Cosmic glass from a rain of fire
Spiritual growth and transformation
Clear the channel from Earth to Star
Connections cleared for communication

Beautiful and enigmatic tektite is a natural glass from a handful of debris fields around the Earth.  The debate around tektite has been about the stones actual origins.  Do they have cosmic or terrestrial origins?  The consensus at this time is that tektite is formed from Earth's stone matrix when a meteorite or asteroid strikes the Earth at high speed.  This sends molten debris up into the atmosphere where it cools into the droplets of molten material that we know as tektite.

This high silicon dioxide material forms a glass as it cools in the atmosphere.  It has a Mohs hardness of 5.5 to 6.5.  Its most common color is black, but other colors are found.  The most striking of these being green moldavite from the Czech Republic.  The black and grey tektite is found primarily in North America, Australia, Africa, China, and South East Asia.

The earliest descriptions of this stone come from ancient China, dating from around 900 BC.  The ancient Chinese called tektite "Ink Stone of the Thunder God".  In Australia, it was called the magic stone.  The Sanskrit term for it is fire pearl.  In Tibet, it was called "The Stone of Shambhala".  The modern name comes from the Greek word tektos meaning molten.

Tektite is seen as both a stone of Earth and a stone of the stars, or of the divine.  Because of its connection to meteor strikes, it is believed to be a stone of good luck, abundance, and balance.  It is believed to be protective.  Many cultures believed that this stone is a gift from the gods.

This is a stone that most consider to be vibrating at a high energy frequency.  It is believed to elevate consciousness and promote spiritual growth.  Many energy workers find that tektite enhances dream work, psychic abilities, focus, and clarity.  It can help to clear energy channels and facilitate communication with the spiritual realms.  Many people believe that it promotes courage, strength, and resilience.  It may also help release negative emotions, energy blocks, and stagnation in your life.

I work with tektite on an occasional basis and never have very much of this beautiful gem on hand.  That said, my experience with it very much mirrors what I found in my research.  Creating jewelry with this unusual gem is a heady experience that is best enjoyed sitting down.  Creating the piece that is in the photograph was an experience that can best be described as electric.  The energy of the tektite tends to interact with the energy of the quartz in a manner that is exhilarating and visionary.
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Other sources that I used for this article are:
thecrystalcouncil.com
trulyexperiences.com
sagegoddess.com

To find my hand made necklaces click here.

Mental clarity of the Eye of the Hawk
Tiger's courage and integrity
Balanced center to manifest abundance
Enhance the seer's ability

Tiger Eye or Tiger's Eye is an unusual member of the quartz family of stones.  This gem actually starts its life as a different stone, crocidolite, a stone rich in asbestos.  Over time, with heat and pressure, the asbestos fibers are replaced in a pseudomorph process by silicon dioxide.  This creates a fibrous stone with the characteristic flash that gives it the look of a tiger's eye.  The most common form of tiger eye is brown to golden brown with streaks of iron oxide.  Other colors of the stone include red, green, purple, black, and blue.

Tiger Eye has a Mohs hardness of 7.  The largest deposit known is in South Africa.  It is also found in India, Burma, Australia, Brazil, and the U.S.

The Egyptians saw this gem as representing divine vision and used it to represent the God's eyes in their religious icons.  The Romans believed tiger eye to be protective and to give strength.  In China, it was considered to be good luck an to be connected to the magical tiger.  During the Renaissance, tiger eye was used to ward off evil.

Today, this beautiful stone represents abundance, courage, and inner strength.  It is a reminder to see what is really there and to accept reality with integrity and courage.  This is a stone that balances the inner fire of passion and will with the practical action that it takes to create what you desire to see in your life.  It is a stone that teaches us to look deep into ourselves and accept both the shadow and the light in order to step into our full empowerment.

Tiger Eye has always been a stone of magic and mystery.  It grabs the energy of both the sun and the earth, balances them, and grounds them into the here and now.  It is believed to be a shield against negative energy and the "evil eye", and to clear negative energy from a space.

This Eye of God is believed to connect the third eye to the root and sacral chakras, grounding vision into the physical realms.  It is believed to enhance psychic vision and the abilities of the seer.  It is said to help you see patterns of cause and effect, and the underlying patterns in what seems random.  This becomes an aid to mental clarity and the ability to see through the illusions of polarity.  This higher vision of the tiger eye encourages the wise and honorable use of power, calm strength, and discernment.

Tiger Eye might be a gem for you if you are looking for courage, integrity, and inner strength.  It may help you stay in your calm and balanced center,  that balance point of mind, body, and spirit, from which you can take focused and enlightened action that benefits both you and society.

Here are some of the other names for Tiger Eye
The All Seeing Eye
The Shape Shifter Stone
Cat's Eye when the fibers are perfectly aligned
Falcon's Eye or Hawk's Eye for the blue
Ox Eye for the red
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Here are links to some of Manitu's hand crafted jewelry.
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Ancient waters, Ancient Earth
Self-discovery and harmony
Intuition and mind, heart and voice
Balanced for truth and integrity

Deep, watery Amazonite is a stone that lives up to its name.  This gem is a potassium aluminum silicate with a Mohs hardness of 6 to 6.5, just a bit softer than most gemstones.  The most common color of Amazonite is blue-green, but it can range into green, blue, purple tones, or grey.  The color of Amazonite comes from traces of lead and water found in the mineral.  The primary sources of this stone are Brazil, U.S., India, Madagascar, Namibia, and Russia.

Even though Amazonite was given this name by an explorer in the 19th century, it has been used for at least 4000 years.  It was used for jewelry in India, Egypt, Sudan, and Mesopotamia.  Parts of the Egyptian Book of the Dead is engraved on Amazonite.  It has long been used in South and Central America for jewelry and talismans.

Amazonite is a symbol of balance between earth and water.  The dreamy and watery color is an invitation to dive deep into the depths of mystery and self-discovery to find our own truth and integrity.  It is a symbol of courage, prosperity, connection, and balance.

This gem is believed to encourage and facilitate the connections between heart and voice, intellect and intuition, and masculine and feminine, bringing balance and harmony.  It is believed to bring emotional and spiritual healing and balance.  It's calming and balancing nature may help calm scattered thought patterns and self-destructive behaviors.  It may help you create healthy boundaries and shield you against the expectations and intrusions of others.

Amazonite is a stone of courage, truth, self-discipline, and balance.  You may find that it helps you live in integrity and in alignment with your values and purpose in a healthy and calm manor.  It may help you find your inner strength to manifest your true desires and that which is of the highest good.  It may help you find the empowerment to speak your truth in a calm and compassionate way.
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I personally find Amazonite to be a gentle and calming stone to work with.  It seems to work with the other elements in the jewelry that I create to bring the whole piece together in harmony and balance.

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Glass comes forth from volcanic flow
Arrowheads, blades, and surgeon's art
Speak to the present,past, and the future
Seen in the smokey mirror of the Earth's heart

Beautiful, mysterious, and intriguing obsidian captures the imagination in every form that it takes.  This natural glass is formed from volcanic flows that cools too fast to form crystal structures.  I can just imagine the reaction of my ancestors when they found these shards flashing in the sunlight.  This natural glass can be found in many regions of the world where the volcanic activity creates flows that cool quickly.  Some of my favorite forms of obsidian can be found in North America.

This glass, with a Mohs hardness of 5 to 5.5 and no crystal structure is ideal for knapping.  No, knapping is not the ancient art of sleeping.  Knapping is the ancient art of creating tools from stone.  The process involves the skilled chipping of flakes from the stone in order to create beautiful and functional tools or sacred objects.  My favorite material for knapping is obsidian.  Yes, I do knapp.  No, I am not good at it.  Obsidian is used to create some of the sharpest arrowheads, knives, and even scalpels.  It both holds its edge and tends to be self sharpening, as anyone who has broken a glass can attest to.

Black obsidian is one of the materials that ancient mirrors were made from.  These highly polished pieces of natural glass could be flat, concave, convex, or shaped into a ball.  Some were used for practical use, but often, they were used in spiritual practices.  These mirrors and crystal balls were used by shamans, energy workers, and seers to get glimpses of the past, present, and the future.  Sometimes they were used to see spirits and ancestors.  Sometimes, they were used to communicate with the spirit realms.

The symbolism of obsidian is more often found in the specific used than in the stone.  However, in general, obsidian carries with it the symbolism of deep truth, protection, and abundance.

Obsidian is a stone of deep earth energy and fire.  It is, above all things, a grounding stone that connects to the heart of the earth.  It can create an important protective shield against negativity of all sorts. This is a gem that brings to light the full truth.  It is often used as a stone for shadow work and deep spiritual healing.  Some people find that it is a stone that dissolves limitations, and that it promotes clarity and focus.

I love working with obsidian on every level.  Artfully hand knapped blades make some of the most beautiful knives.  When I knapp my own jewelry, there seems to be a "buzz" to the air.  The pieces that I work with for meditation connect me deeply to the earth and my own heart.  Each form of obsidian has its own special twist on the energy of obsidian.

BLACK - protects from negative energies, connects with deep earth energy and spirit, shadow work, and prophecy.
SNOWFLAKE - helps to make the best of a bad situation, hear languages of spirit and nature, and shift patterns.
MAHOGANY - clears negativity and old wounds, connects deeply to earth, grounds, stabilizes, and strengthens.
RAINBOW - aids in shadow work, dimensional work, healing, and works as a mystical stone of vision.
GOLDEN SHEEN - connects to the cosmic sun, helps with manifestation and communication with spirit.
SILVER SHEEN - is often used as a meditation aid.

Northern lights trapped in a stone
Bring magic and mystery of the universe
Courageous expression of your truth
Gift to workers in the unseen realms

Labradorite is an unimpressive grey-green form of feldspar, until you get it into the light.  This translucent stone is laid down in layers and swirls that reflect the light in shimmering, vivid flashes of green, blue, and gold.  This is a sodium calcium aluminum silicate with a Mohs hardness of 6 to 6.5.  This magical stone has been known and used by the indigenous people of North America for more than 1000 years.  It was introduced to Europe in the 1700's by missionaries that visited the Labrador coast of Canada.  Deposits of labradorite are also found in Mexico, Russia, Madagascar, and the US.  The form found in Finland is called spectrolite.  The form found in Scandinavia is called larvikite.  Nuummite comes from Greenland.

There is an ancient Inuit legend of the discovery of this stone.   The legend has it that a warrior was out hunting when he came across exposed rocks.  As he traveled by, he saw the flashes of light in the stone where the Northern Lights had become trapped in their travels.  When he saw what had happened, he struck the stone with his spear.  Thus, he set the lights free.

The original people where this gem is found have always seen it as a stone of magic and connection with the spirit realms.  The shimmering and shifting light of this stone is seen as a portal between physical reality and the unseen dimensions.  Shamans, seers, spiritual healers, and other energy workers use this portal to access the knowledge and wisdom that is found there.  Labradorite is also seen as an aid for channeling energy and manifesting desires,  Not only is this a portal for energy workers, but it is also used as a protective and grounding aid for safe travels and safe return.

Labradorite is seen as enhancing intuition and psychic gifts.  Whether those gifts are clairvoyance, telepathy, or prophecy, this stone of mystery is seen as an aid.  This beautiful gem inspires and encourages creativity and artistic vision.  It can help you find the courage to express your truth.  It is often used as an aid to communicate with your guides and higher spirit.  It is seen as a connection to past lives and the Akashic records.

It has been said that the tyrant seeks power over others, where the magician seeks self mastery.  Labradorite truly is the magician's stone.  It encourages self-discovery and mental development.  It encourages you to find your own worthiness and focus for your energy.  It may help you tap into your inner power and limitless potential.
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I love this stone in all of its forms.  I find that its heady energy opens up the possibilities and potentials in life.  It is just soft enough to hand polish and yet it holds a beautiful sheen.  The photographs in this article are from my personal collection.

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Find your path
With the Stone of Transformation
Work with Spirit
For creative manifestation

I love working with malachite with its mesmerizing swirls of light and dark green.  This richly colored gem is a copper carbonate stone with a Mohs hardness of 3.5 to 4.  Some of the best deposits of malachite are in Zaire, but it is also found in Australia, Chili, South Africa, US, Russia, and The Congo.  The Egyptians were mining malachite 6000 years ago in the Suez and the Sinai.

This easily worked stone has been used for thousands of years for polishing, carving, and pigment.  Although it is no longer recommended because of its toxicity, the Egyptians used it as a cosmetic and a medicine.  The Greeks, Romans, and others used it for jewelry and stone carvings.  The Russians used it for ornaments, inlay work, and paneling.  Malachite is still a favorite stone for jewelry makers who shape and polish their own pieces.

Malachite has long been seen as the Stone of Transformation.  It is believed to absorb negative energies from the environment and electronic pollution.  It is used for deep energy cleansing and healing.  It can help you let go of old traumas and patterns, and flush out old toxic emotions.  But transformation also requires the courage to embrace change.  Malachite is believed to encourage the strength, confidence and courage to follow through.  This combination of breaking up old patterns and finding new options is the beginning of finding new and healthier paths.

Not only does malachite absorb negative energy, but it can also help you spot emotional abuse and manipulation.  When this is combined with malachite's tendency to encourage confidence, courage, wisdom, and will power, it may help you set healthy boundaries.

It may help with the maintenance of both emotional and spiritual balance and a sense of spiritual connection.  Malachite is  a gem that connects to both the heart and the mind.  It is a stone that can be used to connect to your heart's desire.  It also connects to your higher self and purpose.  This earth magic stone helps ground this spiritual and heart energy in the practicality of the here and now.  It may help your creativity, and focus and clarity.  this all comes together with intuition to help you co-create your deepest desires with the universe.

Whether you are looking for protection or strength, connection or to break up old patterns, spirituality or beauty, malachite has something to offer almost everyone.  I find that working with malachite to create jewelry is a meditative process.  The stone and I become one for a while.  When I meditate with malachite, following the patterns and swirls pull me into other worlds.  This truly is a beautiful gem, on all levels.

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Creative joy
And sunny bright
Manifest abundance
With Winter's delight

As we head into the dark days of the year in the northern hemisphere, it is the perfect time to talk about sunstone.  This bright and sunny orange to reddish-brown stone sparkles like drops of sunshine.  Sunstone is a type of feldspar with a Mohs hardness of 6 to 6.5 that contains particles of hematite and goethite to give this gem its bright sunny color and sparkle.  Deposits of this beautiful stone are found in India, Canada, Norway, Russia, Mexico, and USA.

Sunstone's golden orange color and sparkle is the perfect way to bring a bit of summer's warmth and joy into the dark and dreary days as we head into winter.  It is a symbol of joy and warmth.  It is the positive ray of the sunrise sparkling off the water.  It is a symbol of the sun god in many cultures, and a stone of leadership and authority.

It is a stone that reminds us to be joyful in the service of others and to have an adventuresome spirit.  Sunstone is believed to bring light to where the dark corners lie in our lives.  It brings warmth where the spirit is left cold.  It is seen as a stone that lightens the mood and encourages self-empowerment.  It is a stone that symbolizes leadership, abundance, confidence, intellect, and prosperity.

This might be a gem to turn to if you want to manifest good into your life.  It carries with it the energy of good luck and vitality.  It is believed to increase vitality and optimism.  Some people find it to increase motivation, self confidence, and creativity.  It might even help to clear out negative energy.

Sunstone may help you keep a positive and adventuresome outlook on life.  It may enhance creativity and help you focus your talents to create prosperity.  It encourages your leadership potential by showing your self-worth and empowering your courageous self-expression.

I often pair sunstone with moonstone when I am creating jewelry.  I find that it beautifully balances the feminine qualities of the goddess stone for harmonious energy flow.  Pairing the two stone balances intuition and the intellect, bringing  out the best of both.  When we balance knowledge with wisdom, and self-empowerment with service, the potential for greatness occurs. 

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Sunset stone of the warrior's spirit
Measures full courage and vitality
Confidently full of life's force
Boldly embraces fertility creativity
Manifests with passionate action
Grounded in today's reality

​Carnelian is a form of chalcedony with traces of iron oxide in the matrix.  This orange member of the quartz family is formed of fibrous layers of silicon dioxide.  This form of agate has a Mohs hardness of about 7 and is found in igneous deposits worldwide.  The highest quality carnelian is generally considered to come from India, Brazil, Egypt, and Uruguay.

This dramatic stone is also known as the sunset stone, the singer's stone, or the artist's stone.  This beautiful stone carries the warmth and drama of the autumn sunset into your jewelry or grid.  It encourages the passionate pursuit of creative endeavors.  It is believed to lend courage and strength to the channeling and expression of powerful and innovative ideas.

While carnelian is considered to be a grounding stone, it does so in a way that encourages us to know ourselves.  It is a gem that is believed to integrate all aspects of the self.  It promotes a connection to the cycles of life.  This makes it a good stone to promote healing on all levels of our being.  It also makes it a good stone to turn to for manifestation.

When you combine carnelian's potential to integrate and know yourself and its grounding in the here and now, you have a gem of manifestation.  It is a stone of passionate and creative pursuit of your true goals, desires, and dreams.  It encourages the courage, confidence, and empowerment of the warrior's spirit.  It promotes the clear perception and analysis that leads to positive life choices and positive and knowledgeable action.

All in all, carnelian promotes a balanced and practical approach to creating a life that you are passionate about.  Wear it as jewelry, carry it in your pocket, or put it in your spaces.  No matter where you put it in your life, carnelian is sure to bring with it the warmth, beauty, and passion of the bold fiery sunset.

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Ancient knowledge, ancient wisdom
Fossil resin from the old tree
Stone of earth, stone of sun
Healing, luck, and balance in thee

There are only a few organic gemstones.  Amber is one.  This beautiful gem is the fossilized resin from ancient trees.  In most fossils, the organic material has been replaced over the years by minerals.  Amber, on the other hand, is hardened and polymerized organic material.  Most amber is between 30 million and 100 million years old, but it can be older.  This gem can be found in a number of places world wide with some of the best deposits found in the Baltic states, Myanmar, and Sumatra.

Amber has a Mohs hardness of 2 to 3, and has been used for thousands of years by a number of cultures around the world.  And it is little wonder.  These beautiful drops of sunlight would wash up on the beaches and captivate those who found them.  It is easy to carve, polish, and drill.  Amber is found in a number of colors, including red, green, and blue.  However, golden, brown, yellow, and orange are the most common.  The special treat is when you find a bit of insect, feather, or plant embedded in the gem.

Amber is warm to the touch and for many, it carries the energy of the life that created it.  As with all fossils, it is a gem of ancient knowledge and wisdom.  It was grown in a tree of the earth and fueled by the energy of the sun.  This stone of earth, and stone of the sun balances the energies of both.  It works its wisdom through a sense well being and increased vitality.

Like a tree transmuting earth energies, solar energies, and carbon dioxide into vital and life giving nourishment and oxygen, amber is believed to transmute energy.  It is believed to absorb negative energy and transmute it to positive energy.  Some who use amber find that it dislodges stuck energy and helps to get it moving.  This ray of solid sunlight helps to transform negative feelings into feelings of well being.  Many believe that it helps to purify spaces and energy fields.
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I find that this gentle healer brings a subtle vitality and lift to my energy.  The red amber that I work with speaks to me of my ancient guides and guardians.  It helps me to ground their intuitive guidance into the creativity that I weave into my life and work every day.

Stone of prosperity and luck
Balance in the connection
The receptive heart of divine feminine
Love and powerful protection

Aventurine is a form of calcedony that was identified in 1837 by J. D. Dan.  When polished, it has a shimmering sparkle that is reminiscent of a sparkly Italian glass from the 1700's.  This silicon dioxide mineral with a Mohs hardness of 7 derives its name from the Italian term for chance, "a ventura".  Deposits of aventurine have been found in India, Brazil, Chile, and Russia.

The most common color of aventurine is green, but it is also found in blue, red, orange, grey, purple, yellow, and peach.  The common factor between them is their translucence and the shimmer of the gem caused by traces of mica and other minerals in the matrix.  The green comes from fushsite particles.  The red comes from hematite.  Blue comes from copper silicate.  However, no matter what the color is, this stone is considered to be both powerful and balancing.

First and foremost, aventurine is considered to be a stone of abundance.  It is believed that this lucky gem helps to attract wealth and prosperity into your life.  It is seen as a stone of abundance on all levels of life.  Many people use it as an aid to manifestation as it tends to help align opportunity, motivation, and perseverance with the achievement of goals.  This grounding stone may help release old patterns and habits that stand in the way of our deepest desires.

Many consider aventurine to be a stone of leadership and of the divine feminine.  It represents courage and confidence.  It is a stone of creativity, and the fierce protectiveness of the mother warrior.  The divine feminine receives, creates, and protects that which she has brought into the world.  Aventurine embodies all that, but it carries it in a balanced way.

The other side of aventurine is the energy of calm.  Yes, it is the fierce and protective mother energy, but it also helps soothe the emotional wounds and trauma.  It is believed to bring calming balance to the heart and emotions.  It is used to transmute anger, irritability, and stress into resilience, persistence, and hope.  It supports the life giving aspects of the heart when it is in balance.

My primary work with aventurine is in creating jewelry rather than in personal energy work.  That said, I find it to be a beautiful and calming stone in my hands.  While I am working with it, I find myself highly focused and steady.  It is as if the chaos of the world melts away for a while.  For this short period of time, I reside within my own heart and in connection with the earth.  The green aventurine that I work with inspires creations that connect the heart, mind, and earth.
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For a little more refined use of the energy of aventurine, choose a color that matches your desires.
GREEN - brings luck, wealth, abundance, calm and an open heart.
BLUE - brings spiritual guidance, intuition, truth, and clarity.
RED - is for manifestation, magic, life force, and creativity.