said that stones find us for a reason—just as friends do—and I believe that this agate from Utah will likely be with me for my lifetime.
Blue Agate
Stones can serve as reminders of lost loved ones or friends. Several years ago, I discovered an excellent variety of blue agate from Oregon, which turned out to be an outstanding stone to use for grief recovery. Once I started working with it, I loved it so much that I featured it as a selection in my “Rock of the Month Club.”
I sent pieces of blue agate to a number of my students and asked them for feedback on what they believed it did for them. Incredibly, their comments were similar to each other and reflected what I already believed about the stone’s ability to bring profound feelings of peace and healing to the user. One student used the stone with meditation and felt a reassuring sense of calm. Another student used the blue agate in the evenings and reported greater ease in falling asleep as well as a sense of relaxation in the morning. A third student held the stone while watching TV and reported feeling at peace about some trouble at work. All of them liked the stone and its energetic properties.
Stones have energetic properties based on their type as well as their geological place of origin. Blue represents the throat chakra, which relates to how we communicate in the world, yet the color blue is connected with emotional healing. Any emotions expressed verbally originate in the throat center. We often stuff deep inside of ourselves many emotions or thoughts that we want to express—perhaps for the protection of someone’s feelings or for fear of potential negative repercussions. Once a thought occurs in the mind, whether it is physically verbalized or not, it affects the throat center. We will explore this idea further in the sapphire section of this book. Botswana blue lace agate is more of a communication stone, while the Oregon variety of agate aids with emotional healing.
After suffering the loss of my dear cat companion several years ago, I learned firsthand about the fantastic healing energies of this stone. While going through her things, cleaning, and rearranging, I was immediately drawn to my favorite piece of blue agate. The stone seemed to lift the heavy weight of grief from my shoulders at that time, and it also left me feeling more peaceful and serene.
I am convinced that the agate helped me to speed up the necessary processing of the many stages of grief, allowing me to experience and work through all of my emotions with grace and ease.
Unfortunately, all of us will suffer loss in our lifetimes. Whether we lose family members, friends, jobs, or living places, each loss will be challenging for various reasons. Agate will aid the healing process regarding whatever kind of grief might affect us, and for that reason, I highly recommend blue agate as a necessary tool to keep in the medicine bag.
Found in: England, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Pakistan, Spain, USA
Named for: Alabaster is derived from the Greek word, alabastros, which was used to define a variety of massive, fine-grained gypsum.
• Bible •
There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. Matthew 26: 7
And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head. Mark 14:3
And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, Luke 7:37
• Cayce Readings •
Alabaster is mentioned three times in three readings. The first mention is in a booklet that was published in April of 1930 by The Association of National Investigators, Inc.:
And now began preparations for the coming of the great King from far away, and for the wedding, and about the castle . . . and they erected an entrance of alabaster . . . 254-107, Report #1
While giving a reading to a client, Cayce dreamed about alabaster, as he noted in the first report:
I was conscious of the fact of separating my physical self from my soul self, my physical self being encased in a box like an alabaster . . . box, from a material I could not describe. It seemed the material manifestation of my physical and mental self was in the box. I gave the box to someone and felt, as I gave it, ‘This is one I can trust.’ . . .
257-130, Report #1
In another reading, the subject was a high priestess in Egypt and the term alabaster seemed synonymous with a higher spiritual state of purity:
Throughout that particular period we find that the entity sojourned in that city where the Temple of Sacrifice and the Temple Beautiful performed their functions, their offices, as the aid to the people . . . For, few of those had arisen to that state in which there were the preparations so as to produce the alabaster, or all white, or all relationships that brought or made for individuality and better expression for the personality of the entity throughout that sojourn.
2329-3
More on Alabaster
Alabaster is a vague mineralogical term referring to either gypsum or calcite. Snowy white and often translucent, light can pass through it.
Depending on which variety of alabaster you choose, this material will connect you with the energy of Egypt or ancient Europe—and with any past-life connections you have had in those places. An important material in the ancient world, alabaster assists with tapping into the lifetimes of ancient civilizations by helping to recover skills and memories associated with places such as Egypt, Greece, or Italy.
Ancient Egyptian alabaster is a form of the calcite variety. In the Egyptian reading, Cayce would have referred to calcite alabaster.
Ancient Egyptians used alabaster for sacred objects such as sarcophaguses and other ritual items. King Tutankhamun’s tomb was filled with items carved from alabaster.
Oriental alabaster, another term for this stone, refers to the calcite-based marble, which will be discussed in a later section.
One of my most profound adventures was a trip to Egypt back in the year 2000. While in the magnificent city of Luxor, I went to a shop where several people were carving scarab beetles, bowls, and other items from huge blocks of alabaster. It looked like extremely challenging work, but luckily both kinds of alabaster are soft and easy to carve.
The scarab was a sacred symbol of the morning sun and renewal in ancient Egypt. The dung beetle laid eggs in a dung ball and rolled it across the ground, an action that soon became symbolic of the physical embodiment of the creation god Khepri, who moved the morning sun across the sky. Even today, the beetle is considered lucky in Egypt, and these scarabs are considered popular tourist items.
In terms of Biblical probability, the alabaster of the Bible would also be calcite because
