Sorry, no pics in this entry.

Back in August, I wrote about my pendant:

https://psychicintraining.wordpress.com/2012/08/17/the-pendant/

Since the surprising and almost immediate results with the “programmed” gold-coated quartz from Tracey, I have taken a huge interest in those who I’ve come to call The Stone People.

I’ve looked up every precious and semi-precious jewel I own in the Book of Stones. I’ve found I’m attracted to these pieces at the time I need the support I discovered they provide in the book. Our collection of crystals has grown exponentially – kick-started by the generous gifts from a reader (thank you K) who mailed a bunch of crystals to us, our collection has since expanded to include all sorts of rocks I never knew existed.

But long before I was interested in crystals, I collected rocks. At our last house, I had collected so many multi-coloured stones from beaches and trails that our garden glittered with colour on the dreariest rainy days. Quartz has always been my favourite, because it reminds me of my childhood home, North Bay, Ontario, nestled high on the Canadian Shield, the very skin of our planet, some of the oldest minerals on the planet. I rode my bike past creeks full of trilobite fossils, imprints of creatures from a time when the earth was covered with water – before humans, before mammals, before dinosaurs, before anything that walked or grew on land. The rocks of my childhood home are an ancient people, and the pink quartz of the north will always resonate with my heart.

It was around this time last year, when I was discovering Candis’ crystal meditations, that she placed a stone in my hand and asked if I could talk to it. I’d never tried to talk to a rock, exactly. I would listen to nature, listen to trees, the wind, the rivers and lakes. I would address a hillside as one being, but I hadn’t actually tried holding a pebble in my palm, placing my focus on it, and asking it a question.

Can I talk to rocks? I found that I could. Or rather, the information my body and spirit garnered from the energy of the rock spirit yielded information as physical sensations, stories, high-pitched voices or intuitive knowing. One stone said it was good for navigating in space, and showed me a constellation, a cluster of starts that reminded me of the “Seven Sisters” in Orion’s belt. One showed me colours, graduating through a rainbow and showing me all the shade subtleties in between – according to the Book of Stones, this type of rock was good for raising the kundalini upwards from the base chakra (red) through to the crown. (purple to white) Another told me it held secrets and would speak no further, even though I continued to question it like an ignorant child.

It never occurred to me that stones could be “programmed”, until I ran into Tracey last August. I took a workshop with Tracey, and although she didn’t explain how *she* programs the stones, which are undoubtedly powerfully empowered, I got this flash of insight into how *I* could program them. I have yet to give this a whirl, but I will soon.

For the past six months, I have been working almost exclusively with the pendant I bought from Tracey. In the photo in the past entry, you can see the stone was wrapped in silver wire – I could not look at the stone without seeing it wrapped modestly in copper, and just a week after I received it, I snipped the silver wire off the stone and replaced it with copper wrapping of my own design. When Tracey checked in with me a few months later, she had a pretty strong reaction to hearing I’d cut the silver wire off the pendant, telling me the metal contained part of the programming. I’d figured that, which is why I left it on there as long as I could stand it, but it was much more comfortable when I re-wrapped it, and the stone glittered it’s happiness to everyone who saw me – I started getting compliments.

One theory that’s emerged from my reiki practicioner friends is that silver can impede the flow of some energy, which is why they and the local instructor never wears silver during therapy, although copper and gold is permissible as it’s apparently a conductor. This explaination made intuitive sense to me since a big part of the problem I was addressing with this pendant was a throat chakra issue, and having silver hang out right at my problem chakra didn’t feel right.

Isn’t that what healing comes down to, so often? What feels right?

Anyway, I’ve been wearing this blue quartz for months when I finally realized the work was complete. The stone no longer glittered, and felt tired. It didn’t seem as pretty. The shift could be felt more than described.

Around this time I have finally gotten around to reading one of the many books purchased for me from last year’s “Books for Readings event”: The American Indian Secrets of Crystal Healing.

It’s a funny title because the author and his mentor are Canadian, and in Canada the word “Indian” is not used to refer to the people who lived here before France and England began claiming the land for themselves. Describing someone as an “Indian” is never used unless you yourself are an “Indian”, or you want to get stink-eyed by someone who may call themselves an “Indian”, or unless you’re racist Canadian Legislature. In the States, “American Indian” seems to be the correct wordage, which must be a relief because Canadians still haven’t been educated as to whether “Aboriginal” “First Nations” or “Native” is the best descriptor. But I digress.

Ha, someone just reminded me that the difference between Canada and the US is a “white problem” and the Indian people of North America can lay claim to the entire continent, undivided by borders. Shows me a gathering of people in the south, tribes from all over the continent, and says There is no difference between the (Blackfoot, the Sioux, the Huron, the Cherokee, the (shows me people with screaming faces painted black) the Anasazi, the (shows me south American tribe in the rainforest.) We all would come together (looks like every 20 years or so) (Chiefs, medicine men and women healers) of all tribes would gather in (looks like the middle side of the states, on the east coast, and alternating to the west coast, New Mexico-ish, oh wait and now Arizona desert.) There is no difference between the riders of the north (shows me hunters on horseback in the Canadian prairies) and the riders of the (shows me people riding in dessert – these people have long leather chaps, like a lighter dear hide, whereas the riders of the north look like they’re horseback riding hunting buffalo almost naked.)

Thank you for that. Yeah, I got a little chiding there because I was about to say if I’d known the authors were Canadian, and quite close to my childhood home, I would’ve read it sooner. This One speaking to me is quite right to point out this does not make their knowledge any more significant to me, as all people everywhere are the same.

Oh words! How you trip my thoughts up eh? Anyway, back to the book:

The author discusses various methods of cleansing crystals, and recommends salt water. He points out that purifying in sunlight and moonlight is not appropriate for all rocks, as some were born deep in the earth, and the light of exposure is too harsh for them. These stones prefer natural running water, like a creek bed, or lightly salted, distilled water. The reason being that the stones are very sensitive to the subtleties of energy, and that the salt acts on positive ions in the aura of the stone. It draws these ions away leaving the energy field of the stone resonating clearly. Now, obviously I can’t speak to the science of this, but I can confirm that the crystals I’ve soaked in salted water (non-iodine salt! Not table salt) have come out of the dish glittering happily and feeling either lighter, firmer, heavier, cooler or warmer.

I shit you not. Try it for yourself.

When I first read this thing about salt water being the “correct” way to cleanse stones, I thought about that entry I’d posted a while back about rituals. I thought here’s another expert, reinventing the way to cleanse crystals. What better way than sunlight or moonlight? But I decided to try it anyway. This book included a lot of writing about smudging and the use of sage, cedar and sweet hay to cleanse living and sacred spaces, and I found all of his wisdom resonated with my own experience and intuition.

Well now I’m on the salt water train too – I feel like many of the stones are happier in salt water… but I have to say I wouldn’t do that to all of them. There are a couple of massive pieces of Hematite that I would not put in salt water. It wouldn’t feel right. Instead, if they ever feel tired, I’ll put them outside to allow the rain to fall over them, or I’d even bury them and allow the earth to regenerate and balance them.

I hope I haven’t lost anyone.

I decided to release the blue quartz from the copper wrapping and just give it a week-long bath in salt water, as recommended by Secrets of Crystal Healing, in order to completely cleanse a crystal of prior programming. As I clipped the copper away I could almost hear it go, “Ahhh!”

One thing I love about the Secrets of Crystal Healing is that the author and his teacher talk to and refer to individual crystals and stones as partners in healing, and friends. This feels right to me. Since I began communicating with stones, I’ve developed fondness and affection for pieces I have felt have been helpful, I say thank you to them, and I try to respect and honour them as elements of the earth on which we depend and live. No sooner did I start calling them the Stone People, addressing them as aware entities and inviting them to come into my house to live and assist in their healing work, they practically stampeded over to my house!

The aforementioned crystal goddess Candis and her partner Aaron are moving into a very remote and inaccessible place for the winter season, and one afternoon, while I was out of town, they brought over all of their precious and beloved stone friends and arranged them outside my house, by my doorways and in my garden. It truly feels as though the Stone People came to live with us!

Once again my house and garden glitter with colour on the dreariest rainy day.

Now that my blue quartz is finished it’s work and is enjoying its week-long salt water bath, I am drawn to program a crystal myself. Given the events of the last month, I’ve decided that I’ll program the crystal with the intention to completely balance my body, mind and spirit, in order to manifest a perfectly healthy, strong, self-healing body. There has been a couple of stones volunteer for the job, and I’m still considering which one to use.

This brings me back to the flash of insight on programming crystals. Here’s what I saw:

I saw myself making holy water. I’ve done this before, and picked up the skill from one of Sylvia Browne’s books. For me, it’s water left out in the sun for three days and three nights, and blessed with the sign of the cross, or the star, as I ask Heaven to assist me in using this water to for (fill in the blank purpose. I generally use it to bless my house / space, when I didn’t have access to sage, and I also used it, in combination with salt, to encircle and bless problematic rental properties that needed clearing of negative imprints or entities.) I’m sure there is a technically correct way to make holy water, but as I previously explained in the rituals entry I don’t get hung up on details, I focus on my purpose and have absolute faith that my focus and my prayers will be enough, and that my helpers on the other side will do the rest. I always thank them for their help, and rather than say “Amen” – I’ve always ended my prayers with “I love you.”

So yes, step 1: make holy water. Put it in a glass bottle. Cover the top of the glass bottle with cheesecloth or similar plain fabric – let the water breathe, do not cap it with a plastic or metal lid. I don’t know exactly why I won’t do this myself, it just felt intuitively wrong when the last batch of holy water was capped with white plastic lids, so I’m passing that on to you – it’s your call, whatever is practical and feels correct for you.

I will interrupt my own thoughts here to say that I have come up with a step 0: collect rain water. I decided that I wanted to ask the earth and the sky for their elemental blessing, rather than use processed tap or distilled water. If I had a freshwater spring close by, I’d use that. For now, I’ve put out a large glass bowl to collect rain water, and I’ll filter the bits out with cheesecloth. I won’t get the water in contact with metal, given how much my animals complain about the taste of their water when I serve it in stainless steel bowls instead of glass ones.

I’ll also say that this time of year, I’m unlikely to get three consecutive days of sunlight in my region. I will therefore trust that having just fallen from the sky, the rain water is as good as sun-charged, and perhaps infused with the special new-beginnings magic of spring.

Step 2: Think about the energy you want to change. In my case, it will be fear, illness, restriction. Create a symbol for that energy. Maybe it’s a jagged line, a spiral, a sad face. Write it at the left side of a small rectangle of white paper or cloth. This will symbolize it moving into your past.

Think about the result. Think all about the result, what it looks like, how it feels, how it impacts your life. Meditate on it, pray about it, get as into that thought as you possibly can. While you’re in there, create a symbol for that energy. Write that symbol on the right hand side of the paper. This symbolizes this energy in the future.

Fold the piece of paper in half, so that the two symbols meet and are one on top of the other, facing inwards. This for me symbolizes the cyclical nature/illusion of time, how we can transform in an instant, and how the first will become the next. Tie or attach this paper to the side of your jar of holy water, and let it sit.

If I were to let it sit in the sun, I’d say three days is enough for me to charge the water with the energy of the transformation I intend to make. I’m not sure how many overcast days it’ll take, so I’m going to play it by ear.

Step 3: This “programmed” water can be drunk, if you want. You can drink some of it to test the energy, to see how it feels in your body, to see how it makes you feel. If you feel uncomfortable or frightened, that’s not always a bad thing. We’re stuck in our patterns because they are COMFORTABLE, and I tell you, the first week I wore Tracey’s pendant I bawled almost every day.

Once you feel the water has taken your programming, drop in your crystal. (Ensure this crystal has been cleansed in salt water for a week, or in sunlight, moonlight, in the earth, in running water, in the rain or whatever you feel you need to do to cleanse and clear your crystal friend. I also suggest spending some time meditating with it to see how the crystal’s own energy affects your own, perhaps have a conversation with it and ask it to help you. You’ll feel an answer.)

Leave the crystal in the jar of water with the symbol still tied on it for probably as long as it took to program the water. Until it feels “done”. I’ll test mine by holding it while meditating, to see if I feel the same effects I did when I drank the water.

Step 4: Keep the crystal on you as much as possible / comfortable. I was quite uncomfortable sleeping with my programmed pendant for the first month, but gradually, as my energy changed and as I made changes in my own life, the pendant felt more comfortable.

Step 5: Notice the effect, or notice a lack of effect. If it’s not working, cleanse the stone out, thank it, and possibly try again with a different stone or try a different method completely. Heck, this is just a suggestion!

The reason I’m sharing it is because all of this is part of the energy (magic!) I’m putting into my own transformation and healing. In order to manifest something, you’ve got to DO something, and it almost doesn’t matter WHAT you do, so long as you DO SOMETHING different, preferably involving talking about it. After all, there was nothing, and then there was the Word. I think I read that somewhere. 😉

Oh relax, I’m not becoming a bible-quoting psychic! I’m having fun, which is also part of the point. I think it’s important you love and enjoy the whole process, and that by keeping the crystal on you, it reinforces your intention / your new programming. It reminds you that you’re changing, so you remember / reinforce the change.

A simpler version of this manifestation technique I employed myself five years ago when I first visited the West coast. I vowed to move here. I bought a necklace of carved yew-wood, a local tree, and I put it on my neck promising myself I would not take it off until I was living here.

I wore that necklace for five months… and then I took it off in my new west coast apartment.

I didn’t do anything to that pendant other than create a promise to myself, and I it wasn’t the only thing I did to change my life. So draw your own conclusions people, whether you talk to rocks or just make a promise to yourself that you know you will keep, you have all the power you need to create magic.

http://clairbook.com/suggestions-for-programming-crystals-and-stones

Oh ps: above link to clairbook article on crystals. My friend and fellow psychic Leigh Hopkins cofounder this site, and she surrounds herself with wonderful people. I’m sure the clairbook crystal people have good things to offer on this topic, and reading the above post actually inspired this one!