Healing Crystals and Gemstones – Healer or Amateur Geologist, you’ll like it!

My friend Bonney presented this book to me in the year I’d like to forget, 2014. I know this because she inscribed it: “To my gem of a friend”… and dated it, “September, 2014”.

It’s funny (interesting, not haha) that once again I find myself pulling the threads between 2014 and the present. I’ve mentioned it a couple of times in the last few days… and in fact, just yesterday.

Our weather right now is a good example of how my life is feeling. We’ve been having a major windstorm – actually, super major –  and what’s happened is the ice that’s normally kept behind barriers has broken through and created  ice shoves along the shore. Take a look at the link to see a photo. It’s a weird, wonderful-looking but scary situation. You know, like an avalanche or mudslide, only ice.

I feel like the last five years have been the ice gathering at the barrier… some gets out, most does not, and it has created a mountain of sadness, depression, anxiety and fear. Actually, it began during my son’s suicide attempt in 2011 but culminated in 2014.

An aside: Even today, as I drove home from work, I thought of my son’s attempt and how we didn’t know where he was for hours. Once we knew… it was better and worse, because we had to accept that it was actually a suicide attempt. The times before, especially the attempt when he was eight years old, could be explained away as risky behavior, a function of his ADHD or other neurological disabilities, or that he didn’t really know the consequences of what he was doing.

Then there were quiet years, about eight of them. 

And then in summer of 2011, he drove off a cliff. Not much to misinterpret there, is there?

So yes, it began in 2011. And then 2014 happened. But if I’m honest, I was barely skimming through my life since 1999. There were good times, yes, but there was that pesky undercurrent of… regret, shame, fear. Ugh. Enough of that for now.

All that to say, Bonney presented this book to me and I thought it was beautiful and then I put it away, along with many other things that year, including my sanity. Not to put too fine a point on it. 

And now the ice has broken through… and I find myself with piles upon piles of tangible and emotional “stuff,” jostling for a place at the table. Healing Crystals and Gemstones by Dr. Flora Peschek-Bohmer and Gisela Schreiber is one of those things. I’m so glad I found it!

If you’re a believer of the healing powers of crystals or just a rock collector, this book will be a useful resource. It breaks things down into categories I like:

• Where it can be found
• Colors
• Chemical composition
• Hardness
• Available forms
• Crystallization

And also gives you the history, healing properties, Chakra classification and Star sign of each one, along with glossy, color photos.

Right now, at this pivotal 5-year mark of healing… I’m getting comfortable in my own skin again… and holding this book in my lap feels great. I love reading about the different stones and seeing what I have in my small collection. Also, crystals. I mean, c’mon!

Bonney, I love you because you were a light in my darkest days. This book was one among many gifts you’ve given me – both tangible and not. It is a privilege to be your friend.