Iron
Description: Iron crystallizes in the form of grains and masses. It is also found in its purest form in meteorites. Iron’s color ranges from gray to black.
Location: Deposits of Iron can be found around the world.
Astrological Sign: Aries, Leo, and Virgo
Spiritual Uses: Iron can bring mental and emotional balance, and can bestow new energies to enable one to dismiss traditional issues and to create and implement those ideals that are new to one’s life. To facilitate “smooth sailing” in one’s endeavors, Iron allows one to be tempered by experiences. During protective or defensive magic, wear an iron ring engraved with the symbol of Mars. Iron is also worn for grounding, for closing down the psychic centers, and for impeding the flow of energy from the body. This isn’t the best during magical ritual, but is fine when the subject is under psychic or emotional attack, wishes to focus on physical matters, or is physically depleted. Iron horseshoes and the nails that attach them to the hooves are ancient magical tools, and may have first been used in ancient Greece, where they were associated with the moon and the Goddess Selene. A horseshoe hung in the home over the front door confers protection. Iron has been used to provide contact with the “fairy kingdom” of this world, bringing openness and receptivity to both abundance and tranquility. It has also been used to stimulate contact with other-worldly intelligences, enhancing the connection during the receipt of information. It also can provide insight and knowledge.
Physical Uses: Iron can be used in the treatment of blood disorders, muscular atrophy, sore throat, internal bleeding, and gall and kidney stones. It can also be used to strengthen the reproductive system and the structures of nails. Wearing iron or carrying a small piece of this metal enhances physical strength and is an excellent talisman for athletes. To scare away “demons” that cause disease, a small piece of Iron is placed beneath the pillow at night. Iron rings or bracelets are worn to draw out illnesses from the body. To incur heavy protection, place small pieces of Iron in each room of the house or bury at the four corners of your property. In olden days, Iron fences were sometimes used to halt the flow of negativity into the home.
History: Once ancient humans discovered how to remove Iron from its ore, it was made more widely available, and once this occurred, the metal was used mostly for physical applications and not so much in magical applications. In ancient Greece, no Iron was brought into the temples, and Roman priests could not be shaved or scraped with Iron during bodily cleansing. Other countries, such as Ireland, Scotland, Finland, China, India, and Korea have severe taboos against Iron. Ritual fires were built without the use of Iron, and altars also were built without its use. Herbs were collected with non-Iron knives, this tradition stemming from the belief that the metal would “jam” the herb’s energies. In ancient Scotland, Iron was used to avert danger when a death had occurred in the household. A strange custom there was to thrust nails made of Iron into all the food of the house—cheese, grain, meat, etc.—in order to act as a lightning rod, attracting the confusing vibrations that are aroused when death comes, thus sparing the food from possible contamination. Also in Scotland, healing stones—quartz crystals or holy stones—were kept in Iron boxes to guard against supernatural creatures wanting to steal them. Classical Romans drove nails into their house walls to preserve their health, especially during the plague epidemics.