the hermit

One of the first books that I recommend if you're going to collect rocks and minerals is a field guide. Simon & Schuster, Peterson and the Audubon Society all publish excellent rock and mineral field guide books. These books have photos of and descriptions of most rock and mineral types. They are scientific based guides that will tell you what it's made of (including chemical composition), what it looks like, where it's found, how to test it, etc. Each has a different layout format so I'd suggest you look before you buy. All have excellent indexes whereby you can look up the item by name.

Here's a book for the skeptic (that’s me). “The Book of Sacred Stones: Fact and Fallacy in the Crystal World” by Barbara G. Walker. Walker definitely does NOT believe that rocks, crystals or minerals have any metaphysical properties. By default she actually gives you much info and lore about them as she ‘debunks’ them. It’s a great read no matter where you fall on the ‘uses’ of rocks.

For the magickal uses of rocks and crystals I would start with Scott Cunningham’s “Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem and Metal Magic”, and D. J. Conway’s “Crystal Enchantments: A Complete Guide to Stones and Their Magical Properties”. I like both authors and their styles.

For healing Diane Stein’s “Healing with Gemstones and Crystals” is a good book, as is Sela Randazzo’s “Rock Medicine: Earth's Healing Stones from a to Z, a Guide to the Practical Use of Rocks, Crystals and Gemstones, Vol. 1”

For scrying I recommend Ted Andrews’ “Crystal Balls and Crystal Bowls: Tools for Ancient Scrying and Modern Seership”

For finding your own rocks I’ve already mentioned the “Gem Trails” series in another post. They’re available for many u.s. states.
Another interesting general guide series are the “Roadside Geology” books for many of the u.s. states. They explain the geology of the state or portion (Calif. has 2 volumes—north and south) and give you a roadside tour with maps that show you where you can see the various formations and rocks along the roadside. If this subject interests you and there’s one for your local, check it out.

You can find all of these through Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com.

What’s your favorite book?

jema

thanks for those booktips.
i do have the cunningham book and use it a lot.
but i get my main info from the net

here are my fav sites:
http://www.ozarkrockexchange.com/ORE_FEATURES.html
she also has a monthly newsletter with lots of information.

http://www.crownjewels.com/index.htm
for a downloadable e-book with pictures!

http://www.neatstuff.net/avalon/index.html
also a neat site with lots of good stuff like a list of gem remedies.

__________________
To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.
Joseph Chilton Pearce

IDS deck is Tarot of the Spirit

Phoenix

I like Crystal Medicine by Margurite Elsbeth.

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cjtarot

Hi all,

Thanks for the information..the links are great.

Cj

Fiona Blackwolf

As far as magical info etc.I would have to add Melody's Love is in the Earth... a very thick very thourough volume.

catlin

Hi Fiona,

I saw the book by Melody you mentioned but I think a real disadvantage is that there are no pictures next to the texts about the stones. Most ppl don't know how the stones look like and so it would be better for them to see at least a pic.

Laurel

I have to agree. Sites and books with pictures, especially colored pictures are really helpful to me since I have no idea what a lot of magickal stones look like until I check out the pictures. Thank you all for the great information!

Laurel

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jema

catlin!
i saw at amazon that this one comes with two extra supplements with pictures!
which makes it a bit expensive but it might be worth it.
i think i will try to get the text book and then see if i need the supplements with the images.
right now i only got the cunningham book, two tiny swedish books and one on celtic stones.

__________________
To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.
Joseph Chilton Pearce

IDS deck is Tarot of the Spirit

catlin

Thanks for the info, Jema but I am not sure to get the Melody book. I have some pretty good German books and I intend to get the Cunningham to have an idea what stones are called in English.