I wasn't going to go down this rabbit hole, but what the heck, I call myself quartz for a reason.
My first rock, picked up at the age of 6 in the gravel parking lot of my school was a crystallized coral fossil embedded in limestone. I still have that stone. I like rocks, I must look for them, pick them up, touch them, hold them up to the light, take them home with me. They are everywhere in my house, my pockets, my purse. I must have rocks, stones, fossils, crystals around me. They are on my desk at work - there is a fluorite sphere under my monitor, a piece of labradorite sits on my keyboard. People bring me rocks - from places I will never likely go - Italy, Albania, Saudi Arabia. Even my music rocks!
My uncle gave me a Devonian trilobite when I was about 10 - its a complete specimen, no supporting rock structure, just the carapace, curled up on itself, it would be about 2 inches long if uncurled. That I am now the keeper of this tiny ancient creature gives me a wonderful thrill - how is it that a 400 million year old life form, right now, in this moment, can be picked up and nestled in the palm of my hand?? I shiver every single time I hold it.
As for crystals, first, they are pretty! So many colors and patterns, they are lovely to look at. Second is their power, and now the eyerolls start, but hear me out. I'm not talking about the chakra, energy grid, vibration jibber jabber crap. I use them as a focus/attention/concentration reminder. I am a mercurial person, away with the fairies much of the time. If I have a stone, a fossil, a crystal, it gives me a focal point, something to hone in on, a place to visualize. A sort of meditation rather, and a way to try to channel my inner power to focus on something specific, a thought, a task, a problem. Otherwise my brain is thinking of 17 different things all at the same time, which is highly inefficient, and holding a crystal is a
visual, tactile cue to keep my thought process on track. ?
Belief in amulets, charms, totems, talismans, to invoke protection, guidance, and healing from an omnipotent higher being, has of course been in use for thousands of years. I prefer to draw on my own strength, crystals are merely a tool, a
compass, a physical point to concentrate on, their power is essentially to help me direct my own.
