Simmons - The Pocket Book of Stones: Who They Are and What They Teach, Revised Edition

I wish to thank my friend and sister Naisha Ahsian for her decades of work with crystals, both mineral and human. Your humor, intelligence and spiritual gifts have allowed you to be one of the luminaries of the crystal community. But it was your heart and your will that did the work.

P eople love stones, andif the meditative encounters I and thousands of others have experienced mean what they appear to meanthe feeling is mutual.

The lore of the spiritual qualities of crystals, gems and minerals goes back far beyond our written history. Moldavite amulets were discovered in the 25,000-year-old archeological dig that uncovered the Venus of Willendorf, the oldest Goddess statue. Fifteen centuries ago, Hindus believed that diamonds provided their owners with protection from evil spirits, fire, poison, snakes and illness. In ancient Rome, Emerald was viewed as a symbol of fertility and was associated with the goddess Venus. Christian legends speak of Emerald as the stone of resurrection. Ancient legend in Burma held that inserting a Ruby into ones flesh would make one invulnerable. The Christian Mystic Hildegard of Bingen wrote an entire volume on gemstone cures for all sorts of illnesses. Several years after The Book of Stones was published, I discovered it was predated by a similar book with the same title, written by the Arabian alchemist Abu Musa Jbir ibn Hayyn, over 1,000 years ago!

My own books are nourished by the roots of these ancient traditions, and are addressed to the large community of spiritually-oriented stone lovers that sprouted in the early 1980s and has grown exponentially since then. Like the alchemists, we look beyond the outer appearances of crystals and minerals to link with their quintessential energies, and to open ourselves to their influence. The hope and intention we carry is for transformation to occur. The sorts of changes we seek run the gamut from self-healing to spiritual awakening, from grounding to ascension. In the process of this inner work, we tend to find more than we seek. We discover new capacities and deeper sensitivities. We experience visions. We begin to feel the awakening of heart awareness and body consciousness. We sense the dawning realization that stones are more than useful objectsthere is Someone there, a helping spirit that has its own nature and is ready to join us in cocreation.

After several decades in its initial stages, I feel our current work with stones is ready to be taken to a new level. Now we are prepared to meet the Stones Beings, and to work with them in partnership for the good of the world. We are called in this time to enter, with the help of the stones, into a New Consciousness, a new way of being for which we have been preparing for a very long time. Within this, we will find new modes of healing, new ways of sensing, new insights into our purpose and new ways to participate in bringing forth an awakened Earth.

In light of such a grand vision, what is the purpose of something like The Pocket Book of Stones? I see it as a Whos Who or Facebook for the beings of the mineral realm. Each entry provides a kind of character sketch, complete with picture, intended to introduce you to the stone, offering a summary of its qualities and the ways you might be likely to experience it when you meet it. It can help you decide what stones you might want to work with at a particular time, or it may help you understand the crystals and minerals that already grace your surroundings. It can orient you to better translate the inner experiences you undergo when meditating with a stone, and it can help you consider which stones to combine for enhancing their benefits. Finally, it is small enough to take with you on a backpacking trip to the rocky realm of the great outdoors, or a more genteel excursion into a crystal shop.

For me, the Mother of all the Stone Beings, and of all the human beings, is Sophia, ancient Goddess of Wisdom, the Soul of the World. The greatest blessing of my work with stones has been their aid in guiding me to an inner meeting with Her. From that meeting, it became clear to me that each kind of stone has its own archetypal character, a stone soul that knows and loves Sophia and is ready to work and play with Her in cocreative communion. To meet Sophia is to experience joy, and it is also to be welcomed into that same collaboration. As She is the Goddess of the Earth, the stones are her angels, and we can join in partnership with them all. To do so is transformative, awe-inspiring and fun. I recommend it highly.

Think of this book as your engraved invitation. The party has been going on for millennia and it is just getting started.

Robert Simmons
June 24, 2011

There are many references in this book to crystal healing and physical correspondences of stones with bodily organs and systems. I want to be sure that readers understand my perspective on this. I work with the stones intuitively, and I listen to their voices inwardly. What I write about healing properties is what I hear inwardly while meditating with the stones. None of these intuitions have been scientifically tested, and when I test them on myself, it is as an adjunct to good medical care, not as a substitute for it. Using crystals is, in my view, not like taking pills. I think that any effects they may have for healing are spiritual, like the effects of prayer. People who want to try out these intuitions, like myself, are free to do so. But please do not look at the writings in this book as prescriptions, or as any sort of promise that a stone will cure anything. At best, we dont know that yet. I advise anyone in need of medical or psychological care to do what I do and get the best professional help you can. If you want to add stones, or prayer, or both, why not? And to those who practice stone layouts or crystal healing, I strongly suggest that your clients be similarly advised.