my journey to stone medicine

Early in my jewelry career I was told by a very respected intuitive that she saw me creating jewelry that others could “literally feel”. She felt my work would be deeply healing for the wearer and let me be clear, she didn’t know anything about me. I responded by telling her that I in fact did make jewelry professionally and loved working with gemstones, but that I could never see myself creating the typical healing crystal jewelry. 

As a highly sensitive person and one who has studied many healing modalities over the years, many of the New Age definitions of gemstones didn’t resonate with me at all. Despite all of the things I have been open to and studied over the years, I felt like crystal healing (as I knew it) had absolutely no merit. I no doubt loved stones and were really drawn to certain ones, but I didn’t feel anything in their presence. 

In December 2021, after spending an intensive two weeks learning Hawaiian lomi lomi massage I once again found myself sitting eye to eye with an amazing seer in Maui. His name was Roy, but everyone affectionally called the Japanese Yoda and I could see why. Among the many mind blowing things Roy shared with me that evening, he mentioned that he saw me working with stones in jewelry and in combination with plant medicine to create potent medicine for others and the earth. As I had been studying plant medicine for the past two years I found the idea of making medicine for others and the earth interesting, but I quickly shrugged off the stone part.

Shortly after returning home I came across Sarah Thomas (they/them), a master acupuncturist, wise multifaceted healer, and teacher of stone medicine. I was buzzing with excitement after reading their bio and about the school they founded - the Upper Clarity School of Stone Medicine. I had honestly forgotten about what Roy shared regarding my work with stones, until Sarah began talking about combining stones and plant to create potent holistic medicine. I gasped at the realization that these two amazing seers that came to me many years apart had seen something I bigger in purpose for me than I could see for myself. 

Sarah is a part of an ancient lineage of stone medicine practitioners dating back to the Taoist matriarch Lady Wei (252-334) who formed the Shangqing School and they studied extensively under the tutelage of Jeffrey C. Yuen, 88th generation priest of the Jade Purity Lineage. To this day he is still one of Sarah’s most cherished mentors. I am proud to have been initiated as a stone medicine practitioner by Sarah and the ancestral lineage that stand with her. These ancient Taoist teachings are brought together with temple magic and an earth based shamanic approach to create profound shifts in consciousness and healing.

At the heart of the Taoist stone medicine teachings is the the knowledge that everything has a living vibration and the Earth is our greatest source of wisdom and healing. Furthermore, we can trust that we have everything we need inside of us as we are not separate from nature. Stones are allies, helping our souls awaken to the very knowledge we have forgotten and guiding us towards the healing we so desperately need in our current culture. Cultivating a relationship with these sentient beings through intention and ritual will unlock their deep soul medicine. 

Using the framework of ancient Chinese medicine, the meridians, and the acupuncture points, along with the elemental composition of each stone and its effects on the body, we focus on healing the multidimensional layers of the human body. I have personally been gobsmacked by the beautiful shifts I have seen in my own life. I’ll admit that I still don’t feel a tangible energy emanating from a stone when I hold it in my hand, but I have found that each stone I’m drawn to has held the exact healing that I needed in my life and it has communicated with me in other powerful and validating ways. Under Sarah's instruction I have learned how to make stone elixirs and I’m so excited to dive deeper in this and explore combining stone elixirs with healing plants. Looking back at some of the multi-elemental talismans I previously created intuitively, I’m amazed at how they carried the energy I intended without knowing why. Of course I’m definitely paying more attention to stone combinations in my jewelry, but each still comes about intuitively. Simply having these powerful, sentient beings close to your body can create unimaginable shifts and jewelry is a great medium to do this.