“Marston marble” is not actually a marble at all, but a conglomeration of tiny, rare ammonites (promicroceras martonensis and ziphoceras ammonites) from the Jurassic Period, approximately 200 million years old.
The white ammonite shells are largely intact, with brown calcite as a replacement mineral within the shells, all held together within a natural mudstone concretion.
This fascinating material was previously used to make grave markers in the local churchyard, but the location of the find was lost for many years, making it a holy grail to fossil hunters and collectors.
The keyword to describe this stone is "deep". The brown calcite (replacement mineral) does its calcite “thing”, clearing the lower chakras as the mineral draws you in and guides your awareness down, so you immediately feel a profound sense of calm and groundedness when holding it. This quality can be used to facilitate a deep state of meditation and strong connection with the Earth, or if held before bed and placed under the pillow, induce deep and undisturbed sleep. Used in journey meditation it can guide you deep within, allowing for self-observation, as well as exploration of past lives (fossils are used by some for this purpose – this fossil seems to achieve it). Journeys beyond self can take you down into the depths of the Earth, or open a door to the Lower World in shamanic work.
The spiral is perhaps the oldest human symbol and exists in virtually every culture from at least Neolithic times. The spiral shape of the ammonite shell is symbolic of the cycles of life, including life, death and rebirth, moon phases and the seasons, and also of resurrection in the Christian religion. A stone not only for the crystal healer but for the fossil collector as well.
