Crystals for Dreams
Herkimer diamond, iolite and azurite are the three dream stones, with kyanite, phantom quartz and celestite behind them. Dream work is different from sleep work. Here the aim is not falling asleep but remembering afterwards, and the tradition is unusually practical about it. Every method comes down to the same two things, a stone within reach and something to write on, because dreams are lost in the first ninety seconds of waking.
The six
Which six stones does tradition name for this?
Six, not sixty. Each one carries a different reason, so you can pick the reason that sounds like your week rather than buying the whole row.
Herkimer Diamond
Double terminated quartz, clear and naturally faceted. It is the classic dream recall stone, kept on the bedside table beside the notebook.
Iolite
Violet blue and strongly dichroic, showing two colours as you turn it. Lore ties it to seeing differently, and it is given to dreams you are trying to interpret.
Azurite
Intense deep blue, soft and easily damaged. Associated with the third eye and with dreams that feel like they were about something rather than nothing.
Kyanite
Blue blades that never need cleansing, which is the one claim about it everybody repeats. It is used for the transition into sleep and for lucid attempts.
Phantom Quartz
Crystal with a ghost of an earlier crystal inside it. The symbol is almost too neat, and tradition gives it to dreams about the past and about people who are gone.
Celestite
Pale blue and quiet. It appears here for soft, pleasant dreaming rather than for analysis, which is a perfectly legitimate reason to want to dream.
The practice
How do you work with the set?
Keep the stone and a notebook on the same surface, within reach without sitting up.
Hold the stone for a minute before sleeping and say what you want to remember.
On waking, write before you move or speak, even three words.
The stone is the cue that makes you reach for the notebook instead of the phone.
Read here as a language of symbols. Medical, legal and financial questions belong with a professional.
Questions
What else do people ask about this?
Can crystals cause lucid dreams?
Not by themselves. What increases lucidity is dream journalling and reality checks during the day, both well documented. The stone supports the habit that does the work.
Where should the stone sit at night?
On the bedside table, touching distance from your hand. Under the pillow is the popular advice but it is uncomfortable and the stone ends up on the floor by morning.
Nearby
The needs that sit next to this one.
Two ways on
A need is one door in, a stone is another.
Six names, and behind each one the tradition that gave it the job and the plain limit of what it cannot do. The body reads the same set differently, and the seven centres are that reading.
- 104
- stones, each with what tradition says
- 64
- everyday uses, six stones under each
- 7
- centres, the same set read through the body