One of the few things my brother and I shared at the confrontational ages of 6 and 8 was an intrigue with the power of gems and crystals. We begged our parents to take us to ‘the rock store,’ we came home with geodes to crack—each with their own unique and mysterious kingdoms inside. I never understood our obsession. These rocks did not whir or slink; they could not be controlled by remote and—except for the smashing—could not be used to make noise. Everything else we had or harassed our parents for could do these things, and could probably flash a variety of lights at the same time. Kids.
Robert Simmons, founder of Heaven and Earth and, with his wife Kathy Warner, co-founder of the renowned Crystal Conference, has spent his lifetime studying stones and their relationship with the human world. His The Book of Stones is considered “the most in-depth, definitive guide to the world of crystals, minerals, gemstones and their metaphysical energies that has yet been written.”1 In that book he explains our obsession.
So what does one do after writing the “definitive guide” on the subject of his or her passion?
To forge onward is to swim through uncertainty; yet that is precisely what such an erudite would do. As Robert Sardello explains in the introduction:
No one, NO ONE, until this book, has developed a clear and persuasive framework for understanding why anyone would desire to work meditatively with crystals and minerals for other than what finally amounts to personal desire for improvement, healing or receiving qualities that one feels in need of.
Stones of the New Consciousness is Simmon’s attempt to grasp a less egoistic relationship with stones. Self-improvement is integral to establishing and maintaining harmony with the universe, but to stop at inward satisfaction would be to shut oneself off from the larger world process. As Sardello puts it, we should “get out of ourselves and dwell within qualities so large and vast and deep and unending and so active and all-encompassing that not only are we changed, but currents of change then reverberate into the world.”
Stones of the New Consciousness is not like previous guidebooks; it is more like an invitation to accompany Mr. Simmons on a personal journey, a bona fide VIP pass to discovery. Come along with Simmons as he meditates on a more resounding understanding of his singular passion. Be there as he develops and refines a new consciousness!
Recently, I had the opportunity to watch an amazing film called The Waking Life. You can read the full text here, and I highly recommend it. In one of the many dream sequences we are reminded that our cells completely regenerate every seven years, so that we are different people several times over than we were as a child—the only thing that remains is our consciousness. Our bodies are naturally changing over time, and our consciousness should too.
This is a good framework, I think, to understand Simmons’ new text. Working with gems can assist in understanding the ever-crystallizing nature we are a part of and how to use this understanding to make not only ourselves, but the whole world a more beautiful and fully-realized totality, to improve not only our bodies and our minds but the relationship between the two; not project a mere reflection of our current state but a crystallization of the over-arching process. To become a crystal is to be attuned with the higher order of the Earth and the Cosmos, and Robert Simmons’ Stones of the New Consciousness is a personal gateway that YOU are invited to enter!
The book also contains a wealth of beautiful pictures (from which I’ve taken those above)!
$19.95—$22.95
Trade Paper
978-1-55643-811-0
320 pages; 7 x 10-7/8
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