This lumpy little piece of rock is my lodestone. I bought it because I like the idea of the lodestone leading you where you need to go and attracting good fortune to my life. And I thought, hey, for $1, why not?
The name “lodestone” goes back to Middle English, and means “course stone” or “leading stone”. It received this name after ancient peoples discovered the magnetic properties of the stone, and suspended so the stone could turn freely, it created the first compasses.
They weren’t, however, the only ones to imbue to stone with magical properties. We’re all fairly familiar with the idea that lodestones have the ability to attract good things (fortune, money, success, and love). They were also believed to be powerful amulets. Alexander the Great had his troops wear them to protect against djinn. Legend even has it that after Christ’s crucifixion, his body was laid out on an alter made of magical lodestone.
Both the Chinese and Romans valued them for their properties of attraction. The Chinese made wedding rings out of them, and the Romans made statues of Mars and Venus out of lodestone. This relates to the belief that there were male and female lodestones. Hence the stones may be used individually or in matched pairs. Whereas feminine stones were rounded, male stones were (unsurprisingly, perhaps), more phallic in shape, announcing the manhood.
Lodestones have also traditionally been used in various methods of divination (other than compass form). The Chinese were the first to discover the “directive” properties of the stones. The stone was also used in a form of divination known as “Lithomancy”, which is the art of divining from stones and gems. Listening to it, one could hear the voices of gods, and even the downfall of Troy is said to have been divined using a lodestone.
And, if that wasn’t enough, the lodestone was also used in medicine and healing, as it was believed it could draw away pain and disease with the same powers of attraction it uses to bring good things to its bearer.
As for my lodestone, it doesn’t appear especially magnetic, so I’m not sure what good it will bring me – and I want to be sure to keep it away from my electronics (since a magnet next to a computer doesn’t sound like anything good). It is more round then “phallic like,” so I think it’s a female, and I think I’ll call her Wilma. Not sure if she’ll bring me anything great in life, but it is a curiosity, and who knows, perhaps there is something good being attracted this way even now. 🙂
So, what do you think? Think I got the particulars of my stone correct? Do you have a physical or a metaphorical lodestone? Any information I’ve missed?
Thanks so much for reading. Have a great day, and may plenty of good be attracted your way. 😉
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If you’d like to learn more about lodestones, try: