moldavite and pipe stone

August 9, 2006

Hello all,

I'm wondering about people's experiences with both. More

specifically, I enetered this realm as a teen thru NA spirituality,

initially sun bear style, but quickly becoming more serious and

traditional. Since then I've become much more of a journeyman,

although my ritual foundations still rest in those zones. I've had a

pipe, nothing ceremonial, just a pipe of pipestone and an uncut

block. Recently I found a bison fetish that is glorious and guards

the door to my home. It is a warm and potent piece. Knowing much of

its NA significance to various groups and tribes, I thought I'd look

in Love is in the Earth and Book of Stones, but both sources are

strangely scared of the stone, saying don't work with it, or don't

carry it. Seems rather lamely pc to me, but I wonder what your

experiences are.

With moldavite, the Book of Stones recommends it constantly, and then

I saw Simmons book on it and read a bit. I'm aware of its origins

and rarity, but I wonder what experiences people have had. It's a

little pricey, not too bad, and my local crystal shop has a bunch of

small pieces, but ebay seems to have a fair amount available too,

altho the prices vary widely.

Feedback on either or both would be appreciated.

On a third note, going back a couple months to discussion of mining

and of diamonds, I'd like to offer an intuitive sense of the stone.

We often look for traditional understandings of crystals and stones

in order to guide us in our practices, and that makes sense,

especially because we're working with geological creations. However,

we have to remember that the work we do must ultimately return to the

present community, whether in terms of personal interactions, smaller

groups or larger earth healing, and so must also understand what role

stones play in the contemporary world. With the horrifying abuses of

diamond mining, not so much to the stones, but to the miners; then

the horrifying business practices of marketing stones with monopolies

and insanely inflated costs, which certainly does affect the stones'

vibrations; and finally with what diamonds represent in modern

western cultures- extreme excess, materialism and ego-filled

manifestations of wealth based power; with all these elements at

play, I'm pretty repulsed by diamonds; it's an actual physical

reaction. It's not the stones fault, of course, but if a power or

manufacturing plant makes a lake toxic, I'm certainly going to stay

away. I feel like that with diamonds as well. Thoughts?

Cheers,

Dan

August 9, 2006

>With moldavite, the Book of Stones recommends it constantly, and then

>I saw Simmons book on it and read a bit. I'm aware of its origins

>and rarity, but I wonder what experiences people have had. It's a

>little pricey, not too bad, and my local crystal shop has a bunch of

>small pieces, but ebay seems to have a fair amount available too,

>altho the prices vary widely.

Moldavite is great.... will connect you up to higher energies right away!

Bob Simmons is a Moldavite nut... and I think he is always promoting

himself.. so take the information in the Book of Stone with a grain of Salt.

I have a personal bias against the book.. as he show pictures of Ajoite

that are not Ajoite.... it ticks me off.

The reason for the different pricing of Moldavite is this:

It is the grade you are paying for. I have Moldavite on my site

from cheap to very expensive. Go take a look.. and you will

easily see the differences. There is regular commercial grade..

all the way up to Museum quality.. the higher prices are for

perfect non broken.. not chipped and very good and strong

definition on the stones. The cheap pieces have very little

definition and can be broken or chipped... or just chips themselves.

Hope that helps.

John Van Rees

http://www.exquisitecrystals.com

>Feedback on either or both would be appreciated.

>

>On a third note, going back a couple months to discussion of mining

>and of diamonds, I'd like to offer an intuitive sense of the stone.

>We often look for traditional understandings of crystals and stones

>in order to guide us in our practices, and that makes sense,

>especially because we're working with geological creations. However,

>we have to remember that the work we do must ultimately return to the

>present community, whether in terms of personal interactions, smaller

>groups or larger earth healing, and so must also understand what role

>stones play in the contemporary world. With the horrifying abuses of

>diamond mining, not so much to the stones, but to the miners; then

>the horrifying business practices of marketing stones with monopolies

>and insanely inflated costs, which certainly does affect the stones'

>vibrations; and finally with what diamonds represent in modern

>western cultures- extreme excess, materialism and ego-filled

>manifestations of wealth based power; with all these elements at

>play, I'm pretty repulsed by diamonds; it's an actual physical

>reaction. It's not the stones fault, of course, but if a power or

>manufacturing plant makes a lake toxic, I'm certainly going to stay

>away. I feel like that with diamonds as well. Thoughts?

>Cheers,

>Dan

>

August 9, 2006

Hi John,

Not sure if I sent you an email but I agree with you re: quality of stones.

I'm researching the benefits of crystals in counselling & wondered if you have

any opinions on this? There is no research on the subject, thus nothing to

compare with nor validate for the academics & there is not an awful lot of

literature on this either. So, I would welcome you comments, opinions, advice,

guidance. I am in England incidentally. Many thanks, Lyn

John Van Rees <john wrote: