Finding Your Spirit Stone

Steve Seinberg from Arrow In Flight created a very interesting spread designed to help the reader identify his or her “spirit stone.” The idea is that people often talk about their spirit animal, but there are many things in the natural world that can hold a similar influence in our lives and for our spiritual journeys.

The spread is designed thus:

And the positional meanings are the following:

Spread by Steve Seinberg

This morning I sat down to do this reading for myself (though I accidentally switched positions 3 and 4 in the layout, which ended up giving me some additional insights as I’ll describe below!). Because color schemes are important to this reading, I wanted to use a deck that featured as many elements of the color wheel as possible. But I also wanted a deck in which each card featured only one or two predominant colors, rather than one where each card displayed multiple bright colors (such as the Tarot of Holy Light or Navigators Tarot of the Mystic SEA). In the end I chose the Fountain Tarot.

Before I began I recognized that I was slightly hoping that the cards would hint at black tourmaline (probably my favorite stone of all time), but I was intrigued to find that the cards did not point in that direction. Instead, they told a beautiful story that highlighted a very interesting and lovely stone that hadn’t even crossed my mind.

Fountain Tarot; Jason Gruhl and Jonathan Saiz

Card 2, Color: 2 of Swords

I am starting with the “color card” because this was the first concrete clue as to what stone I might be dealing with. This was my first clue that it probably wasn’t going to be black tourmaline! The 2 of Swords in the Fountain Tarot shows a woman standing by the sea, blindfolded. She looks upward toward the cloudy sky and bears an upright blade in each hand. The predominant color in this card is a deep, sedate blue. After some contemplation two stones came to mind: iolite and blue kyanite, but after integrating the rest of the cards in the reading, iolite was the stronger contender.

Card 1, Essence: Devil

Iolite is said to help one resist the influence of intoxication, and to be a strong supportive stone for helping to release addictive patterns, codependency, and self-defeating behaviors, so the Devil fits quite well as representative of its essence.  Interestingly I have always felt like I had some sort of “inner rubber” when it comes to things that are typically thought to be addictive, like chips, alcohol, shopping, soda, tobacco…… I do indulge in sweet treats, no doubt, though not (usually) in excess. Perhaps there is some connection here.

Card 3, Ailments: Fool

The Book of Stones, by Robert Simmons and Naisha Ahsian, says:
“Iolite offers to take one on the inner path to the deep self. It is an excellent stone to use in shamanic journeying…It helps one let go of the belief that one needs to control inner experiences, and it dissolves the fear of the unknown…”

Card 4, Gifts: Sun

Iolite is said to be a stone of joy and happiness; by encouraging self-possession and inner strength it helps lead to increased power, success, and satisfaction. In addition, iolite was used to help locate the direction of the sun in ancient times (I discuss this a bit more below), so in that sense the gift may be one of help in finding the way forward, like a natural lighthouse.

Card 5, Connection: King of Coins

The Crystal Vaults website says that iolite, “is an excellent source of energy when used for the elimination of debt and the responsible management of money.” This connects with the Devil (learning how to manage material resources), which also connects to Capricorn (my sun sign).

Card 6, Changes: 6 of Wands

This card suggests that by working with iolite and incorporating it into my life I will learn to recognize, value, and honor my own unique offerings, and that by doing so I will find a path to achieving my goals (there is a connection with the Sun here as well).

Iolite crystal

Iolite is called the Viking Compass because in ages past thin slices of iolite were used as polarizing filters to determine the location of the sun on cloudy days. I couldn’t help but notice the position of the 2 of Swords next to the Sun in my reading. The woman stands on the edge of the ocean on an overcast day, appearing to look blindly upward as if attempting to take a measurement…and there lies the Sun to her right. Perhaps she is peering through iolite, estimating the direction she must take next.

I enjoyed this exercise and look forward to working more with iolite, a stone that I haven’t spent very much time with, to date. If you choose to seek your own spirit stone, please let me know what you find, and consider commenting to Steve via Instagram as well!