I’m Sandra Piddock, and I’m a freelance writer, dividing my time between Spain and the UK. I’ll write about anything that interests and/or challenges me, and I like to focus on the lighter side of life whenever possible..
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Rose Quartz: The Love Stone
As we approach February 14, St Valentine’s Day, and our thoughts turn to love, we should remember there are many variations on the theme. Those on a spiritual journey realise that there is a love that’s even more important than love for your partner, parents, children and friends, or even your fellow humans. It’s unconditional love, and it includes love for yourself.
Self love isn’t selfish, it’s essential, because if you don’t love and respect yourself, you can’t expect any one else to love and respect you. It’s not about being unbearably arrogant, either. The truth is, the person we are most critical of is usually ourselves, and most of the time, that criticism is unwarranted and unjust. We set impossibly high standards for ourselves, and when we inevitably fall short of them, we beat ourselves up about it, and end up feeling worse than ever.
So, how can we stop this cycle of self-blame? By learning to show the same unconditional love to ourselves as we lavish on our loved ones, that’s how! If it seems like an impossible ask, well, it isn’t – you just need to shift your thinking, and crystals can help you do that, especially rose quartz, also known as the Love Stone.
How rose quartz can help you and heal you
Everything is energy, and rose quartz resonates with a gentle yet powerful healing energy that can soothe anger, help heal a broken heart, help with the grieving process, and open up the heart centre to give and receive love.
Placed in the relationship corner of the home, or on the bedside table, it can attract love to the occupants and visitors, and encourage intimacy and harmony in existing relationships. A rose quartz sphere in the centre of the living area will radiate love to everyone who enters the space, and also transmute negative energies and restore peace and tranquility.
Rose quartz is a beautiful stone to look at, and its soft shades of pink can be either milky opaque or translucent. In its natural state, the crystal has soft, undulating edges rather than the more geometric shapes of other varieties of quartz. It polishes beautifully too, and can be carved into lovely shapes, such as angels or hearts. It makes you smile just to look at it, which gives an instant boost to your mood.
Holding a rose quartz during meditation helps to bring you into a serene, relaxed state, while sleeping with it under your pillow will ensure a peaceful night’s sleep and encourage beautiful dreams. Rose quartz can also help with self esteem, and allow you to know yourself more thoroughly and connect with your emotions.
On a physical level, rose quartz can help lower blood pressure, boost circulation, and also ease the symptoms of vertigo. A dear friend of mine saw a marked improvement after just a few days of carrying a crystal around during the day and sleeping with it under her pillow at night.
Rose Quartz visualisation to send and receive love
When you are missing someone dear to you, hold a rose quartz crystal over your heart, close your eyes and imagine the crystal is igniting a ball of pink energy in your heart centre. See it grow until it extends outside your body. Now imagine that same ball of energy in the heart of your loved one (or loved ones – you can send love to more than one person at a time. If you are missing your grandchildren, for example, include them all in this visualisation).
Now see the two balls of energy connecting, and love flowing between them in both directions. I have conducted this visualisation with clients who are feeling disconnected from loved ones here on Earth and in Spirit. It’s a very powerful and emotional practice, which leaves you feeing happy and serene.
When you are ready, visualise the pink balls of energy separating, and your own body returning to normal. Sit quietly for a few moments, then take a drink of water and thank the Universe and your crystal for helping you give and receive pure, unconditional love.
If you don’t already have a rose quartz crystal in your collection, I hope this brief introduction to its uses and healing properties has encouraged you to acquire one. Why not drop a subtle hint to your significant other? After all, what better gift can you give for Valentine’s Day than the gift of pure, unconditional love! Love and blessings to everyone reading this.
The Mystery of the Algorfa Quartz
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It’s great to be back in Algorfa, even for a short while, so I’m catching up with as many people as I can. Close to the top of the ‘Must Visit’ list are Therese and Mike at the Centro Rural de Algorfa. I arrived at just the right time, because the lunchtime rush had eased, and Therese had time to sit and chat for a while. As is often the case, when we get together, the talk often moves to crystals. Therese is an enthusiastic crystal user, and like many Irish ladies, she has a touch of the psychic about her.
I was showing her my latest purchases from Antisha Angels in Playa Flamenca, and also the beautiful healing wand Glenys bought for me. If you’ve never been there, you should. What Tony and Pat don’t know about crystals isn’t worth knowing, and he’s got stuff for cutting crystals and repairing them too.
This was when Therese mentioned that she had a large clear quartz crystal from a quarry local to Algorfa. Soon after the Centro opened in 2015, a Spanish workman brought it in, and Therese fell in love with it and displayed it in one of her glass cabinets, where it could catch the late afternoon sun.
Therese wondered if Tony could make her and myself a quartz point from the stone, which was actually a mix of clear and smoky quartz. She also thought it would be good to take some more points for a couple of friends who are also into crystals, so I agreed I’d take it when I go back to Antisha Angels on Friday. I’ve already given away a couple of the things I bought to people who needed them more, and basically, that is the heart of crystal work. A crystal that has been gifted and blessed with love and healing for the recipient will always be more powerful than anything you buy for yourself.
So, we took some photos of both of us with this magnificent crystal. and then we started to look more closely at the strata in the rock, and wondering just how many years – or hundreds or even thousands of years – each layer represented. When Therese had first shown me the crystal, I’d said I thought there was a natural division that was happening, roughly in the middle, and she agreed. I’d tried to wiggle the stone a little, but nothing happened, so I thought the division would happen when Tony went to work on it. We both hoped this beautiful, natural crystal wouldn’t shatter, but obviously, we know that crystals will do what they need to do, with or without our intervention.
Therese took the crystal from me, and as she did, it separated into two almost identical pieces. We both saw this as a sign that the crystal didn’t want to be taken away from Algorfa, and that it wanted to stay with us. Therese put the brightest half back in the cabinet, to carry on attracting sunlight and entrancing the customers. I handled the other half, feeling so privileged that the crystal had clearly demonstrated what should happen to it.
Being a natural, unprocessed crystal, there was a lot of dust and sediment all over the separated half, and it was depositing itself all over my hands, and the table where we sat. From an environmental health point of view, it’s not good, so I took it into the loo to give it a wash and brush up.
Now, if you’ve ever been to the Centro, you’ll know the decor is a little on the green side, to reflect Therese’s Irish origins. And this theme is continued into the toilet, with a bright green litter bin. When I started running water over the crystal and it gave off a green glow, I thought it was a reflection from the bin, so stood between it and the sink. It didn’t make a difference – in fact the crystal glowed even greener, and the whole room had a green glow. For a moment, I wondered if I was turning into the Incredible Hulk, then I realised that Archangel Raphael was infusing the crystal with his healing green ray.
I quickly dried it off, so I could show it to Therese, and a couple of other crystal-loving friends who’d arrived for lunch. However, by the time I got to the table, the crystal was back to normal, although significantly cleaner, allowing the smoky tones to shine through.
I placed it on the table, and we all tried to hold it. There was so much energy, all we could do was just hover our hands over it for a few seconds. It was a truly remarkable, mystical and mysterious experience, but it didn’t end there – oh no!
When I got back to Piddock Place, I did the mandatory Wednesday listen to Rai Woods’ Country Rodeo on Big FM Radio, then took myself off to the bedroom to write this post. Well, that was the idea. I’ve had a bit of a creativity block recently, with things that have been happening physically and emotionally, but I was full of ideas, and wanted to get it written while everything was still fresh in my mind.
My new crystal had other ideas, though. Because I couldn’t bear to let it out of my sight, I took it into the bedroom with me, and placed it on my bedside table. I wrote the first paragraph or two of the post, then started with a brain fog. I couldn’t think straight, so I decided I must be tired from all the excitement of the crystal and the heat. Trouble was, I couldn’t sleep either. I felt sick and dizzy, and totally out of sorts.
Eventually, it clicked – the crystal’s energy was just too powerful for the room, and for me, at such close quarters. So I returned it to the lounge, in line with the front door, went back to bed, and slept for around 9 hours. I woke this morning feeling more energised than I have for the whole of this year. and seeing I was taken to hospital with pleurisy less than a month ago, that’s a pretty positive result. And I can feel the crystal’s energy following me around the house. Isn’t the Universe truly wonderful?
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