I was at the beach recently, on a foggy day. The tide was right and the assortment of stones was infinite. The slow meander, with eyes down, scanning for pebbles–deciding which to leave and which to pick up—was a meditative and calming time. But when my eye fell upon a heart-shaped stone, bejeweled with white flecks of fossil, my pulse quickened. This was a keeper.

The heart stone is a lovely vessel. When you take it home and set it on your windowsill or dresser its presence buoys you up. When you give it to a friend or lover, you give what you have filled it with: strength, love, and confidence. It is an intimate gift; the connections are powerful.

I am often confounded by the power of the heart stone’s message. Heart stones, after all, are not rare or precious in the typical sense—a good scour of a beach with any stones at all will usually turn up one or two. But heart stones, lifted from their obscurity, with all their cracks and blemishes, lopsided and imperfect, are simply the best. Two or more together are a family; they are shared love, they are the support we give and get from each other.

What is it about this shape that transforms a stone into something so much more? It is a shape we have become amazingly adept at recognizing, and yet with no clear origin. Perhaps first inspired by the curves of the human body or the organ itself, the heart is the quintessential and universal symbol expressing the abstractions of love. A heart stone, moreover, is intriguing in itself, being an absolutely natural thing whose meaning is a purely human construct. Its shape arises, without artifice, from the geologic weaknesses and variations within it; over time it abrades and dissolves silently into the valentine that speaks to us so clearly.

The heart stones here were collected over many years by me and a network of friends—friends I have known forever and friends I have yet to meet from among the fraternity of stone lovers who share an abiding respect for the earth and her wonders. These friends packed up their treasures and trusted the mail, giving me the joy of arriving home to boxes of heart stones on my doorstep. But these stones are just a smattering of the affection waiting to be found out there in the world. Love is where you find it. Happy hunting.

                                                                                                               JLI, June 2007