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Rock Shopping
Oct. 1st, 2009 07:05 pmI'm contemplating a post on why we read (because I think that a lot of what we get out of reading comes from the expectations with which we approach what we read), or the nature of literature vs. a "good book," but they're still percolating. In the mean time, I thought I'd discuss a shopping trip I had yesterday. (I would have posted this yesterday but for a shortage of battery and an early bedtime to help me get over a cold.) Some girls like to spoil themselves with shoes or clothing. I admit that I often spoil myself with books -- sometimes so much so that it's not really special event spoiling.
Today I finished (all but a few details) one of my larger projects, so I decided to celebrate (in part, because I thought it would be helpful to make myself perk up from my cold symptoms). When I like to spoil myself, I often like to go over to the nearby Rock Garden and pick up some gemstones. Just a little bit of tumbled rock to add to my purse collection. Before yesterday, I was carrying a set of moss agate worry beads from Greece, a moss agate worry stone, three six sided agate dice from Turkey, a set of Lapis Lazuli polyhedral dice that were a gift from first-reader Arielle, a Cornish piskie good luck charm, and a lingam stone (which, now that I'm pregnant, maybe should make its way out of my daily carry-all -- while one can apply the adjective "fertile" to imagination, and the idea of fertility in a similar fashion, carrying a stone *for* fertility might not currently be the best use of my bag's space).
My shopping trip involved procuring a gun-metal chain for a carnelian charm -- a bead inside a metal scroll-like frame of an odd color -- I've had for ages and not been able to wear due to only having silver or gold to put it on; citrine for good health; moonstone and abalone in honor of the feminine (good mommy stones/shells, according to the staff there); and a bit of aquamarine, which I asked about before looking at the name -- the insightful staff member asked me when I was due, and funnily enough, aquamarine is the March gemstone, and thus good resonance for my (future) little one. I didn't pick up any pearls (also a stone for motherhood, which I think is particularly sensible given that they have a gestation period themselves), but I have in mind getting some appropriate "mommy" beads and putting them together into a simple bracelet one of these days. I'll probably drag Substrater Michelle along with me, as she's also a jewelry maker and thus will have a better sense for what combines well aesthetically than I'd put together on my own.
I've been interested in gem lore since I was a kid playing a computer game called Conquests of the Longbow, in which one of the challenges was identifying the proper stones for ailments (carnelian for bleeding of the gums, hematite for general blood flow), or for walking the paths of the dead (jet or obsidian), or other random trivia bits. I haven't deconstructed it in a Barfieldian sense as yet, but it's fun to think of individual rocks having meanings greater than their chemical composition. And if a little citrine makes me feel less like coughing? So much the better.
Today I finished (all but a few details) one of my larger projects, so I decided to celebrate (in part, because I thought it would be helpful to make myself perk up from my cold symptoms). When I like to spoil myself, I often like to go over to the nearby Rock Garden and pick up some gemstones. Just a little bit of tumbled rock to add to my purse collection. Before yesterday, I was carrying a set of moss agate worry beads from Greece, a moss agate worry stone, three six sided agate dice from Turkey, a set of Lapis Lazuli polyhedral dice that were a gift from first-reader Arielle, a Cornish piskie good luck charm, and a lingam stone (which, now that I'm pregnant, maybe should make its way out of my daily carry-all -- while one can apply the adjective "fertile" to imagination, and the idea of fertility in a similar fashion, carrying a stone *for* fertility might not currently be the best use of my bag's space).
My shopping trip involved procuring a gun-metal chain for a carnelian charm -- a bead inside a metal scroll-like frame of an odd color -- I've had for ages and not been able to wear due to only having silver or gold to put it on; citrine for good health; moonstone and abalone in honor of the feminine (good mommy stones/shells, according to the staff there); and a bit of aquamarine, which I asked about before looking at the name -- the insightful staff member asked me when I was due, and funnily enough, aquamarine is the March gemstone, and thus good resonance for my (future) little one. I didn't pick up any pearls (also a stone for motherhood, which I think is particularly sensible given that they have a gestation period themselves), but I have in mind getting some appropriate "mommy" beads and putting them together into a simple bracelet one of these days. I'll probably drag Substrater Michelle along with me, as she's also a jewelry maker and thus will have a better sense for what combines well aesthetically than I'd put together on my own.
I've been interested in gem lore since I was a kid playing a computer game called Conquests of the Longbow, in which one of the challenges was identifying the proper stones for ailments (carnelian for bleeding of the gums, hematite for general blood flow), or for walking the paths of the dead (jet or obsidian), or other random trivia bits. I haven't deconstructed it in a Barfieldian sense as yet, but it's fun to think of individual rocks having meanings greater than their chemical composition. And if a little citrine makes me feel less like coughing? So much the better.
