Lena Rocks

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

To experience and love the God of beauty and goodness even in what is ugly and in what is evil, and to long, in extreme love, to heal it of its ugliness and its evil, that is true virtue and morality.

Sri Aurobindo

We had found these silicone ice cube trays intended for making ice shot glasses but I wanted to see if I could make little orgonite containers instead…  I got both round ones and square ones and the possibilities are endless…

you can put SP’s in them…

put a vase with flowers in them…

let your favorite crystal have a custom built home

I am sure the molds can be found online.

Lena

I have recently been thinking of how to make something to charge our cats water dish. Been using a regular charging plate but wanted to try something more dedicated.

We have been putting amethyst into the drinking water of our pets since it does a lot of good there. My dog even brings me the amethyst from her bowl when it’s empty and drops it in front of me – she has been doing that since she was a puppy and figured it out all on her own

I have cast in dog bowls before but wanted to make something that would be more of a dish that you can use for either water or even to put plants on.  My first attempt was a disaster, I did not practice my patience and tried to pull it out too soon and a piece broke off, stuck in the dish…  Tried to recast it and then spent way too much time trying to get it out of the dish – it was stuck…

After freezing, boiling, prying and finally a heatgun it came out and it was a mess… so I just decided to make another one.  This one came out, it has a clear layer with a circle of amethysts, a layer of fake gold and then a layer with copper, brass and iron oxide with various other crystals:

Of course I then asked the cat to pose for a picture but the response I got was the usual “there is a bird over there – talk to the tail…” so I will have to wait to see if she liked it  Time will tell.

Lena

I got a call from a chi-gong master who I had made some round charging plates for and he was sad to tell me that they did not really work for him… cause his feet were too big

Laughingly told him that the plates I had made for him were made for charging food on but that I would be happy to make him a test pair of standing plates to try out.  He asked if there was any way I could cast some magnets into them so I promised to give it a try.  The problem with casting magnets is that they will demagnetize if the pour gets too hot, so plates like these take days to cure between layers… but is well worth it.

They contain a lot of different things… top layer is clear with neodymium magnets, second layer is 24 K gold (with some fake gold mixed in cause I needed such a large amount…), third layer is cast with iron oxide and the fourth and fifth layers are arrangements of various crystals and metals with some secret ingredients as well

As for standing on them… the first time I was laughing pretty hard cause it really felt like I was about to take off… buzzing… On me it first pulled my energy down into the ground and then up…

Have not really had time to play with them much yet but am casting myself a pair cause now I want some as well… One thing I found is that it’s not anything I would want to use right before bedtime… and that playing with some hematite or a hematite plate to ground myself afterwards is a good idea…

Lena

We have had the most fun time spending our fourth of July weekend taking photos and I wanted to show the ones that came out with the clear quartz skull on top of the hollow nano pyramid.  All kinds of things in there

Enjoy!

Lena

Hubby had this idea rolling around his head for a while where he said it would be nice to find a way to incorporate orgonite to one of those light boxes we so love taking crystal pictures on so he went about finding a way to create that kind of a shell.  For now he  made a pyramid shape that he cut the tip off but we are also going to try this with round and square shapes to see how they come out.  I will never stop being fascinated by seeing some of these faces looking back at me in these crystals…when we take pictures and wanted to share:

I was asked by someone to make a piece for a five year old little boy who had some very bad dreams.  After pondering it for a bit I decided to make a glow in the dark orgonite piece with lots of tourmaline and some other things and then see if my stepdaughter could help me write a story to go with the piece, to explain to the boy what it was about in very simple terms.  I went about getting my supplies together for the piece and she wrote the story:

It’s time to go to bed, get tucked in real tight.

Then the lights go off

And the scary things come out and give you a fright.

That’s why we gave you this magical thing

It will take you to a place where the monsters don’t bite and the bees don’t sting

Forget about the monsters and scary things too,

This glow in the dark star will always protect you.

It almost brought me to tears when I read this poem cause it’s just too perfect…  so now we had to go out and find a star shaped mold since the only stars I had were very small and I needed enough mass in the piece to make it effective.  At Michael’s they have these silicone star shaped muffin molds so we got one of those to try.  I cast a very thin first layer with lots of glow powder, then another layer with metal and crystals and colored resin – they came out pretty cute:

Charging in the sun…

Here is what they look like when they glow:

I have some more glow in the dark colors I’m going to cast this way and once I have them made I will post more pictures.  You can charge these pieces in the sun or under a light and they will glow for a half hour or so, slowly fading out… at least the time it takes most kids to go to sleep

I thought the story was so wonderful that I wanted to share.

Lena