I don't know how the human brain works but I do know you can fool it by deliberately thinking about something pleasant or challenging, and so avoid or lessen one's thoughts on unpleasant things that you would prefer to forget. This is where your pet rocks come into play; so think about them, all about them, and you will be happier and more learned. Your brain will be activated on remembering useful and important things about them. I shall give you some examples of my comfort stones that I keep by my bedside always within reach; holding them helps me get to sleep; also to wake up if I should accidentally lie on one.
It helps to have a background knowledge in geology or gemmology, such as I have, but this knowledge is readily picked up by reading on the subject. Get a suitable book out of the library and read it, instead of idly watching TV or messaging with your mobile phone. Try learning something new for a change.
I have many favourite comfort stones. Here are six which are special and why I like them.
(1) A gin-clear quartz crystal, weight about 30 grams, showing all its crystal faces, but sawn across at the base so that it will stand up. I have several of these of various sizes and they are readily available. What can you learn from such a crystal? You can feel the six hexagonal prism faces that are capped to a point by six rhombohedral faces of differing size, often one face much larger than the others. In daylight the quartz crystal may show a conchoidal fracture some where, and weak horizontal striations on the prism faces. The crystal is quite colorless when having no impurities or crystal defects.. It has grown from a hydrothermal aqueous solution at modest depth in the earth; in a quartz vein in a quartzite, or pegmatite vein in granite terrain. Is it local or foreign? I have perfect ones from White Rock Quarry in the Adelaide Hills, one from Mt Antero in Colorado, and many from Brazil.
(2) A rounded fossiliferous sandstone of 70 grams weight. It is beach worn and was found on the local Brighton Beach, at Adelaide in South Australia. This is a rather plentiful source, so maybe you can easily find one locally too. It is a hard, rounded grey sandstone pebble just bristling with white turritella fossil shells (the pointy spiral ones) and their fragments. Here is a sample of sandy beach that existed nearby ages ago, but fairly recent geologically, less than 10 million years ago. This is a time capsule. Can you imagine that long ago and what the landscape was like, and what strange marsupial animals were hopping about? Such musings will keep you occupied for some time.
(3) An angular topaz crystal weighing 80 grams. It is flawless and perfectly transparent. It feels heavy compared to quartz, since their specific gravities are 3.5 and 2.65, respectively. It seems colourless but when put alongside a clear quartz crystal a faint blue tint is discernible. The trick to identifying topaz from quartz or other colourless crystals, is to find evidence of its perfect basal cleavage. Find one cleavage and you will find the other, opposite side. This is possible even on waterworn topaz, using a 10x lens. It has a conchoidal fracture elsewhere. Topaz has the same specific gravity as diamond but has a lesser refractive index (1.62 compared to 2.42 for diamond. This specimen is from a pegmatite cavity, unworn, but its mate is from a stream bed.
(4) Water-worn colourless topaz pebble of unknown locality. Weight 72 grams).
This is a completely colourless crystal and good faceting rough, if you want to imitate a diamond. Although water worn, tiny patches of the shiny basal cleavage surfaces are visible on two adjacent sides. Two flattish sides are remnants of prism faces. Although water-worn, its crystallographic orientation can be ascertained. it's as hefty as a diamond. I wish it was one. Retired faceters always have such topaz pebbles lying around, and they may remind you of earlier times when fossicking a stream for gemstones.
(5) Schorl, or black opaque tourmaline crystal, of weight 66 grams. Everyone should have tourmaline as an adornment, in a ring, bracelet or necklace, particularly a transparent coloured one. My special schorl crystal shows all the typical crystal faces, of trigonal prisms and pyramids. Schorls are heavy iron-rich tourmalines, being opaque black…you can't get anything blacker than schorl. It is a nice crystal to feel in the dark. It is a great friend.
(6) A clear "quartz crystal" bought on eBay, weight 50 grams, length 7.5 cm, width about 2.5 cm. and having hexagonal prism faces capped at each end by pyramid-like faces, all nicely polished. It has become one of my favorite stones, because it reminds me that things are not always what they seem at first sight. It looks like a colourless quartz crystal, like genuine quartz, but wait a moment, something is not quite right about it. I have never seen a doubly terminated quartz crystal like that before, with the pointy end faces so nearly all the same shape……and centrally there is a shower of wisps, very pretty too, which on examining with a 10x lens were revealed to be tiny gas bubbles, such as commonly seen in glass gemstone imitations. Yes, it is a glass imitation of a natural quartz crystal. Very clever. I like it. It was sold as "Synthetic Quartz Wand" for $10. I did not complain to the seller.
Other crystals and stones that are readily available and lend themselves as suitable comfort stones are beryl, other quartzes such as citrine, smokey, rose quartz (rough looks like candy), jaspers and agates, and there are the jades, and many fossils, in fact anything that takes your fancy and you want to be friends with. You will find your knowledge of minerals will be greatly enhanced by having a few pet stones to handle and cherish. Your peace of mind, and maybe your health, will show improvement too. Wishing you all the best of outcomes.
Regards from Allano. 07/04/2018
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