a crystals & jewelry adventure

There’s a sweet kitty named Peppers who’s having serious health problems. Her people are willing to go the distance with her but don’t have the funds, which are likely to total around $4500 by the end of it all. If you can donate even just $2 to help out, that would be great. I’ve seen several cats the internet has saved, including Darling Millie whose story is here: : DayOne: The Rescue | DayTwo: The Bad News | DayThree: First Photos | Kitten Naming Contest Part One (voting closed) | Kitten Naming Contest Part Two | Thanks. Bit by bit those little donations add up and can help out a kitty. Visit Pepper’s page to learn about her just for fun, and see how to donate through PayPal or email for a snail mail address, if you can. And spread the word too. :)  Update: Sadly, Pepper lost her fight. Her body just couldn’t overcome her illness.  They are no longer accepting donations, but healing energy or prayers for her family are welcome.

From a recent email I wrote in answer to a longer question.

My experience of the big difference energetically between raw and cut and polished is that the energy is going to usually be spreading out from the stone a bit differently. For instance, if a raw chunk is cut into a wand shape, the energy is going to usually tend to flow from the ends of the wand, instead of radiating out in whatever direction the rough shape would give it. A tumbled stone would tend to radiate out its energy in a “rounder” pattern. And so on. The way I deal with it personally, is I ask in meditation that stones that are not energetically ok with however they were treated in mining, cutting or polishing, or with being with me, to go on to their next thing in their journey through the Universe. You might try something like that with whatever you do.

Look out for those nipaholics.  Your catnip stash is doomed if they find it.

As always, since this is a postal holiday, it’s a day off at CrystalsAndJewelry.com.  Have a Happy President’s Day! See you tomorrow

QUESTION: Having read ‘Gifts of the Gemstone Guardians’ by Ginny & Michael Katz, I wish to locate the Gem Lavender as described in their book. Can you help me please? I need a long strand, or strands, of 8mm spheres.

MY ANSWER: I do not carry strands of 8mm spheres, aka beads, at this time, but your question was interesting to me. “Lavender” is not, at least in the US or the international gem community, an official designation for a mineral, but rather, Lavender or Lavenderine is usually considered to be a synonym of Lepidolite. Gem or Gemmy usually refers to the quality of the stone. I recalled, though, that I had one of Michael Katz’ books on crystal healing and went and found it on my bookshelf. The book of his that I have is “Gemstone Energy Medicine”, and in it on page 230, he states “Although it is often referred to as Lavender Quartz or Cape Amethyst, the gemstone Lavender produces its own unique energy and therapeutic benefits.” I am assuming that the Lavender in the book by he and Ginny Katz is the same one he mentions in “Gemstone Energy Medicine”. So while I don’t have it, you may have more luck asking for “gemmy Lavender Quartz” or “gemmy Cape Amethyst” since that would be the name most use for it. Of course, you can always go to Mr. Katz’ site gemisphere.com where Lavender is offered in 8mm size in lengths ranging from 27″/69mm to 30″/76mm at a price ranging from $159 to $275 and up. While I disagree with Mr. Katz that perfect gemmy stones or spheres are needed to be truly therapeutic, I can’t disagree with the quality of the stones he sells, as they’re really quite stunning from what I’ve seen on his site.

There are laws as to how much lead any jewelry, or part of a piece of jewelry, may contain.  This can vary widely from state to state and country to country. For the most part, we don’t want to sell leaded jewelry to much of anyone. But sometimes we’re not very aware of just what might be leaded.  For instance, anything with Swarovski crystals, which are leaded crystals, would have to be marked as to lead safety.  California has some of the most stringent leaded jewelry laws in the US, and since their laws affect everyone who sells on the internet, it makes good sense to learn about them and abide by them. Plus, it’s safer for the folks who wear our jewelry.

Lots of people are asking this question. Does it matter if stones are natural as opposed to dyed or polished? The answer is that accurate but not much preferred “it depends”.

If you want the stones strictly for the energy of that type of stone, natural is usually considered best. Polished would usually be a close second best — and in many cases, doesn’t hurt the energy of the stones at all, though it may make it spread differently than the natural version would.

If by polishing you mean “cutting and polishing” as with making beads or shapes, then that will almost certainly change the way the stone directs its energy, although it wouldn’t change the underlying energy of the stone. And if you want a stone for the look as well as energy, then cut and polished, would likely be a good thing, as this is done to enhance the useability and look of the stone, as with beads or faceted stones.

Dyed stones would come third as far as the stone’s energy, because many stones are dyed to look like something they’re not. For instance, a turquoise dyed white stone is not going to have the same energies as the turquoise it mimics. It still has the color energies of the color, but not the energies of a stone but what it was to begin with.So if you are looking primarily or specifically for color energies, whether the stone is dyed or natural would not be an issue, as it’s the energy of the color you seek.

Whether it matters that a stone is natural, dyed, cut or polished, depends mostly on what you want from the stone, and what you want to do with it.

QUESTION: “I want to open my heart romantically. I have been so thankful forthe support and love of my partner, but have doubted at times that I reciprocate his romantic love. I want to open my heart and begin to feel love rather than just intellectually ‘know’ that I love him.”

MY ANSWER: Ruby, Amber, Emerald, and Garnet are stones with energies of opening to romantic love, so any of those might be your best bet. Rose Quartz and Kunzite are also seen as powerful love stones, for unconditional love, which might also be appropriate.

This question refers to two different types of crystal formations: Candle Quartz and Recordkeepers

QUESTION: “Why is a candle quartz not call a recordkeeper?”

MY ANSWER: Candle quartz is recognized by a myriad of smaller terminations surrounding a larger central point. Recordkeepers are recognized by etched or raised triangle on the face or occasionally the shaft of the crystal. In candle quartz the smaller terminations are not triangles, they’re actual terminated crystal points. Recordkeepers have triangles on the face or shaft, not actual growing crystals. Of course, an individual crystal can have both formations at once, the same way a crystal can have any two other formations, but no one crystal will necessarily have both.

I got two questions right together about blocking EMF (electro-magnetic frequency) energies from things like cell phones, tv’s, electric lines, microwave ovens, computers, etc. asking what crystals are used for it.

MY ANSWER (Condensed from both answers to remove repeated things): Black tourmaline is said to block unwanted EMF frequencies, and is used pretty extensively by crystal healers for such. Many use natural quartz crystals also. Occasionally I’ve heard of Rose Quartz or Aventurine being used. I prefer the black tourmaline, though, and I keep black tourmaline both at the base of my computer monitor and between me and the cpu box, and it appears to help, since before I did it, I got much more antsy at the computer. It’s hard to be away from all EMF in this day and age, but reducing it in safe ways may well help.