Amber Oil

[Guest guest]

Amber oil is wonderful stuff if you can find a good one.

It isn't always easy to find. I know a place that provides

very high-quality amber oil.

 

Amber is one of the most characteristic products of the

Baltic republics, especially Lithuania. The Lithuanian

word for it is gintaras. It washes up on the seashore.

The Greek name for it is elektros. That is where the word

electricity comes from, because static electricity was

noticed by the ancients as a property of amber, that it

attracts straw. In Persian, amber is called kahroba, from

the words kah 'straw' and roba 'thief' (related to the

English word " rob " ). The modern Arabic word for

electricity was coined from kahroba (following the pattern

of " elektros " ). So when you use amber oil, think that it

has this electric energy throbbing within.

 

The word amber comes from Arabic. Originally it meant

'ambergris'. Ambergris is a completely different substance.

Ambergris is a pale-gray, waxy goop that is expelled from

the digestive tracts of whales into the sea water and

washes up on shore. It is very expensive. You who have

worked in the perfumer's craft will know that ambergris is

very valuable in parfumerie; it functions as a fixative and

it is reputed to bring out the highest fragrance notes in

whatever it is added to. It had the French word gris

'gray' added to its name to tell the difference from the

other (yellow) amber. The two things got called by the

same name because, I suppose, they both are found washed up

on the seashore. But ambergris was the first stuff to be

called " amber " . The Arabic word for ambergris is `anbar.

The Arabic-English Lexicon informs that originally this

word `anbar meant 'whale'. Maybe it comes from the Arabic

verbal root `abara (with an extra augmentative -n- added in

the middle). The verb `abara means 'to cross over, to swim

across' (this Semitic root is also the origin of the name

Hebrew [`Ibri -- those who crossed over the river].

Interestingly, another Arabic word from the same root is

`abir meaning 'fragrance, perfume'--because it wafts across

the air to your nose). Maybe the whale was called by that

name because it is the only sea creature big and powerful

enough to cross the ocean from one side to the other. That

is just my guess at philology. The word for whale became

applied to this product of the whale, and lastly to the

other valuable thing that's found on the seashore.

 

Hakim G. M. Chishti informs about amber:

 

Oil of amber (kahroba in Persian), or liquid amber, as it

is sometimes called, is derived from a species of pine tree

(Pinea succinfera). Many people have had contact with

amber stones and beads, and it is this same basic substance

that is used in healing. But the stones have hardened for

several more million years than the resin, which is used to

manufacture the oil.

 

There are only three locales in the world where authentic

amber can be found. Its color varies from a light,

translucent pink to a heavy, dark brown. When we realize

that the essential sap of these trees, to become amber, has

been preserved from one to six million years, we understand

that we are tapping into a very ancient healing energy.

 

Some people use the sap from the trees and distill out the

essence. But others, realizing this ancient energy within,

prefer to grind down the stones into powder and then heat

it to retrieve the essence. This latter form of amber is

better for healing, but very, very difficult to locate.

 

Amber has been fossilized for so long that we even have no

way of knowing what other life forms were present. But we

do know that the prophets who lived long ago had

extraordinary powers of healing and perception. It is

said, for example, that one prophet was able to hear a

conversation of ants, at a distance of more than ten miles!

It is likely that in addition to being endowed with

spiritual powers, they had hidden knowledge of healing

plants. Many of these species are now extinct.

 

Although the best amber comes only from the Near East,

Russia [N.B. he means the Baltic republics, which are now

thank God freed from Soviet domination], and the Dominican

Republic, frequently it is taken to other parts of the

world for processing out its essences, making it into

attar. Amber processed in Tunis and the Sudan is

remarkably pure, clear, and healing. The Sudanese variety

is much hotter than the Tunisian, and thus stronger in

effect. It is so thick that it will not pour and must be

heated to get it out of the bottle.

 

A cake amber from Afghanistan is the best in the world, and

not so expensive if purchased in that country.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to obtain it at present.

 

Amber is recommended specifically for any kind of disease

or problem associated with the heart. While the rose is

considered the Mother of Scents, amber is called the Father

(or King) of Scents.

 

Very little use is made of amber in Western healing today,

although it used to be commonly prescribed for heart

conditions by medical doctors in the 1920s.

 

An excellent method of using amber is to put one drop on

the tip of the finger and apply it to the point of the

" Third Eye " (not in the physical eyes, of course). This is

absorbed by the pineal gland, which activates many of our

physiological functions.

 

--from The Book of Sufi Healing, p. 115-116.

 

Taika ir meile (peace and love),

Jonas Erelis

 

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menuo sauluZe vede

pirma pavasareli

 

The Moon married the Sun

In the first springtime