For most of us, most of the time, stones form an unassuming backdrop to the rest of our lives. They support the ground we walk on. They provide spectacular scenery for mountain hiking, climbing, skiing, or simply gazing. They help build the edifices that surround our lives: our homes, our workplaces, our churches, temples, mosques, and synagogues, our institutions of learning. Their very existence assures us that the foundation of things seems strong, solid, immovable, safe.

Yet stones have a far greater role to play. From our myths (my favorite is the existentialist hero Sisyphus, condemned by the gods to roll a stone up the hill for eternity, only to watch it roll down again, laughing as it does) to our legends (the search for the philosopher’s stone, that Holy Grail of infinite prosperity), to oral traditions that speak of stone spirits, stones permeate our collective consciousness, and the consciousness of Mother Earth. Stones can teach us many things about our sacred connections – to spirit, to self, to memory, to imagination, to ancient energies, and to deep, archetypal urges. In the true stories, poems, and meditations of this book you’ll find almost as many ways to learn from stones as there are stones themselves. Standing before the great sacred stone sites and monuments – Stonehenge, Easter Island, Canyon de Chelly, the great Celtic standing stones, the temples of Egypt – creates a stir in our psyches like nothing else. You’ll read how these ancient stones connected their authors to a transforming power that embodies the spiritual energy of the Earth itself.

You’ll also see transformation in stories of the ordinary pebbles we feel compelled to pick up and slip into our pockets. Have you ever found a heart-shaped stone? A “holey” stone? A piece of quartz glinting on the ground, winking at you? Have you ever held a healing gemstone in your hand and felt a headache slip away, tension turn to ease, anxiety to calm? Then you know about the immense power of small stones to bring their special teachings to us, and you recognize their truth.

Despite the seeming immutability of stones, there is also this truth: nothing stays the same in this universe. Everything migrates with its own inner rhythm of change, of coming from and going to. Everything dances to its unique movement, however small and invisible to the naked eye. Perhaps it won’t surprise you, then, to read tales of stones moving of their own accord – not over eons, but overnight. You’ll find stories and poems that describe the inner world of stones, and others that describe thousand-ton stones moving themselves when called to do so. Mystery surrounds even something as “solid” as a rock.

You’ll find more mystery in stories of rocks speaking: in a whisper, in a shout, in a musical lilt. They invite us to listen and to talk back – to sing, to cry, to speak what we hear in the deepest parts of our souls, in the echoed heartbeat of our longing for connection to everything in this world – especially to the wisdom of stones.

Finally, you’ll read about memories created from encounters with stones of all shapes and sizes. You’ll read about rock-collecting relatives who roamed the world in search of specimens, and grandmothers who planted magical stone gardens. You’ll read how a famous stone statue eased the pain of a mother’s loss, and how a small stone from Ground Zero brought hope.

The magical stones of childhood, the moments of transformation at sacred stone sites, the ecstasy of building rock walls or skipping stones, the discovery of secret stone refuges – these are a few of the wonders that await you. After reading these stone stories, you may never again pass by that strangely-shaped river stone or that gleaming bit of quartz without pausing to look, listen, and reflect on the power and mystery of stone.