Hag Stones

I have always loved walking on beaches and especially ones that have lots of stones.  I am drawn by the very smooth ones.  I have quite a collection over the years of stones that just felt good in my hand.

Then I went through a phase of looking for and collecting heart shaped stones.  They are surprisingly easy and rewarding to find.  And people seem to like receiving them as gifts. 

If you live near the Great Lakes, you will know of “Petoskey stones” which everyone there collects.  They are stones with fossil imprints of coral from when an ancient sea covered the center of the US. 

But, my latest interest has been in searching for and collecting “Hag stones”.  I think I first heard about them while reading Susan Blackies book “Hagitude” which I have mentioned here before.  The book was transformative for me.  It helped me to reclaim the word “Hag” as something to aspire to – to be proud of.  A Hag is not just an ugly old woman in folklore – but is an archetype of a strong woman elder with vision and a trust in mystery.   I want to claim that aspiration!

In the book Blackie talks about women’s propensity to collect natural objects and to display them in our homes.  She talked about being a collector  -- not of trinkets, but of clues.  The collections of stones, feathers, seashells etc. that I see in so many of my friend’s houses are so much more than “clutter”.  Blackie says these natural objects are “carefully collected objects that mirror my sense of myself as a shape-shifting, storied creature.”

So, I have lately been collecting these Hagstones.  Stones with naturally occurring holes that go all the way through the stone.  The holes are made by the action of water or the boring of aquatic animals and water.  They are not particularly rare – although they are mostly found on ocean beaches with a certain type of sediment.  They are said to be “magical”.  The lore holds that if you close one eye and look through the hole, you can see into the “netherworld”.  Also that if you have one on a chain around your neck, you will receive protection.  I don’t know about that.  But, I do know that they are fun to find and to wonder about.  And I love that having them on my windowsill is a way of displaying “clues” about what I love and value.  When I think of myself as a Hag Stone I like to think that the holes that have been formed in me are possible portals for magic, or at least for transformation!

Do you have displayed (or secretly hidden?) “clues” to what matters to you /to who you are in your home?  Do your friends?  Ask them about these natural objects they love!