INTRODUCTION

The Goddess as the Mother of Minerals

THE INSPIRATION BEHIND Stones of the Goddess began with my desire to deepen my connection to the tides of life, magick,^*1 and mystery that keep the cosmos in order. What started out as a mere inkling in the back of my mind took root and grew as I worked on other projects. However, my personal muse kept highlighting the connections between the Divine Feminine and the mineral kingdom in ways that I could no longer ignore.

I’ve always held a pluralistic, immanent view of the Divine. Having been raised in a not-very-religious household, from a young age I was given the freedom to explore spirituality on my own terms. Two areas of interest struck me in my early years and have stayed with me throughout my life, no matter which direction I have chosen to explore. The first is the mineral kingdom. I have managed to weave my love for rocks, minerals, crystals, and gemstones into virtually every aspect of my life, starting in adolescence and continuing to the present. The second area of interest that really spoke to me on some unknown level was the family of practices that you could loosely group under umbrella terms like paganism or occultism. That there are subtle forces that constitute some unseen reality and that are responsible for everything that happens in the universe was something that I immediately recognized as true, even as a young person. Perhaps the most comforting theological idea I encountered was that the Divine (Creator, Source, God) wasn’t monopolized by any one religion, path, or teaching. Still more intriguing was the idea that many spiritual traditions regard the power responsible for creating and sustaining the universe as not being exclusively male.

As a young gay man still working out his own identity, the premise of perceiving divinity as both masculine and feminine (and sometimes neither) helped me in ways that I couldn’t quite express at the time. Over the ensuing years, my relationship with the Goddess has been a continual blessing. I believe that widespread acknowledgment, if not outright worship, of the Divine Feminine principle is necessary for humanity’s progress.

DEITY AS GODDESS, GOD, AND ALL

When we look to the natural world, we find expressions of polarity and gender in many forms of life. The spiritual traditions that lean toward a polytheistic, pantheistic, or animistic worldview see this same expression of gender in the form of the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine. Among ancient peoples the archetypal Mother Goddess figure was frequently given greater emphasis in religious and magickal rites. In fact, there is evidence that some of the earliest human cultures may have first worshipped only the Goddess, a subject we will turn to in a later chapter.

My experience of the Divine is that it is simply far too great for anyone to wrap their head around. Creator is truly beyond the words, symbols, and texts that attempt a definition. Nevertheless, we have been striving to achieve union with this spiritual source since humankind first appeared, and in this quest we have recognized that divinity already dwells within us and all of creation. The Divine Presence in its primal state is neither masculine nor feminine. This cosmic force entails the sum of both the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine, and as the principle of synergy reminds us, it is greater than the sum of its parts. However, this undefinable, ineffable, nearly unknowable essence of Creator, which I sometimes call the Divine Androgyne (from andros for “male” and gynos for “female”—though this concept is much greater than the sum of the Goddess and God) is hard to relate to. This is where the idea of Goddess and God comes into play.

Because humankind experiences itself through the lens of gender, it is easier to relate to divinity in the same manner. Qualities that are assigned to feminine roles in nature and society are thus attributed to the rulership of the Divine Feminine. These include the themes of pregnancy and childbirth, nurturing, maintaining the home, and more. Stereotypical male traits are similarly attributed to the Divine Masculine, including the themes of warrior, hunter, king, fertilizer, timekeeper, and others. Because of the principle of polarity, understanding one part of the spectrum enriches our understanding of the other. Thus by embracing the Goddess, we better understand her consort, the God, and vice versa. Remember, though, that while there are general trends among these traits, no single characteristic is universally regarded as either feminine or masculine, especially given the context of our changing world. By the same token, no individual person is wholly masculine or wholly feminine; we each have a trace of both the God and the Goddess within us.

MINERALS, THE SACRED CELLS OF THE EARTH MOTHER

Among the most widely recognized images of the Divine Feminine is the depiction of Mother Earth. Since our planet gave rise to life, we see the symbolic themes of conception, gestation, and birth wherever life arises on Earth. Though we traditionally view this through a biological lens, the same language can be translated to the mineral kingdom.

In the cooling of molten rock we see the formative principles responsible for the genesis of crystal lattices—much the same way in which embryonic cells multiply to build new life. The kingdom of stones has long been associated with the Great Goddess. She rules over the fertile soils composed of minuscule grains of weathered rock, and she has been petitioned in the depths of mysterious caverns whose forms are thought to represent her birth canal and womb. Even today, this motherly connection to rocks persists. Common in the mineral sciences is the term matrix, referring to the host rock in which a mineral forms. This word is Latin for “womb,” indicating the parallel relationship between rock and mineral genesis and the gestation of new life. Even the word matter is derived from mater, Latin for “mother.” All earthly substance is birthed from spirit by the Great Mother.

The image of Earth as the body of the Great Mother is not new. The ancient Greeks knew her as Gaia, first-born out of the primordial void, or chaos. Gaia’s influence lives on in the modern world. In science there is a model called the Gaia hypothesis that states that biological organisms and their inorganic surroundings have evolved together synergistically as a single living system. Self-regulating, this integrated system maintains and perpetuates the conditions for all life on the planet. This means that all living things—microorganisms, plants, animals, etc.—depend on and influence inorganic substances such as air, water, and rocks, to ensure that life continues. The premise of this model is that everything is interconnected.

Traditional peoples the world over hold a similar view, wherein the mineral kingdom is perceived as part of the greater Gaia organism. Rock and stone, crystal and gem have all been regarded as the sacred cells of the Earth Mother. In the metaphysical community we often see quartz crystals in particular described as the “brain cells” of the planet because they retain memories, or they are featured as Earth’s “lungs” because they breathe in the life force as we breathe in oxygen. When we hold stones we are literally holding the body of the Goddess. They become tangible tools for making change in our world by providing us with a link to the immanence of the Divine Feminine.

USING THIS BOOK

In working within the context of occult traditions and the healing arts, I’ve done my best to write a book that appeals to all levels of expertise regarding stones and crystals. For this reason, part 1 of this book opens with a discussion of crystal basics. This includes preparatory information on working with crystals from a magickal perspective. As in my previous books you’ll find here a synthesis of spiritual practices and the science of rocks and minerals; this is intended to provide even experienced readers with new perspectives on how to work with crystals. This section includes hands-on techniques for working with your stones, including methods for cleansing, consecrating, and empowering your favorite tools.

Part 2 focuses on the significance of the Divine Feminine. These chapters offer a glimpse at the many roles of the Goddess in history and mythology. Here I describe the stones that relate to each of the archetypes of the Divine Feminine. Chapter 5 looks at the Triple Goddess—Maiden, Mother, and Crone—through the lens of the rock cycle; it relates these three faces of the Great Goddess to the genesis of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks. You’ll also find an exploration of goddess-related symbols, along with sample grids, rituals, meditations, and other recipes for incorporating crystals into your magickal and spiritual practice.

Part 3 is a compendium of crystals. After a brief introduction to the compendium, you will find over a hundred entries for various rocks, minerals, fossils, and gemstones that are intimately linked to the Divine Feminine. Each stone description contains references to myth and mineral science, and each provides suggestions for how to include the stone in your practice.

The appendix includes several tables that summarize the magickal correspondences for the stones in this book. The first table describes various goddess figures and their corresponding stones. Each goddess, saint, or heroine in the table is matched with her country or culture of origin, a few keywords about her, and whichever rocks, minerals, or gemstones correspond to her. The table has been compiled from a mix of traditional and contemporary source material, as well as from my own personal experience. Though I have attempted to cover as many aspects of the Divine Feminine—and as many stones—as possible, it would be an insurmountable task to include every popular goddess in this table. Furthermore, some of the goddesses and stones listed here are not described elsewhere in this book. Check the bibliography for an overview of the publications I consulted in constructing this table.

The other tables found in the appendix consist of lists of elemental, planetary, and zodiacal correspondences. These lists include only the stones that appear in chapter 7. Use them for fine-tuning your magickal or healing practice.

THE CHANGING FACE OF THE GODDESS

We live in a world that is changing at an unprecedented pace. Technology, culture, and language are moving ahead, and many of us struggle to adapt. This points to what is really changing: human consciousness. As we move forward, so too does the collective consciousness, the communal soul of humankind.

There is a metaphysical axiom that states “As above, so below.” It reveals that as one part of the cosmos changes, it mirrors all the other parts. If humankind is changing, so too are our gods. In our world today this means that in a sense the patterns of the “old” Goddess are yielding to a new and emerging face of the Great Mother. The nature of the Goddess is the nature of change itself. Like the phases of the moon or the changes that take place in women’s bodies, the Goddess herself changes and adapts to the ebb and flow of consciousness. The mineral kingdom is here to support us during these times of transition and transformation, and an unimaginable variety of new crystals has made itself available to us in recent years—as if the Goddess herself has gifted us with the tools we need for our evolution.