The stone for May is emerald. This lovely green beryl derived its name from the Greek smaragdos meaning green stone. Emerald is an ideal stone for healing the heart chakra. There is a robustness to emerald which fortifies us and bestows a courageous approach to life. Courage is an energy which wells up from our hearts, not our heads. Hence we speak of a 'brave heart', or something that is 'not for the faint-hearted', indeed the root of the word courage is from the Latin cor, meaning heart. When you work with emerald you can find the strength to follow your heart's convictions.

At the time when Steve and I were being shown our lives as High Priest and High Priestess in Ancient Egypt, Steve had a dream of the emerald ray as the sacred marriage of masculine and feminine. It was only later that I discovered emerald was called the 'stone of lovers' in Ancient Egypt. In the dream Steve was shown that the emerald ray is a balance of solar and lunar energies. He held an aquamarine and I held a heliodor. Counter-intuitively the Sun shone through his aquamarine and the Moon through my heliodor. The rays of light blended to create the emerald ray.

I tell the story of our past life experiences in my book, Light behind the Angels. It is appropriate that to the Ancient Egyptians emerald was also symbol of eternal life as we have worked through our incarnations and rebirth together as a couple. We chose the emerald as our Touchstones company logo to represent our balanced energies as husband and wife.

The Emerald Tablets were inscribed by Hermes Trismegistus, who is believed to have been an incarnation of Thoth the Atlantean and the Greek god Hermes. These teachings became the foundation of Western alchemy. Emerald has been valued as a stone of abundance and wealth. Wearing an emerald can align one with the vibration of heartfelt gratitude and appreciation which is the key to true abundance. The hit film The Secret features the Emerald Tablets in its opening sequence and has brought awareness of the Law of Attraction to a wider audience.

Emeralds are some of the hardest gemstones available and the clear green stones are prized for jewellery. Although these bright emerald green stones have the strongest energy you do not need to use gem quality emeralds for healing and tumbled stones are much more affordable. Like all the beryl family emeralds belong to the hexagonal crystal system. Working with six emeralds laid evenly around you to form a hexagon may help you to attune to emerald energy and to the balance of the masculine and feminine within you. As you meditate you may wish to contemplate the core teaching derived from the Emerald Tablets, As Above, So Below, which is believed to be the key to unlocking the Mysteries.