Another Name For My Worry Stone

I've written before about my special worry stone, the one found in the Cedar River many years ago by a man for whom it was very special, and why he gave it to me.

Not only was it a piece of honey agate perfectly shaped for one's thumb to rub worries away, it had a hole in it. And a rock with a natural hole through it was said to be lucky or even magical - also rare.

So rare that even with all my years of rockhounding, I have never found any small Holey stones myself. I do have this one, but I bought it at a flea market years ago.

This large piece of limestone with a hole through it is my only personal find.

So even if they are rare and are special or lucky or magical and with all the reading I do, why have I never known that rocks with a hole in them are known as Hag Stones? Maybe I once heard them called that, but forgot? I don't think so, because when I read about hag stones a couple days ago, I definitely felt like "Where have I been that I didn't know this?"

In folk magic lore hag stones were viewed as protective amulets to guard against evil spirits and dark energy. Small ones could be worn around the neck or placed on a window ledge to ward off illness, theft or curses.
My honey agate worry stone is on the window sill above the kitchen sink and I have worn the other one on a cord around my neck once or twice.

There are actually three holes in this stone. One site I consulted says some holes can be made by a boring mollusk called a piddock. I do think the holes in this stone look like they were made by something, not human, boring through it.

You can bet if there's any more rockhounding in my future, I'll be on the look out for Hag Stones.