Stone Medicine: Labradorite

So. I haven't been the best at keeping up with my features lately. Especially Stone Medicine (such sporadic times, I'm sorry!). But I figure, since Saturday and Sunday start with an 'S' (I am really corny picking out feature days) I could just post Stone Medicine sometime during the weekend and not feel stressed about having it ready at a certain time. So for now on, either on Saturday or Sunday I will post it! Each weekend come back and find out more about crystal healing!

Anyhoo, back to this week's stone. Since the Moon is growing darker and darker, I want to share with you Labradorite. It is such a beautiful dark and iridescent stone. It's magickal energy is ruled by the darker moon- Waning through the New Moon phases. It aids in banishing negative habits and helps you to dig deep into your soul for shadow work, along with giving you psychic protection.

Due to its ever-changing colors, Labradorite is associated with all the chakras. Place it on your third-eye during meditation to open your intuition and psychic abilities. You can even sleep with it under your pillow to have prophetic dreams.

The Waning Moon is also a good time to cleanse this stone, as this phase aligns its energy. Place it under the Moon at this time, even if you can't see the Moon, Her energy is there.

If you really need to banish something out of your life, bring a piece of the stone out with you under the Waning Moon. Hold the stone and as you hold it meditate on what you wish to banish. Let the stone absorb this negative energy. Do you feel this energy at a certain chakra point? Place the stone over this area. When you feel this energy is out of your body/mind/spirit and into the stone, bury it. The energy will absorb back into Mama Earth. Leave it buried there until you feel this situation habit/person, or whatever you wished to banish from your life, is gone. Try to remember where you buried it so you can use it again! After a good cleansing that is!

I hope you have a lovely Sunday!

Love and Blessings,

Marissa Moondaughter

Stone Medicine: Smoky Quartz

I have been feeling really drained lately... I feel pulled in a thousand directions, school is picking up and I feel so off balanced trying to juggle everything that I want and need to do. My diet is taking a turn for the worse because that has become last on my list like always. And of course, daily cups of espresso and caffeine make me stay up way too late. OY!

So I take my Smoky quartz and keep him by my side. And there is relief. I remember to breathe. Mind you, crystal healing is not a quick fix- you do have to put in work. But you feel it on a soul level. 

Smoky quartz is grounding and protective. As Clear quartz rules the realm of the higher chakras, on the opposite end of the spectrum, Smoky quartz rules the root. As clear quartz is the ultimate healing stone, it is said that smoky quartz is best grounding stone!

It also has the ability to transmute negative energy in your surroundings. This is a great detoxing stone and space clearing stone- placing one in each corner of your room/home can help clear the energy. To magnify the protection and clearing energy, I have been pairing it with Amethyst and carrying them with me and meditating with them everyday this week.

If you want to magnify practicality, organization, and grounding energy pair your Smoky quartz with Obsidian, Jet, Black Tourmaline, or Hematite.

What do you do when you are feeling drained? What helps to ground you? Most of my birth chart, and Ayurvedic dosha (thanks to Lindsay's Tea Consultation at Whole Body Alchemy) has little earth energy, if at all! I need all the grounding advice I can get!

Love and Blessings,

Marissa Moondaughter

Stone Medicine: What is Crystal Healing?

source

Crystal healing is an alternative health practice using gemstones to instigate healing and the realigning of the energies within the body. It is a holistic approach as it encompasses the physical, emotional, and spiritual health of the individual. Holistic healing, versus Western pharmaceutical medicine, takes in the individual factors of the patient for optimal health. The philosophy behind holistic healing is that everything in the body is connected; therefore everything is affected by everything else. Though the dis-ease may be physically manifested in the body, the source could stem from emotional, spiritual, or stressful issues, so treating the source and not the symptoms is a big factor in crystal healing.

When saying dis-ease, it means just that; breaking down the word ‘disease’ is essentially saying your body is not at ease. There is a disruption in the natural balance of the day-to-day energies, functions, and/or processes in the body, mind, and/or spirit of the individual. From a holistic approach, seeing the word this way takes a new meaning; one can and should have the power to heal their body themselves, using the natural resources the earth has provided. These imbalances can be caused by environmental stresses, toxic thoughts, and suppressed emotions. Without proper healing, these imbalances can manifest physically in the body resulting into illness, fatigue, stomach issues, etc. Crystals can help gently correct and realign the imbalances of the emotions, body, and mind, allowing the body to heal on its own.

So how do crystals realign energy? There really is science behind it. As spiritual as I am, I do believe in science and the natural laws of the Universe. I feel this explanation says it best:

"Crystals can generate energy through a phenomenon called the piezoelectric effect. This process occurs when a crystal is compressed or bent. The crystal then generates a charge or voltage on its surface. In the same way, if a voltage is applied, quartz will bend or change its shape very slightly. You and everything else in this world are made up of electromagnetic energy. By holding a crystal your electrical impulses interact with the crystal creating this same type of piezoelectric effect. The crystal begins to vibrate and the energy it creates can be transmitted to your own internal energy circuits," ~ "Crystal Energy Healing”. The Pagan’s Path.

Basically, our energy field as humans is less stable (we are made of 75-80% water) than the structure and molecular compounds of stones. By working with these more stable energies, our highly impressionable energy field interacts and becomes more balanced with the crystal energy.

Different crystals are formed at different layers, temperatures, and with different kinds of minerals, making each unique and giving off its own distinctive vibration and electromagnetic energy. Working with different stones is then beneficial depending on what kind of energy needs realigning in an individual’s body. Amethyst, for example, gives off a higher vibration due to the high heat it takes to create the crystal and the color, therefore it is usually a stone used for the Crown or Third-eye chakras (higher energy centers) to cleanse toxic thinking and habits that are deeply rooted in the mind. It is known as the “Sobriety Stone,” as it can help people with addictions to heal their destructive habits. Hematite is a lower vibrational stone because it is made deep in the earth; therefore it is a very calming and grounding stone. It helps to slow down the energy of the individual:  it can actually be used as a helpful sleep aid.

For my relaunch, I will be offering Crystal healing sessions, working one-on-one with me and the stones you need to bring balance back to your life. I am so excited!

I will talk about ways to use crystals for healing in a later post! Happy Saturday!

Love and Blessings,

Marissa Moondaughter

Stone Medicine: Amethyst

Oh Amethyst, how I love thee even more now. Amethyst is a beautiful quartz varying in shades of purple due to the trace amounts of iron and aluminum. Because of her higher vibration and color wavelength, she is associated with the Third-eye and Crown chakras. She helps to open psychic awareness and connects us to the Divine. While meditating she helps us to achieve a high consciousness. I put my talismans I use for tarot/oracle readings on top of my amethyst clusters to charge them with power. I also place amethyst on my cards and always keep them on my altar where I do readings.

Physically and emotionally, amethyst is a powerful healer. She is known as the Sobriety Stone, as she helps people to release addictions and negative habits. If you are trying to release a negative habit, wear amethyst and every time you have a craving to slip into your old ways, rub the amethyst and imagine yourself free of the habit/pattern. Wear the amethyst until you feel this habit is gone! She is highly purifying and very protective of her owner.

She also known to help oxygenates the blood, which I experienced first hand the other day. I don't every really get headaches/migraines, so when I do, it knocks me out. It started at 3 pm and I could not shake the pain away no matter how much water I drank (and I really hate taking medication). So when I got home, I put lavender and peppermint oil (Thank you, Kami!) on my forehead and the nape of my neck, which relieved a lot of the pain. I then placed my biggest specimen on my forehead and relaxed like that for 20 minutes or so. 

I literally felt the Amethyst absorbing the pain from my head. And after 8 hours, my headache was gone 30 minutes!

If you only have small amethysts, I would put 1 or 2 on your forehead and one at the nape of your neck for extra measure.

So thankful I was able to go to bed pain-free. So thankful for the bones of our Mother Earth; they really are such great healers.

Have a wonderful, Saturday everyone!

Love and Blessings,

Marissa Moondaughter

Stone Medicine: Clear Quartz

Clear Quartz is probably the most common stone people have seen and heard of. It is also the most versatile healing stone. It stores memory and can hold a lot of power. That is why quartz is still used in lasers and watches and x-ray machines! 

My Arkansas Butterfly Quartz specimen <3

Clear Quartz balances all the chakras and it magnifies the energy of the stones around it.It also helps connect you to the spirit realm.  Wearing clear quartz heightens spiritual awareness and increases your intuition. Because of its high vibrational magnifying power, I like to use this stone a lot! I have one with me always. Any group of crystals I am working with has at least one clear quartz in it.

Clear Quartz can be used anytime of the moon cycle. Do keep in mind because Clear quartz magnifies energy, it can amplify your emotions- positive or negative. So if you need to calm down, pair quartz with a calming stone like Lepidolite or Blue Lace Agate.

Try this meditation:

Lay down and place a piece of quartz at your feet and at the top of your head. You can even surround your head with 7 or 9 quartz points/crystals. Then relax for at least 20 minutes. Try to feel the energy from the crystals interacting with your energy and be open to whatever drifts in your mind during this time. The crystals will help realign and balance all your chakras and clean your aura.

Let me know if you try this meditation out!

Love and Blessings,

Marissa Moondaughter

Moon Days: Full Moon Charging

The other night during the Full Moon, I charged a lot of stones under the Moonlight. It felt so good to get rid of some stagnant energy. 

During the Full Moon, charging your gemstones is an opportune time to not only cleanse the energy of your crystals and whatever other talismans you may carry, but it also magnifies the energies of the said objects. Full Moon energy is potent with the energy of fullness, abundance, attraction, manifestation, love-- so keep in mind which stones and objects you want to amplify. That being said, you can charge objects at different moon phases for different energies you want to enhance.

This Full Moon, I charged a lot of rose quartz, moonstone, and clear quartz for the upcoming Goddess Workshop with Aphrodite, to enhance attracting love ;)

I also charged my selenite wand and tower to enhance their healing qualities as I continue to grow into my healing role.

I charged my amethyst chunks to help open my third-eye and enhance my moon readings.

And I charged my Medicine bag made by Sage Goddess enhancing the self-mothering needed to take place within me.

Moon charging does not need to be complicated. You can simply leave them out in the moonlight and go about your business. Or you can say a prayer before you let them soak. Or you can make a full ritual out of it. I lit incense and a candle, held each of the stones and said some prayers and affirmations. And then as an ultimate blessing (to me) I kiss each of my stones. Nerdy? Probably :)

What stones did you charge this Full Moon? 

Love and blessings,

Marissa Moondaughter

P.s. I also wanted to clarify my new feature I posted on Saturday. It is called "Full Moon" and meant to capture the essence, magic, and beauty of Luna in her fullest form. It will not only showcase Full Moon Sacred Spaces, but also sacred crafts, rituals, and recipes inspired by the Full Moon. It will be a once a month feature obviously due to the moon's movement, so if you would like to contribute please let me know! Email me at marissa (dot) moondaughter @ gmail.com under the subject 'Full Moon' :) 

And be sure to check out Ally's lovely Full Moon Altar!

Grounding

After releasing a big project, I have heard you can go through an unsettling phase after. I sure am. The phase has a theme of ungrounded, scattered energy. Everything is scattered: my thoughts, emotions, my clothes, and my energy is a big blah. I have been floating in the ether for so long, my soul is not use to Earth at the moment. And to be completely honest, Earth has always felt like foreign ground to me; I believe we all have themes and lessons we must learn in this lifetime, and one of mine is Earth Medicine. My lower chakras, pertaining to my physical body (mostle root and sacral) have always been imbalanced, so it is time to bring back some nourishment, me thinks. It has been far too long Marissa.

Samhain was not the best for me this year, a lot of issues surfaced, and it made me realize how much I need a clearing out in all areas of my life. And it needs to start with me, in my body, in my mind, in my heart and soul. The sacred sage bundle (above) and a beautiful set of stones (above is Garnet) is exactly what my soul needed this morning. I ordered this set from Sage Goddess and it was one of the first things I woke up to. The sage bundle has rosemary and rose petals and smells absolutely divine. I have been carrying it around with me all day just smelling and savoring it. I even smudged the inside of my car and it got way too smoky in there, haha, lesson learned! It is healing to say the least. And Garnet is a stone of the root chakra so I have been keeping myself grounded.

A nice start off to November, I think. Keep yourselves grounded loves and remember releasing is  apart of life (more of a reminder to me). Love to you all this November <3

Love and Blessings,
Marissa Moondaughter