A lodestone is natural magnetite — a stone that's already a magnet before you ever touch it. In conjure work it's treated as alive: it draws things toward you, and like anything alive, it has to be fed or it stops working. Most "my lodestone isn't doing anything" problems are just a starved stone.
One stone or a pair?
A single lodestone draws in general — luck, money, opportunity, attention. A pair is for drawing one specific person or thing to another. Traditionally one stone is pointed (called male) and one is rounded (called female). For love work, one stone is named for you and the other for the person you're drawing.
Naming your stones
Before a pair can work, each stone gets a name. Anoint it — a drop of oil, whiskey, or even water — hold it close, and speak the name over it: yours on yours, theirs on theirs. Say it like you're introducing them. From then on, those stones are those people in the work.
Feeding — the part everybody skips
Lodestones eat magnetic sand (fine iron filings). Sprinkle a pinch over your stones when you set the work up, and feed them again regularly while the work is active — once a week is a good rhythm, and plenty of folks feed on Fridays for love work. A fed stone pulls. A starved stone just sits there looking like a rock, which, to be fair, is what it is.
Working a pair
Set the stones apart on a clean dish or a corner of your altar, facing each other. Each day, feed them a little and move them closer together — an inch, a breath, barely anything. Slow is right. You're drawing two lives toward each other, not snapping them together like magnets in a drawer.
What not to ask for
Be honest here, because a lodestone will be. A lodestone speeds up what's already possible — the person who's curious, the door that's already cracked. It is not a tool for overriding somebody who has clearly, finally said no, and work aimed at dragging in the unwilling tends to stall, sour, or pull in a mess wearing the right face. If he's said no, the stone isn't broken. The answer is just no, and a different kind of work — uncrossing, moving-on work — is what actually serves you.
Care
Keep your stones on their dish, don't let other people handle them, and don't loan them out. If a stone cracks while a work is running, the work is finished or blocked — thank the stone, bury it, and decide with clear eyes whether to start fresh. And feed them. Did we mention feeding them?
Supplies in the shop: lodestones, magnetic sand, and sachet powders live in Down at the Crossroads and Spell Kits & Oils.