My love affair with stones truly began with an encounter with the Spirit of the River Stones in southern Missouri. Canoeing with my husband and daughter on the White River, eagles flying overhead, it was a sparkling day in early spring. My husband spotted a cave opening in the cliffs rising from the riverbank. We paddled the canoe to the shoreline of a pebbly stretch along the river's edge. My husband and daughter went to investigate the cave. Claustrophobic and newly pregnant, I stayed at the water's edge, sifting through the beautiful rounded river stones.
"If you find a stone with a hole that goes all the way through it, it will mean good fortune."
The voice came from behind me, above my head and to the left. It was a voice speaking into my mind. Almost immediately, I was holding a stone with a hole that went all the way through it. It shimmered through the water.
Up until that moment, I had a world view in which some things were alive, and some things were not. Rocks were among the things that were not. Suddenly I knew: the Earth is alive. Everything is alive. This awareness changed my life. When my family returned, they told me of having journeyed into the cave, and coming out through another opening: they, too, had found "a stone with a hole all the way through it."
Stones, whether precious rubies and diamonds, river stones or jaspers, or the corals and pearls of the seas, have a history at least as old as the Earth herself. I now believe that their history spirals back into timelessness and can no doubt be found in the realities of universes far beyond that of Earth. Their history as instruments of the mystery, of healing, communication and change, is most closely tied to the spiritual traditions of Earth's cultures.
As the dominant human culture evolved over thousands of years into a patriarchal system that sought to trivialize the integral connectedness of human beings with the Earth Mother, many of the ancient spiritual traditions are all but lost. Over the past 150 years, the Earth Mother has been ravished and ruined. Is it any wonder now for those who may listen that the whisperings of the ancient traditions grow loud enough to be heard by many? The Earth is alive and wishes to remain so. She will not go quietly into oblivion because a wild faction of humanity would imagine the possibility of conquest, control and depletion for some absurd vision of destruction and glory.
And so, the stones speak. They have always spoken.
The Greeks had their worry stones, the Christians their rosaries, the Hindus and Tibetans their malas, and the Celts their rune stones. All are in use today, yet their origins are ancient. All over the Earth there are great stone monuments: the Egyptian, Mayan and Incan pyramids. Stonehenge stands as a structure that mystifies the world. The Bible's description in Exodus of the Urim and Thummim placed in the breastplate of the high priest, Aaron, contains 12 gemstones said to flash in communication.
Quartz crystal is the primary "solid" constituent of our planet. It powers batteries, stores and transmits information, and is the basis for operating our computers in the "information age." The ancient civilization of Atlantis is known to have had even more advanced technologies using gemstones, including healing, as reported by seers such as Madame Blavatsky, Edgar Cayce and Roberta Herzog. Aboriginal shamanic practice makes use of double terminated quartz crystal in a process of extraction, the removal of negative energies from a person's energy field. Ayurvedic practice teaches that the planets are in integral relationship with specific stones. Powerful tonics are made from the powders of the nine gems related to the planets, as well as oxides and pastes made from stones for internal use in healing.
There is a rich history of healing with stones of the Earth as tools. Corinne Heline, in her books, Healing and Regeneration Through Color and Healing and Regeneration Through Music, tells us: "The ancients held that every gem was originally crystallized by and around an entity which had a real, though subjective (or inner plane), activity and awareness."
Stones are alive. Each variation contains an inner matrix of light and sound energy that interacts in specific ways with the Earth and her inhabitants. This interaction is orchestrated by the inner plane being, or consciousness, around which the stone was originally crystallized. As we take up these Earthstones and Gemstones and integrate them into our work as healers, for ourselves or for others, we tap into a profound energy that is being resurrected from ancient roots.
If you hear a stone call to you -- a seemingly modest stone on a hiking path, perhaps a crystal in a rock shop or even a beautiful piece of jewelry displayed under glass -- listen. There is a reason.
Mary Baxter is a Conscious Transformation Consultant offering soul-centered mentoring to clients. Her practice synthesizes intuitive readings, prayer work, gemstone therapies, visualization and manifestation realities, and more. She teaches Energy Healing with Stones in the San Francisco Bay area, for the Windemere Institute of Healing Arts in Madison, Wisc., and Decorah, Iowa, and she offers private sessions at the Windemere Institute in the Quarry Arts Building in Madison. You can visit her website at www.thefiberofeden.com, or e-mail marysclearings@yahoo.com.
Copyright © 2004 Mary Baxter
May 2004
