How to Use Gemstones in Alchemy and Medicine
One of the most common ways to degrade or deride “alternative” and ancient healing modalities is to mock its use of crystals and stones. Sketch comedy shows have been parodying crystal healing since at least the 1980s.
These people, of course, haven't yet realized their own ignorance of exactly how these stones were used and the various manner of their application for the different sheaths of our beings…
...they prefer to revel in their misunderstanding of the profound power in the subtlety of the interrelationship between all beings and how those relationships ultimately determine the state of our physical well-being.
In short, these people are very dense.
Like stones.
But not in a good way.
It is not a requirement to be energetically sensitive to work with stones for medicine.
You inevitably feel the presence of stones. They are hard, solid, and have often been forming in the earth’s crust for millennia; they are often strikingly beautiful…
...in fact, it’s hard NOT to have a physical reaction to the presence of precious stones and crystals.
Stones are our eldest brethren here on Mother Earth…Gaia’s most ancient gift…to those wise enough to stand in awe of her powers of creation.
Crystals and flowers are sister gifts of Gaia’s rarest blossoming beauty…gifts that can heal not only the body but mend souls.
What truly sentient being can deny their healing power simply in gazing upon them—very few—unfortunately for us, that very few happen to legislate what counts as “healing” and “medicine” in this age
.
The wise and brave among us know that the power in that first glance upon a stone is only the first kiss of what’s possible in working with a stone’s medicine…
…There is medicine in stroking their smooth or textured surface, in gazing upon their shimmer, in watching how they play with light, in holding them close to places on our body’s that need to be reminded what ancient love feels like, and even in ingesting their essence, elixirs and powdered forms.
Crystal healing and empowerment is a practice that nearly all ancient cultures have practiced.
Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine have never forgotten the importance of working with stones…nor have many indigenous cultures. And even the wealthy and elite of the Western world practice stone medicine on a surface level without realizing it…as they purchase precious stones and pearls to decorate their persons and homes.
My initiation into the profundity of working with stones occurred when I was struggling to find stable ground after my solitary walk from West Virginia to South Dakota.
On that walk, I was blessed with and gave away many sacred objects—including dozens of stones: geodes, pendants, wire wraps, rough and polished rubies, and sapphires.
I kept none for myself…perhaps foolishly…perhaps not.
But upon my return home, while working with the profoundly genius clinical & folk herbalist Ola Obassi, I was guided to begin ingesting and applying topically pearl powder.
It struck me as remarkably odd…and I have always considered myself a lover of all things odd.
As I held the little tubes of white powder in my hand I couldn’t bring myself to ingest it…and applying the powder on my face felt foolish and alien.
Ten years later pearl powder is now recognized by many as an ultimate superfood & the medicine of many of other stones/minerals are being actively researched by scientists around the globe for their healing powers.
The moment I finished crafting my freshwater pearl necklace all of my eleventh-house moon blockages seemed to shake, shift, & dissipate into background noise.
A superfood indeed.
Ancient cultures long admired the powers hidden within stones & the wise never underestimated their ability to shift reality and heal.