Kyrielle

Melody is definitely more complete. The infuriating thing about her book is that many things are unclear. A lot of it is written in inflated, archaic, or obtuse language, and sometimes I read a passage and think "WHAT??"

But it is very interesting, and I use it frequently. I just use it alongside my other stone reference books as well.

The Cunningham contains fewer stones, and omits or glosses over some stones I consider necessities (look at his entry on citrine). But it was written before some stones such as charoite were discovered, and at a time when little was known about some of the newer stones such as sugilite. It has a good selection of lore on most of the major stones, and contains practical suggestions for using stones from a Wiccan point of view. It is also clearly and straightforwardly written, and is less expensive than the Melody.

I would recommend Cunningham first, to get a good grounding in the basic lore and ways of working with stones. Then get Melody and integrate the two. But do get both books, eventually.

-- Kyrielle

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Bailo en este lienzo de dolor
Funambulo sin mapa ni brujula
La dulce locura mi solo refugio
Nazco en la sombra del payaso
-- Benoit Jutras, "Quidam"