Your Stone

[Morgandria]

xMoonlitShadowsx

I went through my slowly growing collection of stones/crystals tonight and found a piece of what I think is citrine. I'm not sure though if it is. It feels kinda odd and looks sorta spongy? Hard to describe. It sparkles a little bit if you hold it in the light the right way, and it's a cream-ish orange.

Anyone have any ideas on what it might be?

Citrine is always a very pale yellow, if it's natural, or it's like a burnt golden brown if it's actually cooked amethyst. Sadly a lot of 'citrine' out there is baked amethyst.

I'd really need a picture, I think. It could be a piece of orange aventurine, it could be an orange calcite, it could be a piece of sunstone, it could be a sparkly piece of orange quartz, it could be a peach moonstone.

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Also, how often do you guys cleanse your stones? I want to make a kinda sleep/dream charm bag for a friend who has trouble sleeping sometimes. I'm thinking a few pieces of amethyst for dreams and sleep and a piece of carnelian for keeping the crystals clean energy-wise.

I usually use carnelian or a citrine cluster to help cleanse my crystals. Does anyone else use carnelian for cleansing?

I've also heard that jade helps to prevent nightmares? Is this true?

I don't tend to cleanse too often. My stuff doesn't pick up a lot of gunk. Maybe twice a year, usually in sunlight and cool water. (Unless a particular mineral doesn't do one or the other of those.)

I've never heard of carnelian being used to cleanse. It'll certainly 'boost' a combination of things, but it's not really a cleansing stone. I don't tend to think of other stones as cleansing - really, you'd just be passing the 'dirt' from one stone to another, and still have to cleanse one of them. Charging, certainly - I use a variety of stones to charge others, depending on what I'm doing.

For nightmares, aragonite clusters (sometimes called 'sputniks') are excellent. Jet works well. Avoid black onyx, since it'll cause nightmares, not avoid them. Amethyst is ok, but tends more to promote dreams, than prevent bad ones. If she thinks she's being attacked at night by something, you might want to look into gridding - a grid of carnelian, chlorite, and ruby crystals works well. You can get small ruby crystals fairly inexpensively, believe it or not, but if you can't find them the carnelian and chlorite will still help. Prasiolite is a chlorite mineral, as is serpentine.

If she needs rest it might be better to focus on reducing dreaming entirely, until she gets some energy back. For calming sleep energy jade will work. It's gentle and acts to both soothe and protect. Regular (not rainbow) moonstone also has a gentle calming action for sleep problems.  

[xMoonlitShadowsx]

So many orangey-yellow stones lol I'll post a pic of it this weekend biggrin

I read about carnelian being used as a crystal cleansing crystal in Judy Hall's The Crystal Bible. I've tried it out, and I'm pretty sure it's working on my other stones, although mine don't pick up that much energy either, unless I'm working with them a lot.

I just started to work with crystals a few months ago, I know I have a lot to learn yet smile

I've heard of crystals fading from sunlight, but I don't think I've heard of water harming the stones. Which stones aren't safe to use water on? Would a few drops be okay or is it more like if you were to keep them in it for a few minutes?

My friend doesn't have that many dreams, so I think amethyst would be okay for him. He's not being attacked at night by anything that I know of o.o but now I'm curious about gridding lol
He has more of a problem unwinding enough to sleep sometimes.  

[Morgandria]

xMoonlitShadowsx

I read about carnelian being used as a crystal cleansing crystal in Judy Hall's The Crystal Bible. I've tried it out, and I'm pretty sure it's working on my other stones, although mine don't pick up that much energy either, unless I'm working with them a lot.

Ah. I've never read that particular book.

Stones are excellent for generating psychodrama for some people, but remember that a stone really can't 'do' a whole lot. While it has a spirit, it's an inert object; energy is the ability to do work. So a stone's energy is more like...a filter, really. You can move things through it, it will add its' own 'flavour' to the mix, but it doesn't really do much more than that.

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I've heard of crystals fading from sunlight, but I don't think I've heard of water harming the stones. Which stones aren't safe to use water on? Would a few drops be okay or is it more like if you were to keep them in it for a few minutes?

There are a few. Any stones that have strong copper or lead content, generally aren't safe to clean with water. Turquoise and malachite are prime suspects. Some of them will tarnish, and the metals leech out into the water and may be hazardous. The same goes for any crystal that has lithium in it. Hematite and tiger iron will rust in water. Selenite cannot get wet, as it's water soluble. Some crystals likewise shouldn't touch salt, as its' corrosive properties can break things down into dangerous components.

There's more than I can list here. My advice is that if the book you have doesn't tell you that information, get one that does. Melody's book Love Is In The Earth is New-Age and obnoxious on many levels (the 'Native American'-isms in the book make me cringe), but it does have the redeeming feature of talking about minerals' physical makeup, and telling you when a particular material needs particular handling.

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My friend doesn't have that many dreams, so I think amethyst would be okay for him. He's not being attacked at night by anything that I know of o.o but now I'm curious about gridding lol
He has more of a problem unwinding enough to sleep sometimes.

http://www.rainbowcrystal.com/reiki/crystalgrid.html
http://crystalsandjewelry.com/usingcrystalsets.html

Some people free-form their grids; others might use a map. I personally like the maps, as you can colour them and add symbols to enhance the grid for your own use, but it's up to you.

http://crystalsandjewelry.com/crystalgrids.html

He may need to learn to take the time to unwind before bed - ie. unplug from the internet and tv, and give himself a half-hour or so to let go of the day. If he can acquire that sort of habit he may find sleeping easier. I know I myself will not sleep if I go straight to bed from those things. A charm or amulet is thoughtful, but can't combat an over-active mind alone.  

[xMoonlitShadowsx]

Here are some pics smile

Thank you for clearing some things up for me! Your explanation of stones being more like filters really helps. smile





 

[Morgandria]

That is a decent sized chunk of raw orange calcite. smile  

[xMoonlitShadowsx]

Awesome! Thank you biggrin  

[Erise Crewe]

I really like the way cinnabar looks sweatdrop even though it's man made and possibly toxic. I feel like I'm sort of drawn to it because of the myth surrounding it. In ancient Chinese literature you hear a lot of references to cinnabar and in relation to mysticism.  

[Morgandria]

Erise Crewe

I really like the way cinnabar looks sweatdrop even though it's man made and possibly toxic. I feel like I'm sort of drawn to it because of the myth surrounding it. In ancient Chinese literature you hear a lot of references to cinnabar and in relation to mysticism.

Cinnabar is not man-made. Or, that is to say, it is an natural oxide ore of mercury. Actual cinnabar has been mined since the Neolithic, both for decorative purposes, and for refining the ore to pure liquid mercury for other uses. Fun fact: the pigment vermillion comes from cinnabar, originally. Same with the shade 'China Red'.

But it is very toxic. Even the ancients knew that, but valued it despite the dangers associated with it. We are less willing to let people die, so now they create synthetic cinnabar for some purposes. Most of the time the 'cinnabar' you see in jewelry is just coloured resin, or plastic.  

[Monsieur Apothecary]

I don't have one single one that I am drawn to but I LOVE using Amethyst in every spell or ritual I do.  

[Erise Crewe]

Morgandria

Cinnabar is not man-made. Or, that is to say, it is an natural oxide ore of mercury. Actual cinnabar has been mined since the Neolithic, both for decorative purposes, and for refining the ore to pure liquid mercury for other uses. Fun fact: the pigment vermillion comes from cinnabar, originally. Same with the shade 'China Red'.

But it is very toxic. Even the ancients knew that, but valued it despite the dangers associated with it. We are less willing to let people die, so now they create synthetic cinnabar for some purposes. Most of the time the 'cinnabar' you see in jewelry is just coloured resin, or plastic.

That's what i meant sorry xd I actually only recently decided that I liked it, I was reading the 4 chinese classics, specifically 'Pilgrimage to the West" and "Dream of Red Chambers" english translation both had referances to it. And I was like eek what -is- that. Went and wikipedia'd it and i was like oooh...pretty...

But I agree I love the color of garnet. My birthstone's ruby but garnet is just so much prettier. A ruby just looks gaudy compared to a garnet crying (sorry to ruby fans out there)

On a random note how pretty is this cinnabar vase?

Err.. it's actually metal with cinnabar coloring but still I like it 3nodding  

[Xion Skye]

Black Onyx and Bloodstone call to me.