Hardness: 7.
Source: worldwide
Energy: Projective
Planet: Mars
Element: Scott Cunningham associated flint with Fire, and D.J. Conway associates it with the Earth element.
Associated Metal: Silver
Colors: gray-white, gray, black, brown, red and yellow.
Powers: Protection, Healing and Divination
Folk names: Thunderstone, Elf-shot, Fairy-shot, Elf-arrow and Adderstone
History & folklore:
The word, flint, was derived from the Greek word, plinthos, which means “a brick.” Flint was also written as flend, flent, flynd, flynt, flynte, and vlint.
Flint items have been regarded as having magickal properties for thousands of years. It was only in more recent times that flint items were correctly recognized as being what they are, rather than the result of magickal occurrences.
Flint was rather common in certain areas, especially where layers of Cretaceous chalk exist in northern Europe and southern Great Britain. The flint is a concretion which was formed by ground water processes in certain layers, and the nodules have different sizes, up to half a meter in diameter. Thus, it was stone like, and the reason for the term, Stone Age, as flint was so widely utilized that it became historically dominant due to its influence. It was one of the first substances used to make tools and weapons.
Flint, a term applied to varieties of (opaque) quartz (classified as chalcedony), is relatively hard but rather easy to sculpture into a certain form. Flint was widely used during the Stone Age because the manner in which it chips made it possible to secure a sharper, more permanent edge on the various tools needed by primitive man in his daily tasks. It is one of the first items of commerce and trade.
Up to the end of the Stone Age, during the Neolithic or New Stone Age, flint was mined in the very first mines. Starting with quarries and open cast mines, soon shafts were built to find the flint layers. The chalk is typically very soft, and so man was able to cut it with his stone tools.
Being one of the first trade objects of early peoples, flint was used extensively to make blades. Ancient flint knives found throughout Europe were and still are used as protective amulets known as “Thunderstones” and “Elf-shot.” In Ireland, they set flint knives in silver and carried them to guard against mischievous fairies.
Even after stone implements ceased to be used in everyday life, they were often preserved in ceremonials because of taboos associated with metals, especially because iron is believed to be abhorrent to various classes of spirits, and because of the general inflexibility of religious practices. For instance, flint knives were used by the Jews for circumcision long after they were not in general use.
Conversion from the age of stone to the age of metal was a gradual process, accomplished at different times by different peoples. We have been able to observe it in recent times in the case of many of the tribes of the North American Indians. Among the Cherokee, for instance, flint was invoked by shamans prior to medical treatment.
In ancient Egypt, flint was used to make the first incision in the body prior to embalming. In northern England, it is common to find flint with a natural hole in it hanging in a dairy. It seems that in many European countries, this amulet was used to prevent the curdling of milk during thunderstorms and the harassing of the animals by evil spirits, fairies or elves. Called Hag Stones, Holy Stones, Nightmare or Witch Riding Stones, these stones were said to prevent both people and animals from suffering enchantments.
Around Europe, arrowheads were placed in outbuildings to protect cattle from diseases. Shepherds carried flints to protect sheep during lambing and from foot-rot, and they were also placed in stys to protect pigs from swine fever. Horse-breakers carried them to protect their horses from evil. They were also put in fruit trees to ensure the crop did not fail. In Italy, flint arrowheads were worn by children around the neck to protect them from illness and the evil eye.
Until quite recently in Ireland, farm workers often wore the “saigead” talismans (a flint arrowhead set in silver) to prevent spells being put on them by the fairies and the elves.
In Indonesia and Sumatra, flints were considered very lucky, and were used to sharpen the Kris (a wavy bladed knife made of meteoric iron), which itself is a very magickal item. In Japan, flint was used to cure boils and ulcers. A Slavic belief was that flint could cure warts on man or beast, and that during Passion Week they would reveal hidden treasure. Among the Pueblo Indians there were Flint Societies which were concerned with the weather and witchcraft, both areas that flint has been widely associated with.
As far back at 300 B.C.E., physicians were crediting flint with the ability to break up kidney and bladder stones, although how it was used for this purpose was not recorded. In Scandinavia, midwives poured great quantities of ale through a holed flint to ensure an easy childbirth.
Most of the uses for flint were actually magical in nature whether it for protection or healing, rather than something to be consumed, etc. as in a mundane medical way.
In Scandinavia, thunderstones were frequently worshipped as family gods who kept off spells and witchcraft. Beer was poured over them as an offering and they were sometimes anointed with butter. In Sweden, flint arrowheads and axes are a protection from elves.
In Switzerland, the owner of a thunderstone whirls it, on the end of a thong, three times round his head and throws it at the door of his dwelling at the approach of a storm to prevent lightning from striking the house.
In Italy, flint talismans are hung around children's necks to protect them from illness and to ward off the evil eye. In Roman times, they were sewn inside dog collars along with a little piece of coral to keep the dogs from going mad.
In Burma, they are used as a cure and preventative for appendicitis. In Japan, they cure boils and ulcers. Among the Slavs, they cure warts on man and beast, and during Passion Week they have the capacity to reveal hidden treasure.
In the Middle-Ages, flint arrowheads (also known as glossopetrae) were believed to be the fossilized tongues of serpents. Another belief was that the arrowheads were the teeth of bloodsucking witches and vampires who preyed on children.
Being regarded as the solid manifestation of lightning flashes, silver mounted arrowheads were also thought to protect the house they were kept in from lightning. It was also believed that glossopetrae fell from the heavens in the waning of the moon, and for this reason, they were prized for use in Lunar magicks by medieval magicians.
A myth of the Quiche of Guatemala tells how chert fell from the sky and broke into 1600 pieces, each piece becoming a god. One of these gods, Tohil, who brought people fire, is represented as a chert.
Powerful North-American Indian Magickal Folklore:
The Mexican god Quetzalcoatl carries a thunderbolt in the form of a flint arrowhead in his wind god aspect, and the thunder god, Mixcoatl, carries a bundle of arrowhead/thunderbolts in his hand.
A Pawnee origin myth says that stone tools were given to humans by the Morning Star.
When practicing medicine, a Cherokee shaman would invoke flint before scarifying the patient.
There were Flint Societies among the Pueblo peoples of the Southwest which were usually concerned with witchcraft and weather, and sometimes with war and medicine.
The Cheyenne have a set of four medicine arrows which were central to their worship. They were associated with an annual ritual, and were used to cleanse any member of the tribe who had killed another member. These arrows may indicate that they once worshipped a thunder god. Cheyenne men would tie arrowheads in their hair to ensure a long life, and for luck against accident or illness a "tiny bundle of medicine tied with a beautiful agate arrowhead, on a twisted deerskin string" would be worn around the neck.
The magick of flint:
Some magickal powers of flint are protection; helps one to survive, no matter what happens; excellent for survivors who have undergone abuse of any kind or a traumatic event; helpful in staving off the damaging storms, or to aid so one’s property doesn’t become damaged during a storm. From all these examples given in its history and folklore, it can be seen that the use of various shapes of flint as amulets was widespread with protective qualities to people, places and beasts.
To dream of flint means, you are not seeing the reality behind the illusion.
Use flint in place of a metal athame for circle casting. Flint is very useful in getting in touch with Fairy Folk, nature spirits and Earth elementals. Meditate with flint nearby to make your connection and communication with Fairy Folk and other such beings stronger and clearer. Place a piece of flint upon your altar or ritual/spell workstation to attract the help of Fairies, Elves and Otherworld Folk during rituals or spell casting. Use flint attached to a chain as a pendulum.
When placed over a door, flint is a strong protective amulet against negative energies and negative people entering your home or barn, etc.
Flint is used in modern-day Brazil for divining gold, water, gemstones and other underground treasures.
A modern American flint spell: to cure a headache, strike a flint several times. As the sparks fly, visualize the pain traveling out from your head into the sparks and dissipating with them.
A curious more recent belief in America (North Carolina and Alabama) was that placing flint in the fire would keep hawks away from the chickens.
Use silver-mounted flint as wards against damaging lightening.
Use in lunar/moon magick.
**
Sources:
~Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem and Metal Magic, by Scott Cunningham
~Crystal Enchantments, by D.J. Conway
Internet Sources:
http://syninfo.com/Crystal/xls004.htm#flint
http://www.showcaves.com/english/explain/Mines/Flint.html
*There were various Internet sources used in for this article, most of them repeated the same things, so I just listed two where I took some info that was not listed on the other sites, or in my book sources.