Healing Stones

There's been a lot of news coverage here in Indonesia recently about a ten year old who was out playing in the rain when he was struck by lightning. He was temporarily stunned but otherwise unharmed and immediately formed an attachment to a stone that he found nearby. This stone seems to have remarkable healing properties and thousands of people have flocked to the Indonesian village where he lives in order to be healed. Here is an article reporting on the phenomenon.

The Javanese love this sort of thing and it's easy to dismiss the whole business as mass hysteria. However, it got me thinking about rocks and their healing powers. The different varieties of crystals have well documented healing properties, regardless of whether you believe in crystal healing or not, and even quite ordinary looking rocks often contains small quantities of crystals like quartz. The photo that I used in this blog post was taken from a site called "Healing Rocks!" by Ananaia O'Leary and here is a quote:

The first step is realizing that stones are allies, not objects. They have ancient wisdom to share and will work with us generously if we approach them with respect. If you wish to find a stone ally, set your intention to welcome a healing ally and go out into Nature with an open heart. Remember, you are inviting partnership with the mineral realm, not hunting for a resource. Take a walk in your favorite green space: your backyard, local park, greenway or along a river or stream. As you walk, breathe in the scents of the Earth, feel the soil beneath your feet, the Mother holding you with each step. Be open and aware … your stone ally may come to you in many forms, a piece of landscaping rock, street gravel or a rock jutting out of a riverbank. It may jump out at you, catching a gleam of the sun, whispering to you as you walk by “Notice me.”

Now it's easy to scoff at advice like this and ridicule the idea of having a pet rock but it's obvious that this person does not view the mineral kingdom as being populated by inanimate objects. Meher Baba is quite clear about the fact that rocks possess a rudimentary form of consciousness and there is a great deal of literature on the topic of nature spirits connected with the mineral kingdom. I'd like to pursue this subject further but right now it's past midnight and sleep calls.