Lava Stone

Lava is molten rock driven out of a planet or moon onto its surface, at a volcano or through a crack in the crust, usually at 800 to 1,200 degrees Celsius, and the rock it cools into is often called lava as well. Its formal name is unsettled because lava stone is not one rock: Wikipedia describes lavas of differing chemistry, basaltic ones among them, and Cunningham sorts his by their Hawaiian names for texture, rough, chunky a'a and smooth pahoehoe. Cunningham gives lava to Mars and fire, calls it projective, and names the Hawaiian volcano goddess Pele as its deity. He describes lava rocks built into the heiau, the old Hawaiian temples, some of them centres of healing, where people still wrap bluish lava rocks in ti leaves and lay them down to ask for healing. Pele is said to guard her stones jealously, and visitors who take them without an offering and her permission are thought to invite trouble; parcels of rocks are mailed back to the volcano park every day. In magic he uses lava for protection: a small piece carried or set on the altar, a ring of it around a white candle for the household, and a circle of nine or thirteen pieces against psychic attack.