Thursday 29 September 2011

Can man better nature?

When we accept the understanding that stones are sentient suddenly we become aware of the awful things some people do to stones.  There are so many stones out there that have been altered in some way by people who feel they can improve on nature.  Stones heated till they crack and then dyed, stones coated in gold or other precious metals, beautiful brown agates dyed bright pink or blue.

To imagine how damaging and disrespectful this is imagine taking a perfect orchid flower and covering it in plasticote, or a stunning magpie feather and bleaching the colour out.  Imagine taking a great oak, an earth elder, and painting it yellow.  How wrong does this feel?  Why is it acceptable to treat stone spirits in the same manner?

Of course the dyed and heat treated stones are often obviously fake so easily avoided; but there are the more subtle examples such as white howlite dyed blue and sold as turquoise, real turquoise ground down and mixed with resin and sold as more expensive turquoise, amethyst heat treated and sold as citrine.   The list of these fake or altered stones is ever growing as more people become interested in working with stones.

When faced with these stones, and with the understanding about stone spirits it is very tempting to want to buy them all and heal these tortured souls, but we must resist.  The more of these we buy the more they will make. 

Whilst talking about this we also have to consider the number of things that are sold as stones but are completely fake.  Goldstone, both in its normal brown form and the recent blue, green and purple versions are simply metal compounds mixed with a glassy substance, and yet sold as a crystal.  The other is the brightly coloured "Cats Eyes" that are coloured in one direction and clear in another.  These are man made and are a by-product of the telecommunications industry.  They are quartz, but they are lab grown quartz and so hold no spirit.

Finally there are the precious stones that are lab grown.  Quartz, Ruby, Emerald and Sapphire are all stones that can be found that have been grown in a laboratory.  They hold the chemical and colour properties of the original stone, but as they have not grown in the womb of mother earth contain no connection to Spirit.

The answer is to select your stones from reputable merchants; people who will either refuse to buy altered or fake stones or will at the very least be honest so we can avoid them. When stones are as stunning as the malachite on the right why do we need them to be faked?

If we already have stone spirits that have been treated in this way it is best to give them as much love as possible.  Mine rest at the base of an old pollarded ash tree in my garden, this is where they asked to be put.  I felt that the tree had suffered at the hand of man so could understand the pain the stone spirits feel.  They seem much happier there.

Visit my website to learn about my healing practice