Playing for Keeps - Agate

     When I was young, just about every child carried a small sack or had their pockets filled with brightly colored round marbles made of minerals, glass or clay. At recess, a group of kids could be found kneeling around a circle marked in the dirt trying to knock an opponent's marble out of the ring. Most of the time you played for fun and you would get your marbles back at the end of the game, but if you “played for keepers,” whoever won kept all the marbles from all the players. The most prized marbles were often the agate marbles - also known as “aggie,” or “aggety” because they were denser than other marbles, making it easier to knock an opponent’s marble out of the ring.
     Metaphysically, agate is a stone for those who are “playing for keeps” because it is a stone of marital and romantic fidelity. It is a grounding stone that also provides protection, strength and harmony.
Agate balances the yin/yang energy and brings harmony to emotions, as it removes and releases resentments and bitterness allowing emotions to heal. It improves both past and future relationships by granting forgiveness to self and others.
     This stone releases chakra blockages allowing energy to flow freely. It also enhances strength, self-confidence, and dispels fears. It can also lessen feelings of envy by grounding the emotions.
Acceptance of all things is another important aspect of agate. It can be very beneficial for self-examination as well as examination of the circumstances one finds oneself in. Agates help to ease  anxiety and stress, as it can cleanse and stabilize the aura by removing and/or transforming negative energy.
     Students and artists would benefit from agate as it enhances creativity and strengthens the intellect. It is also known as a good luck stone. Agate increases energy in small amounts. It is a good grounding stone for those who just need an anchor when meditating. Agates are said to be especially useful for protecting children from falling and negativity. It strengthens the body and the body's connection to the earth.
      Physically, agate is helpful with tooth and gum issues, stomach problems, physical endurance, insomnia and headaches. Place near a computer or in a room to enhance positive emotions and eliminate positive ions.

Interesting Scientific Fact:
    Did you know that silicon dioxide is the chemical name for quartz and that pure quartz is called “quartzite?” quartz takes on impurities which gives it color and forms amethyst, citrine, and rose quartz. These form distinctive crystals that tend to be large and clear, although they may have small inclusions or areas of fracture.
     Milky quartz is called chalcedony. Chalcedony is a catch-all term for the tiny crystals of quartz that cannot be seen by the naked eye and which forms layers of dense colored material. Many chalcedony stones include many well known varieties of cryptocrystalline quartz gemstones such as agate, carnelian, sard, plasma, prase, bloodstone, onyx, sardonyx, chrysoprase, thundereggs, flint, chert, jasper, and petrified wood (just to name a few). Quartz can also appear mixed in with other geologic material, as is the case with granite and sandstone.
     So remember, even an agate or chalcedony that is not clear like a quartzite or colored quartz, it still has the properties of quartz in addition to its own unique ones!