FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[katiafish]

That is apparently the name of this stone, however bizzare that sounds. Seriously though, I just cant believe that this is the only name this stone carries, it seems very unlikely.

So please, does anyone have any idea on what it actually might be?

Thank you.

[Peter Megaw]

It definitely has another name, but I can't tell what it is from this picture.

At FMF we are happy to help identify things properly but very reluctant to do anything that might result in perpetuating these New Age rockhound marketing names and the practise of dreaming them up. Many of us feel that the metaphysical mineral marketing world is mostly humbug and actively discourage collectors from supporting it with their collecting dollars...in most cases the name is fancier than the rock and there are plenty of places where you can get more rock than name for your money.

[lluis]

Hi, Katiafish

I heartily agree with what Peter said, and I am not the more prone to answer on that.

But for curiosity I dug a little (yes, curiosity killed the cat) and the mistic merlynite and the merlinite are not more that agates/jasper or any kind of microcrystaline quartz that, parafrasing one of seller of such items "awaken in me same sensations....blah, blah, blah"

At least that only improves clarividency and clariaudience....Not cures any disease as diabetes.
So, if you could not hear the footsteps of a chat one mile far, that is not :-)

With best wishes

Lluís

[Jordi Fabre]

[alfredo]

From the photos here, it seems impossible to be psilomelane in this case. So obviously the name "merlinite" has been applied by different sellers to a variety of different minerals, conveniently all named after Merlin the legendary magician, whose spirit is now magically helping the sellers to earn money with common rocks. Let's see... How could I earn some money like this? Oh, I've got it! Clean up those rocks my wife removed from the flower beds yesterday and label them DavidCopperfieldite or JamesRandyite... perhaps some of the magic will rub off on my bank account too?

(Sorry, Katia, I'm being facetious and sarcastic, but it's not aimed at you the innocent victim, just my annoyance at scammers in general.)

[lluis]

I agree heartily also with Alfredo.
Mainly a something

What I read in google is that merlinite is a tree agate (psilomelane included quartz) or a jasper (for mistyc merlinite)

My personal opinion: bullshit, with all due respect for beleivers.

With best wishes

Lluís

[Jason]

Whether you believe or agree with the meta crowd, as each is his/her own, you can't help but think what a disservice naming stuff like "Mystic Merlinite" or any of the other crazy names does for the perception of the meta people and their practices. If they(the sellers or whoever sells these/makes up the names) wouyld just use the scientific or standard nomenclature it would give a lot more credence to it instead of making metaphysical stuff sound silly. I for one don't believe or follow the metaphysical mineral stuff, healing, etc. but if I did I would be pissed at stuff like this going on. It would make my beliefs sound goofy. If I sold stuff like Mystic Merlinite or Azeztulite as a meta person or "healer" I would think my peers would run me out of town. I know in the real world of mineral dealing, they would. Boy, I would never hear the end of it from Les, Jesse, Jordi, or John if I started calling some Spessartite "sorcerous spessartite" or "transcendental topaz"

Next time Kat, when you go to buy anything make sure you pass on the dealers selling stuff with names like that. Go to the guy, healer dealer/meta dealer, or not that uses standard proper names. Don't give the guy any money that sells crap with made up names like that. Maybe it will help to not perpetuate that crap if many a consumer and/or dealer just pass them by. I know many a dealer that is a meta person or sells healer type crystals that wouldn't be caught dead selling stuff with a name like Mystic Merlinite.

Thanks for bringing up the topic, Kat. The whole name game is a good topic to discuss. Of course we all know it's geared towards money. So to sum it up I would say all meta/healer folks(not you Kat but in general) make sure and stick with given/scientific/accepted names to give yourself and your beliefs more class and/or credibility from the indside and especially to us outsiders.

Lets all make sure not to turn it into a witchhunt by calling this or that persons beliefs wrong or crazy. It's akin to calling a muslim or christians beliefs silly since it doesn't conform with your own..thats something we all want to steer clear of to keep the forum respectable

[Jason]

Hey alfredo..you have any more of that DavidCopperfieldite left? I could probably pair it with my claudiaschifferite. :):)

[vic rzonca]

My god man! Have you not heard of Satyaloka Quartz, Pink Lazurine, Nebula Stone, Gaia Stone, or Aqua Lemuria?! All trade marked for your shopping pleasure. Over 150 pages of it, just check the guide to all things metaphysical in Tucson. I know there are mysteries beyond my comprehension, but crass marketing is not one of them. If you can say minerals have an affect on us, we exist, in a way, because of them. And likewise the market exists because of us. Ahhh , the universe in perfect harmony.

[mmauthner]

Hi Katiafish,

Psilomelane is an obsolete name that was used for a mixture or number of hard managanese oxide mineral species including crytomelane, hollandite, romanechite...

It is difficult to say from your photo as there seem to be several mineral species present. The black, submetallic material may very well be one of these managanese oxides. If you want to research this further, find out what you can about these manganes oxide minerals in a mineralogical text or by starting on the MinDat web site: https://www.mindat.org

People in this forum also do not mind helping identify minerals for others but ask that some simple guidleines be followed. These can be found at: https://www.mineral-forum.com/message-board/viewtopic.php?t=124

As for the naming of varieties, use (or misuse, depending on one's perspective) is not standardized and leads to all kinds of interesting situations:

A) scientific (the International Mineralogical Association Commission on Mineral Names and Nomenclature is bouncing back a forth on mineral names in trying to come to grips with new realities),

B) the gem trade (still cannot get its mind around mineral species/variety names that *have* been long established by the scientific community, not to mention the names it comes up with for purely marketing reasons...see a few of the comments at https://www.mineral-forum.com/message-board/viewtopic.php?p=13520#13520),

C) rockhounds and lapidarists (and their plethora of names for various polishable forms of quartz alone, nevermind the multitude of names given to otherwise previously, if not dryly, named rock types), and then

D) the metaphysical crowd (again, inventing names for their own purposes).

It seems to me that you came to us to find out the mineralogical name of what you have...and you came to the right place. Try doing some tests and make a few further observations about your pieces to help us help you. Have a look at some of the other posts to see the kind of information needed.


Mark

[katiafish]

Wow, thank you everyone, I really appreciate all the responses (that includes the sarcastic ones as they gave me a good chuckle) . I agree with Jason and only can add that not all of us "meta people" ( that's a nice little label btw) are daft-hot-air filled hippies, besides of being a healer I also genuinely respect and appreciate minerals and want to learn more about them. Way I see it, a doctor needs to know his tools before he can operate, well, I need to know my tools before I can say something works this way and should be used with this, not just come up with fancy stuff from the top of my head. And "mistic merlinite" sound just like that pile of fancy stuff to me I am afraid.
I am unfortunately away from home this weekend but I shall look into guides ( sorry for not checking them before) and also all the source info I have so kindly been provided with.
With Gratitude,
Katia

[vic rzonca]

You're a good sport Katia, nice to have you here.

[Jelly]

[Jason]

When I read this :
"I am just suprised how much some people pay for these items. I should open up my own mystical stone shop and make large profit margins they are probably making."

I also am surprised by how much folks spend building churches and temples and mosques and how much congregations rake in money wise. A mystical stone shop is a drop in the bucket, you need to open up a church or temple. Would make lots more and it's pretty much the same thing. Is it not?;)

I for one would be the first to discredit or rail against metaphysical beliefs/crystal healers/spirtualist/etc. as thats in my scientific nature but I would choose to do so in a thread not started by one who clearly holds those beliefs. It's just tacky. Not specifically aimed at you Jelly(keep posting ID pics..I am liking them), even though I used your phrase as an analogy for popular religious beliefs, it was a good one to compare to

[katiafish]

I didn't actually pay that much for my stones, I got good dealers that I have good relationship with. I don't really shop in metaphysical shops, unless I am after some tumblestone that I don't wanna pay shipping for. I think the most expensive stone I have is a 4' kyanite sphere, that came to about $300 and has more to do with the notorious difficulty with which kyanite can be carved rather than any meta properties it may have.

As far as my beliefs, please understand, I have absolutely nothing to prove to anyone, my reality is as it is, my experience of it is subjective, as I am sure everyone's experience is subjective, and what that means to me is that nether is better or worse or more true, its just what it is, life experience. Besides, I don't really see why "spiritual" and " scientific" have to be so widely divided, at the end of the day we all walking this earth and all are subject to gravity and all made out of atoms etc. I have come here to learn and decided to be honest about my beliefs, which I think is only fair on everyone.
Thanks,
Kat