A Little Scary thing about Compassion and how a stone can help - Kunzite

Compassion is defined in Websters dictionary as, "literally, suffering with another; a sensation of sorrow excited by the distress or misfortunes of another; pity; commiseration."

Compassion, this attitude of thought, comes with a lot of different meanings, lessons and emotions to everyone.  Personally, I try to work on my compassion skills daily. It is so hard! I believe I am a nice person, polite, and I try really hard not to judge, but sometimes finding that compassion for the people, things and organizations you just don't like is a challenge.  What IS helping me, little by little,  is finding the reasons  why it is a challenge to me.  One reason  is because I am scared.  Finding compassion in someone suffering is scary.  It makes you think of how you would feel if you were in that situation... and that is scary.  Who really wants to go through any suffering?   

"Compassion, the sympathy of another's suffering," it is a challenge to have this sympathy on something that has hurt you in the past, but the true lesson in the act of compassion is rising above it all.  Get over the scary part.  Depersonalize it and take you You out of it.  You cannot stop the future from happening, but you can open up your heart to be more emotionally ready.

There is one stone that helps me find compassion when I am in a challenging situation looking for help and that is Kunzite, also known as spodumene. Kunzite is the pink variety of spodumene and it is so beautiful and serene . Kunzite is a lithium aluminum silicate mineral, giving it a glow that pulses with calm, loving heart opening energy.  I have always imagined kunzite to have a moon like glow and mother attitude that puts you under a spell of the super loving, fairy like mineral.  The mineral has a way to open up your heart and take away all that is scary and resisting you to truly love and be loved.

Connecting to the Autumn Spirit with Petrified Wood

The seasons are changing.  Autumn is here and slowly there is less daylight, more darkness, colder temperatures and the tress and animals are all making their way to slumber.  Autumn is the time to slow down.

Lao Tzu has said, " Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished." 

As humans, I believe we sometimes forget to slow down and acknowledge our natural connection to the earth and elements.  It is time to SLOW DOWN.  It is okay to allow yourself to slowdown, stay inside for a day, create or recreate your space or den, take a nap, calm down the constant mind chatter and allow yourself the gift of being in the moment instead of speeding up and worrying about the future, the holiday season, work, school and job.  Just giving yourself a few moments, perhaps a yoga class, a meditation or even a moment in your car to slow things down.

Minerals and crystals can assist you in that feeling of joy and peace you get from gifting yourself a moment of stillness, a moment to acknowledge your connection to nature. Petrified wood is one of the many stones that can help in this connection. Petrified wood is heavy and organic.  With the past life of a beautiful, enormous tree millions of years ago, Petrified wood can fill you with the ancient wisdom of stillness and growth. Petrified wood helps ground you and take you back to your roots, the original roots of life and creation as it teaches you the lesson of observing and growing.  Most petrified wood are from trees that are at least 200 million years old and 100-200 feet tall.  They became petrified as a result of volcanoes eruptions and the minerals in the ash that replaced the wood with silica ( quartz ) and other minerals. Over time and environmental conditions, the wood slowly became petrified, fossilized and sometimes opalized.  Petrified woos is one of my personal favorite stones, always giving me a sense of ancestral strength and calmness. 

Shiva Lingam

The Denver Gem and Mineral Show was not too long ago and my fiance and I had a chance to go play a little. Going to a gem & mineral show is much like a kid in a candy store for us, so much to look at! All senses are highly stimulated, my intuition is on fire when it comes to the yes or no regarding questions for humans or rocks! This year we got some amazing specimens, a lot of dreams came true in regards to building our personal mineral collection and specimens to share with the mineral loving community.

I am going to begin with the largest new member of our family, a new specimen for our personal collection, the Shiva Lingam.  He is roughly 19 inches long, 15 pounds, egg shaped, brown toned mineral consisting of silica, iron and magnesium and some other elements.  There is a long story written about the history of this stone.  Found in the scared river in India, Naramada, the Shiva Lingam is considered a symbol of the Hindu God, Lord Shiva.  The story goes that the specimens were created when a meteorite hit the river, thus forming their unique egg shape.  Full of creative male energy along with the characteristics feminine markings or spots, the lingam is a balance of masculine and feminine energies.  This guy is pretty heavy, sturdy and special. He is like an egg shaped zone of energy pulsing the balancing energies of male and female. It is a fantastic addition to our collection, people who walk in and pick him up giggle like a child again and our animals seem to enjoy the company too.