Just Rocks?
Crystals. They can be a point of contention among practicers of magick. I’ve heard a few ’serious’ occultists say, “They’re just rocks”. And the new-agers, of course, are wild about the things. For them, crystals can do everything from heal your boils to contact aliens. I’ve spoken to other spiritual-minded people who use them with a disclaimer. “I use crystals”, they say, “but I’m not like those people.”
I’m not like those people either. But I do like crystals, minerals, stones and fossils. I always have. My father was a miner who was also an amateur geologist. He would take me fossil hunting at the kaolin mines. He collected rocks and minerals and encouraged me to do the same. He taught me about their properties (geological, not spiritual), and bought me a geology set when I was young, so that I could test minerals and do all sorts of scary experiments that involved bubbling chemicals.
Its pretty natural for me to feel connected with rocks, minerals and fossils. and not just the pretty ones, or the pointy ones. They all fascinate me. Just the other day I was helping my neice with her science homework. They were studying rocks, and I found myself getting excited over the different kinds of rock.
Minerals are a part of my history, and it feels right to include them as part of my spiritual and magickal practice.
For me, magick is in many ways a dialogue with my environment. And I get a great deal out of communing with minerals and fossils. I doubt I’d ever be able to live in a place where there’s a crystal cluster or an amethyst geode in every fucking corner. I’d feel like a real dumbass waving a crystal wand over someone. But I often include crystals, rocks and minerals in my gris-gris bags. I work extensively with crystal skulls. Their shape as well as the material from which they are carved inspire me. I prefer to use runes carved from stone (today is a Hagalaz day - don’t it just figure?). Fossils figure prominently in my magickal practice - the raw and potent forces of evolution fascinate me.
Minerals and fossils enhance my magick and inspire me spiritually. I can’t imagine thinking of any rock as “just a rock”, but at the same time, I can’t imagine investing blind faith in my environment - in rocks and crystals - rather than recognising the power that resides in me.
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