Lena Rocks

We were playing with putting together little sets of crystals and I took some photos here:

Individual sets, each set containing (clockwise) one Madagascar Quartz, three Lemurian seed crystals (one skinny, one DT and one sparkly), one Recordkeeper Ruby, one polished piece of Scolecite, one Apophyllite point, one small piece of Bismuth metal, one large Tibetan DT Herkimer:

I dug out some various forms of quartz so I could photograph an easy comparison sheet for those who are curious:

As you can see they all have pretty distinctive characteristics when you place them side by side  If you click on the image you will get up a larger version of the photo.

Lena

For some reason it seems like January is the month where body craves grounding foods and each year I seem to get inspired to make something fermented during that month.  One of this years big adventures was making beet kvass since I had heard much about the benefits of taking it and figured getting more beets into the diet must only be a good thing.  Now that I have been taking it for a while it is the first thing my body craves in the morning and I mix about 1/4 cup with some apple juice and then vortex it really well (the kvass tends to float on top of the juice…).  It gives an amazing boost first thing in the morning and this week hubby got into it as well – I have to make more and so took pictures along the way, hoping that someone else might get inspired to try it.

First start out with three good quality organic beets:

Scrub them clean really well, cut off tops and bottoms and chop into pieces:

Put into a glass container:

and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of good salt (I use Himalayan) on the beets and stir it up:

If you happen to have a couple of tablespoons of raw milk whey you can add this now, otherwise you can use 1/4 cup of previously made kvass you have OR another tablespoon of salt.

Add two quarts of water and stir it up:

Now you can leave this in the kitchen for about three days and then strain out the beets.  The liquid will be thick and slimy to start out with but will get fizzier and thinner the longer it stays in the fridge.  You can also use the same beets for a second fermentation if you wish.  If you decide to do that you will need to wash them really well after straining them and then cut them into halves again and start the process over, with salt and water and a little bit of liquid from the last batch.  You can either drink the kvass as it is (salty, beety and earthy tasting) but it also makes a wonderful substitute for vinegar in a salad dressing.  I like to mix it with apple juice

There is this magical alchemical transformation that happens when you make this and every time you make it will taste a little different.  The taste matures and changes and it’s incredible how it becomes this living thing that nurtures you – one of those things that cannot be explained but has to be experienced…  Here is what I have left from my last batch – doesn’t it look alive?

Lena

I had the cutest experience the other morning and wanted to share.  My inlaws live close to a lake that is kind of a nature reserve and the lake houses lots of birds but used to be quite polluted.  Of course we have gifted it and it looks so much better and now every time we are there visiting I usually take our dog for a walk around the lake it being such a beautiful place to walk.

On Christmas morning we went for our stroll and instead of being somewhat reserved and suspicious of the dog like they normally are, the whole flock of birds got into the water and started following the dog, all acting as if they were quite excited to see her – it was an “where have you been?” moment.  It was the weirdest thing and at first I thought they might have thought we had food but I quickly saw that they had no interest in me whatsoever and that it was all about the dog… and they literally followed her, swam all the way down the lake and back.  After a little while she almost started looking a bit nervous cause she is a herding dog and she is the one who is supposed to be chasing them… and these were all following her…  Anyone who has known a border collie knows that they are pretty special… and that they do this “mind thing” while herding and me thinks she might be better at it than even she knows

Lena

Got this mold a while back and had made some little orgonite people to give away.  Made some little blue and green ones and then realized that we have this very fine copper powder that really does look almost like the real thing

I had set this up outside to take the photos and left it there…  Hubby just came in with the biggest smile and said “Little doggy has just discovered the frosting on the gingerbread house and she is soo happy… she really likes it”.  I asked him if he told he to stop and he said no…  went out to have a look and there is A LOT of frosting missing and the dog is running wild enjoying her sugar high – LOL…

I guess you could say that the villagers fought back bravely… but got overpowered in the end

Lena

This is the kind of fall that makes one stop and stare in wonder at the colors of nature so I decided to grab a tray of gifts to take pictures outside in the leaves, honoring the season

Lena

Someone wanted me to send her a nano wand so she could use it for stirring/charging/creating a vortex with the water in her tub… so I thought that I would finally cast these soap bubble wands that I picked up over a year ago that I had gotten for just that purpose but had not had time to cast.

They have a 24 karat gold orgonite tip and then nano material and iron oxide with other metals in the resin with some really nice crystals.

As a size reference:

Great for stirring before getting into the water:

Of course you can do other things with it…  like play with cats:

Give your drinking water an orgone charge:

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or maybe one can direct traffic with it

Lena

We went to a crystal show yesterday and I learned something I had not known about before – about crystals that have been struck by lightning while in the ground.  The vendor had a few that he showed me and they felt just fantastic to me so I had to get myself one.  I also got myself a large Lemurian that has so much Lithium in it that it is very pink and when I examined it later it just happened to have a lightning strike on it as well so I felt like I got the most amazing bonus.

When we came hom I tried to find more information about these crystals but there is not a lot so I am going to have to figure it out for myself.  Some of what I came up with is the following:

For many years, itinerant miners in of the Serra de Espinha?o Mountains of Brazil have reported finding “flash stones” – now demonstrated to be the result of lightning traveling through a quartz crystal while still in the ground.  The Espinha?o range is frequently hit by orographic thunderstorms, which produce the greatest number of lightning strikes.  Interestingly, orographic lightning has some peculiar features:  it reaches velocities of 160,000 m/s (524,934 ft/s), and it achieves plasma temperatures of 30,000°C in nanoseconds.  Evidences of the effect of this special lightning on lightning-struck quartz crystals are the presence of beta-quartz (which only forms at temperatures over 573°C), along with the presence of cristobalite, the high-temperature modification of quartz (which forms at temperatures of about 1,715°C). Also, an enormous pressure of about 35.00 bar (508 psi) is evidence by the presence of coesite, the rare high-pressure polymorph of quartz.  The stress caused by this very rapid heating and cooling, along with the intense electrical charge and the high pressure, creates a characteristic zigzag fracture pattern on the surface of the affected quartz crystals.

Reproducing the effects of lightning on quartz crystals in a laboratory setting has proven to be very challenging.  After exploring a variety of methods to try to reproduce the characteristic patterns, the study concluded that this pattern could not be created by any mechanical process.

At the high-voltage lab at the Technical Institute of Vienna, Austria and at Ilmenau University in Germany, scientists were finally able to match the unique, shallow zigzag lightning tracks on quartz that is the hallmark of lightning struck quartz.  To form these crystals it takes a unique combination of geological, morphological, climatological, and meteorological conditions.  This means that lightning-struck quartz is very scarce, making it a highly valued item for mineral and gem collectors.

Here are some photos of some of these crystals that I took at the show, apologies for the crappy quality but I didn’t bring my good camera:

Go Thor

Lena

Have been getting these little stickers and labels at Michael’s and cast them.  Some of them work and some of them don’t…  A friend gave me the gold leaf which I think cast very nicely.

Lena

Tried a different version of the flower of life motif for making a charging plate out of orgonite – the middle…  Petals are made with aluminum,  the middle is copper which is surrounded by brass.  Lots of minerals inside.

Lena