ldquo;This is a comprehensive manual for using crystals, gems and stones to address physical, emotional and spiritual health conditions. In addition to herbalism and acupuncture, Chinese medicine has rich traditions of using stones as medicine, passed from generation to generation for thousands of years. A thorough primer on Traditional Chinese Medicine that is backed by modern scientific research is included. ”

Autorentext
Leslie J. Franks, LMT, has practiced Asian bodywork since 1990. In 1995, she began studying Classical Chinese Medicine with Dr. Jeffrey C. Yuen, an 88th generation Taoist priest from the ancient lineage of the Jade Purity School. She is also a Chen style Taiji instructor, certified by Master Wang Haijun, 12th generation Chen Taijiquan. She lives in Belchertown, Massachusetts.

Klappentext

In addition to herbalism and acupuncture, Chinese Medicine has a rich tradition of using stones as medicine, passed from generation to generation for thousands of years. In this comprehensive guide and extensive Materia Medica, Leslie J. Franks presents the Stone Medicine teachings of Dr. Jeffrey C. Yuen, an 88th generation Taoist priest from the ancient lineage of the Jade Purity School, which dates to the Han dynasty, 206 BCE. Detailing the therapeutic properties of 200 gems, stones, minerals, and crystals, Franks explains the physical, emotional, and spiritual conditions each stone can treat and how their color, form, hardness, and energetic qualities affect us according to Chinese Medicine. She examines the chemistry and sacred geometry of crystal structure, revealing how the minerals contained in the stones affect our physiology by supporting our Jing (Essence); by nourishing Qi (energy), blood, and fluids; and by clearing Wind, Cold, Damp, and Heat conditions that can lead to disease. Including a thorough primer on Traditional Chinese Medicine and backed by modern scientific research, this book explains how stones access our deepest layers, vibrating ever so slowly, to initiate deep lasting change.

Zusammenfassung
A comprehensive manual for using crystals, gems, and stones to address physical, emotional, and spiritual health conditions.

Leseprobe
Chapter 14

**Transformative Stones

**If quartz crystals represent perfection in the world of minerals, the transformative stones demonstrate the process by which perfection is accomplished. In Western terminology, this large group of stones is called chalcedony. It includes agate, chalcedony, jasper, and onyx. The stones are fundamentally the same--that is, a fibrous subcategory of quartz, all with similar hardness and all with a chemical composition of silicon dioxide. For the ancient Chinese, however, who saw consciousness and spirit in the natural world, the patterns, colors, and configurations these stones presented were indications of a process of refinement and evolution.

Most of the transformative stones form at the Source/Yuan, or igneous level, but their appearance shows a process of metamorphosis. The stones are quartz, but they do not form perfect crystals. They demonstrate a slow evolutionary process as the Earth adapts to change. They also represent a core tension of human life--the relationship between Water, our Essence, and its requirement to discover and express our deepest self, and Earth, with its requirements of living in society. Looking at the agates, with their banded, speckled, or patchy appearances, we can imagine the struggles and conflicts the stones experience during their creation--as they melt and solidify, compress and release, fuse and separate. Eventually the stones refine to become the strong, definitive colors of the jaspers; the translucent, homogenous colors of the chalcedonies; or the shining, intensely black onyx, which represents our deepest Essence: the Water energy of the Kidneys. The group as a whole matures to its ultimate perfection in the subtlety and elegance of jade, a stone held in the highest regard since the earliest history of the Chinese.

The use of jade in Chinese culture dates to the Neolithic period, when ancient populations considered the nephrite jade they were able to mine locally to be inherently more valuable than gold or silver. They used the stone to shape ritual objects and tools, and the quality of the carving gives evidence to a highly sophisticated civilization. Nephrite jade is extremely durable, as demonstrated by the many jade artifacts unearthed that date back to more than 1,000 years before the Common Era.

In the nineteenth century, a beautiful jade from Burma became popular among the royalty and Confucian scholars. It had clearer and bolder colors than the indigenous nephrite jade, and the bright emerald-green color, called imperial green, was much sought after. This is jadeite. It has a different chemical composition than nephrite jade, but this difference was unknown until later in the century.

Jade is associated with the upper dan tian. We use agates, jasper, and chalcedony for treating illness, but jade is an aspirational stone. It represents the possibility to ascend out of petty, selfish concerns and to exhibit qualities of behavior that benefit all humans.

Inhalt

Author’s Note
Preface

To the Professional Chinese Medical Practitioner

To the Layperson

Why Stones?

The Law of Signatures

Acknowledgments

**PART I

A Primer of Classical Chinese Medicine

1. The Basics

**The Vocabulary

The Pathogenic Factors--Wind, Cold, Damp, and Heat

The Anatomy

The Modern Challenges to Health--Staying Healthy **

2. The Big Picture

**A Philosophical View

Prerequisites of Life

How to Work with Evolution **

3. Paradigms of Chinese Medicine**

Qi--Energetic Medicine

The Humours of Chinese Medicine

The Energetic Anatomical Terrains--Wei Qi, Ying Qi, and Yuan Qi **

4. The Numbers 24
   **
   Yin and Yang--“The One Begets the Two”

The Trinities--“The Two Beget the Three”

The Four Principles of Yin and Yang

The Four Transformations of Yin and Yang

The Five Elements--Phases of Transformation

The Six Divisions or Stages

The Seven Stars

The Bagua--The Eight Trigrams

The Nine Palaces

5. Zang-Fu--The Internal Organs

The Level of Survival--Lung/Large Intestine and Stomach/Spleen

The Level of Interaction--Heart/Small Intestine and Urinary Bladder/Kidney

The Level of Differentiation--Pericardium/Triple Heater and Gall Bladder/Liver

6. The Souls of the Organs

The Spirit/“Big” Shen and the Soul/Ling

The Obstacles to Freedom

A Path to Freedom

7. The Curious Organs

Brain

Bones

Marrow

Vessels

Uterus

Gall Bladder

8. The Emotions and Temperaments

Defensive/Wei Qi--Mood

Nourishing/Ying Qi--Emotion

Source/Yuan Qi--Temperament

9. The Channel Systems

The Meridian System--Highways and Byways of Life

The Process of Latency--Hiding Our Pathology

The Healing Crisis

The Points--Landmarks along the Way

Living a Long and Healthy Life

**Part II

Introduction to the Materia Medica

10. The Criteria for Stone Selection--Choosing the “Right” Stone
    **
    Color and Light

Chemical Composition

The Five Qis--The Nature, or Yang Aspect, of the Stone

The Five Tastes--The Yin Aspect of the Stone

Affinities

Hardness

Crystal Structure and Sacred Geometry

Stone Groups

Level of Formation--Earth’s Energetic Dynamics

11. Methods of Application--Entering the Stone Gate

Determining a Strategy

Developing a Form…