Shungite (Shungit)

I first encountered Shungite (Shungit) a few years ago at a trade show. This huge room was filled with magnificent crystals and stones and I just made an immediate B-line for the Shungite. I wasn’t interested in anything else. It was almost as if I was being pulled there. The stone was only available at retail at this show – but I couldn’t help myself – I knew I had to experience the energy of this stone being. When I held the Shungite and went into the stillness, I felt a HUGE vortex like energy sweeping through me – it was as if any and ALL undesirable energy was instantly transformed. I searched for a very long time for a wholesale supplier. It was only just recently that it became popular and now is readily available.

CARBON

Shungite (or Shungit) is a rare, ancient stone, named for the only place in the world where it can be found – Shun’ga, Karelia, in the northern region of Russia. It is a non-crystalline metamorphic rock containing a rare form of Carbon. Similar in appearance to black coal, this special stone being has a very unique property – it contains a unique form of Carbon, called the Fullerene or Buckyball (for it’s shape).

Fullerenes were named after Richard Buckminster Fuller, an architect known for the design of geodesic domes which resemble spherical fullerenes in appearance. A spherical fullerene looks like a soccer ball, and are often called “buckyballs”. Fullerenes have only recently been found to occur in nature. More recently, fullerenes have been detected in outer space. According to astronomer Letizia Stanghellini, “It’s possible that buckyballs from outer space provided seeds for life on Earth.”

SINCE THE BEGINNING

Carbon has been known since ancient times in the form of soot, charcoal, graphite and diamonds. Ancient cultures did not realize, at the time, that these substances were different forms of the same element. We can learn a lot about a stone’s metaphysical qualities from its physical qualities.

NATURAL FILTER

Carbon is a natural filter and is commonly used in our modern industry as such. Think of the Brita, which uses a carbon filter. However, Carbon’s filtering property was known long ago. Having been used for several hundred years, it is considered one of the oldest means of water purification. Historians have shown evidence that carbon filtration may have been used in ancient Egyptian cultures for both air and water sanitization. I have found reference to a 2000 B.C. Sanskrit text which refers to filtering water through charcoal. So it doesn’t take much imagination to see that metaphysically Shungite would be very supportive in filtering any undesirable energies.

A DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH

Carbon has another very special property … over time and with enough pressure it can become a diamond! Both are the SAME element. In the form of diamond, Carbon has the highest ability to conduct heat of any element. This is the origin of the slang term “ice” – diamond, at room temperature, carries heat away from your warmer skin faster than any other material and so feels cold to touch. I told my mom I was going to give her a diamond bracelet as a gift… was she ever excited. She was not disappointed when she saw the Shungite and she started wearing it right away. Now my dad wants one too! Who says diamonds are only a girl’s best friend!

EXTREME POLARITIES

Carbon has the potential of being one of the softest substances and one of the hardest! In its tone, it can be one of the darkest and one of the lightest. Opaque, dull and dark in its coal form and translucent, brilliant and light as a diamond. I imagine that it can help us to see the softness and the strength within each of us … allowing us to see the darkness AND light of our world and showing us that they are both, at their very core, the SAME THING. I can see Shungite offering its support in coming to a balance between them. I imagine that this is the secret of its powerful energy – holding these extreme potentials in its very essence – yet able to draw on that which it needs to hold the form it has chosen to take.

FIRE IN ICE

Carbon has the highest melting/sublimation point of all the elements. At the melting point the solid and liquid phase exist in equilibrium. Carbon does not actually melt (become liquid), rather it transitions directly from a solid to a gas. Again it demonstrates its nature of extremes. This is another example of this stone being’s extreme polarities.

LIFE FORMS

DNA, the famous double-helix molecule is made possible by carbon’s ability to form long molecular chains. It’s interconnectivity! I see the potential of this stone to help us with our own personal connections … OUR own interconnectivity!

ELECTRIC

True authentic Shungite has a very special quality. It is a good conductor of electricity. Very few stones have this quality. There is a simple makeshift tester that I had my electrician husband help me put together from drawings on the internet. When you touch the stone on either side with each of two wires, a little light bulb lights up. It is quite something. It serves two purposes. It shows us this beautiful quality and it confirms the authenticity of the stone. I have tested all the stones that are here. All of them make the bulb light up : ) Now what does this “electric” quality tell us about Shungite’s metaphysical property. Well … electricity is energy – so Shungite can teach us about working with energy – about feeling the flow of energy. Shungite might be helpful to those lightworkers who use “hands on” techniques. Electricity is also about LIGHT … think of LIGHTNING and Light Bulbs. Shungite would be a good teacher of LIGHT, helping us to see that the darkness is not an absence of light – just another aspect of it. Again I see this theme of extremes and balance here – where at our core we are ONE and the same with all aspects of being. At our essence we are ENERGY and LIGHT … energetic beings of light. Shungite can help us to see that. It can support us in realizing that that we ARE physical beings but we are also, and at our true essence, being of LIGHT.

MORE TO EXPLORE

There is much more to discover about this very special stone. You don’t need to stop here. You can continue to explore the depths of this special stone being both through the vast amount of information available out there or, and this is my favorite way, go directly to the stone. Feel its energy … Listen to its Song … Trust yourself …