The Traveling Stone in The Ex Hex: Symbol Analysis
What Is the Traveling Stone?
The Traveling Stone is a Penhallow family artifact that enables instantaneous travel, a piece of the family's magical inheritance that has been passed down through generations. It appears only twice in the novel, but its symbolic weight is considerable. The stone is first referenced in Chapter 7, when Rhys contacts his father, Simon, via a scrying mirror to report the string of misfortunes that have befallen him since arriving in Graves Glen. Simon dismisses the idea of a curse—insisting that Penhallow men cannot be cursed—and instead attributes Rhys's troubles to his decision to travel like a human rather than via the Traveling Stone. The stone appears again in Chapter 27, when Simon visits Elaine's house to confront the family about the curse. After a tense exchange, Simon departs using the Traveling Stone, while Rhys chooses to stay behind.
The stone's scarcity in the narrative is itself meaningful. It is a background element, a symbol of the family's power that Rhys has deliberately distanced himself from. He knows the stone exists, but he does not use it. His father does. That asymmetry tells us a great deal about both characters.
The Stone as a Symbol of Family Tradition
The Traveling Stone is, first and foremost, a symbol of the Penhallow family's magical heritage and its insistence on tradition. Simon's reference to it in Chapter 7 is framed as a rebuke: Rhys chose to fly commercial and rent a car rather than use the family's magical means of transport, and Simon sees this as a symptom of Rhys's broader rejection of his family's ways. The stone represents the Penhallow way of doing things—efficient, powerful, and detached from the mundane concerns of ordinary life.
This connects directly to the theme of tradition vs. modernity. Rhys's father criticizes him for living the bachelor life in England and for wasting his potential as a warlock, and the Traveling Stone becomes another instance of this tension. Simon expects Rhys to use the family's magical resources; Rhys prefers to live a more ordinary life, using magic only for small conveniences like ensuring good restaurant reservations or smooth traffic.
The stone also connects to family legacy and ancestral responsibility. The Penhallow family has a thousand-year history of magical power, and the Traveling Stone is part of that inheritance. Simon's insistence that Rhys use it reflects the family's expectation that each generation will carry forward its traditions. Rhys's choice to travel like a human is, in this context, a quiet act of rebellion—a refusal to fully inhabit the role his family has assigned him.
Convenience vs. Connection
The Traveling Stone's most significant symbolic function is its contrast with mundane travel. The stone offers instantaneous, effortless movement—the ultimate magical convenience. But it also eliminates the journey itself: the time spent on the road, the chance encounters, the physical experience of moving through the world.
Rhys's decision to travel conventionally—flying commercial, renting a car, driving through the Welsh countryside—is what leads to his reconnection with Vivi. His mundane arrival in Graves Glen sets off the chain of events that forms the novel's plot: he nearly runs over Vivi, they reconnect, and the curse that was placed on him years earlier begins to manifest. Had Rhys used the Traveling Stone, he would have arrived in Graves Glen without incident—and without the human encounters that ultimately lead to his reconciliation with Vivi and his decision to build a life with her.
This contrast speaks to the theme of rekindled love and second chances. The Traveling Stone represents a life of magical convenience, but it is also a life of emotional distance. Rhys's choice to travel like a human is, symbolically, a choice to be present in his own life—to experience the journey rather than skip past it. It is this presence that allows him to reconnect with Vivi and, ultimately, to choose a life that includes both Wales and Graves Glen.
The Irony of Simon's Dismissal
One of the most striking aspects of the Traveling Stone's role in the novel is the irony embedded in Simon's use of it as an explanation for Rhys's misfortunes. Simon insists that Rhys's troubles are a direct result of his decision to travel like a human rather than via the Traveling Stone. He dismisses the possibility of a curse entirely, asserting that Penhallow men cannot be cursed and that some girl who barely qualifies as a hedge witch could not have hexed his son.
The irony is layered. First, the curse is real—Vivi and Gwyn's drunken ritual in the prologue did, in fact, work, and Rhys's misfortunes are the direct result of that magic. Simon's faith in the Traveling Stone as a protective measure is misplaced; the stone would not have prevented the curse, only the mundane mishaps that Simon attributes to Rhys's human travel.
Second, Simon's dismissal of the curse is itself a failure of magical understanding. He assumes that because Penhallow men have never been cursed, they cannot be cursed—a logical fallacy that the novel's plot directly refutes. The Traveling Stone, as the symbol of Simon's worldview, becomes a marker of his complacency and his inability to see beyond his family's traditions.
This connects to the theme of unintended consequences of magic. The curse was never intended to work—Vivi and Gwyn were two silly, drunk witches, joking around, as Vivi later reflects. But magic, once set in motion, has consequences that cannot be predicted or controlled. Simon's reliance on the Traveling Stone is another form of magical complacency: he assumes that the family's traditional tools and protections are sufficient, without considering that magic might operate in ways his traditions don't account for.
The Stone and Rhys's Growth
The Traveling Stone's second appearance, in Chapter 27, is brief but significant. After Simon visits Elaine's house and accuses the family of cursing Rhys, he decides to return home to research the curse. He asks Rhys to accompany him, but Rhys refuses, wanting to stay in Graves Glen. Simon departs using the Traveling Stone; Rhys stays.
This contrast is the novel's clearest statement about what the Traveling Stone represents. Simon uses the stone to leave—to retreat to the familiar comfort of Penhaven Manor and its traditions. Rhys chooses to remain, to face the curse and its consequences alongside Vivi and her family. The stone, in this moment, becomes a symbol of the Penhallow family's tendency toward emotional and physical distance. Simon's use of it underscores his inability to engage with the situation on a personal level; he prefers the efficiency of magical travel to the messiness of human connection.
Rhys's refusal to use the stone—and his choice to stay—marks a turning point in his character arc. Throughout the novel, Rhys is caught between his family's expectations and his own desires. He initially plans to arrive for Founder's Day, charge the lines, and leave quickly, treating his duty as an inconvenience to be dispatched as efficiently as possible. But his time in Graves Glen, and his reconnection with Vivi, changes him. By the end of the novel, he has moved to Graves Glen, secured a teaching position at the college, and declared his love for Vivi. He has, in effect, chosen connection over convenience—the opposite of what the Traveling Stone represents.
This connects to the theme of self-discovery and reclaiming power. Rhys's journey is not just about lifting a curse; it is about discovering who he is outside the shadow of his family's expectations. The Traveling Stone, as a symbol of those expectations, is something he must learn to set aside.
Study Questions
1. Why does Simon blame Rhys's decision to travel like a human for his misfortunes, and what does this reveal about his worldview?
Simon's explanation reflects his belief that the Penhallow family's magical traditions are superior to ordinary human methods. He cannot conceive of a curse affecting his family—Penhallow men cannot be cursed—so he attributes Rhys's troubles to his son's rejection of the family's magical resources. This reveals Simon's complacency and his inability to recognize that magic can have consequences beyond his family's traditional understanding.
2. How does the Traveling Stone contrast with Rhys's choice to travel conventionally, and what does this contrast reveal about Rhys's character?
The Traveling Stone represents efficiency and detachment, while mundane travel represents presence and connection. Rhys's choice to travel like a human reflects his preference for a more ordinary life, one where magic is used for small conveniences rather than as a way of life. It also sets up the novel's central plot: his mundane arrival in Graves Glen leads to his reconnection with Vivi.
3. In Chapter 27, Simon uses the Traveling Stone to depart while Rhys chooses to stay. What does this contrast symbolize?
Simon's use of the stone symbolizes his retreat into family tradition and emotional distance. Rhys's choice to stay represents his commitment to facing the curse's consequences alongside Vivi and her family. The contrast underscores the novel's central tension between magical convenience and personal connection.
4. How does the Traveling Stone connect to the theme of unintended consequences of magic?
The stone is part of Simon's complacent worldview—he assumes that traditional magical protections are sufficient and that the curse is impossible. But the curse is real, and Simon's dismissal of it is itself a failure of magical understanding. The stone, as a symbol of that complacency, highlights how magic can operate in ways that traditions don't account for.
For more on how the Traveling Stone fits into the novel's broader concerns, see the main study guide and the character pages for Rhys Penhallow and Vivi Jones.