As the days grow shorter and the nights longer, many of us feel collectively inclined towards quiet reflection, meditation, divination, and other means of delving into the self. Everyone has strengths and challenges, and the practice of identifying one’s challenges and healed vs unhealed emotional woundings is something you may have heard referred to as “shadow work.”
Some crystals recommended for aiding in healthy shadow work include (but are not limited to) Stibnite, Galena, and Rainbow Obsidian.
Stibnite is a lead sulfide mineral that is closely energetically connected to the planet Pluto, which rules over the cycles of death and rebirth as well as bringing you into alignment with your highest spiritual purpose as you simultaneously shed all that is extraneous/does not serve you. Stibnite is a stone of transformation that helps one overcome feelings of powerlessness and fear that may be holding you back from enacting even the most positive changes to bring you closer to manifesting what you want. According to Robert Simmons in the Pocket Book of Stones, “If one dreams of a completely different career, spiritual life, self-image or outer personality, Stibnite can magnetize the experiences, people, and synchronicities to make it so.”
Galena, also a lead sulfide mineral (lending it to have a similar shiny gunmetal appearance to Stibnite), facilitates “the alchemical process of self-transformation” as well as “reclaiming lost parts of the soul” from past trauma in a journey to integrate the whole self (which is a large part of shadow work). Galena is also an excellent grounding stone, which is useful because sometimes when one is self-reflecting and figuring out what one wants life to look like and what that might take, one can get overwhelmed or restless to the point of perceiving things to not be progressing “quickly enough.” Galena understands these feelings and combats them with gentleness and a reminder that your journey is uniquely your own, to take at your own pace, and that it’s okay to ground into and appreciate the present moment and how far you’ve already come, without worrying so much about what the future looks like.
A third stone to complete the trifecta of effective, but positive/optimistic-minded shadow work is Rainbow Obsidian. According to the Pocket Book of Stones, Rainbow Obsidian (a silica-rich volcanic rock) “helps one take the downward journey to unexpected Light” in the interest of healing wounds to the psyche and reclaiming parts of the self once forgotten to the wounding. Rainbow Obsidian encourages “optimism and hope” during this self-work and supports the emotional body during dark times, as well as quickening one's emergence into beautiful, healing light.
The Full Moon this month, the Full Hunter’s Moon, or Sanguine Moon, rises the Saturday before Halloween (October 28th, 2023) and it inspires themes of inner work, self-reflection, and embracing all that the shadow has to teach us–which makes it the perfect full moon under which to intentionally charge your Stibnite, Galena, and Rainbow Obsidian crystals!
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