If you do any googling of rocks, you undoubtedly have come across references to the metaphysical properties of a particular stone. All I can think is that with my vast rock collection I should have health, wealth, peace, and every other cosmic gift reportedly associated with a particular stone. Perhaps there are stones that possess bad mojo. For example, boosting petrified wood from the Petrified National Forest reportedly has a curse that afflicts the offender. I never stole any myself, but I have gotten some wood from 2nd and 3rd owners. Maybe some unknown rocks with bad woo is mixing with all my good woo and cancelling each other out.

Crystals of any kind are popular in 'new age' shops. Some crafters have even made fancy magic wands with quartz crystal. Years ago the wife and I were instructed by a psychic how to pick good crystals. She said if you look at the correct angle, you'll see tiny triangles. The more triangles you see, the more powerful the crystal was her assertion. Now, any time I see a big crystal I tilt it in the light and look for triangles. I don't know why. I think she also mentioned something about the triangles connecting with the egyptian pyramids and ancient Lemuria.

Arizona is home to a lot of new agey types. They are mostly concentrated in Sedona, but you'll find mystics throughout the state. (note that I consider a 'mystic' to be someone who wants to understand the universe but is too lazy to study physics.)

Years ago the wife and I made and sold stained glass items. Our products were unusual for the medium, incense burners were our specialty. Of course the mention of incense rouses thoughts of potheads and hippies, but we never thought of it like that. We just liked the pleasant odor of quality incense to amplify the peaceful ambience of our home. Put a burning incense stick in a stained glass holder on the window sill and watch the late afternoon sun go all 'Pink Floyd' with the colors in the glass. Who needs drugs?

Anyway, where was I? ...

Oh ya, so one time when we were doing the craft show circuit, we got invited to a psychic fair. We're curious so accepted the invitatation.

I was black balled almost instantly. While we were setting up our wares I asked one of the psychics how much we would sell at the show. He looked at me funny, didn't answer, and kept a wandering eyeball on me for the rest of the show. Apparently his predictions were limited to customers.

The show was not attended well and we had several opportunities to visit with the other vendors (psychics). One lady was the ex-wife of an astronaut who had a hotline to an alien civilization residing on the moon. Another guy showed us a stack of polaroid pictures taken of an old mirror in his house. He pointed out in each picture the images of spirits and bugeyed little gray men doing their best kilroy impersonations. My imagination must not be that good as I mostly saw polaroids of an old mirror. However, after he pointed out the other-worldly creatures staring back, I admit to seeing them too. Must be like an ink blot test.

Here's the deal... I WANT to believe. Really, I do, but I'm a skeptic at heart and need to personally see some evidence. I've been out in the middle of the desert on a moonless night many times, which is a spiritual experience in and of itself to witness the Milky Way in all its amazing splendor. However, I've not stopped there, I've invited alien visitors to abduct me and do any experiments they want to me and I promised I wouldn't tell anyone. I would think that would be pay dirt for aliens studying Earthlings. No takers yet, but I'm keeping an open mind.

As for my rocks, I can't say that I've ever experienced life changing energy eminating from any of my specimens. Unless, of course, you consider that every rock I cut and polish brings me joy, that's magic enough for me. As for the 'science' of metaphysical properties of rocks, I'll leave that assessment up to the harmonica virgins of Sedona.