The Way of the Stones
Memories, minerals, and magic
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The downloadable pack for this month is all about Resources of Magic. Here’s the file in case you need it:
Since we’re taking a deep look at resources this month, I thought it was a great time to tell you about my relationship with stones.
To some of you, this might sound a little strange, but I want to just put this out there from the start:
Stones are alive. They are conscious, sentient (and divine) beings.
I first became enamored with stones through ancestor work. I met an ancestor guide who had lived in mesolithic France (ca. 8000 BCE). He told me that his tribe were master stone workers, both carvers and tool makers. He said that, to them, stones were very sacred. They were both the ancestors and the divine.
Here is the story of the stones as he told me:
The stone cycle
We live in a stone universe. The stones on earth are but pieces of the stones in the cosmos; they are all one being, and their primary function is to observe everything and remember it. They are memory keepers.
Living beings are formed, pushed up from the ground by the stones. Life is observed and then stored as memory in the stones. In this way, every life nourishes the stones.
Death begins the process of living beings becoming stones themselves. After a very long time, our bodies concretize into stones, becoming the ancestors. Now we are the ones nourished by the lives and memories of the descendants.
We are the memories of the stones until we become the stones.
The songs of the stones
The stones not only hold the memories, but they also sing about them. In ancient times, the people could easily hear these songs. They were guided this way by the wisdom of the stones.
The people knew that the stones sang up the sun and the moon; the stones sang the movement of the cosmos and the changing of the seasons. The stones sang of births and deaths, and the paths of movement for the animals and rivers to follow.
The people knew that all life is connected this way. They were secure and whole through listening to the songs of the stones.
This was the way for many thousands of years of human existence. Then one day, my ancestor found his people had been killed by other humans. The weapon that was used to kill his family was made of stone.
His wail of grief was louder than the stones’ song. He closed his heart to their singing for the rest of his life, and turned away from his devotion. His surviving descendants never learned the way of the stones.
This was the wounding that I was tasked to help him heal. In doing so, I opened my own devotion to the stones. I am still learning to hear their singing, but every now and again, I catch a whisper of it.
Why does it matter to relate well with the stones?
The stones have a cosmic memory. It’s eternal. So when I say that they remember, it might be from another timeline or from what we think of as the future. Remembering is the sacred act of returning to wholeness, of restoring something that only appeared to be lacking.
The songs of the stones, whether we actually hear them or we resonate with them in more subtle ways, help us return to wholeness. We can connect with a stone outside of us and allow it to attune to the stones—the minerals—inside of us. This resonance can spotlight issues or imbalances that might be hiding in our shadows, and help remember us into wholeness.
Maybe more importantly, stones make really good friends. They are great listeners and possess unparalleled ability to witness our wounds. As we practice engaging with them, we can become more and more adept at receiving their guidance too.
If you are a magic practitioner of any sort, or even magic-curious, you are probably already aware of the attraction of stones in the form of crystals. Crystals get a lot of attention for many reasons. For one thing, they’re noticeable. They are spectacularly beautiful in varying shapes and colors. Also, because of their highly organized structure, their energy—their song—comes through in a very strong, clear and refined manner. We attune to them quite easily.
Crystals are wonderful, and I want to stress the importance of coming into relationship with the “regular” stones where we live. There are stones that we walk by, or even step on every single day. These stones have witnessed us personally, and have witnessed the greater context of our lives, for however long we’ve lived there. Even though all stones share a collective memory, there is something to be said about the strength of connection through proximity. In short, don’t discount that pebble on the sidewalk. It remembers you.
A few of my favorite ways to relate with stones:
Put a pinch of mineral salt (tiny stones) in some water and speak offerings of love and gratitude before drinking it. It’s a sacred moment to be consciously aware of stones becoming our bodies (through eating or drinking).
Notice a stone in your environment that you are drawn to. Assuming it’s of portable size, ask for consent to take it home with you. Just try your best here. Feel for an answer. Notice if you feel more constricted or more open. Alternatively, if you have a relationship with your spirit guides, you can ask them to act as intermediaries until you learn to hear the stone yourself. My belief is that asking for consent is a far better way to relate than not asking. Even if you are unable to discern an answer, asking is a wonderful show of respect. (And I have personally never had a stone say no.)
Once you have it at home, begin building a relationship with the stone. Put it on your altar. Set it next to you while you’re working. Talk to it as you would a friend.
Hold the stone in your hand and ask it to tell you something about its own life, something it might like you to know. Notice any images or feelings that arise. And, of course, listen for its song.
You can also hold the stone in your hand or place it on another part of your body and ask it for help or guidance. Some examples are:
Would you help my immune system remember a state of strong balance?
Would you help my body remember being pain free?
Would you help me remember comfort?
Place the stone under your pillow at night and ask if it would help you remember the guidance in your dreams.
Do you have a practice of relating with stones? I would love to hear all about it! Let me know in the comments below.
Thank you for this lovely post, a piece of the puzzle just fell into place for me. We moved to this place nearly 2 years ago, it is surrounded by stones. Millenia ago they were rounded and polished by glacier coming down the valley, then in the 1870's they were sluiced up out of the earth, carried away and dumped into tailings, great mounds of them, in an armageddon known as a gold rush. The soil was washed away down the river out to sea, leaving the stones behind. Now the rainforest is covering them, with moss, ferns, lichens, tea tree. It is the most extraordinary landscape. Every day or so I walk up the trail between them, some as big as a house, and sing. And pray. I climb up a mound of stones and meditate for a bit. No idea why, they seem to pull me toward them, I feel such grief here, but hope too. Glimmers. Thank you, I will keep going now, feeling a little less aimless and sad.
Wow. This is really powerful. I’ve been attracted to and collecting stones since I was a little girl. Just the other day I was looking at the river rocks in my yard and wondering why they made me so happy. Now I know how to deepen my relationship with them. Thank you.