How it is built

Take a cube and draw a diagonal across each face so that the diagonals join up into a tetrahedron. Do it again with the other diagonals and you have a second tetrahedron. Together they are the star tetrahedron, its eight points resting on the eight corners of the cube.

Through the ages

• The word. Merkavah is Hebrew for "chariot". It names the shining throne-chariot of God seen by the prophet Ezekiel. Early Jewish mystics of the Merkavah tradition sought to rise in vision toward that heavenly throne.
• The star. Johannes Kepler described the shape and named it stella octangula, the eight-pointed star, in Harmonices Mundi (1619).
• Light, spirit, body. Many teachers read the word as mer-ka-ba: light, spirit and body joined as one, a chariot of light that carries the spirit.

What it means

We picture the merkaba as a field of light around us, spinning gently, the upward pyramid reaching toward spirit and the downward one keeping us grounded. Many people work with it in meditation for balance, protection and a sense of connection between heaven and earth.

In grids and meditation

• A crystal merkaba makes a striking center stone.
• Hold one in meditation, or set one on a windowsill where it catches the light.
• Six stones around a merkaba, following the six-pointed star seen from above, makes a simple balanced grid.

In our shops

Crystal merkabas in clear quartz, rose quartz, green aventurine, tiger's eye, lapis lazuli, shungite, blue quartz and assorted stones, from minis to statement sizes. Stock varies, so ask at either shop.