Nature’s Gifts to Us: Gemstones and Minerals

Mae Ondracek

Rocks, stones, and minerals have been around forever and have been used in many different ways. We are all fascinated with the sparkle and beauty of stones.

The Druids used them for healing and in their religious rituals. Different cultures ground them into powder for medicinal purposes. Some were crushed or used whole to decorate seals that rulers used to seal letters or documents.

The Tibetans regarded quartz crystals as one of the seven most precious substances of Buddha.

It is known that South American Indians used a variety of gemstones and minerals to insure an abundant growth of crops. They would bury the stones in the ground, at certain points throughout the fields. They refused to tell their secret of exactly which stones were used, or where and how they were placed in the ground. But it is a known fact that the crops grown by those methods, in the Andes, have produced an incredible harvest.

In these times, we still use gemstones and minerals in a variety of ways: Rubies in lasers; Diamonds in cutting tools; and Quartz Crystals in electronic equipment, just to name a few.

Many people also believe in the power of stones to help heal their bodies or to achieve their sense of awareness about personal goals and surroundings. The following stones are used for:

Actinolite is a translucent dark to light green stone with a vitreous luster. It has elongated prismatic crystals and it is said that this stone will help you to master your creative abilities.

Agate. There are over 30 different types of agates, which are a form of chalcedony. They cover the whole color spectrum and most are banded. Some have fernlike patterns, “eye” spots, as in the case of the Turitella Agate, which is full of gray and white shell fossils. The Dendritic, “Eye”, and Moss Agates are three of the most powerful healing stones for the body. The Turitella Agate helps to neutralize our instinctive fears.

Amber: Is usually found as nodules, or small masses, of different sizes and shapes. Sometimes they contain fossil remains of insects and plants. The clear gold-brown amber helps to balance the intellectual center, while the Honey (milky-gold) color helps to have more inspirational quality.

Apachite is a blue color and puts us in touch with the spirit guides. This is a great stone to have, as it helps eliminate “writer’s block.” (Help! I need to have one of these, as I get writer’s block quite often.)

Bayldonite is a sub-translucent grass-green to dark green stone with a resinous luster. This stone is said to increase cheerfulness. (Don’t we all need this at sometime or other?)

Beryl, white (Beryl comes in many other colors, too.) It is transparent to translucent, with a vitreous luster and occurs as prismatic crystals. It is said this crystal helps alleviate dust allergies. (Guess we all could use this stone.)

Biolite is black, brown, and dark green and occurs mostly in thin sheets, but can be found as short prismatic crystals. A wonderful stone to have, it is said to relieve headaches.

Bismuth forms indistinct metallic crystals, which may be iridescent. This helps to stimulate our creative imagination.

Boleites are dark blue cubes of translucent mineral and the faces have a vitreous luster. This is a good-luck charm and will bring positive energy flowing back into your life.

Brochantite has short, acicular (needle-like), prismatic or tabular crystals of bright green to blackish green with bluish masses. It sometimes can be found with druse in it. This is great for healing the lungs, esophagus, and throat.

Calcite is found as prismatic crystals of many different colors and meanings:

Black promotes a healthy cynicism.

Blue balances one’s emotional state.

Brown or Gold enhances one’s capacity to know what is true.

Gray gives one a break from emotional intensity.

Green aids in healing toxic fume damage.

Orange is another happiness stone.

Red encourages one to feel safe in opening up emotionally.

Violet makes you feel comfortable with any circumstance.

White or Clear is for spiritual awareness.

Gray Dog’s Tooth allows you to see what’s going on and to remain neutral.

Calomel has pale metallic crystals and makes one feel more energetic. (Boy, do I ever need some of this.)

Chalcanthite are short, tabular or prismatic crystals that are sky-blue to dark blue and because of how they are formed, they have poisonous copper sulfate running thru them. This stone opens you up to spiritually based, emotional experiences.

Chalcocite is rarely found in pseudo-hexagonal crystals, prismatic or tabular crystals. It is a dull, metallic gray-black color and is said to encourage one to persevere through any hardship. (Our forefathers must have had a lot of this stone.)

Chalcopyrite is usually in compact or micro-granular masses of dark or brassy yellow with an iridescent tarnish. It has a metallic luster and is opaque. This is said to raise our self-esteem and keep us feeling good about ourselves.

Chinese Writing Stone is a grayish or greenish black stone with white-gray markings and is said to help calm anxiety and basic fears about survival.

Chrysoberyl’s are crystals that are tabular or prismatic and often twinned (grow together.) It comes in several colors and is healing to the physical body. Certain colors are more related to certain types of people:

Brown: for Africans, Egyptians, and Caribbean Islanders.

Cat’s Eye: Asians, Mediterraneans, and South Americans.

Golden; Australians, Native Americans, Filipinos, and Polynesian

Islanders.

Yellow-Green: Northern Europeans, Russians, and Native Americans of European descent.

Chrysocolla is an earthy, microcrystalline crust or acicular, microscopic crystal, but mostly in close-packed aggregates. From green, blue, to blue-green, but can also be brown when impurities are present. It has a vitreous to earthy luster and gives us feelings of a spiritually centered unconditional love, acceptance and tolerance towards others.

On that note I’ll leave this lesson on Nature’s Gifts to us. If you enjoyed this, let me know and I can research further into more stones. This information was obtained from several rock related resource books.

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