Stones Cry Lapidary?

Do stones really cry?  Its a mystery. I know they do for me.  A force unseen is still a force.

Often when a question or emotion weighs on me, I lose myself by studying my rock collection.  I think about how they formed in the dark depths of earth, over eons of time under conditions of ancient forces. Whether it was mineralization within pockets or cells of matter once animal or plant, or maybe sedimentation, shifting pressures, shifting plates, solidification of magma, or ?

I wonder about the rockhounds who originally collected this specimen from our earth, and every hand who's held it since. I offer gratitude their work, especially if it was ethical, and ask forgiveness for them if it was not.  I offer gratitude to Earth and pray my work honors her.

I marvel at the visual change that occurs during polishing. The process of rough grinding an ordinary looking dirt-crusted rock through a series of finer and finer grits, until finally a powdery grit produces a shiny polish.  My old rockhound teachers said "its finished when it looks the same dry as it does wet."  Often, the shine offers a look inside, like a window to inner beauty.  Sometimes a magical world is revealed. One that looks unearthly, which is crazy when you consider a rock is literally a piece of earth.

From ancient times, people have believed in various powers of various stones, used them as symbols and for adornment.  True belief is an inside job, the believer comes to it through an inner path, and so it is not subject to external judgement, labelling, criticism, rule or law.

Sometimes I receive inspiration for new jewelry during or after spending time studying my rock collection.  Always, I remember wonder, release the flow of hope, resolve to keep going. My faith in the Light is strengthened. That, to me, is magic, a powerful force, up close and personal.  This work is my small way to be the Light.