Knowledge is Power

Chapter 10

During the summer between Mag's fourth and fifth year at Hogwarts, the WestCraven family went on a summer vacation that changed her life. Her parents had taken it into their heads to travel to America to learn from the native American shamans. Raislen felt they had their own type of magic even if some ignorant wizards considered them to be Muggles. During their stay in the U.S, Mag and her family visited many native American settlements, some in the mountains, and some in or close to the desert.

This was the first time Mag had ever left the country. She found the United States astoundingly different from England in many ways from food to geography and architecture to of course the accents with which people spoke. There were more people than she'd ever seen before as well, Muggles in particular. They had to pass through Muggle cities on the way to the various native American settlements they visited. None of the reservations were set up with portkeys or flus, as they weren't typical spots for wizarding visitation.

The native American culture fascinated Mag, because it seemed native Muggles lived along side the Shamans, and respected their magical power without the fear wizards and witches received in the past. Her parents explained that perhaps this was because the power of the Shaman's was more subtle, but this was only a theory and nothing they could know for sure. Their culture was more ancient than even that of wizards, their cave art going back far further than any documented wizarding history. Mag was eager to learn all the shamans would share. The more she learned the more excited and fascinated she became.

Their belief in past lives interested her at once. She was eager to find and devour as many books on the subject as she could once they got back to England. She was also very intrigued by the way the native Americans viewed gemstones as gifts from the earth, each having their own brand of medicine to offer. Each had magic, in other words. Magical medicine. Mag wondered if the goblins understood this as well, for they were The gemstone experts of wizarding society. When a shaman gave Mag a rough quartz crystal point to hold, she was amazed at the jolt of power that shot into her hand when her fingers wrapped around the stone. She was infatuated at once. Stones were her new passion.

Because of Mag's strong interest, the Shaman believed she had an affinity and ability for gemstone magic. He proceeded to introduce her to various stones, explaining each gemstone's brand of medicine as she held it in her hand. Citrine, a golden form of quartz, was cleansing like the gemstone version of sage. It also promoted mental focus and success. Amber, petrified tree sap, amplified magic, gave one emotional balance and promoted deep sleep and good rest. Labradorite, a stone the ancients believed was frozen ice because of it's opalescent green blue flash, promoted one's psychic ability. Mag thought all the students taking divination's could benefit by using it if the professor was made aware.

Amethyst promoted mental stability. Jade drew luck and success. Aventurine promoted happiness. Black obsidian was volcanic glass and was protective, and reduced stress. Garnet protected one's energy field and promoted motivation. Carnelian, a stone of fire, stimulated creativity. Jet, which was petrified coal, was physically protective.
Quartz crystal was the stone that resonated with her first, and when she discovered what it did, this made sense. It was a stone of power, it could assist in healing by drawing toxins from the body, it amplified magic, and aided one to ground and center. Grounding and centering was another concept she learned from the natives. Grounding and centering before performing magic made her spells work more effectively.

The shaman encouraged her to find books on gemstone medicine, and when he told her there were literally hundreds of different types of stones, she was ecstatic. She may never run out of stones to study! The reservations had gift shops and she found a few small books on stones while shopping. There were also many types of stones for sale from loose stones of all sizes to those set into jewelry. Learning that gemstones had magical power gave jewelry an entirely new meaning for Mag. Now the right type of jewelry meant that one could keep the magical medicine on their person at all times so that it could work for them constantly.

She bought all the available books on gemstone medicine as well as several raw pieces of Citrine and garnet in various sizes, a few polished pieces of jet, several pieces of quartz crystal from the raw unpolished variety to pieces that were carved into shapes. She got a quartz worry stone and an egg as well as soft leather bags in which to keep her new gems. The jet felt the most odd to her. It was extremely light weight and it did not feel cold like the other stones did. If she didn't know better, Mag would have believed the black material was actually plastic. The shaman explained that jet, like amber, was light weight and warm to the touch because it was another material that had petrified. Gemstones weren't originally another material so this made jet and amber particularly rare and special.

It was almost by accident that Mag discovered her true talent with gemstone magic. She was holding a few of her new citrines when she noticed that one of them didn't feel as strong as the other three. For a reason she couldn't explain, she was interested to see if she could make it stronger by enhancing what it already was. She held it in her hand, closed her eyes and pored her focus and will into the stone. She delved into it, finding its natural ability to cleanse and to attract success as well as to promote focus. Directing her magic toward each of these three characteristics, she simply enlarged them all. She was beyond thrilled when it actually worked and the stone felt far stronger when she was done!

It occurred to her then that she could probably even use the same method on the stones that were already strong enough. This would serve to make them super strong and effective at what they did! There was never any harm in making something even better, after all.

Before they departed that particular reservation, Mag gifted the shaman who had shown her the magic of stones with the crystal egg. She wanted to do something nice as a thank you for the time he'd taken with her. She enhanced the egg first and glowed with pleasure when he was astounded by the results of her work. He proclaimed it to be the most powerful crystal he'd ever touched and vowed to treasure it forever. He also invited the family to return any time they liked.

Mag experienced Muggle transportation for the first time during that summer because simply apparating onto a reservation would draw unwanted attention. The family had to pay for cabs, and some of the rides from place to place could take hours. Mag worked on enhancing each of the stones she'd bought during those rides, easily passing the time.

Nightshade's favorite part of the vacation were the spirit journeys. None of the shamans questioned Mag including her owl in whatever they did and this made her respect for them rise even more. One of the shamans even had a thunderbird and it was also present for the spirit journey. Nightshade ignored it but Mag could tell the huge majestic bird made him a little nervous. She thought it was beautiful but it wasn't Nightshade.