Stone Medicine: A Chinese Medical Guide to Healing with Gems and Minerals
544Stone Medicine: A Chinese Medical Guide to Healing with Gems and Minerals
544Hardcover
-
PICK UP IN STORECheck Availability at Nearby Stores
Available within 2 business hours
Related collections and offers
Overview
• Includes an extensive Materia Medica detailing the healing and spiritual properties of 200 crystals and stones based on Classical Chinese Medicine
• Explores the role played by the color of each stone, its Yin and Yang qualities, crystalline structure, chemical composition, and topical and internal applications
• Explains how to make stone and crystal elixirs, wear stones as healing jewelry, use them in massage and energy work, and cleanse and recharge them
• Based on the oral teachings of Dr. Jeffrey C. Yuen, a Taoist priest from the ancient lineage of the Jade Purity School (88th generation) masters
In addition to herbalism and acupuncture, Chinese Medicine has a rich tradition of using stones as medicine, passed from generation to generation for thousands of years. In this comprehensive guide and extensive Materia Medica, Leslie J. Franks presents the Stone Medicine teachings of Dr. Jeffrey C. Yuen, an 88th generation Taoist priest from the ancient lineage of the Jade Purity School, which dates to the Han dynasty, 206 BCE.
Detailing the therapeutic properties of 200 gems, stones, minerals, and crystals, Franks begins with an extensive look at 15 different forms of quartz, followed by chapters on transformative stones, protective stones, nourishing stones, source energy stones, and alchemical stones. She explains the physical, emotional, and spiritual conditions each stone can treat and how their color, form, hardness, and energetic qualities affect us according to Chinese Medicine. She discusses how to make stone and crystal elixirs for internal and topical use, how to charge quartz with the healing properties of other stones, how to cleanse and recharge a stone after use, and how to combine stones to create healing formulas for individual conditions. She explains different techniques of wearing stones as healing jewelry and how to use them in massage and energy work. She examines the chemistry and sacred geometry of crystal structure, revealing how the minerals contained in the stones affect our physiology by supporting our Jing (Essence); by nourishing Qi (energy), blood, and fluids; and by clearing Wind, Cold, Damp, and Heat conditions that can lead to disease.
Including a thorough primer on Traditional Chinese Medicine and backed by modern scientific research, this book explains how stones access our deepest layers, vibrating ever so slowly, to initiate deep lasting change.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781620555293 |
---|---|
Publisher: | Inner Traditions/Bear & Company |
Publication date: | 02/11/2016 |
Pages: | 544 |
Sales rank: | 682,260 |
Product dimensions: | 8.70(w) x 11.10(h) x 1.20(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Chapter 14
Transformative Stones
If quartz crystals represent perfection in the world of minerals, the transformative stones demonstrate the process by which perfection is accomplished. In Western terminology, this large group of stones is called chalcedony. It includes agate, chalcedony, jasper, and onyx. The stones are fundamentally the samethat is, a fibrous subcategory of quartz, all with similar hardness and all with a chemical composition of silicon dioxide. For the ancient Chinese, however, who saw consciousness and spirit in the natural world, the patterns, colors, and configurations these stones presented were indications of a process of refinement and evolution.
Most of the transformative stones form at the Source/Yuan, or igneous level, but their appearance shows a process of metamorphosis. The stones are quartz, but they do not form perfect crystals. They demonstrate a slow evolutionary process as the Earth adapts to change. They also represent a core tension of human lifethe relationship between Water, our Essence, and its requirement to discover and express our deepest self, and Earth, with its requirements of living in society. Looking at the agates, with their banded, speckled, or patchy appearances, we can imagine the struggles and conflicts the stones experience during their creationas they melt and solidify, compress and release, fuse and separate. Eventually the stones refine to become the strong, definitive colors of the jaspers; the translucent, homogenous colors of the chalcedonies; or the shining, intensely black onyx, which represents our deepest Essence: the Water energy of the Kidneys. The group as a whole matures to its ultimate perfection in the subtlety and elegance of jade, a stone held in the highest regard since the earliest history of the Chinese.
The use of jade in Chinese culture dates to the Neolithic period, when ancient populations considered the nephrite jade they were able to mine locally to be inherently more valuable than gold or silver. They used the stone to shape ritual objects and tools, and the quality of the carving gives evidence to a highly sophisticated civilization. Nephrite jade is extremely durable, as demonstrated by the many jade artifacts unearthed that date back to more than 1,000 years before the Common Era.
In the nineteenth century, a beautiful jade from Burma became popular among the royalty and Confucian scholars. It had clearer and bolder colors than the indigenous nephrite jade, and the bright emerald-green color, called imperial green, was much sought after. This is jadeite. It has a different chemical composition than nephrite jade, but this difference was unknown until later in the century.
Jade is associated with the upper dan tian. We use agates, jasper, and chalcedony for treating illness, but jade is an aspirational stone. It represents the possibility to ascend out of petty, selfish concerns and to exhibit qualities of behavior that benefit all humans.
Table of Contents
Author’s NotePreface
To the Professional Chinese Medical Practitioner
To the Layperson
Why Stones?
The Law of Signatures
Acknowledgments
PART I
A Primer of Classical Chinese Medicine
1. The Basics
The Vocabulary
The Pathogenic FactorsWind, Cold, Damp, and Heat
The Anatomy
The Modern Challenges to HealthStaying Healthy
2. The Big Picture
A Philosophical View
Prerequisites of Life
How to Work with Evolution
3. Paradigms of Chinese Medicine
QiEnergetic Medicine
The Humours of Chinese Medicine
The Energetic Anatomical TerrainsWei Qi, Ying Qi, and Yuan Qi
4. The Numbers 24
Yin and Yang“The One Begets the Two”
The Trinities“The Two Beget the Three”
The Four Principles of Yin and Yang
The Four Transformations of Yin and Yang
The Five ElementsPhases of Transformation
The Six Divisions or Stages
The Seven Stars
The BaguaThe Eight Trigrams
The Nine Palaces
5. Zang-FuThe Internal Organs
The Level of SurvivalLung/Large Intestine and Stomach/Spleen
The Level of InteractionHeart/Small Intestine and Urinary Bladder/Kidney
The Level of DifferentiationPericardium/Triple Heater and Gall Bladder/Liver
6. The Souls of the Organs
The Spirit/“Big” Shen and the Soul/Ling
The Obstacles to Freedom
A Path to Freedom
7. The Curious Organs
Brain
Bones
Marrow
Vessels
Uterus
Gall Bladder
8. The Emotions and Temperaments
Defensive/Wei QiMood
Nourishing/Ying QiEmotion
Source/Yuan QiTemperament
9. The Channel Systems
The Meridian SystemHighways and Byways of Life
The Process of LatencyHiding Our Pathology
The Healing Crisis
The PointsLandmarks along the Way
Living a Long and Healthy Life
Part II
Introduction to the Materia Medica
10. The Criteria for Stone SelectionChoosing the “Right” Stone
Color and Light
Chemical Composition
The Five QisThe Nature, or Yang Aspect, of the Stone
The Five TastesThe Yin Aspect of the Stone
Affinities
Hardness
Crystal Structure and Sacred Geometry
Stone Groups
Level of FormationEarth’s Energetic Dynamics
11. Methods of ApplicationEntering the Stone Gate
Determining a Strategy
Developing a Formula
Formula Examples
Topical Application
Internal Application
Intentional Application
Duration of Treatment
12. Cleaning, Cleansing, and Recharging
Cleaning/San (to Dissipate, Discharge)
Cleansing/Qing (to Clear)
Recharging the Stone
PART III
The Materia Medica
Notes on Using the Materia Medica
13. Quartz Crystals
Clear Quartz Crystal
Blue Quartz • Green Quartz • Lithium Quartz • Purple Quartz/Amethyst • Chevron Amethyst • Rose Quartz • Rutilated Quartz • Smoky Quartz • Tangerine Quartz • Titanium Quartz • Tourmalinated Quartz• White/Milky Quartz • Yellow Quartz/Citrine • Yellow and Purple Quartz/Ametrine • Herkimer Diamond
14. Transformative Stones
Agate
Blue Lace Agate • Dendritic Agate • Fire Agate • Green Agate/Moss Agate • Mookaite Jasper • Ocean Agate-Jasper/ Orbicular Quartz • Picasso Stone/Marble Agate-Jasper • Pink or Red Agate • Rhyolite/Leopardskin/Rainforest Agate-Jasper • Tiger Eye • Blue Tiger Eye • Hawk Eye • Pietersite • Red Tiger Eye • Tree Agate-Jasper • Zebra/Dalmation Agate-Jasper
Jasper
Bloodstone/Heliotrope • Brown Jasper • Green Jasper • Red Jasper/Silex • Sandy Jasper • Yellow Jasper Flint/Strike Flint
Chalcedony
Blue Chalcedony • Green Chalcedony • Pink Chalcedony • Red Chalcedony/Carnelian • White Chalcedony Onyx
Jade/Jadeite
Black/Grayish Jade • Green Jade • Lavender Jade • White Jade • Yellow Jade
Nephrite Jade
15. Defensive/Wei Qi Stones
Amazonite
Amber (Fossilized)
Angelite
Apophyllite
Aragonite
Barite
Biotite
Calcite
Black Calcite • Blue Calcite • Emerald Calcite • Green Calcite • Honey Calcite • Icelandic Spar/Optical Calcite • Mangano/Pink Calcite • Orange/Yellow Calcite • Red Calcite • White Calcite
Celestite/Celestine
Danburite
Fluorite
Blue Fluorite • Brown Fluorite • Clear Fluorite • Green Fluorite • Purple Fluorite • Yellow Fluorite
Gypsum
Alabaster • Desert Rose (Gypsum) • Selenite
Jet (Lignite)
Marcasite Nodules/Boji Stones/Moqui Balls
Obsidian
Apache Tears • Black Obsidian • Gold Sheen Obsidian • Mahogany Obsidian • Rainbow Obsidian • Silver Sheen
Obsidian • Snowflake Obsidian
Petrified Wood
Scolecite
Septarian Nodules/Dragon’s Egg
Stalactite/Stalagmite
Stilbite
Talc
Tourmaline
Black Tourmaline/Schorl • Blue Tourmaline/Indicolite • Brown Tourmaline/Dravite/Uvite • Green Tourmaline/Verdilite • Red or Pink Tourmaline/Rubellite • Watermelon Tourmaline • Yellow Tourmaline
16. Nourishing/Ying Qi Stones
Aventurine
Blue Aventurine • Brown Aventurine • Green Aventurine • Orange/Peach Aventurine • Red Aventurine
Azurite
Azurite-Malachite
Bronzite
Cavansite
Chalcopyrite
Charoite
Chiastolite
Chrysoberyl/Cat’s Eye (Cymophane)
Chrysocolla
Dioptase
Dolomite
Dumortierite
Garnet
Black Garnet/Melanite • Green GarnetTsavorite, Uvarovite, Demantoid • Red GarnetAlmandine, Pyrope(and Grossular) • Yellow, Brown, Orange GarnetHessonite, Spessartine, Topazolite
Hematite
Goethite
Hemimorphite
Hiddenite (Green Spodumene)
Howlite
Iolite/Water Sapphire
Kunzite (Pink Spodumene)
Kyanite
Lapis Lazuli
Magnesite
Magnetite/Lodestone
Malachite
Peridot/Olivine
Prehnite
Pyrite/Fool’s Gold
Rhodochrosite
Rhodonite
Seraphinite
Serpentine
Sodalite
Staurolite
Turquoise
Variscite
Zincite
Zoisite
17. Source/Yuan Qi Stones
Alexandrite
Apatite
Beryl
Blue Beryl/Aquamarine • Clear Beryl/Goshenite • Green Beryl/Emerald • Pink Beryl/Morganite • Red Beryl/Bixbite •
Yellow or Golden Beryl/Heliodor
Chrysoprase
Coral
Diamond
Diopside
Epidote
Labradorite
Larimar/Pectolite
Lepidolite
Meteorite (Iron)
Moonstone
Muscovite/Fuchsite
Opal
Blue-Green Andean Opal • Fire Opal • Pink Andean Opal • Rainbow/Precious/Boulder Opal
Pearl
Ruby
Sapphire
Pink/Red Sapphire • Yellow Sapphire Spinel
Sugilite
Sunstone
Tanzanite
Tektite
Moldavite
Topaz (Golden or Imperial)
Blue Topaz • Clear Topaz • Pink Topaz
Unakite
Zircon
18. Alchemica l Stones
Antimony
Stibnite
Cinnabar
Orpiment
Realgar
Sulfur
Appendix 1. Charts of Therapeutic Qualities and Actions
Appendix 2. Loca tions for Acupuncture
Points Commonly Used in Stone Medicine
Appendix 3. Glossary of Terms
References
Index