Element/mineral/stone (properly an element but often referred to as one of the others) that is employed frequently, for Wiccan/spellcasting/new-age/insert your own cliché here "spells" or techniques relating to reaching higher planes of consciousness or most often astral projection. Its unique shape, basically a series of rhombuses interlocking in unusual patters and often if not usually resembling a stair-step pattern. This pattern symbolically represents some ascension to a higher plane. Probably *the* single most effective stone to use in astral projection techniques. While not as readily available as quartz or amethyst if you plan on projection or other consciousness-raising techniques, bismuth is well worth your time and effort to find. Not cheap but not outrageously expensive, $5 will buy you a piece large enough to use while between $12 and 20 will get a nice one. Do be careful as it is somewhat fragile, but for techniques, a bag of broken pieces, *from the same original piece* works just as well as the whole.