it's easy to fall short.  Quick and easy healing exercises are ideal (because you'll actually DO them), but are they effective?  Let me put it this way, is it better to do little exercises more frequently because they are quick and easy?  Or is it better to put off self-care because you don't feel like you have time, and then find yourself in an energy healing crisis because you've neglected your routine? If you're like me, you know the answer...it's always better to be doing something than to do nothing at all - especially when it comes to your energetic well-being. Click Here to Check Out Our Classic Blog Post, "3 Tips for Self-Care with Crystals" and get your New Year's self-care routine in place now! What's that?  You like the idea of quick and easy, but this year, you've decided to make a REAL commitment to your energetic well-being...that's great!   #5 - Be Proactive (and Preventative!) in Your Own Healing By now you've read our top 4 quick-fix tips for clearing and balancing your body, mind, and spirit for the new year.  Hopefully you have some great ideas on how to address anything that needed some healing.  It's great to address these issues as they come up, but the best way to tackle ookie vibes from creating havoc in your energy field is to stop them in their tracks before they ever affect you at all.  The BEST way to do this is to act preventatively with energetic shielding (and crystals make great allies for this!). Click Here to Check Out Our Classic Blog Post, "Using Black Tourmaline Formations for Mind-Blowing Crystal Protection" to learn how to keep your field cleared and balanced. If you're like me, it's not always the energy of others that you have to worry about.  At times, I can be my own worst energy when it comes to energetic shielding. Being a healer means being compassionate.  Most healers are "bleeding hearts" in this way and can inadvertently be affected by the energy around them.  Does this sound familiar?  Do you care about others to a fault?  Do you consider yourself an empath?  Does this often leave you feeling a bit drained?  If so, don't beat yourself up...it happens to the best of us.  It just means that you need to focus a bit more on your shielding practices. Click Here to Read Our Classic Blog Post, "Shield & Heal Your Heart with Green Tourmaline & Peridot" so that you're able to heal and help from a stronger (less vulnerable, but even more compassionate) place.   So... to re-cap, here are our Top 5 Quick-Fix Ways to Clear & Balance Your Body, Mind, & Spirit for the New Year: #1 - Clear Out Last Year's Energy to Make Room for Shiny, New Year's Energy #2 - Cleanse Your Space to Welcome in Some Positive Vibes #3 - Clear Your Energy Field for a Positive Outlook #4 - Focus on Wellness & Self-Care #5 - Be Proactive (and Preventative!) in Your Own Healing   Once you're rested, grounded, and ready to start setting those New Year's resolutions, check out my blogpost all about Crystals for New Beginnings in the New Year, where I teach you how to program your crystals for new year intentions. Here's a quick snapshot of what that looks like: Crystals can be such a support when we’re planning our weeks and months ahead. That’s why, in my Your Crystal Clear Year Course, I share ways to connect with your crystals daily through meditations, self-care exercises, and more – because I know firsthand that connecting with your crystals daily can create more happiness, success, and alignment in your life!     This course includes self-check-ins, journal prompts, and more to support you on your crystal journey, like… a crystal grid recipe for motivation (plus a printable grid template) weekly planning template with crystal & planetary correspondences for each day an introduction to birthstones and zodiac stones (month-by-month) in-depth properties and write-ups for each of the 12 birthstones 8 easy techniques to help you create a sustainable self-care practice 7 Guided Crystal Meditations (1 for each day of the week) monthly card spreads for performing tarot or oracle card readings for the month ahead (with tips for interpretation)     As crystal healers, it’s important for us to stay in alignment and flow all year long. When you sign-up for my Your Crystal Clear Year Course, I’ll share practical ways that you can connect with your stones each and every day to craft a crystal practice that supports you as you step fully onto your path as a crystal worker.     Pin it!     Are you interested in becoming a Certified Crystal Healer? Find out more about the CCH and Advanced Crystal Practitioner Program HERE!  

  The new year is a common time to make big changes and set the stage for transformation and a fresh start. Most of us have grandiose plans at first, but quickly slip back into old habits. So how can you be sure to stick with your plans and stay on track with your goals in the new year? Try working with these top crystals for new beginnings! Crystals work great along with your intentions for helping you reach your goals. For example, Rhodonite is a fantastic crystal for new beginnings.  To start a new routine in the new year, simply reach for a piece of Rhodonite and hold it in your hands.   Close your eyes and think about exactly what you’d like to do differently in the new year.  Visualize it in great detail - is it a new wellness routine, a commitment to read a book per week, or quitting a habit?  See it as clearly as possible, as if you can see it playing like a movie in your mind’s eye. Once you’ve been able to visualize this new routine, hold the crystal over your heart for a moment to show gratitude to the stone. Your stone has now been imprinted, or programmed, with the information from your visualization.   Once you’ve programmed your stone, simply carry it with you, in your purse, pocket, or handbag.   Any time you feel yourself begin to stray from your new routine, just reach for your stone for a bit of support and a reminder of that good feeling you had during your visualization, as well as a reminder of what you're working toward and why it's important to you. This will help ensure that your good intentions for creating new beginnings keep their momentum the whole year through.   Since you’ll be carrying your stone throughout the day, you’ll need to be sure to cleanse it frequently.  One of the simplest methods of cleansing is to pass it through the smoke of burning herbs. Try rosemary, mugwort, or lavender.   A great alternative method to smoke-cleansing your stones is to ring a bell or sound a chime near your crystal.  Sound is a powerful cleanser of energy and is quick, simple, and convenient. For more ideas, see this article on other common crystal cleansing methods. And while you're cleansing your stones, you may wish to cleanse your space while you're at it. By allowing stagnant energy to linger in your environment, you’re inadvertently telling the Universe that you’re fine with anything in your life that feels stuck.  Clearing this energy out of your space tells the Universe that you’re ready for new energy that's more aligned with your current vision and goals. Click Here to Check Out Our Classic Blog Post on Using Selenite & Black Tourmaline for Cleansing & Protecting Your Space so that you can welcome some new energy in the New Year!   Something important to remember is that new beginnings don't just magically happen. Lasting change typically requires our effort and focus. Many of us remember to do simple things like routine energy cleansing. But when it comes down to energetic self-care, it’s easy to fall short. Quick and easy healing exercises are ideal (because you’ll actually DO them), but are they effective?  Let me put it this way, it's better to do little exercises more frequently because they are quick and easy than to put off energetic self-care because you don’t feel like you have time. It’s almost always better to be doing something than to do nothing at all – especially when it comes to your energetic well-being. Click Here to Check Out Our Classic Blog Post, “3 Tips for Self-Care with Crystals” and get your New Year’s self-care routine in place now!    

By dressing a candle with oils, herbs, and crystals you turn the candle into a tool for making magic.

  Samhain (pronounced the Gaelic way, SAH-win) is celebrated on October 31. This holiday marks the beginning of the dark half of the year here in the Northern Hemisphere and is the perfect time to hold space for ancestor connection, intuition, the thinning of the veil, death, introspection, rebirth, divination, and honoring the dead! It's a day to connect with ancestors and honor those who have passed on. Samhain is also an introspective time that can heighten intuition & divination, and call for meditation on death and rebirth. *If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, you'll be celebrating the festival of Beltane today instead of Samhain to keep with the seasonal cycles.  The 3 Best Crystals to work with on and around Samhain are: Black Moonstone - A darkly reflective crystal perfect for promoting intuition and personal insight. Use it wisely when you're ready to ask big questions this month. Sangre Calcite - This deep red calcite is a powerful fire element symbol that makes it a great helper for vitality and motivation in the colder months. Howlite - This stone is associated with the world of dreams and that which lies "beyond the veil," making it a good complement for connection with ancestors and the spirit realm.     More Samhain Crystals: Black Obsidian Bloodstone Black Moonstone Black Onyx Carnelian Hagstone Howlite Jet Red Garnet Red Sangre Calcite Shungite Smoky Quartz Snowflake Obsidian Set Up Your Samhain Ritual Altar!        Samhain Symbols Ale or Mead Pumpkin Skull Besom or Broom Beans Cauldron Bat Key Squash Pomegranate Nuts Apples & Cider Bones   Samhain Herbs: Angelica Catnip Cinnamon Mandrake Mugwort Rose Hips Rosemary Vervain Wormwood     Samhain is Also Known As/Related To: Halloween All Hallows Eve Calan Graeaf Ancestor Night Third Harvest Final Harvest Day of the Dead Witch's New Year Sauin Bonfire Night All Saints' Day All Souls' Day Celtic New Year Tap into the ancient wisdom of your crystals and harness the liminal energy of the final harvest with our Samhain Kit! On this day when the veil is thin and we exist in liminal space, it’s the perfect time to hold space for ancestor connection, intuition, introspection, rebirth, divination, and honoring the dead. That's why I've created my Samhain Kit – to help you tap into these sacred energies through ritual, divination, meditation and of course, crystal energy.     Inside, I'll guide you through how to: Connect with your Ancestors: Learn how to communicate with your ancestors and guides during this time when the veil between worlds is the thinnest. Heighten Your Intuition: Deep dive with your crystals to enhance your intuition and inner guidance, helping you make important life decisions. Experience Powerful Divination: Learn to work with Tarot or oracle Cards with a powerful card spread that will help you gain clarity about what’s in store for you during the coming months as you navigate the dark half of the year.     But hurry! My Samhain Kit, along with all of my other Wheel of the Year Celebration Kits, are leaving the shop on Friday, October 31st...and once they're gone, they won't be back! Grab your individual holiday kits (Samhain, Yule, Imbolc etc.) – or purchase all 8 kits for a bundled discount to save 25% – just make sure to do so before they disappear for good!   Open yourself up to the messages of illumination at this time of the Fire Festival with a Sacred Samhain Card Spread!   This reading will cover 6 aspects of the Final Harvest and shift into the Celtic New Year with highly specific info to help you: Uncover hidden influences that are affecting the events in your life and navigate the thin, mystical spaces Hear messages from the universe specific to your unique spiritual path, intuition, and connection to your ancestors or guides Look into what you need to focus on now on your soul path by gaining insight into what to sow and cultivate now until the light returns     Interpreting Card #1 What are you harvesting now from the energy of this past year? This card helps summarize your journey over the past year and what has ripened and is now ready for harvest. Think of all you've been working to grow and create in your life - now is the time to reap the rewards of your efforts and call in the harvest.   Interpreting Card #2 What should you sow and cultivate from now until the time when the light returns at Imbolc? Now that you've called in the harvest and completed a cycle, what would you most like to sow the seeds of in this moment? What will serve you best in the coming year? The energy you focus on now will begin to show itself and come back to you in big ways by Imbolc. This card may hold some hints or inspiration on what to do next.   Interpreting Card #3 What should you release into the darkness and burn away in the bonfire of your soul? What needs to be released at this time? And what is no longer serving you? What is potentially holding you back from all that you'd like to embody in your life? This card is here to help you recognize and accept the things that are ready to be let go so that you can create space in your life for things that will better serve and support you in the coming year ahead.   Interpreting Card #4 Tips for navigating the thin spaces and walking between worlds as a powerful seeker. Samhain is the time of the thinning of the veil - when worlds co-exist and we are able to walk between worlds. What are you seeking right now? What answers have you been searching for? How can you traverse the realm of shadow or the Otherworld while keeping one foot planted firmly in this realm?     Interpreting Card #5 Future influences coming in at this time of the turning of the Wheel for the Celtic New Year. This card helps give you insight into any new, fresh energy that's coming into your life during this time of shift and change, What should you be on the lookout for? What may be on the horizon in the coming year? How will this energy affect you as you move forward?     Interpreting Card #6 A special message from your ancestors and guides about what you most need to know right now. This final card represents a special message to you from your ancestors of guides. What is it that they would like to communicate with you at this time? What lessons, knowledge, or wisdom are they passing on to you? How may you best heed their words?     Because Samhain is such a powerful time for intuition and divination, this is also a great time of year to practice the sacred art of charm casting:     In this method of divination, you’ll look at how the charms fall in relation to one another and use their positions and energies to tell a story.      Get started with my Samhain Charm Casting Divination Kit!   Are you interested in becoming a Certified Crystal Healer? Find out more about the CCH and Advanced Crystal Practitioner Program HERE!  

We’re approaching Samhain - the time of year when the veil is the thinnest and when we move into the dark half of the year. This is a time for withdrawing inward.

Fossils can be found in nearly every part of the earth, though for some reason, they’re often overlooked by crystal healers who are perhaps lacking the knowledge of all the fossil stone benefits they're missing out on! Perhaps it’s because they often lack the bright colors and glittering, gemmy appearance of many crystals…or perhaps it’s because many crystal workers are unsure of how to work with them. Whatever the reason, it’s time to change that, because incorporating fossils into your crystal work can be deeply rewarding and fulfilling. Though the types of fossils vary, they do share a set of energetic qualities whether they're plant or animal fossils, no matter the mineral type. Individual fossil types have added properties, but all fossils share the following qualities: Common Healing Properties of Fossils:   Enhances your connection with nature and its flora and fauna Promotes journey work Facilitates access to your past life memories Enhances communication with your guides Promotes energetic protection Connects you to your ancestors (familial, spiritual, land spirits, etc.) Facilitates grounding Connects you with the energy of the Earth element     If you’re interested in developing a relationship with fossils, here are a few of my favorites to explore… Top 5 Fossils for Crystal Healing:   #1 - Ammonite Fossils for Crystal Healing Of all the fossils I’ve worked with, Ammonites may be my favorite. They’re a type of cephalopod and their spiral formation evokes a mystical quality that humans have been attracted to for thousands of years. Ammonite fossils are particularly beautiful, and the best are found in Madagascar, England, and Peru. There are various legends and folklore surrounding Ammonite fossils. For example, in England, people referred to Ammonites as “snake stones.” The story behind this is that St. Hilda of Whitby (614-680) prayed for dangerous snakes to be turned to coiled stones, in order to clear the land for a convent (other versions of the lore say St. Hilda turned the snakes to stone to protect the nuns at Whitby Abbey). People believed these “snake stones” to be holy, or at least lucky, and wore them as charms, often with a snake head carved at the end. One genus of ammonites is still known as Hildoceras in the saint’s honor. Properties of Ammonite Fossils: Promotes acceptance Facilitates spiritual journey work and inner work Enhances your connection with Goddess energy Facilitates past life recall Enhances your present moment awareness Facilitates animal communication Assists with receiving guidance from your ancestors Promotes grounding Enhances your connection to Earth energy and nature Aids in recalling your dreams or uncovering past life memories Assists in developing a regular meditation practice Learn more about Ammonite Fossils here.   #2 - Belemnite Fossils for Crystal Healing Also known as Thunderstones, Belemnite Fossils are records of a type of squid-like Cephalopod that inhabited the earth from the Triassic period until the Cretaceous period. The “cone” is the most common fossilized portion of the creature, and they’re often found in a sort of bullet- or horn-shaped fossil. Properties of Belemnite Fossils: Aids in decision-making Encourages you to take action Promotes mental clarity Assists with enhancing focus Enhances your connection to your inner voice Facilitates the process of receiving intuitive guidance #3 - Echinoid Fossils for Crystal Healing Echinoids are fossilized Sea Urchins that go by many colloquial names depending on their specific shape. According to Kenneth McNamara, some of the names used to describe them include Thunderstones, Shepherd’s Crowns, Sheep’s Hearts, Bishop’s Knees, Fairy Heads, Fairy Loaves, Chedworth Buns, and Snake’s Eggs. My favorite name for them is “Fairy Loaf” because they really do look like tiny little loaves of bread. In rural England, Echinoid Fossils were used as protective talismans, good luck charms, and magical wards. Properties of Echinoid Fossils: Promotes nurturing and care Facilitates connection with your spirituality Enhances feelings of peace and calming Promote a feeling of lightness when you’re surrounded by heavy or negative energies Facilitates a connection to the energy of the Water Element... Elemental energies shape the world and guide our spiritual practice. By working with fossils, you can access these ancient forces and bring balance, empowerment, and connection into your life. That’s why I created the Fossils for Elemental Magic Course—a beginner-friendly journey into the magic of Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Spirit.     In this course, you’ll explore how fossils act as conduits for elemental energy, empowering you to align with nature’s forces in your rituals, divination, and healing work. Perfect for those seeking to deepen their connection to the natural world, this class offers both practical techniques and spiritual insight.     Course Materials Include: A 30-minute video on fossils and elemental magic. Printable slideshow notes with key teachings and techniques. Are you ready to uncover the timeless wisdom of fossils and the elements? Enhance your spiritual practice and unlock elemental energy with the Fossils for Elemental Magic Course! #4 - Fossil Coral for Crystal Healing Fossilized Coral is one of the most diverse fossil types you’ll see. Coming in a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes, these fossils represent a huge group of different organisms. Some of these Corals are millions of years old and are visually fascinating. Some of my personal favorite fossilized Corals are from Michigan in the USA and are known as Petoskey Stones. Properties of Coral Fossils: Promotes vitality and life force energy Facilitates community connection Enhances creativity Encourages love Enhances your connection with nature Promotes feelings of relaxation Assists you in gathering wisdom and drawing on life lessons Instills courage and bravery (especially when facing new and unfamiliar things) Facilitates a connection to your ancestors (familial, spiritual, land spirits, etc.) #5 - Petrified Wood for Crystal Healing Petrified Wood is created when minerals replace the organic molecules in the plant material, capturing its structure in stone (typically Agate or Opal). This fossil is incredibly grounding and helps you with your emotions. Petrified Wood also supports you as you work to create more stability in your life with things like your career and home life to your spiritual practice and your connection with nature.   Petrified Wood facilitates the development of persistence and assists you in overcoming obstacles that may be blocking your path. This stone helps you accomplish things by reminding you to take things one step at a time. Properties of Petrified Wood: Enhances grounding and stability Promotes motivation Enhances energetic shielding and protection Facilitates a connection with the Earth Element Promotes creative problem-solving skills Encourages you to take responsibility for your actions Assists with past life work Helps you establish a connection with the nature spirits (especially tree spirits) Facilitates access to ancient wisdom and ancestral guidance Helps you get focused and set a balanced pace for your day Instills patience Facilitates transformation and growth Strengthens feelings of willpower   Learn more about Petrified Wood fossil stone benefits here!     Home is where the heart—and magic—live. By tapping into the energy of the hearth and the ancient wisdom of fossils, you can infuse your kitchen and home with sacred warmth, protection, and intention. That’s why I created the Fossils for Hearth Magic & Kitchen Witchery Course—a journey into the enchanting traditions of hearth magic and culinary spellcraft.     This course teaches you how to turn your kitchen into a magical sanctuary, using fossils as powerful tools to ground and protect your space. From creating a kitchen altar to charging your tools with intention, you’ll learn how to weave magic into everyday life.     Course Materials Include: An hour-long video on hearth magic and fossils. Printable slideshow notes with comprehensive class teachings. Highlights: Learn the mystical properties of fossils, transform your cooking into sacred rituals, and create an environment of abundance, warmth, and protection in your home. Want to bring ancient magic and hearth energy into your spiritual and domestic practice? Start your journey with the Fossils for Hearth Magic & Kitchen Witchery Course today! Sources & Further Reading: Cadbury, T. (2021, April). Collecting English Magic: Materiality, Modernity, Museums. https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/277365951/PGR_submission_Cadbury_Tabitha_1155090_combined.pdf  McNamara, Kenneth J. The Star-Crossed Stone: The Secret Life, Myths, and History of a Fascinating Fossil. The University of Chicago Press, 2011. National Museums Scotland. (n.d.). Snakestones. https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/natural-sciences/fossil-tales/fossil-tales-menu/snakestones/  Saint Hilda’s College (Oxford). (2020, February 14). St. Hilda’s college: A history. Issuu. https://issuu.com/sthildascollege8/docs/st_hilda_s_history  Wikimedia Foundation. (2024a, May 12). Belemnitida. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belemnitida  Wikimedia Foundation. (2024, May 18). Hilda of Whitby. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilda_of_Whitby  Wikimedia Foundation. (2023, November 25). Petoskey Stone. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petoskey_stone  

A Crystal Message about the Healing Properties of Red Jasper: "I am fully in touch with my creative fire, my passion, and my purpose in life."

Confidence seems to be something we all struggle with at one time or another in our lives. Whether it’s a fear of public speaking, body image issues, relationship insecurities, or something else, a little confidence boost can certainly go a long way toward improving our lives. Using healing crystals for self-confidence is a simple but effective way to help you shift your mindset. It can take you from one of worry, fear, or insecurity to pure confidence. A few of my favorite crystals for self-confidence are: Citrine, Golden Tiger’s Eye, Pyrite (also known as Fool’s Gold), and Clear Quartz.  The 4 Best Crystals for Confidence: Citrine is the perfect companion to help you work through fears, hesitations, or blocks that leave you feeling less than confident in life. This stone will help you embrace your strengths in order to create the success you deserve in life. Citrine is an intensely confidence-boosting crystal. These stones are also known for their ability to instill an abundance of confidence. Especially to the area in your life in which you need it most.   To use Citrine for increasing your self-confidence (and ultimately receive more abundance and joy in your life), hold a Citrine crystal point (with the termination facing upward toward the crown of your head) over your solar plexus area for approximately eight to ten minutes. Do this one to three times per day. It’s best if you can perform this exercise while focusing on a specific intention. Try to direct this intention towards self-confidence, inner strength, self-worth, and your ability to receive. You may wish to create a short affirmation statement to repeat while holding the Citrine stone over your midsection. Saying this affirmation aloud during the exercises reinforces the mindset shift you’re trying to manifest. This will ultimately improve your results. Golden Tiger's Eye promotes confidence and inner strength. It also encourages personal will power to help get you through difficult situations. Additionally, Golden Tiger's Eye is known for mental clarity and focus. It can help you identify any potential blocks in your progress so that you’re able to move past them and grow through them with ease.  This enhanced focus also assists you in achieving your goal of becoming more self-confident. It keeps it top of mind and gently encourages you to step outside of your comfort zone and “put yourself out there” more. Pyrite has a strong, almost masculine energy that pairs well with Citrine and Golden Tiger’s Eye.   It instills strength, bravery, and courage in new or unfamiliar situations. It is especially useful when you find yourself in situations where you’re meeting lots of new people.  This crystal helps you embrace new experiences and enjoy them. It also helps you to stay positive and avoiding negative thought patterns (especially those that revolve around worry, anxiety, and fear).  Pyrite helps you dig deep within yourself and find strength and courage, even in the most uncomfortable or challenging of situations. Clear Quartz crystals amplify the energy of your intention as well as amplifying the properties of other crystals. When used with the stones above, results can be achieved much quicker than without the use of the Quartz crystal.   Your ritual is your anchor. When life feels unclear, chaotic, or heavy, a well-crafted ritual can help you return to your center — to the version of yourself that feels grounded, confident, and ready to rise. That’s why I created my Crystal Rituals for Personal Empowerment Course — a beautiful, self-paced journey into intentional, crystal-infused practices that shift energy, strengthen your intuition, and reconnect you with your inner strength. Inside, you’ll learn how to: - Create personalized rituals aligned with your goals - Tap into the energy of your favorite stones for transformation - Cultivate balance, harmony, and clarity in everyday life - Amplify your intentions so they’re crystal clear and energetically supported You’ll also receive: - A 55-minute video class - A 47-page printable slideshow for easy reference - A 22-minute guided meditation for self-confidence - 15 printable crystal grid templates for self-love - A self-love ritual tracker worksheet packet - 10 printable coloring pages to relax and realign This course retires from the shop on Friday, August 22nd — so if you’re feeling called to explore the magic of ritual more deeply, now’s the time to say yes.   Are you interested in becoming a Certified Crystal Healer? Find out more about the CCH and Advanced Crystal Practitioner Program HERE!

The healing properties of Vera Cruz Amethyst are powerful and abundant. This stone will connect you to your higher self, promote spiritual growth, and more!

Dendritic Agate is a beautiful form of Agate that displays inclusions of dark manganese dendrites. Being a lover of both trees and crystals, this is one of the stones I feel most connected with. These dendrites look like little tree roots, giving the Agate its name. These minerals are also known as arborescent. The tree-like crystals featured in the dendritic mineral habit branch in one or more directions from a central point. Keep reading to discover the powerful healing properties of Dendritic Agate! A Crystal Message about the Healing Properties of Dendritic Agate: “I am rooted into the wisdom of my guides."   Common Healing Properties of Dendritic Agate: Stimulates intuitive wisdom Encourages you to connect with nature and nature spirits Facilitates communication with trees or tree spirits Instills a deep survival instinct and helps you act to energetically protect yourself without harming others Aids you in branching out into new pursuits Fosters personal growth and development Promotes grounding and a connection to the earth Encourages a connection with your guides, especially when you're seeking wisdom and guidance Facilitates energy cleansing Enhances your animal communication skills and your ability to understand animal familiars (especially with birds) Encourages the exploration of your family tree and ancestral lineage Increases your ability to understand the interconnectedness of yourself with all beings and the world around you Facilitates manifestation of blessings for the good of your community Assists you when you're creating energetic boundaries for your magical practice Promotes mental clarity and stillness of your mind Encourages self-reflection and deeper understanding of how you can make a positive impact in the world     Colors: Dark, tree-like, branching Manganese dendrites growing through a clear translucent to milky opaque Chalcedony matrix. Zodiac Signs: Capricorn, Virgo, Taurus Companion Stone: Copper Moon Phases: Waxing Gibbous Companion Flowers: Grey-Headed Coneflower Elements: Earth Companion Essential Oil: Cedar Common Origins: China, Brazil, Turkey, South Dakota (USA), Montana (USA) Notes: This stone is also known as Landscape Agate, Scenic Agate, Dendritic Manganese Agate, or as Manganese Oxide-Included Agate. Wanna’ Get Science-y? Click Here to get information about the chemical composition, hardness, streak, etc. of this crystal from one of my favorite sites!   How to Leverage the Healing Properties of Dendritic Agate: If you really want to explore your family history, your ancestors, and your lineage in a deep and meaningful way and get in touch with your roots and where you come from, then there is no better stone than this one. Dendritic Agate encourages you to branch out and explore your family tree or your lineage if you feel called to connect with this part of yourself (it can also help support you as you work on healing ancestral wounds if that feels more appropriate).  Keep this stone on the ground while you're researching your family to stay grounded and rooted in your family's history while you're branching out and exploring your family tree. Place it between or under your feet to keep you connected and centered while journeying into your ancestry.  It will help you stay focused on what is most important for you to discover and reflect upon. Placing a Dendritic Agate close to the windows or doors in your home can help facilitate energetic cleansing to draw unwanted energy out of your space.   Your intuition isn’t just a whisper—it’s your compass. Whether you're choosing crystals, tuning into subtle energy, or making soul-led decisions, your inner wisdom is what guides you toward alignment, confidence, and purpose... That’s why I created the Connecting with Your Inner Wisdom Course—to help you reconnect with your intuition, deepen your trust in your own guidance, and integrate that knowing into your crystal healing work and spiritual practice.  This course is only available until Friday, July 25th—after that, it's retiring from the shop forever!   In this gentle, empowering course, you’ll explore: - What intuition really is—and how to deepen your connection to it - The top crystals for developing your intuitive gifts - Practices to integrate inner wisdom into everyday life - How to feel more confident, aligned, and supported as a healer     Whether you're new to intuition work or ready to take your inner knowing to the next level, this course will help you tune in, trust yourself, and work with crystals in a way that feels grounded and magical.

The elements represent the four creative energies of the universe and each has a set of archetypal energies associated with it. Getting familiar with these can help you better understand their energetic influence on you. Each element is also associated with certain healing stones based on their respective properties and energies. Let's dive into water element crystals, and discover how you can incorporate the power of water into your crystal practice... Water is a powerful ally, a companion, and a wise teacher. Water has had such a profound impact on my life... From summer walks around the pond near my grandparents' house during my childhood, to hiking the marshes near my home searching for skunk cabbages in college, to my deeply profound pilgrimage to Avalon where I connected with the Red & White Springs (which had a huge impact on my spiritual practice), water has been ever present in my life...even here in the Midwestern US! Water has held me during times of joy and deep grief, in moments of embodied presence and mystical experience.    The Water element connects you with emotions, intuition, cleansing, and love.      Keywords: Fluidity, Adaptation, Emotions, Intuition, Love, Memory, Wisdom, Reflection, Healing, Release Color & Symbol: Blue Crescent Moon or Blue Inverse Triangle Season & Direction: Autumn, West   Parts of the Body: Belly, Adrenals, Intestines Zodiac Signs: Cancer, Scorpio, & Pisces Tarot Suit: Cups / Chalices (representing the emotions, intuition, love, and a mirror of your heart) Planets: Moon, Venus   Crystals for the Water Element:        Blue Lace Agate – a cooling, water element stone Botswana Agate – reminds you to go with the flow Lake Superior Agate – connects you with the energy of the water element (the life-giving source); aids you in healing the Earth’s bodies of water River Agate – helps you tap into your inner power - like a river carving through rock Amazonite – lets compassion flow like water from your heart Amethyst – connects you with the intuitive aspects of the water element Vera Cruz Amethyst – reminds you of the life-giving energy of water Aquamarine – a stone of the sea and its creatures     Brown Aragonite – helps to release the fear of water Azurite – promotes mental clarity during intuitive work Aqua Calcite – facilitates a calm mind, like a pool of still water Red Coral Calcite – connects you with the energy of the water element White Calcite – offers you space for reflection Cavansite – connects you with the energy of the sea Blue Chalcedony – reminds you to shift and change according to your present circumstances (like water filling different shaped containers) Charoite – enhances water healing practices (including H.A.D.O.)     Chrysocolla – instills respect for the Earth’s bodies of water White Coral – encourages communal tending of waterways and water sources Creedite – connects you to the energy of the water element to wash away feelings and thoughts that need to be released Dumortierite – connects you to the energy of the water element so that you are better able to “go with the flow” Blue Fluorite – connects you to the energy of the water element for cleansing, emotional healing, etc. Fossilized Echinoid (Sea Urchin) – enhances your connection to the water element Iolite – used to navigate the sea, this stone helps you find direction when you feel swept away by the current of life Gary Green Jasper (Petrified Bog Wood) – it took ages for this stone to form so it encapsulates the idea that good things take time and reminds you that you must have patience     Blue Kyanite – a powerful energetic cleanser Lapis Lazuli – helps you recognize the powerful microcosm-macrocosm relationship of the water within your body and your cells in relation to all the water here on earth Larimar – an ancient dolphin-energy stone; said to enhance communication (especially with creatures of the sea) Malachite – reminds you of the healing power of the water element Rainbow Moonstone – assists you in recognizing cycles - like the ebb and flow of the tide White Moonstone – opens you to the creative influence of water; helps you to release fears associated with water; use for healing the earth’s oceans, seas, and other bodies of water     Boulder Opal – a reminder that life is precious and there is no life without water Hyaline Opal – balances the energy of the water element within the body Pearl – a symbol of the mermaid; use for cleansing the energy body Actinolite-Included Quartz – helps you to more deeply understand the role that water plays in all life here on Earth and appreciate the differences each organism contributes to the cosmic dance of existence Blue Indicolite Tourmaline-Included Quartz (Blue Tara Quartz) – enhances your connection to water Cobalt Aura Quartz – provides you with an opportunity to learn from the water element Metamorphosis Quartz ™ – connects you with your emotions and with the water element Rose Quartz – connects you with the emotional healing quality of water     Garden Quartz (Shamanic Dream Quartz / Quartz with Inclusions of Chlorite and Lodolite) – connects you with the intuitive aspects of the water element Tibetan Quartz – connects you with the element of water for emotional healing Selenite – connected with the energy of water and the moon; excellent for intuitive flow Abalone Shell – an energetic vessel for the energy of the water element (also a physical vessel for water offerings) Shungite – enhances cleansing and rejuvenation Silver – use for water element connection Blue Topaz – enhances your connection with bodies of water Blue Tourmaline – facilitates a connection to the water element Turquoise – carries the wisdom of the water element - this stone can share water’s wisdom with you   Working with Your Water Element Crystals: To work with your water element crystal, place it on your altar along with something representing the water element. Your water element symbol could be something like a small dish of water, a fountain, seashells (especially an Abalone shell), a chalice or goblet, a mirror, an image or statue of a mermaid or dolphin, or anything else that helps you feel connected with the energy of water. Make yourself comfortable in front of your altar. And pick up your water element crystal. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths.     Ask the stone to help connect you with the energy of the Water Element and to provide you with clarity about what water has to share with you. Envision yourself surrounded by the energy of the water element. Take another deep breath in, and exhale. Then open your eyes and gaze at your water altar. When you feel ready, close your eyes again and think about your altar’s symbolism and imagery. What thoughts enter your mind about its energy and meaning for you at this time? What messages is the water element bringing to you?     Take a few more deep breaths in and feel the energy of water move from your stone, into your hands, filling your aura and charging you up with the energy of the water element. You may wish to journal about your insights to keep a record of the messages you uncover. You can perform this ritual with any of your chosen water element crystals.   Water Element Meditation: To enhance your experience at your water altar, you can perform a simple meditative exercise with your chosen crystal. Check out this classic blog post to follow along with this wonderful meditation for your water element crystals.   The Water Element offers a profound pathway for nurturing these aspects of our lives. To help you align with its transformative power, I’ve created the Crystals for the Water Element Course—a unique journey into sacred flow and wisdom:     In this immersive course, you’ll learn how to work with Water Element Crystals to deepen your spiritual practice, enhance emotional balance, and awaken your intuition. Whether you’re seeking personal transformation or tools to support your clients, this class provides the guidance and resources you need to connect with water’s healing energy.     Course Materials Include: An hour-long class video exploring Water Element Crystals and their uses. A printable bonus handout with water element correspondences. A soothing guided meditation for connecting with water’s energy.   Are you ready to bring the wisdom and nurturing flow of the Water Element into your life? Learn how to balance emotions, strengthen intuition, and embrace sacred transformation with the Crystals for the Water Element Course!   Are you interested in becoming a Certified Crystal Healer? Find out more about the CCH and Advanced Crystal Practitioner Program HERE!  

A Crystal Message about the healing properties of Orange Calcite: "I embrace my motivation to walk my path and fulfil my soul purpose."

Join Adam Barralet, Kyle Perez  and Nicholas Pearson in Episode #32 of the Crystal Confab Podcast as they do a deep dive into Emerald meaning, including: Manifesting abundance with Emerald Emerald as a travel companion Using Emerald for radical self-love Tune in now for a deeper look at Emerald meaning!   Podcast Episode Transcript: Crystal Confab Podcast Introduction: Are you just starting with crystals? Or maybe you have a whole collection but aren't sure how to use them? Join four crystal nerds, healers, workers, and lovers for crystal confab, a casual chat about all things crystals.   Adam Barralet: Welcome to this week's episode of crystal confab. We are so excited to be talking about this crystal today, and I think Nicholas is extremely excited. We've talked about stones of nobility in the last few weeks. We've talked about sapphires. We've talked about ruby.   And so, of course, we must, otherwise, Nicholas would probably threaten to leave the show, talk about emerald. And that's exactly what we're talking about today. Joining me are Kyle and Nicholas, and we are talking about one of the things I really love about Emerald is that it's part of a family called the Beryl family. And I just think of a bunch of old women sitting around knitting called the Beryl's and that type of thing. But people may not realize that some of our other much loved crystals such as acmarin, heliodor, and morganite, they're all part of the beryl file family.   Aren't they, Kyle?   Kyle Perez: Absolutely. The beryl family is all beryllium silicates, and they are beautiful in their perfect formation. They are all hexagonal, and your pure colorless beryl is called goshenite, originally found in Goshen, The United States. I don't know exactly where it is. I've forgotten.   Nicholas should be able to let me not know. I know it was named after where it was found. This is an etched Brazilian piece, really interesting, and totally colorless. You'd think it was quartz. Then you have Heliodor, yellow, named for the sun god.   I love Heliodor and aquamarine because they're both colored by iron, and it is one ion of iron difference that changes the color from blue to yellow, which is really cool. And I can actually show you in this aquamarine that goes into heliodor from Namibia. I love to call it aquadore. You can call it whatever you want. Then we have red beryl.   Red Beryl comes from the Wawa Mountains, which I just love to say, which is too much fun. Definitely the rarest and most expensive of your Beryls. It will cost you several tens of thousand dollars a carat cut. And then a really rare interesting one, black Beryl. Weird, included, kind of interesting.   There is also a Maxixe beryl, which is a really dark, dark blue beryl that you find in Brazil that actually changes color when it comes out of the Earth. And then there's even orange Beryl and green Beryl that you find out there as well, and it's just an amazing family. And they're strong gems. Remember, Beryls are eight on the hardness, so they're good sturdy gems that actually last well in jewelry. So look for all of the colors of the rainbow, please.   Adam: And do you find, Kyle, the, the Beryls are good as a family for something in particular?   Kyle: I literally have all of my Beryls in one grid together. They all live together in one grid, and they all access all of the elements, and they connect to fae, and they connect to light and joy and all of this really uplifted energy. I actually have a crystal skull carved, two in morganite, three in emerald, two in aquamarine, and two in heliodor as well. I have a full collection of skulls carved in this energy, and I really love that element where you get water, you get fire, you get earth, you get air, you get it all coming in together, and it really is empowering. And I think it's a great follow on from, you know, last week talking about everything coming together.   Maybe pop your Beryls in.   Adam: Yeah. I love that idea. And it's funny you talk about the elemental beings. I find the Beryls to be probably the best family group for bringing in elemental energy. I love either Heliodor or Goshenite for the Fae realms.   I love Acrebrine. It's said to be one of the favorite stones of the Merfolk. I think, big fight is really great or Red Beryl is really great for dragon energy. It's got real power in it. And then, of course, emerald is really great for gnome energy, and that will kind of come unpacked as we talk about this.   But I think me and Kyle are just torturing Nicholas off camera at the moment because he's just like, let me talk about Emerald, and we're just having a dialogue here. Nicholas, tell us all about why you love Emerald and why it's we. I asked Nicholas if you had a ranking top, but it's in your top family. Is that right?   Nicholas Pearson: Yeah. Yeah. I'm, you know, I'm sure all of us being in the public sphere working with crystals, we get asked on a pretty regular basis, what is your favorite crystal? What's your top five? And I have favorites for different reasons at different times.   My favorite thing to collect, hands down, is quartz because you'll never get bored. It's what started my collection. My favorite thing to work with therapeutically for me in my journey has been a rhodonite. My favorite thing just for the sheer beauty of it is petersite, but the stone whose mythology and magic just floors me every time I get a chance to, like, have that intimate connection to it and its story is emerald. And what a magical and subversive stone it has been throughout history.   So I'm gonna give us, like, the short version of the the history to today, because I really wanna, like, jump into this, like, deeper symbolism that that I've experienced with emerald. We get emerald in English from French, which is, you know, derived from Latin, which comes from Greek, which ultimately comes from even older roots. But in Greek, it just meant greenstone. So our ancient emeralds, much like our ancient sapphires and our ancient rubies, were just things that color. And what we find in emerald is a lot of history that connects it to the natural world because green things grow from the Earth.   Emeralds are green and found in the Earth. They're extraordinarily rare, true. Emeralds are formed with tiny little bits of trace chromium in them. There's some debate. Some gemological institutions will honorarily allow Beryl colored by vanadium to be called Beryl or to be called emerald.   Others absolutely will not. So I'm in the ‘will not’ camp. But, the magic of emeralds is in part linked to the fact that they don't form like most other Beryls. A lot of our gem quality Beryls, we're gonna find in igneous environments. We're gonna find them in pegmatites, which are thought of granite, but with much larger components because it cooled so much more slowly and gave time for these crystals to form into very high quality gems.   And a lot of our really good gem materials in general come from pegmatites, but not emeralds. They form in metamorphic environments. We're gonna find them largely in schist, occasionally in some other metamorphic rocks. Very rarely, there's a well known Chinese deposit that is formed in a primary and igneous rock. But what is happening is the beryllium essential to the make of beryl, it's a beryllium aluminum cyclosilicate, and the chromium that gives it that rich green color almost never occurs together.   So what we need is for literally the making of mountains, the folding of landscapes in half, the doubling of them over, the squeezing and stretching. And then the icing on the cake is a little bit of extra hydrothermal activity going on. And in those little pockets in the in between, we can bring together these other ingredients, the beryllium and the chromium with the very common, silicon and oxygen and aluminum and and and any other trace elements might be in there to give us emeralds. But because of that kind of tortuous and arduous history, geologically speaking, they're usually not very big, and they're usually not very transparent. They're often riddled with flaws of all different kinds.   We usually find them in, as Kyle showed, schist kind of rock, which is a really high grade metamorphism. So I've got some Brazilian emeralds here in the matrix. This is a gift from my dear friend, Takeda. And, you know, when we're really lucky, we'll find big emeralds or we'll find transparent emeralds. Sometimes we find them both at the same time.   My largest is this one here from Ethiopia, and it's got this beautiful biotite, you know, relic of the schist that came out of here. And this is unusually large for an emerald. It's not unusually high quality. I could afford only one of those modifiers, and it was not quality, so I went for quantity over quality for once. But emeralds in history have been used, like true emeralds, have been used since the Neolithic era in Northern Africa, and they were fashioned into at least one headdress or crown that has been found.   There's some rough dark emeralds in it. There's also bone and natural resin holding the whole thing together. We see inventory records from Babylon that record the sale of emeralds around six thousand years ago. We can't be sure they're the same species, but they were a precious green stone. We've got large scale mining of emeralds that takes place for the very first time in Egypt in the mines at Wari Sekait, which under the kind of Roman Hellenistic occupation period was named was renamed Mons Muragnus or Mount Emerald because of how rich the emeralds were there.   And this was around 1,500 BCE, so like 3,500 ago. We find stones there that were buried with the dead and worn as jewelry by the living. Inscribed stones were used as talismans. These were deeply spiritual,

Join Adam Barralet, Kyle Perez  and Nicholas Pearson in Episode #31 of the Crystal Confab Podcast as they do a deep dive into Chiastolite crystal meanings, including: Working with Chiastolite Crystals during Samhain & Beltane Harnessing Higher Truth with Chiastolite The history of cross-stones and the magic of the crossroads Tune in now for a deeper look at Chiastolite meaning!   Podcast Episode Transcript: Crystal Confab Podcast Introduction: Are you just starting with crystals? Or maybe you have a whole collection but aren't sure how to use them? Join four crystal nerds, healers, workers, and lovers for a casual chat about all things crystals.   Nicholas Pearson: Hello, and welcome back to Crystal Confab. It's Nicholas, and I'm joined by Adam and Kyle. Our crystal bestie, Ashley, is elsewhere in the universe today, and she'll be joining us again soon. And this week, we have, I think, another really underappreciated gemstone that we're gonna be confabbing about, and this is a stone that I think is probably pretty recognizable. Maybe fewer people can pronounce its name or spell it, and even fewer have worked with it.   And that stone is Chiastolite, which is a really fascinating stone that has been confused with some other stuff throughout history. No surprise there. And it's a variety of a mineral species called andalusite. I happen to know that Kyle's a big fan of andalusite more generally speaking. So what do you have to tell us about this mineral species?   Kyle Perez: Well, of course, I was introduced to andalusite doing my gemology degree. You have to cover pleochroic stones, and andalusite is like the poster child of pleochroism in minerals. As you can see, it has this kind of innocuous brown color, but when they are cut and faceted correctly and you see the light correctly through them, they show the traffic light system of colors, yellow, red, and green or like an amber color. And it is incredible that you can turn this stone one way to another and see these incredible colors shift and change. And I was drawn into it immediately, and I find it incredible to shift our perspective.   I think anything pleochroic has that ability to perspective shift, and it helps you to see practical ways of looking at things, energetic ways of looking at things, and kind of cerebral ways of looking at things. It really gives us the ability to look at things in many ways and from many angles and that's why I really love it and that's why I think it leads into and is incredible with Chiastolite or ‘Chiastolite’ as it is supposed to be pronounced.   Adam Barralet: I'd love to actually just bring that up. I've always said Chiastolite, but it's the correct Chiastolite, is it Nicholas?   Nicholas: Historically, yes. So it's taken from the Greek letter, which in English, we often say Kai, but would be kind of a really guttural sound closer to that in Greek. So is marked with an x or shaped like an x, which is how it gets its name.   Adam: I love that. And it is a really interesting stone, is it? Because normally when it's cut and this is how we find a cut the most, it's, you know, that beautiful brown stone, really interesting having that black cross throughout it.   Nicholas: Yeah. And that phenomenon has attracted quite a lot of attention over the years. So the earliest textual references, we have to things objects just called cross stones appear in the very late, fifteenth century, so toward the end of the 14 hundreds. And around this time frame, we might encounter an occasional illustration, and they're mostly just pebbles that are crisscrossed with veins of quartz or calcite in them, and they were known as cross stones or some version of that. There's like a million permutations of this name, lapis crucifer, from lapis meaning stone and prox brass, ferere, tecere, so literally cross bearing stone.   We have lapis cruciatis. We've got the crucis lapillo, the little stone of cross, the lapis cruciformis, and so on and so forth. But eventually, we get Chiastolite taken from the Greek root, but appearing in print for the first time in German. And these stones were initially discovered in a region of Spain, in the Northern part of Spain, and they occur on the Camino De Santiago De Compostela, 1 of the world's most famous Christian pilgrimage sites, arguably one of the most famous pilgrimage sites of any religion found worldwide. And, allegedly, the the destination of this pilgrimage is said to house the remains of Saint James or Santiago, we call him in Spanish, who was, the very first apostle to be martyred.   When these stones were discovered in this region in the early sixteenth century, they were immediately taken as tokens of the pilgrimage, and they were worn and carried, adopted by these pilgrims. And from about the fifteen fifties onward, they began to circulate throughout a wider part of Europe. However, if we go to a neighboring country, we find another cross bearing stone that was also given the same name, cross stone, in several different languages, and that is staurolite. So staurolite and andalusite are both things that are indicators of metamorphism.   They're what we call indicator species in metamorphic rocks. They are both aluminosilicate minerals. They're both pretty darn dense. It just so happens to be that they can both be twinned in a way that is cross like. Although, I mean, we hold them up side by side today, and we're gonna notice they're not the same thing.   But imagine you're a sixteenth century layperson picking up a rock, and it has a cross in it, you're probably going to think it's the same thing that, you know, a country or two over someone else is finding. And so these two rocks have gotten, conflated, quite a bit over time. But what I find really interesting is that the folklore around the cross stones at large is often related to some kind of event portraying divine intervention. In some versions of the myth of cross stone, it said that the Chiastolite variety sprang out of the earth where the blood of Saint James or Santiago, touched the earth. We've got other examples of maybe the tears of fairies or the tears of the souls of the dead reaching the earth and becoming cross stones.   So we get this kind of magical interface, this event. And truth be told, we recently talked about fossils for the last two weeks. But cross stones are kind of lumped into the same category as fossils. They were called formed stones just like them because they bore these unusual shapes. And so there were a lot of very similar attempts to reconcile how this seemingly perfect, seemingly lifelike, seemingly, human inspired imagery could appear in stone.   In some cases, they fell from the sky. In others, it was related to the water of baptism. But what I really find magical about these rocks that relates back to that initial instance of discovery along a pilgrimage site is, for me, they depict the crossroads in miniature, and that makes them really magical stones for me. If we think about the imagery of the crossroads, when you stand in the middle of it, you're betwixt and between. It doesn't matter if you're headed in this direction or that direction.   You can be in on both and neither at the same time. It is the kind of magical sight that we find in folklore connected to, deals with the devil to procure magical powers, success, wealth, fame, glory. It's also the place where we might historically dispose of things or bury problematic people we don't want returning in the afterlife because they'd be trapped in that kind of liminal space. In folk magic in several parts of the world, we find that dirt from a crossroads is a really common ingredient. It's often used to change the course of direction our life is taking for a reversal of fortune for, you know, harnessing the magic of the in between.   The crossroads is also thought to be a kind of portal to the other world and links it to the fairy folk and to the ancestral abode. And when we see how all of these motifs kind of recurrently point towards the acquisition of power, towards the ability to, like, open a doorway, a gateway beyond ordinary perception. I find that the cross stone, whichever variety we're working with, becomes this perfect talisman for accessing that same liminal space, that same in betweenness wherever we are. We can make new connections. We can sever them if we need to.   We can jump from one reality to the next. We can dream up new and magical things. And just as the medieval and early modern pilgrims carried the stone for safe journeys in the material, we can also use them for safe journeys in the more metaphorical, whether it's our kind of big picture journey through life, or those journeys that we take in meditation and in dream time or in ritual or trance to commune with other planes of being, other realities, whether or not we we believe in entities like spirits and fairies and other kinds of unseen forces. This stone can still metaphorically open a way to connect with the more than human world. And so when we work with it, when we carry it, when we place it on the altar, use it in ritual, it's like having that portable crossroads with you.   Wherever you are is the center of the universe, is the space beyond time and place. It is the doorway to manifesting whatever our heart desires.   Adam: And I think just there is a spiritual stone. You know, when we think about spirituality, a lot of people use spirituality to help them when they come to any crossroads in their life, plus there's also an interest in connecting with the other realms. And as you just mentioned, Nicholas, Chiastolite is perfect for both of those different functions. So being a bit of a maybe a boring brown stone that people overlook sometimes, what you just shared kind of is a really good case on why everyone should possibly,

Join Adam Barralet, Kyle Perez  and Nicholas Pearson in Episode #30 of the Crystal Confab Podcast as they do a deep dive into Jet crystal meanings, including: Working with Jet Crystals during the Full & New Moons Adopting the 'less is more' approach with Jet crystal energy Jet's historical significance, including its connection to queer identities in the ancient world   Tune in now for a deeper look at Jet crystal meanings!   Podcast Episode Transcript: Crystal Confab Podcast Introduction: Are you just starting with crystals? Or maybe you have a whole collection but aren't sure how to use them? Join four crystal nerds, healers, workers, and lovers for a casual chat about all things crystals.   Kyle Perez: Hello, and welcome to another crystal confab. Today, we're staying with another, not necessarily ‘gemstone-gemstone’, and I'm joined by Adam and Nicholas, and we're going to dive into Jet. How many of you love a bit of Jet action?   Nicholas Pearson: I've grown fond of it over the years.   Adam Barralet: Yeah. Me too. I think one of the really interesting things a lot of people find is just tactile-wise, how it feels so different to a crystal. And, you know, one of the problems I think all of us probably get is people sending pictures or trying to identify what this crystal is. And the great thing about when it comes to black crystals, Jet is so much lighter.   So if it's a really, really light crystal, then it's going to be really, really easy to go up that Jet type of thing. So that's one thing. But I, you know, I've had experiences and I'll share them later on about just the tactileness of Jet is really, really nice. But, I believe it's been used for a long, long time and has a really great history about it as well. And who better to tell us about the history than Nicholas?   Nicholas: Yeah. This is one of those rocks that I think we can trace approximately 30,000 years of human use of. Going back a really long time. In, you know, the earliest instances, people didn't necessarily make the strong geological distinction between Jet and related materials. Kennel coal and lignite and sometimes black shale were treated very similarly.   So we kinda have to have a little grace in interpreting the data. But it is a stone that is inherently in between, and I find that really magical. One of the most important sources for Jet in the ancient world was in Whitby and what is now modern day Whitby in Yorkshire. I have a bit of Whitby Jet here from the coast of England, and it is my favorite piece in my collection, of very few pieces of Jet. But I think it is really marvelous to imagine that particularly during the Roman occupation of Britain, this material was traded across thousands upon thousands of miles.   We find evidence of Whitby Jet carvings in faraway Switzerland and Germany, as well as in Rome proper. So this was a commodity that was traded for a very long time. In other parts of the world where Jet can be found, we find similarly ancient uses of it. But when this kind of Romano British center production was in full swing about thirty five hundred years ago, Jet seemed to acquire, if we read between the lines, a number of uses that are a little bit weird, a little queer, we might even say. And one of my favorite examples is, the remains of a a skeleton found in a a Roman period burial.   The skeleton is officially known as skeleton six five two, because we don't have names and dates and ages for all of these figures. And there are a lot of confusing data points about this. This person was interred with a lot of very lavish expensive funeral goods, including jewelry, but they were buried in the part of the cemetery that you would put people who were on the outskirts, the fringe, the beggars, the thieves. So we have a little bit of contradictory information there. When this area was being excavated for the first time, doing, osteological analysis, looking at the the bones of the remains, researchers came to the conclusion that this person could be identified as and it's a problematic term, but we'll say to use use the terminology they did, anatomically male by by their bone structure.   But all of the trappings are of what a female identified body would be buried with, including, most importantly, a multi strand necklace consisting of more than 600 rather beads of Jet said to be scattered among the rib cage because, you know, the thread had broken like a swarm of ants. And so we have to do a little bit of reconstruction about what this might have meant. And, there's probably a very strong influence from a cult of a particular goddess who came from the Far East, and she was symbolized by a great black stone. Her name is often anglicized, Cybelle or Cybelle or Cybele. I'm not really sure what the original pronunciation was or worship would have originated in the Anatolian Peninsula where there's a material very similar to Jet found.   Looking at some gemological analysis, there's actually debate over what we should classify it. That's somebody else's problem. We're gonna consider it to be socially akin to Jet and treat them very similarly. And, worship was one that we find very similar mythic cycles in other parts of the world. We have a kind of eternal goddess who is the mother of the earth.   She has a dying and resurrected lover. We've seen this motif with Adonis and Aphrodite. We see it with Irushtar, Ishtar and her consort. We see it with Isis and Osiris. So it's a, we'll say a mythic motif or theme that recurs in many parts of the world.   But one thing special about Kibele's worship was that she had a unique class of, we'll say, priestly people. And I'm using those words in particular because by modern day terms, we would consider Munich. They were the third gender. They underwent a process to to become third gender, if you catch my drift, and occupied a kind of liminal space, an in between space that was neither male nor female. And the kind of resurrecting power of the goddess was said to work through them and to grant them great gifts in the next life, but they were the shamans and the priestesses of this cult.   They entered ecstatic trance. They were ferocious when they needed to be, tender and loving when they could be. They didn't necessarily operate by all the rules of society. To engage in the worship of the goddess this way was a really transgressive act. And the fact that her worship was also marked by a very curious stone, something that we find in geological environments, but it floats in seawater.   Something hard and enduring, but also flammable, something ancient and of the earth, but still organic, means that Jet has, we'll say, received quite a lot of unusual imagery over the years. And, we can associate Jet with this in between space. It is a stone and not a stone. It is a fossil, but it is not a mineral. Unlike petrified wood, it hasn't undergone the process of permineralization where something like silica or another mineral comes in and replaces the organic tissue.   In fact, it is the organic remains of an ancient class of trees called auricaria that were probably swept out to sea, or to bodies of water, we'll say, by a great and cataclysmic event or series of events. And the two rough categories of Jet that are out there, hard Jet and soft Jet, which actually has a lot more to do with their oil content than their brittleness because they have the same hardness range on the Mohs scale. But one one would have gone in seawater and the other into freshwater, immediately be buried by sediment and compressed by the sands of time. And that hypoxic environment prevented decay and putrefaction. It prevented microorganisms from breaking it down like other organic materials tend to.   And so living in this in between zones in the earth, in the water, but not really either, it becomes this other thing. And so Jet for me has been a stone of embracing the otherness, the queerness, the liminal spaces of life. I think of it as a stone that I turn to when I need to feel surrounded by my queer ancestors and the people who have been the trailblazers for me to live the life that I live as openly as I live it. It is protective. It is a stone that helps us face our fears and maybe examine where they come from.   And at the same time, it's a stone of incredible mystery. You know, we have expressions like black as Jet because the color of the stone is so iconically dark, unknowable, impenetrable. It is not transparent in thin sections like obsidian and some onyx and even some tourmalines would be. It is opaque, and there is something about the opacity that it represents of the unknown that when we surrender to, we can come out really empowered and transformed. And so when I need a little extra queer magic in my life, Jet is one of my go to stones.   Adam: Nicholas, black stones are often seen as being good for protection. Would you say that maybe Jet might be a good one for queer people who feel that they need extra protection?   Nicholas: Yeah. I do. And, you know, the reason for this, I think, is manyfold. Jet has been associated with another stone we'll eventually talk about, amber, because they're found in similar environments. They both float in seawater.   They're both flammable. So they kinda share a little bit of one another's functions in different historic periods, and both are considered very protective. We can find references in medieval and earlier and later texts, but, describing how either of these stones were placed on coal and allowed to smoke because they're organic materials that smoke will drive out demons and spirits. And I think of that as something symbolic. Like, sure, you can burn Jet.   I actually have a Jet incense recipe coming up in the witching stones, which will be out in the fall. But,