====== Jet ======
---- dataentry gem----
latin_names:
folk_names: Witches' amber, black amber
energy_tags: Receptive
gender_tags:
planet_tags: Saturn
element_tags: Earth, Akasha
deity_tags: Cybele
effect_tags: Protection, anti-nightmare, luck, divination, health
----
===== Magical Uses =====
Jet is receptive and therefore absorbs energies, especially negativity. This makes it a protective substance. It can be worn as beads, carried or placed beside white candles during protective rituals. It is a fine household protectant when placed in the home.
Sea Witches and fishermen's wives in old Britain prized jet as a potent magical protectant. They burned it in the household fires as an incense to guard their absent husbands.
A small piece of jet is sometimes placed momentarily on a newborn baby's stomach to guard it. It is also a special traveler's amulet, worn to ward off dangers while on the road or in strange countries. During the Middle Ages, jet was carved into images of beetles and worn for protection.
To guard against nightmares and to ensure a good night's rest, wear jet to bed, place a piece under the pillow, or hang it on the bedpost.
Jet also strengthens psychic awareness. Place small shavings of the substance in a clear glass bottle. Fill with water. Let this sit in the Sun for several hours until the water has warmed. Filter out the jet and drink this liquid just before trying to contact the psychic mind.
Tiny amounts of powdered jet are also added to psychic-type incenses. Or, pour powdered jet on to a glowing charcoal block, still your mind, and scry in its fumes.
An ancient divination utilizing jet is quite simple-if you have a large ax, and a fireplace, or barbecue pit. Place the ax head in the fire until it is red hot. Enchant or empower the jet. Have a question in your mind, or visualize a possible future endeavor that is troubling you.
When it has been heated, move the ax head away from the fire and cast the jet on it. If it burns, the answer is yes, or the course of action is favorable. If not, the ax and jet have determined that the reverse is true.
Jet is also utilized in health and healing spells. It is worn to maintain proper energy flow within the body to avoid ill-health. Jet is combined with blue candles during healing fires, or is fumed with lavender and sage to promote health.
===== Ritual Lore =====
Jet is fossilized wood millions of years old. It is a black, glass-like stone. Because it is black, it is associated with the element of earth, but due to its organic origins, it is also related to Akasha.
Jet shares with amber the property of becoming electrically charged when rubbed. Due to its mysterious nature and electrical properties, jet has long been considered a magical stone.
When jet is continuously worn on the body, it is thought to absorb part of the wearer's "soul." While this is true of many stones, jet was presumed to be doubly powerful, and such stones were carefully guarded, for in the wrong hands they could be used to manipulate their original wearer.
Ancient Greek worshippers of Cybele, the goddess of growth and plants, wore jet to obtain her favors. Modern-day gardeners also wear jet to make their plants flourish.
Along with amber, to which it is magically "married," jet was found in prehistoric gravesites. It was probably placed there to bring good fortune to the deceased or to guard the bones.
Contemporary Wiccan high priestesses, especially those following the basic ritual patterns popularized by the late Gerald Gardner, often wear necklaces of alternating amber and jet beads.
Jet is a marvelous stone. But beware-much of what is sold as jet is actually black glass. Purchase it only from a reliable source.
===== Notes =====
==== Related Herbs ====
* [[herb:lavender]]
* [[herb:sage]]