My Story:
My name is Shari Trnka and I've collected heart rocks for years, initially inspired by a friend who seemed to find them everywhere. Sometimes I find heart rocks when I'm pondering something confusing and I'm reminded to drop my “problem” from my head into my heart. Repeatedly, I've witnessed how the path of the heart catalyzes healing and transformation.
I collect heart rocks all over the world: from the Ganges River in India and Guatemala's Lake Atitlan, from the Irish coast to the forests of Washington's Olympic Peninsula where I live. Sometimes even the concrete rubble of urban places can be full of heart rocks.
One evening last fall, a group of my dear women friends came together for a Goddess gathering. I pressed fresh cider to share and gathered some sacred objects for an altar. We created ritual space together to honor the Divine Feminine, supported by 44 of my heart rocks.
I live on a farm more than 30 miles from Olympia, a fairly long drive home. That night though I was energized by our sharing and I had no concern for my back roads drive. I was about halfway home when my back tire caught the edge of the pavement. I could see the white line on the side of the road but didn't realize there was a sharp drop-off on the edge of the shoulder line, the asphalt eroded away. When my back tire caught that edge, I felt my car pulling off the road to my right. As I tried to steer back onto the road, my all-wheel drive overcompensated. Suddenly I was in the oncoming traffic lane and the car was sliding with no grip on the road. I had lost control of the car and everything seemed to go into slow motion. This could be it, I remember thinking. I might die now. Rather than tensing and resisting, I relaxed, and in that relaxing a vision came to my consciousness. I saw rushing water tumbling over rocks as my wheels left solid ground and my car rolled.
My vision of river rapids was inspired by the previous week when I had been camping on the bank of a glacier-fed river. As I danced by the river, she was teaching me how water truly embodies the rhythm of Chaos, fully able to change form as conditions arise. That vision was still with me when I found myself in the oncoming lane sitting upright in my car, surrounded by glass and twisted metal. I took a deep breath and checked in with my body. I was fine, my car was not. The car frame was contorted, my seatbelt had held, no airbag had deployed. Tentatively, I put my foot on the gas and found the car still able to move. I inched off the road, into a driveway just ahead and shut the car off.
I was still sitting there when another vehicle emerged from the darkness. A beautiful couple got out of their truck, asking if I was alright. Now they knew why they were going home so much later than they had expected, they said. Clearly, they were my guardian angels that night as they helped me pick up scattered belongings that had escaped through smashed windows and onto the road. The woman kept asking me if I was cut or scratched. I had rolled a car packed with rocks, glass cider bottles and a new case of canning jars. Glass was everywhere. Yet not a shard had grazed my skin.
When I was finally home I stretched and danced to check on my body. Softening into the Chaos had served me well. Later, in bed, my mind would not stop recalling the time leading up to the accident. At first I resisted the recall, hoping to sleep, but soon let the memory play through. When I remembered the car rolling, I saw the heart rocks swirl around me, deflecting the breaking glass. I sat up in bed crying at the beauty of my altar-activated “rock posse”! My sisters had blessed those rocks with me that night and many times before, charging them with our intentions for healing.
The next day, back at the site, I saw signs of other accidents that had occurred there. I found more of my things, but not many, and knew some heart rocks were meant to stay. Perhaps they would again bring protection to someone hitting a Chaos spot in their lives, as I had.
Your Story:
You too can activate a rock posse. I believe the rocks want to do this! Open your heart to discover the heart in rock form. Ask the rock if it wants to join you before removing it from its present home. Carry it with you, charge it with healing intentions and gratitude however you are inspired. Take heart rocks along to dance with you, to celebrate with you, play with you, placing them on altars whenever possible. Consciously creating sacred space to share with your rock friends will charge them with your loving intentions. Perhaps make a ring of them around your favorite tree or other plant. Anywhere your heart is activated is perfect!
When it feels right, release the rocks to do their work in places where Chaos is arising. You may be called to leave a rock in a place for no apparent reason or you may choose specific places you know need healing. Follow your intuition.
I'd love to circulate stories and pictures as we do this together! Send your stories of healing that involve heart rocks and we will post them here to share. Feel free to help spread this around.
Rock on with LOVE, in LOVE, as LOVE.
May Blessings Abound!
