The Tradition of Hag Stones

Heritage

My Mum has always loved to collect stones and it rubbed off on me, ever since I was a little girl I have not been able to leave a beach without a few stones in my pocket.

My Mum love stones so much that on her 50th birthday she told everyone that asked her what she’d like as a gift to find her a stone.  We had a big picnic on the beach and each of us found her a special stone which she later used to make a special ‘rockery’ in her garden.  (That was also the day we told her that I was expecting her first grandchild so that was an extra special present – although she’d already guessed and I knew she had, in that mind reading mother/daughter way!).

Our favourites are stones with holes in.  They were called Hag stones in some places because of their connection to witches and witch craft although some will tell you witches (and others) used them to ward off evil spirits and others will say that they were used to ward off witches!  The true reason that people collected and hung these in their homes is lost in time but many people are still drawn to them.  It’s like they hold some kind of mystical magic.

My boys now rush to find us a ‘holey stone’ (holy?) if they visit a beach with their Nanny or Me.

I collected a lot of hag stones on the winter solstice and felt drawn to hold them up to the sunlight to capture it in the hole.  

I hang hag stones in my home and garden or use them as candle holders.  These ones feel special as they contain sunlight.

The best thing about finding stones with holes in is that it’s really difficult to find a hole unless it has a stone around it!

Happy holey hag stone hunting!

Namaste