Stones, minerals, crystals

Rituals, spells, prayer, meditation and magical acts.
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Polyhymnia
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Re: Stones, minerals, crystals

Post by Polyhymnia »

I love working with crystals, and I really like your approach to working with them, Cerastes. It's very unique.

I try not to be too influenced by what books have to say about crystals, and feel it more intuitively, but those associations are hard to quit once they're in there. I worked in a shop that sold alot of crystals, and what everyone wanted to hear was the exact purpose for each stone i.e.) rose quartz for love, amethyst for addiction etc. More cookie cutter definitions from crystal books. And I'm not saying that these definitions aren't valid, because truly the heart of any belief system is what you choose to give power to, and I imagine a sort of collective belief in a specific crystal power only furthers it's magic for those believers. I even own a business that specializes in making ritual soaps using herb and crystal magic in this way. I find it easiest to solidify intent for the bather by using common symbolism.

Where my own practice is concerned, however, I work with crystals that find their way to me from one way or another. Gifts, or stones I find on walks that speak to me. My son likes to gift me flat palm stones, and I use these in certain rituals. I recently acquired a beautiful mahogany obsidian sphere, and I was drawn to this specific piece due to the red and black colouring and the weight and feel in my hands. I have a clear glass sphere that was gifted to me, and I use the two to symbolize opposing forces in myself during ritual, which I have found very helpful while settling in here in the SoA. As some of you know from previous posts, I was having a hard time energy wise for a little while there (and am still feeling it most days), but the timing of acquiring this sphere couldn't have been more perfect, and I feel it's helping in keeping me grounded.
"Limited love asks for possession of the beloved, but the unlimited asks only for itself." -Kahlil Gibran
obnoxion
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Re: Stones, minerals, crystals

Post by obnoxion »

I don't have that many gem stones, but I enjoy the few that I have. I would like to see more of the cheaper stones used in jewelry, so that the worh of the piece would be based on the unique craftmanship, instead of the scrap metal value of the materials.

I cherish each special stone I've had as a gift (especially that meteoric stone I got from fra Fatuus). Though I am very interested in the general correspondences of crystals, it is the personal relationship with the stone that counts. So my gem has a special meaning for me, and there are countless ways how the general correspondences manifest in person's life.

Instead of gems, I tend to work with sticks and stones I happen to found. Some times I bring them home, but usually I just remove them to some other location outdoors. It is a very difficult practice to explain, but it works for me. It is based on my radical pan(en)theism.
One day of Brahma has 14 Indras; his life has 54 000 Indras. One day of Vishnu is the lifetime of Brahma. The lifetime of Vishnu is one day of Shiva.
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Polyhymnia
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Re: Stones, minerals, crystals

Post by Polyhymnia »

obnoxion wrote: Thu May 09, 2019 11:43 pm Instead of gems, I tend to work with sticks and stones I happen to found. Some times I bring them home, but usually I just remove them to some other location outdoors. It is a very difficult practice to explain, but it works for me. It is based on my radical pan(en)theism.
Very neat! Is it tied in with geomancy or is it less to do with divination and more to do with honouring the earth? Or perhaps neither? Forgive my curiosity but my fire for nature has recently been reborn and I'm very curious and seeing so many things with newly reopened eyes.
"Limited love asks for possession of the beloved, but the unlimited asks only for itself." -Kahlil Gibran
obnoxion
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Re: Stones, minerals, crystals

Post by obnoxion »

Polyhymnia wrote: Wed May 15, 2019 6:46 pm
obnoxion wrote: Thu May 09, 2019 11:43 pm Instead of gems, I tend to work with sticks and stones I happen to found. Some times I bring them home, but usually I just remove them to some other location outdoors. It is a very difficult practice to explain, but it works for me. It is based on my radical pan(en)theism.
Very neat! Is it tied in with geomancy or is it less to do with divination and more to do with honouring the earth? Or perhaps neither? Forgive my curiosity but my fire for nature has recently been reborn and I'm very curious and seeing so many things with newly reopened eyes.
It is basically a contemplation of God. My idea is that there is really nothing but God. So it is because of this that I feel elevated in handling little stones and sticks. I think about how this handling of these things is in fact an aspect of the self-cobtemplation of the Absolute. And I quickly get the sense that there is nothing or nowhere else but this and here. Sticks and stones, I guess, are symbolically apt units for the construction of the Great Whole.

Somtimes I take some of these objects as aids of thought. I walk with one or several of these little things, and I build on some idea. And when I am satisfied, I leave these things in a place that I find suitable.

I have a tendency to drown in simplicity. I remember loosing my self as a child in watching the little specks of dust floating in the air of a sunlit room. On the other hand, I am prone to suffer from sensory overload in very complex surroundings.
One day of Brahma has 14 Indras; his life has 54 000 Indras. One day of Vishnu is the lifetime of Brahma. The lifetime of Vishnu is one day of Shiva.
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Cerastes
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Re: Stones, minerals, crystals

Post by Cerastes »

obnoxion wrote: Thu May 16, 2019 4:30 pm I have a tendency to drown in simplicity. I remember loosing my self as a child in watching the little specks of dust floating in the air of a sunlit room. On the other hand, I am prone to suffer from sensory overload in very complex surroundings.
There is something magical about simplicity.
In another topic it was said, that Latin language that ancient languages do have a special effect as they are free from everyday associations. Stones are basically the same, they do not have a settled purpose for us and are therefore not bound to a material usage. As there is no obvious materialistic purpose in a simple stone the esoteric meaning increases. Strones are the ancient language of nature, so to say.
“Granny Weatherwax was not lost. She wasn't the kind of person who ever became lost. It was just that, at the moment, while she knew exactly where SHE was, she didn't know the position of anywhere else.”
(Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters)
obnoxion
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Re: Stones, minerals, crystals

Post by obnoxion »

Cerastes wrote: Fri May 17, 2019 11:30 am
obnoxion wrote: Thu May 16, 2019 4:30 pm I have a tendency to drown in simplicity. I remember loosing my self as a child in watching the little specks of dust floating in the air of a sunlit room. On the other hand, I am prone to suffer from sensory overload in very complex surroundings.
There is something magical about simplicity.
In another topic it was said, that Latin language that ancient languages do have a special effect as they are free from everyday associations. Stones are basically the same, they do not have a settled purpose for us and are therefore not bound to a material usage. As there is no obvious materialistic purpose in a simple stone the esoteric meaning increases. Strones are the ancient language of nature, so to say.
That is such a beautiful way to put it! Stones indeed are the ancient language, and this must be one of the reasons why handling them lends depth to deep thought.

Actually, one specific thing I am fond of doing just came to mind: To draw a circle in the sand with a stick, and put a stone in the middle of it. I think it is a very profound action, and the possibilities of its interpretations are numerois like the rays of the sun. And like stones as a language, it is an action that is completely stripped of any mundane purposed - especially when done in privacy or in a clandestine fashion. In a way, including actions without mundane purpose in one's life is a very meaningful spiritual practice. Or at least I think so. And with such little things in one's life, one can lead a seemingly mundane life, that is actually woven from these numerous extra-mundanely motivated contemplative actions, that form the inexplicable backbone of a fundamentally Occult Life.
One day of Brahma has 14 Indras; his life has 54 000 Indras. One day of Vishnu is the lifetime of Brahma. The lifetime of Vishnu is one day of Shiva.
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Polyhymnia
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Re: Stones, minerals, crystals

Post by Polyhymnia »

obnoxion wrote: Thu May 16, 2019 4:30 pm
It is basically a contemplation of God. My idea is that there is really nothing but God. So it is because of this that I feel elevated in handling little stones and sticks. I think about how this handling of these things is in fact an aspect of the self-cobtemplation of the Absolute. And I quickly get the sense that there is nothing or nowhere else but this and here. Sticks and stones, I guess, are symbolically apt units for the construction of the Great Whole.

Somtimes I take some of these objects as aids of thought. I walk with one or several of these little things, and I build on some idea. And when I am satisfied, I leave these things in a place that I find suitable.

I have a tendency to drown in simplicity. I remember loosing my self as a child in watching the little specks of dust floating in the air of a sunlit room. On the other hand, I am prone to suffer from sensory overload in very complex surroundings.
That is so beautiful. Drowning in simplicity can be a wonderful act. I often find negative connotations attached to the word "mundane", but I think it's important to practice finding solace in the mundane, as you mention. You and Cerastes bring up great points. I've never thought of stones as a language before, and it's definitely given me a whole new perspective.

I, too, suffer from sensory overload in complex surroundings. If it's too loud in a cinema and there's too much action on screen I fall asleep just the way a new born baby would :lol:
"Limited love asks for possession of the beloved, but the unlimited asks only for itself." -Kahlil Gibran
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Cerastes
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Re: Stones, minerals, crystals

Post by Cerastes »

obnoxion wrote: Fri May 17, 2019 3:09 pm Actually, one specific thing I am fond of doing just came to mind: To draw a circle in the sand with a stick, and put a stone in the middle of it. I think it is a very profound action, and the possibilities of its interpretations are numerois like the rays of the sun. And like stones as a language, it is an action that is completely stripped of any mundane purposed - especially when done in privacy or in a clandestine fashion. In a way, including actions without mundane purpose in one's life is a very meaningful spiritual practice. Or at least I think so. And with such little things in one's life, one can lead a seemingly mundane life, that is actually woven from these numerous extra-mundanely motivated contemplative actions, that form the inexplicable backbone of a fundamentally Occult Life.
I like this, it inspires a lot of associations.
Just an hour ago, I was starting to read the Cosmogenesis part of the secret doctrine which discribes a circle with a dot in the middle that is painted on an ancient palm leaf as a symbol for the world egg.

Simple actions with no mundane meaning are in fact very valuable in occultism. Because finding the hidden meaning, somewhere underneath the surface is more difficult if the surface is too massive or in other words too much attached to mundanity. The most interesting rituals get a slightly new meaning every time I do them. Yet another layer to dig through. If all the details are found at the surface, the esoteric meaning is somehow narrowed. This reminds me on what you wrote about victorian poems and how they seem simple or even inferior or useless - not unlike a simple stone lying somewhere on the way to get walked over by most people.
“Granny Weatherwax was not lost. She wasn't the kind of person who ever became lost. It was just that, at the moment, while she knew exactly where SHE was, she didn't know the position of anywhere else.”
(Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters)
obnoxion
Posts: 1806
Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 7:59 pm

Re: Stones, minerals, crystals

Post by obnoxion »

Cerastes wrote: Fri May 17, 2019 8:40 pm
obnoxion wrote: Fri May 17, 2019 3:09 pm Actually, one specific thing I am fond of doing just came to mind: To draw a circle in the sand with a stick, and put a stone in the middle of it. I think it is a very profound action, and the possibilities of its interpretations are numerois like the rays of the sun. And like stones as a language, it is an action that is completely stripped of any mundane purposed - especially when done in privacy or in a clandestine fashion. In a way, including actions without mundane purpose in one's life is a very meaningful spiritual practice. Or at least I think so. And with such little things in one's life, one can lead a seemingly mundane life, that is actually woven from these numerous extra-mundanely motivated contemplative actions, that form the inexplicable backbone of a fundamentally Occult Life.
I like this, it inspires a lot of associations.
Just an hour ago, I was starting to read the Cosmogenesis part of the secret doctrine which discribes a circle with a dot in the middle that is painted on an ancient palm leaf as a symbol for the world egg.

Simple actions with no mundane meaning are in fact very valuable in occultism. Because finding the hidden meaning, somewhere underneath the surface is more difficult if the surface is too massive or in other words too much attached to mundanity. The most interesting rituals get a slightly new meaning every time I do them. Yet another layer to dig through. If all the details are found at the surface, the esoteric meaning is somehow narrowed. This reminds me on what you wrote about victorian poems and how they seem simple or even inferior or useless - not unlike a simple stone lying somewhere on the way to get walked over by most people.
That's right!

Now, merely imagining simultanously a stick drawing a circle around a stone on my backyard, and an unknown hand drawing a circle and a dot on a palm leaf in ancient India, gives me this immense sensation of sacredness. It is sort of amazing that one can experience things like this on an internet forum. This is a magical little place...
One day of Brahma has 14 Indras; his life has 54 000 Indras. One day of Vishnu is the lifetime of Brahma. The lifetime of Vishnu is one day of Shiva.
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