⛤ How I Fell In Love With Crystals ⛤

When I was eight years old, I accompanied my grandmother to Washington state to visit my uncle, who lived out there with his wife at the time. While there, we took a trip up to Mount Rainier - driving up the windy, fogged-covered roads in an old pick-up truck and stopping for herds of silently moving deer crossing the pavement. There were a couple of stops along the way to admire a small waterfall or nab a photo of the rushing creak water under a bridge. 

But it was up at the top, inside the gift shop, that I found something that spoke to me.

There was a large bin of gemstones, each of them available for about $0.25. I remember digging through pieces of jagged chunks of amethyst and quartz until my tiny child fingers wrapped around the perfect one.

Like pulling the sword from the stone, I was meant to have this particular piece of quartz. Rounded and cloudy at the end, with a sharp pyramid tip, it was exactly the kind of quartz crystal you'd expect to see at the end of a magic wand or laid out expertly in a crystal grid. 

Of course, I was eight. I didn't know anything about the metaphysical properties of stones back then and I certainly had even less understanding of molecular vibrations...but I knew I was supposed to have it. 

I carried it with me everywhere we went for the rest of that trip.

I don't have that quartz crystal anymore, sadly, but I do have quite a nice collection of other stones - like amethyst, citrine, carnelian, moonstone, and more.

Whether or not you buy into the notion of inanimate objects having their own special energy, it's hard to deny that beautiful, purple amethyst is a calming stone - that's just psychology. Same with carnelian and it's bright orange hues or hematite with it's magnetic properties.

Maybe hematite doesn't really have the power to literally ground me to the earth, but my association of the stone with magnetism and the planet doesn't hurt.  And citrine may not be harboring the power of the sun, but its cheery hue sure inspires me to feel more confident and empowered.

That's why I truly love crystals. They don't just look pretty sitting on a shelf - they make me feel some type of way. And I'm sure that's true for a lot of rock lovers; new age practitioners and geology enthusiasts alike.

⛤What's your favorite stone?⛤ 

Do you believe they have magical properties? 

Tell me all about it in the comments below!