The Ultimate Guide to Crystals & Stones: A Practical Path to Personal Power, Self-Development, and Healing - Uma Silbey 2016
The Life Cycle of Rocks
Basic Crystal and Stone Information
Rocks have a life cycle just like we do. Just as we are born, live, and die to again merge into that from which we were born, rocks do this in their endless transition from magma to magma, a process that connects the depths of our planet with the heights of the sky. Beginning with the eruption of magma from the earth’s core to form igneous rocks from molten rivers, rocks first gain their individuality. Exposed to the breakdown and weathering of wind and water, sedimentary rocks begin to form. Over vast stretches of time, geologic forces eventually transform these sedimentary rocks into metamorphic rocks that, in a process lasting over vast eons of time, merge to become one again with the pool of magma deep within the earth’s core. This process goes on endlessly, stretching across the vast reaches of geologic time, one rock at a time. Like our skin, the rocky surface, the “skin” of our planet, is not solid and immoveable, but is in constant movement, even if it is one grain at a time. Just as our skin completely changes so that it isn’t the same as it was even a year ago, the rocky surface of our planet is completely different than it was many geologic years ago. As they process through the cycle of their life, rocks do not stand alone, but are deeply connected at all times with the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Having been birthed from the same magma, all of the rocks are connected with each other, no matter what their form.
Since minerals are contained in the rocks, by association, they are affected by the same geologic forces of the rock surrounding them. Not only do they contain the history of the rock in vibratory form, but also the information of their own geologic history, since they also progress through their own geologic life cycle of birth (solidification), growth, and death (melting, dissolving).
All stones and crystals, then, contain in vibratory form, the information and knowledge of these vast geologic and other forces. Since all rocks are ultimately related, they all share vibratory information about each other. Each rock, then, “knows” about every other rock, at least in a general way. In other words, each rock, stone, or crystal has its own unique form and geologic history, but it also shares its history with every other rock in this planet, as well as the stars beyond.
We usually think of rocks, stones, and even crystals to be solid and inert. If we tune into them, or even think about it, they are quite live. Though a rock, stone, or crystal doesn’t think like us, or look like us, or act like us, they are live in their own way. For example, rocks move, even though they don’t have legs and don’t have an intellect that instructs their movement. Though their atomic structure makes rocks, stones, and crystals more solid than us, but their solidity doesn’t mean they aren’t on the go. Just as seeds may move by attaching themselves to the fur of an animal, or by flying in the gullets of birds, rocks are carried by wind, roll down slopes and mountain faces, or get carried away by water. No rock is immoveable. Even mountains move as earth movements and weathering not only constantly create new geologic shapes, but also make progressively smaller pieces of rock that are then carried away in some form, sometimes to far distances. A small mountain, for example, will move if centuries of rockslides build up one of its sides and extend it outward to make a longer slope. If this happens enough, the hill’s center can actually shift to create a new balance. Like many seeds and other organisms, rocks “hitch hike,” catching rides with us as we mine them out of the earth and send them elsewhere, or as we pick them up to carry them away in our pockets.
Implications for Stone and Crystal Workers
Any stone that we interact with, then, whether crystal, gem, mineral, or regular rock, is existing at one point or another within its particular life cycle, carrying within it information about its history and travels. To some extent, we can tell something about its geologic history by the type of stone or the way the stone looks. A sedimentary rock with seashell fossils was probably part of an ocean bed for example, so we can find out about the ocean, the sand at the bottom, the sea life, the forces that compressed the layers of sediment, and so on. A piece of lava can teach us about fire, the immense forces of up-thrusting magma, and the core of the earth.
If we want to really know a stone, then not only should we tune into its beauty, color, opaqueness, and other qualities, but we should also tune into its geologic information. To do this, we need to expand our awareness to focus deeply within the stone, listening for the voice of the stone as it speaks to us so that we sense or feel the geologic forces. It is okay if the voice of the stone isn’t audible to us, for there are many ways to learn. Some of us will be able to actually see mental pictures. Others will be able to feel sensations. Others may feel temperature changes. The ways of experiencing the various geologic forces are many, and no one is more right than another.
Why is this important to us? If we are able to tune into this geologic information, not only will we learn much more about the stone, we will also be able to learn much more about the earth and cosmos that we are a part of, which we can use in our work. With this expanded awareness, it is like growing deep roots into the earth so that we can, in turn, grow our branches higher into the sky. In other words, this balance will allow us to expand our awareness even higher into the psychic, spiritual, and other subtle realms. Since so much, if not all, of crystal and stone energy work takes place in these realms, we become much more skilled in our work. Also, when we become more conscious of these geologic forces—fire, water, air, pressure, wind, snow, ice, or sun—we will then be able to bring them to bear in our work. In the case of depression, for example, we might use the rose quartz for its pink color, but along with that bring in the air element. We might combine the forces of fire and heat with black onyx to bring strength and resolve. For example, if we are trying to bolster someone’s basic life force, we might use a piece of lava to “fire them up.” If we wanted to cool a fever, or calm a frantic mind, we might find a piece of light colored sedimentary rock with seashell fossils and lay it over someone’s heart center, visualizing the cooling waters of the sea and the calming and tireless influence of gentle waves, their water coming and going in an infinite, unhurried dance with the shore.
STONE PRACTICE USING GEOLOGIC FORCES FOR STRENGTH
1. Find four igneous rocks (lava, basalt, obsidian, granite) that are approximately the same size. Place them around you—front, side, back, and side—while you sit upright within their circle, either on a chair, the floor, or the ground.
2. Hold two smaller igneous rocks, one in each hand, with your palms facing upward. Close your eyes and breathe normally.
3. Imagine that your breath flows first into your heart center in the middle of your chest, then out through your navel point, about two inches below your belly button. The next breath, imagine that your breathing flows into your navel point and out from the bottom of your spine to reach deep into the earth. Continue to repeat this pattern; in through your heart and out through your navel, then in through your navel and out through the bottom of your spine. Relax the small of your back as you do this, as well as your shoulders, jaw, and stomach. Continue this for about three minutes or until your body feels more solid and heavy and you feel calmly grounded into the earth.
4. Shift your awareness so you are conscious of the stones in your hands, noticing how they feel to you. Eyes closed, see if you can sense or feel the four stones surrounding you. If you cannot sense or feel them, imagine them in your mind’s eye and “see” the flow of their energy merging with yours. Relax, feeling as if you are the stones themselves.
5. Now, let your awareness expand, letting any interfering thoughts go, and begin to feel, or imagine that you feel, the heat and fire that they contain. You may feel this as vibration, see this as a vision in your mind’s eye, feel temperature changes in your body, or any other sensation.
6. Imagine, see in your mind’s eye, or feel as if this heat and fire surrounds you, then fills your entire body, and then extends around you in all directions. See around you an orb of glowing red, or of fire, whose heat neither scorches nor burns, but stokes your inner being with power, strength, security, and clarity.
7. See this energy also contained in and emanating from the stones in your hands and surrounding you.
8. If you would like to send this energy to help strengthen anyone else, while imagining them, raise your hands upward, still holding the rocks, and imagine that this energy flows toward them. Visualize this energy surrounding the person and then entering to fill their body. If there is any one area that needs more strengthening than another, direct even more of the energy there. (It is important to ask permission before working with anyone else, either in person or intuitively. Once you ask, you will know whether to continue.)
9. Sit in this state until you feel that it is time to leave. If you have been sending energy to another, slowly back your attention away from that person, visualizing them as healed, and stop sending the energy. Still holding the stones, imagine them beginning to cool as you draw your attention back to your body, still feeling it as charged with power and strength even as you become even more calm and centered. Bring your attention back to your breathing, and imagine your breath moving in through your navel point and out through your heart center. After a minute or so, shift your breathing and visualize it moving in and out through your heart center.
10. Still breathing in and out of your heart center, feel the ground, chair, or floor beneath you, then recall your environment and open your eyes. Place the two stones you are holding on the ground in front of you. When you are ready, move the four surrounding stones out of their circle, then get up while still retaining a feeling of strength, capability, protection, energy, and security.
11. Your hand stones (the stones you were holding) will have retained the energy from this practice, so any time you want to experience it again, or bring it into your consciousness or subtle body, just pick up the stones and harmonize yourself with them. Keep them wrapped to help retain the purity of the energetic experience, or place them in your environment to help bring the benefits that you found during this practice.