[Sunako]

Oooh wow, that's beautiful. I have a rose quartz bracelet in my room somewhere. It's great.

[Gallowsraven]

yeah, i love it to bits and it's missing. T T

oh . . . wait . . . found it :D

[Sunako]

Yay, that's great that you found it. :)

Oooh, I have a idea next. How about the properties of crystal and what they mean...or links to websites that have crystal meanings.

[Gallowsraven]

Yep. I have some . . . qute a few really, in my Book of Shadows, but a website would be easier, i'll have a look for a good one. You too; different ones would be good, different opinions and all that.

I do have one for incense recipies that i like :D

[Sunako]

Ah that's awesome. :) I love rose quartz, they are great crystals and so safe too.

[Gallowsraven]

Rose Quartz is all about compassion and love in all its forms. A great healer too, especially emotional healing.

[Sunako]

Yeah, that's why I wear it sometimes especially when I'm depressed. I find it helps a fair bit.

[Gallowsraven]

Another good one is Citrine (especially HTA Citrine or Heat Treated Amehtyst; if you heat amethyst it turns yellow) it's nicknamed the sunshine stone and is great for lifting depression, overcoming fears and instilling confidence

[Sunako]

Ah, I'll see if I can find it in bracelet form or something like that. Because I'm a big fan of jewellery.

[Gallowsraven]

I'm not sure if it's used or not, be interesting to find. I don't see it often in jewellery but it's pretty.

Working in a Pagan and Gifts shop really gets these things into your brain :D

[Lunaryon]

Sooo... Various different stones have effects on the mind? Thats kind of cool.

[Batty]

Raven, you lucky duck. I wanna work at a metaphysical shop. ><;

Luna;; Different Gems and Crystals all have different properties. Such as Tigers Eye. Its magickal properties include warding off unwanted energy, its healing properties soothe the body and the mind, as well as help along to release congestion.

[Gallowsraven]

Tiger's Eye is another confidence booster, especially the golden variety. Hawk's Eye, which is the combination of all three types of tiger's eye (red, blue and golden) is stronger and more potent.

But Batty's right, and the funny thing is, it often relates to their colour as well as their physical make-up. For example, Tiger Iron (the form of tiger's eye without the shimmery-sheen) contains, predictably, iron, so one of its properties is stability. It's also a mixtre of colours, most common are red-brown and yellow. Both of these augur stability in various forms.

Some good ones to know are clear quartz - the "master" crystal, can be used as a substitute for any other, and is especially good for cleansing and healing; amethyst - primarily peace and rest, but also dreams and healing; citrine - see above; obsidian - especially good at protection, the snowflake variety also promotes harmony between opposites; and rose quartz - again, see above.

Anybody interested in crystals for their metaphysical properties (or even if you're just ineterested in collecting them) i recommend starting off with these. There are others too, but new crystals are being discovered almost every month, if not every day. some are so rare they are almost extinct, like moldavite (a tektite; it's an extra-terrestrial stone!) some are as common as clouds, like quartz.

Now i'm curious, has anybody else found their crystl-kryptonite, as i call it. It's a stone that you just don't get along with; makes you feel ill/grouchy/etc. Mine's Elestial Quartz (natural super-charged smokey quartz), place it near me and i get a strong headache for no reason. I do own a piece, but that's because it's nice to me (the amethyst and tanzanite within it helps too ;) )

And i was lucky, Batty, 'til things got bad. The owner was a . . . well let's just say he was a two-faced hypocrite because i'm not sure how badly i'm allowed to swear. You don't treat volunteers the way he did; we're not willing slaves. Only so much i can take, i threatened to walk before when he treated me like crap, he didn't listen, i walked.

But its so satisfying, even if this is a bad thing, that he still didn't listen when i told him getting rid of the pagan part of the shop would be bad for business. Guess what; he's closing down. I was right; nobody wanted to buy anything in there because there was nothing interesting.

Ok, mini-rant/gloat type-thing is over, however bad it is i feel satisfied by it. It's not that i'm happy he's closing, just that he kept disregarding my opinion as not important and saying i was wrong and i've been proven right.

It;s still bad isn't it lol. This is why if anyone asks i call myself a grey witch.

[Lunaryon]

Well... He got his. That's all I can say.

[Gallowsraven]

Yeah, still, didn't think he'd go out this soon.

Oh well, enough dwelling. Midsummer Solstice coming up soon!!! ^.^ roll on next month!

[Lunaryon]

When is the summer solstace?