====== Fossils ======
---- dataentry gem----
latin_names:
folk_names: Sponge, Witch stone, ammonite, snake stone, //draconites//
energy_tags: Receptive
gender_tags:
planet_tags:
element_tags: Akasha
deity_tags:
effect_tags: Elemental power, past-life regression, protection, longevity
----
===== Magical Uses =====
On a hot, dusty morning, David Harrington and I were collecting fossils in a southern Californian desert. Ancient sand dollars, bivalve (clam) shells, and clusters of intricate coral revealed themselves to us.
Stopping to rest at midday, we miraculously found a stream splashing over the reddish brown, crystal-filled rocks. While we were sitting by it, the resinous scent of a huge, desert lavender tree drifted around us as we looked over our finds. We thanked the earth for sharing its treasures with us. Fossils are bizarre, beautiful magical tools. Though not stones in the usual sense of the word, the minerals that replace the ancient creatures and plants create rock-like substances, and so fossils have a definite place in
a work of stone and crystal magic.
In general, fossils are used as protective objects. They are placed in the home, or fashioned into jewelry and worn to increase your natural defenses. In Morocco, stones embedded with fossils are carried for protective purposes.
Due to their enormous age, fossils of all types are also worn as amulets to increase the life span.
They can be placed on the altar as symbols of the earth and the ambiguity of time, or to increase the power of magical rituals.
Some types of fossils have specific magical uses.
Ammonites, known in the Middle Ages as *draconites,* are fossilized, spiral-shaped sea animals. Due to their bizarre appearance, they were thought to be stones removed from dragon's heads, and were bound to the left arm for magical protection. In more recent times in Britain, they were known as "snake stones."
Ancient sponges, sometimes found in Britain, are known as "Witch stones." They are round and pierced through with a natural hole. These fossils are strung and worn like beads or hung in the house for protection.
Fossilized sand dollars, which show a natural five-pointed design, are often found on Wiccan altars. They are linked with the pentagram, an ancient protective symbol, and the elements. Because they and all fossils are ruled by Akasha, the fifth element, these ancient sand dollars are carried or used in magic to gain awareness of the realms of earth, air, fire, and water. Once this has been achieved, elemental magic can begin. (See part four for more information on the elements.)
*A simple elemental spell:* Before any rite, place a fossilized sand dollar in the center of your altar with one point facing away from you. Put a piece of turquoise near the right point and attune with the earth.
Then, moving clockwise around the design, place a citrine, garnet, and aquamarine at each point, representing air, fire, and water respectively. Attune with each element as you place the stones.
Finally, set a piece of jet, amber, or some other fossil or quartz crystal near the top point, representing Akasha. Call upon the elements collectively to empower your spell. Then perform the rite of magic.
lf you don't have these particular stones on hand, use any of those listed under each element in the tables in part four.
Fossils are also utilized to recall past lives. Perform this ritual at night, and wear a quartz crystal to protect yourself from being unduly disturbed or magically harmed while in your psychic state. Meditate upon a fossil. Look at it, thinking of its incredible antiquity. Attune with it; feel its past-present time.
Next, in a room lit only by candlelight or with moonlight flooding in through the windows, hold a fossil in your receptive hand. Still your mind, breathe deeply, and awaken your psychic awareness.
Feel this life, this body, this personality slipping from you. Slide along the energy of your being (soul) beyond birth, beyond death; beyond to another life.
If you relive a life or an experience disturbing to you, drop the fossil and you will return to the present.
I have mixed feelings regarding past-life regression, and I hesitated to include this ritual-simple as it is-in this book. This is an area fraught with self-delusion. Still, if you have an interest in these matters, it's far better to attempt a glimpse backward yourself, rather than trusting another to do it. Fossils can open the door.
Amber and jet, two other fossils, are discussed separately in this book, due to their fame as magical tools.
===== Ritual Lore =====
Fossils are the remains-or the negative impressions-of ancient creatures and plants that perished millions of years ago. Through eons they have been transformed into stone. Because they were once alive, fossils are linked with Akasha, the fifth element.
In the mystic language of the psychic mind, fossils represent time, eternity, and evolution. They are a tangible example of how nothing in nature-not even a prehistoric sea creation-is wasted. Energy cannot be destroyed, only manifestations of energy. Matter is transmutable.
The ritual use of fossils is ancient. Fossils have been found in Neolithic burial sites in Europe. Why were they placed there? We can only speculate. Protection? Guidance to the other world? Assurance of rebirth?
Fossils are used as power tools by shamans throughout the world to amplify energy. Many contemporary Wiccans place them on their altars because of their mystic significance.