Projecting on a Rock
We project our desires on stones.
When you go to a rock show there's someone from the metaphysical community who wants to talk about the magical properties of a particular stone. It is what you make of it. Much like tying a thread to your wrist to remember something is an affordance to redirect your thinking, using stones in heathenry is a form of reminders on who you want to be or what you want to change. The act of changing your fate is Magick.
Beliefs can be whatever you want them to be. This is all a game we play until we die. Then it's Game Over. So you can make it whatever you want it to be. If you want it to do things in the real world like cause you to levitate, you're going to be disappointed.
This is where setting an intention is important. Some people will spend time with a stone in their hand thinking of what they want to change in their life and then say the stone has power. It does get imbued with power to change that person's life because of the meaning that person has associated to it.
For example, if you say Obsidian has the power of shadow work, your saying it causes you to self-reflect. After setting your intention and mediating using the rock to self-reflect more, when you touch it, you are prompted to self-reflect. Is that magick? Yes, to that person it is. If another person picks it up, will they be prompted to self-reflect? No. Not without sharing the intention you set and inviting them to do the same.
So yes, to the individual person, the rock holds power over them that they set and though a cycle of self-indoctrination, further empower. No to the person who just walked by the stone.