Bloodstone: Meaning, Properties and How to Use It
Bloodstone is the stone of getting through it. Tradition credits it with endurance rather than inspiration, with courage held over a long time and with staying present when things are physically hard. Medieval Europe read the red flecks as drops of blood and gave the stone to soldiers and to the ill.
What tradition says
What is Bloodstone known for?
The old name is heliotrope, and the Christian legend says the stone formed when blood fell onto green jasper at the crucifixion, which is where its whole reputation comes from. Athletes in antiquity carried it for stamina. Mineralogically it is green chalcedony with inclusions of red iron oxide. The lore has always been more physical than mystical, and practitioners still give it for long training, long illness and long grief.
The practice
How do you use Bloodstone?
Carry it through the middle stretch of anything long, the part after the excitement and before the end.
Hold it in the left hand and take three slow breaths when you want to quit for the day.
Athletes keep one in the kit bag, and a piece on the desk works the same for a slow project.
Read here as a language of symbols. Medical, legal and financial questions belong with a professional.
Two more
What does Bloodstone pair with?
Stones are kept in small sets rather than alone, and these two are the usual company for this one.
What it is kept for
What do people reach for Bloodstone for?
The same stone, read through the thing you came here with.
Questions
What else do people ask about Bloodstone?
Why is bloodstone called heliotrope?
From the Greek for turning sun. Pliny wrote that the stone, dropped into water, turned the reflection of the sun blood red, which is a nice piece of observation about how green and red read under water. The name is older than the crucifixion legend by centuries.
Is bloodstone the same as green jasper?
Almost. Bloodstone is a variety of green chalcedony or jasper, and the only thing that makes it bloodstone is the red spotting. Pieces with no red are simply green jasper, and the tradition gives them a quieter, more nurturing reading. Heavily spotted stones are the ones sold for courage.
Next in the library
The stones beside this one.
Two ways on
One stone is a reminder, a library is a map.
A hundred and four stones and sixty four everyday uses, sorted the way a week arrives. If you came here through the body rather than the mineral, the seven chakras are the other way in.
- 104
- stones, each with what tradition says
- 64
- everyday uses, six stones under each
- 7
- centres, the same set read through the body