Crystal system: Isometric.
Cell salt: Hydrous aluminium silicate.
Colour: Brick red.
Energy: Magnetic.
Element: Earth, air and fire.
Planet/sign: Mercury/Gemini; Moon/Cancer; Saturn-Uranus/Aquarius.
Uses: Pipestone is used primarily to fashion the sacred pipe, which is always handled with utmost respect. The bowl is filled with canshasha, the red willow bark tobacco, or herbs such as sage or wild cherry bark. Then the pipe is lit and the smoke offered to grandfather sky, grandmother earth and to the four directions. As the pipe is shared among the people, the smokers become one with the earth and sky, because they are filled with the great mystery of visible breath.
If you wear Pipestone beads or keep a piece of natural Pipestone in the medicine pouch, recognise that it is a great blessing to have this stone in your possession! Always treat Pipestone with utmost
respect and remember to include the Lakota and all indigenous people in your thanksgiving.