After a moon cycle and a half I have an update on my Preseli bluestone beads - the "Stonehenge" beads:
First off, I don't think they vary all that much from Moon sign to Moon sign. Maybe in the hands of someone more adept than I those subtle variations could be teased out, but for me, the signals just aren't loud enough.
Second, I mentioned last time that they were great for meditation and divination but not for ritual. I'd like to retract that statement. They are good for all of those. The issues with visualization I reported were likely just my own, and have since been corrected. Morning practice, all of it, is the only time I wear the bluestones now, and I really enjoy it. Except that they do tend to tint the normally-white Kether sphere with their green-blue color.
And that leads me to my general impression of the substance. By themselves they are not for everyday wear (which is probably why more people don't wear them). My wife and I have both found them to be too...spiritual. They make us spacey, and distant, disconnected from the material world. More than once I've had to just take them off and do a closing hand gesture to snap out of it. I taught her how to do that too, and she said it was like waking up from a dream.
But the healing power I get from them is real. I could see Stonehenge being a place of intense healing - if one had the time to just BE there, inside the inner circle, with no obligation to get along in the material world. Wearing them, or likely being in the circle, for long periods isn't terribly restful though! It's challenging, mentally tiring. Makes me wonder if your garden-variety pilgrim didn't spend the majority of his time within the henge in its outer circle.
But that leads me to the geomantic portion of my inquiry. I want to wear them; I want to receive the healing power they have to offer. My shoulder could really use it. So I asked the geomantic spirits if the stones could be combined with carnelian to add some energy and fire, and jet to ground it all out in the real world, manifest that potential.
I got Amissio as RW, Carcer as LW, and Fortuna Major as Judge. Here's what this says to me: my relationship to the beads as-is plays the role of the querent, and something ain't right. Carcer significates the quesited - the addition of jet and carnelian to the mix. And Fortuna Major is the outcome of adding those beads to the mix - a great success.
All 3 of those have Fire and Earth elemental symbolism. In the case of Carcer it's the active Fire and Earth lines of the figure itself, and with the other two it's their inner and outer elements. Carcer's inner and outer elements are both Earth, which suggested to me the idea of isolating the bluestone beads between jet beads, with the fiery carnelian on the other side of the jet, not in contact with the bluestone. That is, jet-bluestone-jet-carnelian-...
Contemplation drew me to the design of Stonehenge itself. Earth-Bluestone-Earth-Bluestone-Earth...with the occasional fire (the Sun) poking through the various windows thus created. I'm still missing the Air element, and I certainly considered the need to add that to the mix in the beginning, but in all 3 figures the Air element is latent, suggesting that it might be better without it. And indeed I find Air to be my most challenging element.
What's your take here? Am I just reading it the way I want it to read or do you think there's something to it? Would love to know what Sara thinks about the design as well!
Thanks very much for all this! I know I've been long-winded on 2 occasions already this week...
Geomancy x Natural Magic
First off, I don't think they vary all that much from Moon sign to Moon sign. Maybe in the hands of someone more adept than I those subtle variations could be teased out, but for me, the signals just aren't loud enough.
Second, I mentioned last time that they were great for meditation and divination but not for ritual. I'd like to retract that statement. They are good for all of those. The issues with visualization I reported were likely just my own, and have since been corrected. Morning practice, all of it, is the only time I wear the bluestones now, and I really enjoy it. Except that they do tend to tint the normally-white Kether sphere with their green-blue color.
And that leads me to my general impression of the substance. By themselves they are not for everyday wear (which is probably why more people don't wear them). My wife and I have both found them to be too...spiritual. They make us spacey, and distant, disconnected from the material world. More than once I've had to just take them off and do a closing hand gesture to snap out of it. I taught her how to do that too, and she said it was like waking up from a dream.
But the healing power I get from them is real. I could see Stonehenge being a place of intense healing - if one had the time to just BE there, inside the inner circle, with no obligation to get along in the material world. Wearing them, or likely being in the circle, for long periods isn't terribly restful though! It's challenging, mentally tiring. Makes me wonder if your garden-variety pilgrim didn't spend the majority of his time within the henge in its outer circle.
But that leads me to the geomantic portion of my inquiry. I want to wear them; I want to receive the healing power they have to offer. My shoulder could really use it. So I asked the geomantic spirits if the stones could be combined with carnelian to add some energy and fire, and jet to ground it all out in the real world, manifest that potential.
I got Amissio as RW, Carcer as LW, and Fortuna Major as Judge. Here's what this says to me: my relationship to the beads as-is plays the role of the querent, and something ain't right. Carcer significates the quesited - the addition of jet and carnelian to the mix. And Fortuna Major is the outcome of adding those beads to the mix - a great success.
All 3 of those have Fire and Earth elemental symbolism. In the case of Carcer it's the active Fire and Earth lines of the figure itself, and with the other two it's their inner and outer elements. Carcer's inner and outer elements are both Earth, which suggested to me the idea of isolating the bluestone beads between jet beads, with the fiery carnelian on the other side of the jet, not in contact with the bluestone. That is, jet-bluestone-jet-carnelian-...
Contemplation drew me to the design of Stonehenge itself. Earth-Bluestone-Earth-Bluestone-Earth...with the occasional fire (the Sun) poking through the various windows thus created. I'm still missing the Air element, and I certainly considered the need to add that to the mix in the beginning, but in all 3 figures the Air element is latent, suggesting that it might be better without it. And indeed I find Air to be my most challenging element.
What's your take here? Am I just reading it the way I want it to read or do you think there's something to it? Would love to know what Sara thinks about the design as well!
Thanks very much for all this! I know I've been long-winded on 2 occasions already this week...
Tripp