Shungite, Shungite, Shungite.... Nice to Meet You?
Welp, shungite. There is a whole lot of stuff being said of shungite that ranges from miracle healer to water purifier... to it having every element within it... to, well... there is a lot of stuff being said. The briefest gloss is that shungite is kinda like jet, because it is carbon that is created by decaying organic material, in shungite's case, underwater. The difference between jet and shungite is that shungite was made from the first algae that gave birth to our atmosphere because there were no plants yet. Then the organic material was exposed to and transformed by volcanic heat.
This gives shungite all of the elemental associations (which is as sexy as it gets with a rock, so to speak). Water, because it the decaying matter was in water. Air, because the algae from which it was formed created our atmosphere. Earth, because, well.. it's a rock. Fire, because of the transformation undergone through the volcanic heat. And Spirit, because the initial biomaterial was alive. It's pretty dang old too, though the range on the scientific sites varying its age between millions to approximately 2 billion years old. Meh, it's old.
There is also another thing I can say about shungite. It isn't terribly happy about the information that is currently out there. Chris and I were in the computer room at the warehouse trying to locate good information about shungite since we had some to put up in the on-line store. After a few minutes, it became clear that the information out there was hopelessly skewed. There were mentions of this study and that study with no link whatsoever to the actual studies. The geology info was "sketch", as my daughter says. There were also claims that shungite cleaned dirty water, which I hope no one has actually tried yet without doing testing on the water before drinking it. It IS carbon, which IS used in water filters, but... uhhh, without using it like a filter, I don't know what kind of help it would be for physical pollutants. It makes an awesome gem elixir, however, but use CLEAN water to create it!
Anyway, so I say... "I think shungite needs a fresh reading." Chris agreed. Then I got, what I like to call, the ~Shungite Smackdown~. I literally had a sudden and strong interdimensional whack, or some kind of distinct shove, go through my body. I sometimes feel distinct motion within my energy body that I attribute to some kind of fluctuations going on in the Earth, but this was far stronger and I almost blipped out. I asked Chris if "he felt it too", and he had... but he was lucky enough to be sitting in a dang chair instead of standing up. Weirdness. I asked Chris what he thought it was and he just said, "I think shungite really wants a new reading." I am sensitive to rock energy, obviously, but I've never been bitch slapped by one before. That was new.
Within moments of this event, the computer that we use to do posting and writing at the warehouse had a pop up window virus that literally brought our day of working on the computer to an end. There was nothing else we could do with our day. So, shungite want reading, shungite want reading NOW. So that's what we did. We did a reading on Shungite, that very moment... that very afternoon. Umm, since our schedule became wide open all of a sudden. Not weird at all. Nope.
Key Themes for Shungite:
Shungite as "Earth Worker": It has witnessed history, many changes, many deaths, human cycles, Earth cycles. I saw a galloping white horse with a rider (death), a bicycle (cycles in movement), mud volcanoes (primordial elemental creation forces).
Cosmic Mother: Connection to cosmic flow, primordial patterns of physical manifestation on Earth, connection to corrective/rectification of Divine Blueprints within physical manifestation, including global patterns, not just human ones. I see "Pottery Mother", a symbol that I equate with primal creation that can make new "pots" from clay, fill in cracks/voids/weaknesses on pots that have damage, but can also smash up broken pots, or forms that are no longer useful, to be dissolved and reclaimed to be used in the making of things that are useful. Recycling. Reclaiming. Repurposing. Nothing wasted. Nothing truly lost either. Form changes, but mud is mud, is mud, is mud.
Purification: Shungite could be used in any healing work that involves the dissolution or purification of patterns that are not in Divine Alignment, or that no longer serve. It could be partnered with other cleansing and rectification stones, such as Himalayan salt, any type of obsidian (fire), river stones (water), or ceremonies/protocols that seek to cleanse a system of misqualfied or negative programming/patterns. Shungite would be fantastic in Earth Healing work of any kind, including and perhaps especially in areas of significant trauma and disturbance. There is also a protective aspect of shungite from significant disturbances or harmful influence of any kind. (The best form of protection is to be out of range of the arrows, however.)
Ouroboros/Alchemy: One of the visuals I saw was of the ouroboros, or of a snake eating its own tail. This really says nearly the same as the Cosmic Mother information. Wikipedia says this about it: The Ouroboros often represents self-reflexivity or cyclicality, especially in the sense of something constantly re-creating itself, the eternal return, and other things perceived as cycles that begin anew as soon as they end (compare with phoenix). It can also represent the idea of primordial unity related to something existing in or persisting from the beginning with such force or qualities it cannot be extinguished.
Modulation of Incoherent Vibrations to Coherency: Basically, the idea here is that shungite, since it has access to ancient patterns of all kinds, can help to bridge the gap, vibrationally speaking, between various energies, kinda like how Herkimer diamonds can help to attune one thing to another. If you do any kind of healing work, activational work, Reiki attunements, distance healing, shungite would be helpful as a technical worker to get everyone on the same page first.
Soul Wisdom/Ancient Memory: Of course, shungite being billions of years old basically means that it has seen it all. If you want to gain access to deeper soul wisdom or information about ancient civilizations, your ancestral matrix, etc, shungite would be the first to grab. I would partner it with record keepers of any kind.
Transition/Death/Cycle Worker: Shungite would be an excellent transition worker, such as the clearing of ghosts, assisting one through the death process (or birth, for that matter), or any other large transitional undertaking. Shungite would be helpful for any "in process" event of great consequence. I would partner it with lepidolite. And some Rescue Remedy. And a pacifier. Perhaps a shot of vodka. (It is from Russia, afterall.)
Breath Work: Shungite was created from the algae that gave birth to our atmosphere, so it has deep connection to air and the breath. I've gone to some very powerful breath work sessions facilitated by Pheonyx Roland Smith, of the OCG Project, during which I had some shungite in my pocket. It was a pretty intense experience. Because the breath and sound are connected, it would also be good for toning work. (Pheonyx has since passed and is doing the good work on the other side of the veil. Spiritual hugs to Pheonyx.)
Sacred Union: This has alchemical undertones too, really. The union of opposites, the combining of the yin and yang, Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine, that kind of thing. If you are engaging in sacred sexuality practices, tantra, or kundalini rising work (which often includes conscious breathing)... or if you are trying to conceive a baby with sacred intent, shungite would be great to put in a grid under your bed or in the room in which the activities are in process. This would also include ecstatic union with the Divine in a more abstract sense that doesn't include bow chicka wow wow with another human being. In this kind of grid, I would probably start with shungite, rose quartz, garnet, pyrite (unless you have nuggets of gold hanging around your house), Herkimer diamonds, Fire Quartz, selenite, phantom quartz, ummmm... among other options. If you don't have a ton of stone resources, shungite in the middle with rose quartz on the outside would likely work well enough.
Energetic Support of Physical Healing: Ok, I want you all to hear me. ~I am not a doctor, nor do I necessarily look to the mineral kingdom for physical healing issues.~ It makes me twitchy when people look to rocks for physical healing. I see the mineral kingdom as being subtle energy that supports shifts in more subtle energy bodies, not the physical ones. The plant kingdom is far more impactful on the physical level. I've given shungite to a dear friend who was battling cancer, and she recently passed anyway. So much for shungite being a miracle worker, eh? But, I do feel that shungite being integrated into intentional healing energy work would still be useful. We're still talking about moving patterns back to primal patterns. What is illness, but a departure in the system from original, pure patterns? Still... work with it with intent. I would use a guided meditation where the ill person imagines their flesh being disintegrated or burned off down to the bone, then clean the bones in Holy Water, then imagine the body being reformed with clean mud, then transformed back to flesh, with perfected patterns in place...reconsecrated and aligned with the person's Divine Physical Template. More mud work, basically. Mud is mud, is mud, is mud.
Safe Shungite Water
Err... dudes, seriously. Yes, much of shungite is carbon, which is kinda the same thing as what's in your water pitcher filter, but shungite bearing rock (which is most of what is on the market) is only 50-70% carbon. The rest is ~other stuff~. Some of the ~other stuff~ may or may not be okay to be leeching into your drinking water!! I love it when pyrite is in my shungite. I do not love it when pyrite leeches into my drinking water.
I know it's a popular and trendy thing to do, to chuck a bunch of shungite in water and then drink it, but if you don't know what the ~other stuff~ is in your shungite, you may be cleaning and charging your water in one hand and putting something not okay in it with the other.
We often do workshops about creating gem elixirs and our first rule of thumb is that when in doubt, use a NON-CONTACT method of zooming up your water. We've got some awesome new shungite tiles that are perfect as charging coasters for water that don't require a direct contact method with the water, but you can use a tumbled stone or any shungite in your keeping if you just hold it up to the glass.
Directions to create a gem elixir with a shungite tile (or hold a piece on the outside of the glass):
1: Place a bottle or glass of water on the tile or hold the shungite specimen up to the glass on the outside of it so that the stone is not touching water you drink.
2: Put your hands on the container over the tile or around the specimen that is touching the glass.
3: Connect to the Divine, your guides, or the spiritual beings that preside over shungite itself, and say, “I request to make a gem elixir. Now, please.”
4: Let the energies run for approximately five minutes. Or longer.
5: Seal the work by saying, “I ask to bless, optimize, stabilize, amplify, and seal this work under the Divine. Now, please.”
Further Personal Observations...
Since that fun day at the warehouse, I've noticed that I am super sensitive to shungite. Not just as a rock, but as a distinct voice and layer of consciousness of Mamma Gaia (maybe even something larger). The Earth and all upon her are in a fairly tumultuous time of change and transition. Shungite ain't no fluffy, white light, "feel good" stone. Shungite is more like the Dark Cosmic Mother stirring up whatever is in the Cauldron of Creation...briskly. She is a master at the cycles of death, birth, transition, and all the bits and pieces of the primordial creation process. Even the stuff that hurts, the stuff that terrifies, and that challenges each of us to let go of the status quo within our personal and collective lives to undergo transformation into something more. If you want to run screaming from the building, this would be the time.
Shungite Plays Well With...
Well, shungite doesn't "play", but there are stones with which is it particularly suited to work to get stuff done. This is just a partial listing. Please follow your own prompts when you partner shungite with other stone helpers. My personal pocket rock partners are Presili Blue Stones and lodestone with pyrite. That is pretty much my standard go-to support for me on an average day outside of the house.