THE STORY BEHIND … Magic Crystals, Sacred Stones
The Magical Lore of Crystals, Minerals and Gemstones
by Melusine Draco
Every book has a story behind the story of how it came to be written. It may be about a life-long passion, a personal journey, the need to share an experience or knowledge. It may have been fermenting in the brain for years, or sprung fully formed from a blinding epiphany. Whether it be fact or fiction, sometimes the story behind the story is almost as interesting as the published book itself …
This book is dedicated to the memory of Mériém Clay- Egerton, herself a Doctor of Geology, who had a life-long passion for archaeology and anthropology, and who brought both art and science into the realms of magical teaching. These activities led to an even more intimate association with the Earth and its rock formations by active participation in caving and climbing. Together with her husband Bob, they founded the first cave rescue team in the Peak District, and are both still remembered with great respect in caving circles.
Strangely enough, writing in the archaeology journal Time and Mine in June 2017 just five years after Magic Crystals, Sacred Stones went to press, Dr. Andy Jones and colleague Thomas Goskar from the Cornwall Archaeological Unit, observed that:
“As in many cultures where darkness is associated with the supernatural and the heightening of senses, it is possible that some activities at Hendraburnick Quoit may have been undertaken at night. Quartz has luminescent properties and reflects both moonlight and firelight. Given that the human eye perceives color and shade quite differently at night than by daylight and the art would have been visible in moonlit conditions, the smashed quartz at Hendraburnick could have been used as part of night time activity on the site in order to ‘release’ the luminescent properties of the quartz around the monument and ‘reveal’ the art in a particular way. After the ritual, the broken pieces, once they had fallen on the ground, could have effectively formed a wider platform or arc which would have continued to glisten around it in the moonlight, and thereby added to the ‘aura’ of the site.”
To add to the interest, Dr Jones and his team found a layer of slate beneath the 16-ton quoit, indicating it was dragged there from a site down in the river valley and is therefore not a natural formation. Fifty years after the quartz (and slate) factor was included in CoS magical teaching, it now comes to the fore again in archaeological circles, demonstrating how advanced the Clay-Egerton’s magical teachings were at the time.
“The use of precious stones in early times as amulets and talismans is shown in many ancient records, and several scholars have assumed that this belief in the magic efficacy of stones gave rise to their use as objects of personal adornment.” George Frederick Kunz
Although Magic Crystals, Sacred Stones is drawn mainly from European and British geological findings, the same lessons can be learned about any area of the globe, since all the continents were originally joined together by the great equatorial landmass of Pangea some two hundred and fifty million years ago. Discover what geological formations make up your part of the world, and which different crystals and minerals are peculiar to those rocks. The magical and sacred uses of the stones may differ slightly between continents and cultures, but the fundamental makeup of the rocks from which they come remains eternal. Each chapter contains practical exercises that help you acquire your own unique collection of divination stones and crystals.
“Well written, loaded with information and very easy to read. The author is knowledgeable and has a knack of getting that across without being boring or in the style of, ‘this is what I know and I’m right.’” BFH
“I’m a big fan of crystals and this one is way up there with the best. This is an intelligent book, good research and well thought out. It stands it will reach the whole of the MBS audience and those interested in gems and crystals and those curious about them.” MMW
“If you thought this was just another book about crystals, think again! Not only is the author an experienced magical practitioner in her own right, but her magical tutor also held a doctorate in geology – and it shows. Not just in the obvious love of the subject but in the vast store of magical information crammed into these 186 pages. Of course there is the usual list of gemstones with their correspondences but Magic Crystals, Sacred Stones goes much further in explaining that it can be the very rocks beneath our feet that generates magical energy – and how it can affect our own magical working. Did you know, for example, that many of the stones used in our ancient monuments contain a high percentage of quartz; and that quartz is the most magically potent crystal on the planet? Another interesting aspect to this book is that the exercises at the end of each chapter are designed for the purpose of creating your own personal system of divination by crystallomancy, the ancient practice of casting lots using small stones or crystals. As well as being a practical magical guide, it is a worthy successor to those two classic historical reference works The Curious Lore of Precious Stones (Kunz) and Magical Jewels (Evans).”
Carys Llewellyn : Freelance writer and book reviewer.
“Since time immemorial stones of all shapes and sizes have held a revered and sacred place in all cultures and religions. Greek mythology refers to them as the bones of the earth mother, cave men used them to fashion their first tools, Egyptians placed them as funerary object, foreign traders traded them as currency and many earlier civilisations wore them as adornment. Religions of all persuasions used them in or as their sacred objects as well as for beatification of scared sites. Eventually all cultures began to use them in one form or another as building blocks. Along the way man began to discover that rocks or shall we say stones of certain classification had special, if not mystical properties for healing and were used by the healers, shamans, priests and many others for their magical properties.
In this book we are not only introduced to the magical properties of rocks and crystals we are taken on a guided tour of the formation (geological) of the elements that gives us a fuller understanding of the minerals as they evolve into a vast array of sacred stones. Each chapter introduces a differing aspect of formation, history and mystique complete with an exercise to encourage us to use the stones, pebbles or crystals in the correct manner. Primarily discussing geological formations, stones, pebbles etc in the Northern hemisphere the information translates, generally, globally. In some ways it is a crash course in geology but in others is comprehensive guidebook to the use and maintenance of sacred stones.” Blue Wolf Reviews | http://www.bluewolf-reviews.com/
Magic Crystals, Sacred Stones by Melusine Draco is published by Axis Mundi Books ISBN 978 1 78099 137 5 : Price UK£11.99/US$19.95 available from Amazon or http://www.axismundi-books.com
Melusine Draco 