Reviews

This is a beautiful coffee table style book, wish it was hard cover! It is a great guide to stones and I have given it to many people as gifts, it can be for a novice or someone who just wants a great reference tool. The picture are really well done and a great deal of infomation. I do like her other two books as well.

One might get the impression from the editorial review that you could learn about the science of crystals, but there is very little scientific information. Only about 4 pages out of the 288 pages contain significant science, with scientific information about individual crystals being limited to the crystal type (hexagonal/cubic/etc.), hardness and chemical formula. The information about fluorescence is limited to a general description in three paragraphs on page 16, with no information about fluorescence for individual crystals. Mixing scientific and superstition-based information, as it does, may also mislead someone trying to learn the science of crystals, particularly children, There are several explicit references to sexuality. The book probably isn't suitable for children, despite the pretty pictures. I cannot comment on the quality of the information about chakras as I really don't know anything about that.

this is the book I've needed for a long time. I'm not good at remembering names, but colors are easy. So, to be able to find a cystal by color is very helpful. Thank you for putting this book together.

I was very happy to receive this book. It is so helpful to have more pictures of the different stones so you can make a better more informed decision on what it is you've found. I find that having more than one reference helps in both identification and which stone works for what ailment.

I have the Crystal Bible by the same author and have really enjoyed it. I bought this book to give to a friend who shares my fascination and love of crystals. I chose to give her this one over my existing version because it has hundreds more crystals than my smaller book. It also has much more information on the listings. It is organized by color which can help when you don't know the name of the stone you are looking for, but there is also an alphabetical index if you want to search for a specific crystal. The photos are beautiful. I have looked through this book with my friend and I like it so much I plan to order one for myself and probably give away my smaller Crystal Bible to someone else. I absolutely recommend this book. It's even nice enough for a coffee table book.

Reviews

This was sent immediately and was received in a couple days. in good condition too

This book is THE definitive guide to working magic with crystals and gemstones. Cunningham presents a whole curriculum of working with stones and their meanings in this all-in-one reference "field guide". The first few chapters cover the basics of stones and metals and gives a bit of magical background. He also shares how he collected some of his information and provides some tips for becoming a seasoned rock collector. Cunningham then dives headfirst into the practical uses for stones and metals. First he explains how to buy stones and how to get the best deals, from haggling in swap meets to store purchases. An appendix in the back of the book lists a few select places to purchase stones. He also suggests ways to interact with stones by in how one selects, attunes and cleanses them. There is even a chapter devoted to divination and another on spells. The exercises are fun to do and do not require lots of pagan wisdom or background training. One could base an entire magical practice just on this book alone. The rest of the book explores the different crystals, gems and metals. Cunningham divides these sections into two chapters. One contains crystals and gemstones, and the other has the metals. The sections are alphabetized by the rock's and metal's common names. For example, to find information on Bloodstones, you'd look the stone up with that familiar name. Cunningham also references the folk names of each item. Each entry contains a list of stones and their associations to planets, colors, days, etc. followed by a quick summary of power associations. All this information is used to match the best stone or metal with what you intend to use it for. After these quick summaries, Cunningham goes into great detail and depth with his explanations on the magic and background lore of each. The center of the book contains a colorful guide displaying "best" examples of some of the stones. I found this color-inset useful as I was reading through the text and trying to grasp a mental image of what each and every stone looked like. A quick Reference Table follows these chapters summarizing all the book's information. Not all stones are covered in this book. Not all stones have the same information either. However, Cunningham does try to thoroughly cover each stone he does list with as much information about it as he can. Some stone lore includes ideas for healing with the stones; some include simple spells one can do with the stone. The book focuses solely on naturally occurring stones and metals; it does not cover man-made or dyed stones (like the Goldstone). I believe that this book should be included in the library of anyone who is interested in the spiritual aspects of stones and metals--as the information contained is some of the best and most practical information on using stones and metals in magic on the market. I also believe that the lore and stories Cunningham provides for the stones also makes this book fun to read by anyone, not just pagans or witches.

Another, winner from Scott Cunningham. Full of information on it's titled subject. Not only of what types of crystal's and gem's but there meaning and colors and what the color's meaning as well.

If you want to know about crystals, gems and metal magic, turn to Scott Cunningham. He has put together another well written and informative reference book that you will use often. My only disappointment is that it did not have more pictures of the various crystals ad gemstones available, until I discovered that you really do need to find a reputable gemstone supplier that can provide alot of that information as crystals and gemstones are like everything else in nature, unique in every way...

This review is specifically of the Kindle edition of the book. I've had a paper edition for ages, and decided to get it on Kindle as an experiment in moving some of my reference texts over to that format. Sadly, the Kindle edition leaves something to be desired. It does have a working table of contents, which will do for someone who wants to read the book cover to cover or refer to chapters focused on regular text. However, more than half of the book is in encyclopedia form - and since the encyclopedic section is all in one chapter and the work has not been indexed, there is effectively no way to jump to a particular stone or metal! This makes it difficult to impossible to use as a reference, unless one were to go through and set all the bookmarks for oneself - and there are limits even to that, because the Kindle doesn't want more than one bookmark to a page, and since some entries are very short, this means that not every entry can be separately marked. If this is typical of how Llewellyn books are being translated for Kindle, I am going to be very hesistant to get any of the other books that are reference-type, which is going to eliminate lots of encylcopedias and spellbooks. And since that's a lot of what Llewellyn offers in Witchcraft - well, oops. It's too bad.

Reviews

To me this look like a pretty book and all; but it is in my opinion not a field guide or science book...it is a metaphysical book and a spiritual book and should not be showing up in searches for field guide books...it's not fair to the studied people who write the technical field guides that one would take into the out of doors on field trips to study nature.

superb book. Wonderfull pictures and very complete. A little on the heavy side but i don't want to miss it already.

A huge and weighty book for the love and enjoyment of crystals ..I bought this after deciding I would do the Meolody crystal training in Glastonbury with Anni Watson in summer 2010 ....glorious glorious book packed full of info.... and such a treat in terms of price when bought from the States. Nothing to criticise about this book save it is tooooo big for really taking anywhere !!! Fantastic pictures and the info is at Melody's usual high standard ...fantastic tool for my homeopathy and healing practice ...thanks Melody and Amazon !!!!

Oh wow. Received this book as a gift after sending some hints and links to the book someone's way. :-) This book is all I had hoped it would be and more. I have a metaphysical crystal/mineral business so work with them more than the average person. In the past I used to have to search between several of my books or do searches on the internet to find information I needed. If the information didn't come from a trusted source such as Melody I had to go with instinct/gut feel to determine if the info I found sounded accurate or not. Now, I have yet to come across a crystal or mineral that isn't in this new book. Quite the book at 9.5 pounds, but when you have this one handy what else do you need? I highly recommend to anyone interested in crystals and minerals for metaphysical purposes. Have some fun and pick a random page to open up then read about the minerals described there. You might be surprised to find it's one that could work well for you at this time in your life.

Huge book, page after page of great photos, great written detail. Couldn't ask for a better book on this wonderful topic.