All About Rock Magic
“Sometimes since I’ve been in the garden I’ve looked up through the trees at the sky and I have had a strange feeling of being happy as if something was pushing and drawing in my chest and making me breathe fast. Magic is always pushing and drawing and making things out of nothing. Everything is made out of magic, leaves and trees, flowers and birds, badgers and foxes and squirrels and people. So it must be all around us. In this garden—in all the places.” ― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

When I was eight years old, my grandmother gave me a copy of one of her favorite books as a child, Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden, and my life was never the same again. I fell in love with literature and magic in one fell swoop, and for many years after that I continued to believe in magic with my whole heart. But as I got older, though my love of literature never faltered, I began to question my belief in magic. Surely rational adults don’t believe in that sort of thing, do they?
Do you seriously believe all this crazy woo-woo stuff?
Here’s the honest truth. I don’t know! As an adult, my mind often has often balked at the idea of “real magic.” But my heart? No matter how much sense my mind talks, it stubbornly beats out, “What if? What if? What if?”
Over the years, I’ve come to believe that listening to your heart is never dumb, as long as your mind also gets its say. You’ll never hear me claim that magic is real for sure, because I have no idea if it is. But, for me? Living as if magic is real makes good, plain, practical common sense. It’s a bit fanciful, sure, but it harms nothing and brings bucketfuls of joy to my life.
It seems to pay off in other ways too. The times I’ve been able to set my rational mind aside and live as if magic was real have been by far the most amazing of my life. I married the man of my dreams (a guy so amazing, my chief concern when we met was that he couldn’t possibly be real), I landed jobs I was completely unqualified for, and I ended up in dream homes that would magically appear on the market just as we started searching, at weirdly low prices that put them within our reach. Frankly, so many crazy coincidences and barely believable scenarios have happened during the times I’ve embraced magic, I’d have to be an idiot to shut it down just because it’s not scientifically sound.
Am I saying that playing with magic will land you your dream job, dream relationship, dream home, and so on? Heck no! Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. How should I know? All I know for sure is that embracing a fanciful, magical life has filled my life with fun, adventure, and all manner of good things. And if you’re anything like me, then giving magic a chance just might make all the sense in the world for you too.
What is magic anyway?
At its most basic, magic is making stuff happen. And I don’t mean by rolling up your sleeves and doing your chores. Magic is making stuff happen with your mind.
At least, that’s what doing magic is. If you ask me, magic itself is a bit different. I think of magic itself as a kind of force or energy. It’s conscious, intelligent, and aware, and it’s everywhere. It’s in the ocean, in the waves, in the sky, in the sand, and definitely in rocks. It’s in trees, flowers, animals, and all living things. It’s inside of us and outside of us, in every atom of the universe and all the spaces between.
Okay, fine, but if magic is real, how does it work?
It seems to me that magic can be done in two basic ways: We can use the magic within us to make stuff happen, or we can partner with the magic all around us.
I often suspect that many of the most powerful people in our world are using the magic within themselves all the time, even if they don’t know it. They tap into it and fire hose it all over the place, making stuff happen like mad. You’ll recognize these people. They’re forceful and audacious, never doubting for a second that they deserve to get what they want. That might make them sound a bit insufferable, which I’m sure some of them are. But if the things they want are good for the world, they’re often the very ones we call heroes.
The other way to be magical is to partner up with the magic outside of us. That’s what Rock Magic can help you do. And if you ask me, that’s where the real fun is.
NOTE: If you’ve read Geo’s Fortune, you’ll recall that Liv, the character who owns the New Age shop Incense and Sensibility, has a different theory for how magic works. She describes it as “reality surfing,” where some of us are able to steer ourselves to different realities where the things we want have already happened. I put that in the book because when I asked her what she believed, that’s what she told me. (Yes, authors talk to their characters. At least, I do!) So who’s right, me or Liv?
The answer is: No one knows! You’re bound to come across folks who assert their theories about life and magic with such confidence and force it’ll seem like they simply must have all the right answers. They don’t! When it comes to this stuff, all any of us have are ideas, faiths, or beliefs, never knowledge or facts. So my advice is to have fun playing with these theories, but keep it light. Maintain an attitude of, “Eh, who knows?” It’s more fun that way anyway!
However it works, I suspect that people don’t have much success doing magic unless they were born with an innate talent for it. So the next question is, are you a magical sort of person?
Wait…. Some people are better at magic than others?
Yes. Definitely.
Just like any other talent, some people are more naturally gifted than others. You can give everyone in the world a chunk of marble, but only Michelangelo can carve a David. (If you gave me a chunk of marble, I’d probably just stub my toe on it.)
I’ve noticed two character traits that seem to be present in magically talented folks, and I think you need at least a bit of both to get magic to work for you. These traits are will and imagination. Most are stronger in one than the other. Those with an abundance of imagination are creative and curious, with active minds that fizz and buzz. Those with strong wills are filled with determination and an unshakeable belief that they deserve what they go after.
What both types share is that they light up like crazy when something catches their interest. They can become quite passionate, and at times even a bit intense. Sometimes you can practically see the magic in their eyes.
They have what I call “spark.”
Most magically gifted people have interesting stories to tell. They might just call it being lucky, but things seem to fall in their laps, often in strange or unexpected ways. Weird coincidences and synchronicities happen to them all the time, or they have a history of dreaming up wild, impossible schemes, which they somehow turn into reality.
But others live totally normal lives. They might even say dull. Their magic is all curled up inside of them having a nice sleep, because nothing has woken it up yet.
So how do I know if I’ve got magical talent?
Mainly, you look for the spark.
Here’s one tell: What has your body been doing as you’ve been reading this? Did chills run down your arms or tingle up your scalp? Did your breathing quicken, or your head feel light, or your heart beat just a little bit faster? Even if your rational side is fighting all the way, saying, “Oh come on, don’t be ridiculous. You’re not really listening to this, are you? So embarrassing!” your body might be speaking a deeper truth. If you’ve gotten even the smallest feeling of excitement, think of that as your magical potential saying hi.
Here’s another tell: Do you secretly wish you had magic? Have you always loved fantasy books and movies? Do you daydream about being magical, or love getting pulled into real life stories about miracles and impossible things, even if later you feel silly about it?
Here’s the final tell: Are you still here, reading this right now?
If you are, congratulations! You’ve almost certainly got untapped magical potential. That’s not to say that everyone who left this page is unmagical: Folks who are already fully tapped into their magic are usually too busy accomplishing stuff to be care about how it works or what to call it. They’re not here because they don’t need to be, and don’t have time for it anyway. But the main group who stopped reading, if they were ever here to begin with, are the non-magical. They don’t think about it, wish for it, or seek it out, because why would they? Magic doesn’t call to them. It would only waste their time.
So if you’re still here, reading this right now? Yay! You’re here for a reason. That spark of curiosity or shiver of excitement that has pushed you to get this far is magic itself. It’s waking you up, lighting you up, and tugging you forward because it wants to be seen by you and used by you. It wants to play!
So what next?
You learn how to use it, of course!
How Magic Works
The simplest, most straightforward kind of magic is called manifesting. Everything you need for manifesting is in your head right now. It’s as easy as 1-2-3:
- Know what you want to have happen.
- Vividly imagine what your life would look like if that thing did happen.
- Know you deserve it, and believe it like it already happened.
That’s it!
The first step lets magic know where you want to go. The second activates your imagination. The third taps into your will. All you have to do after that is sit back and let the magic happen.
Many people accomplish amazing things just with manifesting alone, while others enjoy tapping into magic using tools, aids, and magical systems. To be clear, you don’t need anything extra. But the extra things can help, and they can be fun too. Actually, I think they partly help because they’re fun.
Magical Tools
Some of the more obvious magical tools are things you’ve probably already heard of. These are your standard everyday Harry Pottery-things, like amulets, talismans, spells, wands, potions, and rituals.
But it goes way beyond that.
Have you ever heard of feng shui? That’s an ancient Chinese system of magic where you make stuff happen by placing your belongings in certain areas in your room or home. How about calling on angels or animal spirits, or asking a deceased loved one for a sign? That’s magic. Have you heard of the chakra system? Or homeopathy? Numerology? Astrology? Check, check, check: all magic.
The reason these things all work is because they all speak magic’s language: symbols.
Magic Communicates Through Symbols
Magic just loves itself a good symbolic language. When we use symbols to send messages to magic, it’s a way to clearly communicate what we want. They also help us tap into our imaginations, and if we believe they work, that activates our will and belief as well. No wonder they help so much!
Any symbols or symbolic systems work, as long as they hold meaning for us. What’s cool is that magic can use symbols to send messages back to us, as well.
One example of a simple, clear symbolic system we can all understand is color. Think of what different colors symbolize in western culture:
- Red: Fire, heat, passion, intensity, danger, “Stop!”
- Yellow: Sun, light, energy, illumination, brightness, power
- Green: Nature, life, healing, growth, new beginnings, “Go!”
- Blue: Sky, ocean, water, peace, calm, a clear mind, heaven
- Pink: Romance, femininity, softness, kindness, love
Color, being so strongly symbolic, is an excellent way to tap into magic. That’s why it’s so often incorporated into other systems of magic, like chakra magic, where the energy centers of your body are each represented by a specific color. Feng shui might recommend putting something purple in the back left corner of your home or room to attract wealth into your life. Energy healers might send green light into an injury, or calm someone down by surrounding them with calming blue energy waves.
But color is only one type of symbolic language. There are loads of others. Think of how often the elements are used in the stories you read about magic: Earth, fire, water, and air. They make an excellent symbolic language because they are so easily understood by everyone. If you want to warm something up or burn it down, use the symbol of fire. If you want something to flow or be soothed, water is a good bet. Air can bring freshness, or it can blow something right out of your life. And so on.
Rock Magic
Rocks, minerals, and crystals make excellent tools for magic because, like color or the elements, they lend themselves so easily to symbolic meanings. And there are so many of them! Our Rock Deck contains 92 rocks and minerals (and counting), each with its own symbolic meaning. Ninety-two symbols form a uniquely rich, subtle, and clear symbolic language.
The easiest way to connect to Rock Magic is to click over to the Rock Reading page. It’s a way to have a one-on-one conversation with magic itself. Before you begin your reading, create a clear image in your head of what you want, then send that image to the magic as you choose your cards. If you can’t think of anything specific, you can hold a general question in your mind, like, “What guidance do I need right now to live my best life?” Then see what rocks show up for you. As you read through each rock’s art, meaning, messages, and so forth, see if you feel a bit of a nudge inside, highlighting or tugging you toward one particular message. If you do, that’s the message meant especially for you. If nothing tugs at you, let things settle and see what shows up in your thoughts or dreams or life over the next few days. Answers sometimes take a little time, but in my experience they nearly always do come.
There’s more to Rock Magic than just Rock Readings, though. If you’d like to do more complicated Rock Magic to make stuff happen, there are a million fun things you can try, and you don’t even need to have the rock in hand to do it! All you need is to connect to the rocks in your mind.
Rather than try to explain how it works theoretically, let’s give some examples. Here are five ways of doing Rock Magic, just as a start.
Examples of Rock Magic
- For good luck on a test: Zircon is the stone for brilliance, so before you go into the test, imagine a shiny, sparkling, brilliant zircon gem hanging in the air right over the top of your head. Imagine the gem sending bright illumination down into your mind as you complete your test. Then picture yourself getting an A and feel the happiness and relief of doing so well.
- If you want someone to treat you with more respect: If someone’s been looking down on you like you’re low status, lapis lazuli will be the rock for you. Visualize yourself sitting proud and tall on a gorgeous polished throne of royal blue lapis, looking out with an air of dignified self-respect. (For extra fun, you could even picture the offending person groveling before you, bowing low, apologizing for their behavior, and promising to treat you with respect from then on. Don’t be mean about it, though. Just picture it in a playful way that brings a smile to your face.)
- If you’re afraid to ask for what you want: This is a job for citrine, the rock of personal power. Picture a beautiful bright chunk of natural yellow citrine spinning like a sun right in front of your solar plexus. See it sending out rays of power in all directions, filling you up with a strong sense of your right to have your needs met. Then see yourself asking for what you need with calm assertiveness, as the light of the citrine-sun dissolves all the fear and doubt right out of you.
- If there’s a specific thing you want to attract into your life: This is a job for lodestone. Just imagine yourself holding a lodestone over your head, then picture the thing you want being irresistibly drawn toward you like a magnet. As it reaches you, switch your vision to it being in your life, exactly as it would look if that thing was yours right now. Whatever scene unfolds in your head, keep imagining it until it feels so completely real, it’s as if it already happened.
- If you’re trying to break a bad habit: Let’s say you’re trying to quit drinking soda. Picture a giant chunk of bright red cinnabar hanging in the air between you and a can of Pepsi (or whatever your favorite kind of soda is), blocking it completely from your view. Now imagine the cinnabar slowly moving away from you, pushing the can further and further away. Keep watching until finally the cinnabar and soda are both so tiny and far away, you can’t even see them anymore. Then let out a sigh of relief and let go completely. Then, anytime the craving comes back to you, repeat the image, and switch your thoughts over to a healthier beverage instead.
Anytime you do magic like this, the days and weeks that follow are as important as the initial act. You’ll want to stay alert for signs, messages, coincidences, synchronicities—basically see whatever shows up and be ready to take action. So, for example, if you use rhodonite to attract love to your life, and three days later your friend says, “My cousin’s coming to town in a few days, do you want to hang out?” Go meet that cousin! He or she might not even be the one you’re destined for—it might be the cousin’s best friend’s sister’s teammate—but if you trust enough in the magic to follow the trail, you’ll give yourself a chance to be amazed at the wild (and sometimes hilarious) ways your dreams can come true.
You’re probably figuring out that there are as many ways to do Rock Magic as there are rocks in the world. If you’re a creative person, you’ll come up with tons of your own ideas. These will always work best when the rock you’re calling on means something to you. If someone hands you a random rock and says, “Here, this will help you attract money into your life,” but they can’t explain why, and they know nothing about the actual rock itself? That’s not likely to be a good tool for magic. It’ll be a dud.
The best way to work Rock Magic is to get to know the rocks yourself. That’s why we created both a science card and a magic card filled with photos, art, and fun facts for 92 different rocks and minerals. Browse through them in our Rock Gallery and notice if a rock “calls” to you. If it does, read the cards for that rock (science and magic both) and pay attention to any ideas that pop into your head as you do, or shortly afterwards. Also notice if you get any “echoes” of a message you read in the days following. That’s a sure sign magic is trying to get your attention.
You can also go straight to our Rock Helpers page to see if there’s a rock specifically suited to the task. But before you do, I hope you’ll finish reading the rest of this page first for tips to make your magic both stronger and safer.
It’s important to note that if you already have a connection to a rock or mineral that’s different from the one you read on this website, your personal connection always overrides the one found here. A perfect example would be a diamond engagement ring. Diamond, with its cutting hardness and legacy of harm, represents cruelty in the Rock Deck. Does that mean all diamond engagement rings are cursed, or your relationship will end poorly because you sealed it with a diamond ring? Of course not! I treasure my own engagement ring and have no qualms about it at all. If that diamond represented deep, everlasting love to you when you accepted it and put it on, then it always will, and nothing you read here could ever change that.
How to Make Your Magic Stronger
No matter what kind of magic you’re working, there are things you can do to make it stronger. What all these tips add up to is a pretty basic golden rule: Magic loves to play, so if you want to attract magic, be fun to play with!
- Treat magic like a friend. Magic is not some ethereal vending machine, existing to drop material goods into your hands. It’s conscious, alive, and intelligent, so treat it that way. Talk to it. Open your heart to it. Explain what you want and why, and see if it says anything back. Send it clear pictures in your mind of how happy and sparkly you’d feel if you had that thing. Don’t ask for anything greedy or unreasonable, and for goodness sake, never ask magic to do anything harmful, bad, or dark.
- Feel deserving of what you want. If you don’t feel deserving of what you’re asking for, it’ll never work, and that won’t be fun for magic at all. It’s an unappealing way to ask for something anyway. Think of someone asking you out by saying, “I know I’m boring and dumb and ugly and there’s no way you’d ever want to be seen with a loser like me, but do you want to hang out anyway?” Blech.
- Don’t tell magic how to get you what you want. Magic is creative, it has a sense of humor, and it loves to delight, so don’t tell it how the thing you’re wishing for should happen. It might find a surprising, funny, or just plain silly way to bring you the thing you want that you never would have dreamt up. Just let it know what you want, then let it go and keep alert for signs. Don’t be bossy. Be open to miracles!
- Convince magic how delighted you’ll be if that thing happens. Again—and you’ll notice a trend here—magic loves to have fun. Think of magic as your own personal fairy godmother who will delight in making your wishes come true. Keep your wishes light, positive, and happy, asking only for things that will fill you with joy. Definitely don’t only ask for serious or important things. Magic loves silly and ridiculous. Be a goof!
- Be grateful! This is so important. What if magic sends you something wonderful, but you just greedily gobble it up and ask for more, more, more? Would you want to keep playing with that person? When a wish comes true, savor it! Say thank you! Even better, throw a whole thank you party and graciously invite magic to revel with you in your joy.
I’ve got one other tip for working with magic, and this one’s so important, I’m giving it its own whole section.
Accept That Magic Doesn’t Always Work
Magic can be amazing! But it can also be totally frustrating and dance just out of reach right when you need it most. It fails all the time, and who knows why? When that happens, and it will, don’t be rotten about it. It’s perfectly okay to feel sad or disappointed—you can hardly help your natural feelings—just don’t go into a whole angry, bitter “I knew magic wasn’t real,” routine. That’s tedious and rude.
When magic fails you, see if you can be as light about that as you are about the magic itself. Shrug and say “Oh well!” and move on. After all, maybe you didn’t get that thing you wanted because it wasn’t in your highest and best good. In that case, magic was doing you a favor by not delivering, and what it really deserves is a big thank you.
What Magic Can’t Do
There’s another reason magic doesn’t always work, and that’s because it can’t change a core, fundamental reality about life itself:
Life is hard.
It’s hard for all of us. Even the luckiest, happiest, most powerfully magical people in the world face tough times and have random bad stuff happen to them. They have accidents. They feel pain. The person they like doesn’t like them back, they step in poop, they lose the ice cream off their cone, they go to an interview with spinach in their teeth. They get colds or Covid or cancer. Their loved ones die, and it hurts and it hurts and it hurts. Sometimes terribly, sometimes for a long time.
Then, someday, eventually, they die.
Isn’t that surreal, to think that we’re all going to hurt and die? But it’s true. That’s life. Magic can’t get you out of this, so don’t expect it to. Sometimes you’ve just got to face facts, even when those facts are hard to face.
What magic can do, thank goodness, is help make the fun bits even more fun, the light bits lighter, the happy bits happier. It might even help you steer around any unnecessarily painful parts, keeping the bumps and bruises to a minimum so you only hit the hard stuff that’s truly unavoidable.
Magic can bring sparkle, hope, whimsy, and joy, even in the toughest times. It can make life, well, magical.
A Final Note About Safety
Last but not least: If you get into learning about magic, you’re going to pretty quickly find yourself coming across scary tales of dark forces, spirit attachments, demons, and all sorts of nightmare fodder. Should you be scared of any of these things? Don’t ask me! I have no idea. I mean, I certainly hope not!
What I will say is to never do anything that feels wrong. If it’s giving you dark, scary, creepy vibes, or even just seems a little bit off, don’t do it. Like I’ve said a million times already, magic should be fun. It should feel good. And if the whole idea of magic goes against your spiritual or religious beliefs, obviously you should stay away from it. In that case, let prayer be your magic instead.
But even if magic feels like rainbow sparkle cupcakes, most folks who believe in this stuff recommend protecting yourself before doing anything magical in nature. Here are some protection methods I’ve come across through the years. I figure they’re easy enough and certainly won’t cause any harm, so why not try them out and see what suits you best.
Shield of Light
This is easy-peasy. Just visualize a bright shield of light around you, with the intention that it will keep out anything dark or malign. That’s it! I’ve heard lots of versions of this type of shielding, so follow your fancy. Some people use white light, others prefer specific colors, and I’ve even heard of someone who imagines themselves wearing a cloak of light instead, with a hood and everything, which is pretty cool in a dungeons and dragons kind of way, if you ask me. Someone even once told me they surround themselves in a mirrored “egg” anytime they want to walk around unnoticed. I’ve never tried this myself, but I do find the idea intriguing.
Prayer to Archangel Michael
If you believe in god or are into angels, this’ll be the one for you. Archangel Michael is considered to be the go-to angel of protection, so any prayer to him should do the trick. And, since seraphinite is the rock that connects us to angels, you can even picture yourself holding a pretty piece of seraphinite as you ask for help. You can word your prayer however you like, but if you need a template, try this one out, as it covers all the bases.
Archangel Michael, please surround me in a beautiful bright shield of light. Keep me safe and protected from harm, safe and protected from lower and negative energy, safe and protected from interference, distortion, distraction, and deception, and safe and protected from anything not in my highest and best good. Please let me attract and absorb only the most beautiful and beneficial energy, vibrations, people, and situations of love, peace, joy, god, and truth. Let everything that happens to me be for my highest and best good, the highest and best good of all, and god’s will for me be done.
Get Rocky With It
Since we’re all about Rock Magic here, it would be remiss to not include some rock-inspired shields as well.
Black tourmaline, or schorl, is considered the main protection stone, so picture a nice hefty schorl tower hovering in front of and behind you, or even a whole schorl shell surrounding you on all sides, unless that feels claustrophobic. Imagine its black inky color absorbing anything dark or negative before it can reach you. (As a bonus it’s a common mineral and cheap to buy, which makes it a perfect pocket rock. You don’t have to have the rock for the shield to work, but some people enjoy it, and carrying it around can also be a useful way to help you remember to keep the shield “activated.”)
Halite, otherwise known as salt, is another time-honored protection tool. Many believe it can clear anything harmful out of your energy field, and it’s long been used to keep magical spaces free of anything unwanted. Anytime you feel it might be needed, picture yourself floating on a salty ocean, relaxing in a warm bath of salty water, or lying on a block of white or pink halite. Use your imagination to picture any “ick” being neutralized and washed or pulled right out of you. (If you have a tub, you can even try an actual salt bath. They’re tremendously soothing and relaxing, no matter what you believe about magic.)
Slate is useful if you feel like you’re being attacked in an open and direct way. There’s a reason we build our roofs from slate. It’s strong enough to withstand baseball-sized chunks of hail, so if you feel feel like you’re being pummeled by slings and arrows (metaphorically speaking), picture a sturdy, well-built roof of slate between you and the attacks, one that starts above your head and goes all the way to the ground. Imagine them all bouncing harmlessly off the slate while you sit safe, cozy, and peaceful inside its protective walls.
There are lots of other ways to use rocks in protection magic. If something pops into your head, try it! Some people, for example, like to place a chunk of schorl on their windowsill or beside their bed. Others sprinkle salt in corners to keep their homes free of icky energy. Just don’t sprinkle it outside where it could hurt slugs and snails. (Unless those slugs and snails are eating your prize tomatoes, in which case, do what you must.)
Finally, when using any shielding or clearing methods, most people recommend repeating them often. It’s kind of like recharging a battery. Daily is plenty, or you could just do it anytime you plan to “tune in” to the world of spirit and magic.
That’s it!
We hope you take what you’ve learned and go out and have some magical fun! If you try any of these methods and meet with success, we’d love to know! Send us your story, and you could even be featured (anonymously if you wish) on this website or in an upcoming book!