High energy Aries often race forward as they blaze new trails. Patience is not their strong suit. When the going gets tough, they just race forward, never stopping, However, this can also be a major source of undue stress and strain; try impatiens flower essence and you’ll discover a wellspring of fortitude.
While the term “vision quest” comes from Native American teachings, it is really the passage of the personal journey. No matter what your spiritual orientation is, for true personal development, it is essential to do the inner work. You must explore yourself deeply and discover what is important to you, sense where you need to go, and set your spiritual goals. At the end of the day and at the end of your life, it will not matter how many houses or cars you have; what really matters is what kind of person you were and how you treated others. Was the work of your life soul work? Did you express yourself creatively? Did you take care of your family? Did you help others?
Look inside; face these questions. Can you answer them satisfactorily? By doing so you will be able to determine and change the future course of events. A vision quest is an essential step in a life well lived, a life full of soul work, a life hard but ultimately joyful.
This ritual, performed in keeping with the Native American tradition, is a rite of passage requiring courage and fortitude. At the end, you will most certainly know who you are! Going into the wilderness by yourself with no food, water, or other creature comforts to do nothing but pray certainly forces you to face your inner self. The purpose of the vision quest is to receive a vision. Not everyone succeeds. Some people are too frightened, hungry, and cold to continue. Others experience an altered reality or deep visions due to sensory deprivation and the extreme physicality of the vision quest.
Smoky quartz, like many other brown stones, is a grounding crystal and affects the parts of the body closest to the earth—the lower torso and the root chakra. As a healer, smoky quartz helps the kidneys, abdomen, pancreas, and sexual organs. It can help a person stuck in a decadent cycle of sexual gratification and promiscuity break out of that meaningless cycle toward real love.
I like how smoky quartz facilitates the creation and achievement of business goals as well as higher personal aspirations. Smoky quartz is one of the only crystals I know that can generate an attitude of patience and fortitude. This dark stone also helps with perspicacity and perseverance—slowly but surely you can get to the top of the mountain! Smoky quartz is calming and is a wonderful antidepressant stone. In the same vein, it abets issues of possessiveness and addiction and can help people struggling with codependency. Smoky quartz also helps people get over negative emotions such as fear, anger, and jealousy. This tone can point out what is important in your life and what is not; it will lead you in overcoming the emotional blocks that stop you from prioritizing your wants and needs. Smoky quartz will move through your lower mind and help your soul grow toward a higher mind and new stages of creativity and inspiration. As an elixir, smoky quartz is superb for radiation illnesses.
This stone is great in combination with these relatives in the quartz family: rose quartz, citrine, and amethyst. If you work with this trinity of crystals, you can blanca female and male energies—the yin and the yang. I find that moldavite is rather un-grounding for me, but smoky quartz can ameliorate that effect and get my feet back on the earth.
