by Sarah Lyn
Stone has a beautiful language. Anyone who has ever had a rock jump out at them has heard it. Pick me! Pick me! Before you know it, you have either slipped it into a pocket, or you find yourself holding it in your hand, uncertain of how long it has been there.
Deep stone sleeps but the closer to the surface it gets, the more connected it is to us and our life cycles. Some rocks just want to introduce themselves and have a conversation. Some rocks will bite and want to be left alone. And some rocks have been looking for you to take them on a quest to some unknown corner of the world they have only heard about in the whispers of the deepest bedrock (even if that’s just your front yard).
[ALWAYS respect places that ask you NOT to take their rocks.]
The Trio
Different stones I encounter have different energies to them. Each sabbat, I put together a trio of stones to focus on for the following six weeks. It’s divination to me. I reach out into the web and see where we are in the world, creating a recipe of stone allies, and then I send that energy back out into the web.
I don’t usually use the same grouping of stones every year, but a couple of times I have. I will work with these ones in my night meditations until the next sabbat, sometimes individually and sometimes as a group.
When I was a young pagan, Imbolg was hard for me to connect with. What the lore I had access to described did not fit seasonally with our calendar. It was the Celtic mythology of Brighid, the triple goddess of smithing, bardic creativity, and healing that helped me connect. Imbolg is our deep midwinter, when those of us in the northern states are concerned with the effects of snow and ice and we create nests in our homes to stave off the coldest and most frigid nights.
May we all have shelter and food and warmth.
Imbolg for me, is a sabbat of healing, of beginning endeavors, and finishing commitment to projects. This year, the need for healing has been greater for my beloveds, as well as for our larger community circle. I can only imagine that need also ripples out.
The stones I chose for Imbolg this year have heavy magical properties: Fluorite, Amethyst, and Lithium Quartz.
One of the most powerful healing stones I have ever worked with is Fluorite, typically found with bands of colors, most commonly purple and green. I have collected fluorite from all over the world over the years. I also have it in green, blue and green, and yellow and green. They often form in cubic shapes.
To me, this crystal is always cool to my touch. When I do healing work, I have a couple of large pieces that I hold while I meditate. This stone amplifies your body’s natural energies and helps you equalize. It is also a good stone to use when doing remote healing for other people. I tend to have specific specimens that I build relationships with. This crystal enjoys connection and will enhance the energy of other stones.
Open to me, fluorite says. Healing flows like water.
Last month I talked about citrine, but for this season I picked its more familiar cousin, purple Amethyst, a form of quartz. Almost anyone who uses crystals knows this stone. It is a staple power stone in my toolbox and one I associate with the third eye chakra. It is one of the first stones I ever purchased. This stone is potent on its own, but when you add any stone to it in spellwork, it amplifies the duration and energy of the work. Amethyst and fluorite together are one of my favorite power couples.
We are powerful magic, it hums steadily.
To round out this trio, I picked Lithium Quartz. It has the great focusing properties of quartz, with the addition of lavender inclusions of natural lithium. There’s something intimate about this crystal. It is helpful for mental health endurance, for promoting a state of calmness while maintaining energy levels. Who doesn’t need that?
May all be well, it says.
Together this trio creates a powerful healing energy, strong enough for remote work. At Yule, we created a light in the darkness. At Imbolg we harness that light into a healing wand as we move through the coldest of our winter days.
For Advanced Work
If you want to go deeper into this season? I recommend using Blue Lace Agate. I usually describe agates as the workhorse stone of the rock and mineral world. It comes in a variety of colors and patterns. Blue Lace Agate is pale blue with white banding. Really good pieces have been difficult to find, so I tend to snatch them up if I find them. This is a stone I recommend to other people who need more gentleness in their hearts. It is an advanced soother, and relieves stress from both: the user and the person they are sending healing energy to. It’s a great support system for healing work.
[Notes from Sarah Lyn: I never purchase rocks from people who do not know where they are sourced from. It’s important to know where your rocks come from so you can make informed decisions about where to put your money. For those of us buying tumbled stones at rock shows, we’re picking up the chips of what has already been cut from the earth, we are not part of the demand that influences the mining world. But know where your stones come from.]