This is a dense book lavishly illustrated with many color images by the well-regarded Robert Simmons. Simmons has been working with stone energies for more than 35 years and has developed an alchemical worldview that leads to spiritual healing, transformation, and transcendence. He shares basics about working with stone-beings, and then a fascinating excursion to meet the Divine Feminine intelligence known as Sophia. He covers blessings, conjunction, alchemy, stone mandalas, body layouts, portable body mats, elixirs, crystal waters, labyrinths, purification, crystal wands, and -- yes -- even more. There is so very much to this book it is difficult to do it justice in a review.
Unlike many writers, Simmons manages to write clearly and reverently about the stones he has spent a lifetime working with. For example, in his discussion of stone beings, "... we can say that every center of consciousness, expressed as any self-organized object or creature, is a 'self.' Both we and the stones we work with have self hood. That's why I call them Stone Beings." Simmons then goes on to back up this assertion with a great deal of historical background describing four overlapping areas of ideology in this area, including soul, imaginal, psychoid, and subtle.
The book ends with a listing of more than 375 stones with color photos and information about their primary focus. The Alchemy of Stones is beautifully written and organized to showcase and share a lifetime of accumulated wisdom and knowledge about crystals and stones. Readers with a specific area of interest can quickly find the appropriate chapter, and dive into those areas immediately. Exercises are abundantly provided to encourage readers to explore an extraordinary depth and breadth of approaches to relating with crystals and stones. The Alchemy of Stones is such a rich book readers an spend a lifetime delving into it and exploring the knowledge provided.
Recommended.
~review by: Lisa Mc Sherry
Author: Robert Simmons
Destiny Books, 2020
pp. 496, $29.99
