Crystals

This guest post is from Londoner Dianne, who curates the wonderful blog Icefloe.  Dianne's jewellery, photography and prints can be found here.

I think all girls go through a 'crystal' phase, a witch or spells phase (see: The Craft). Its right up there with taking photos of our feet or wanting to grow old surrounded by our adoring cats. I grew up with a mother who openly practices paganism and believes in the healing power of crystals, so I've been surrounded by them from a very young age. Quartz to focus energy, Amythest for healing, you know. I've always got a bit of smokey quartz in my pocket to scare off bad vibes.

But let's be honest. They are just very pretty aren't they.

The Natural History Museum in London has a fantastic Natural Gem room. Its vast, quiet, and 9 times out of 10 totally empty. Kids don't care about stones when there are dinosaurs on display. Its like a secret stash of treasure tucked away at the back of the museum. I always spend a bunch of time there and always take the same photos. Row upon row of beautiful stones, collected from around the world. Meteors next to natural ores. Smelly ones next to shiny ones.



Emeralds - Natural History Museum, London





Natural History Museum, London

 It felt like a natural development for me to start introducing stones to my store earlier this year. I had been working with feathers for a long while and it felt like the path led me towards stones without much thought, bringing earth and air together in wearable pieces for pretty ladies. I've been working on a seasonal level throughout the year, sourcing stones in hues to suit the mood of each season. My favourites have definitely been the Mookaite faceted stones, in earthy ochres, burgundys, purples, golds. The colours are so warm and surprisingly combined. How do they all end up in one stone together! I want to eat them.



Mookaite

 I recently took a trip to Colorado where I spent a day beside the Cache le Poudre river fishing chunks of quartz, pyrite and rose quartz from the banks below me. Straight out of the ground like apples from trees. Stones (crystals, rocks, whatever you call them) - regardless of your beliefs of their 'healing powers' - make us feel grounded. They should remind us that we all come from the Earth, and we all return to the Earth. I think rather than thinking about what they mean on a spiritual level, we should think about that when we are choosing which pretty rock to throw around our necks each day. Don't you?