I do have opposition to certain beliefs however. For example, the famed Navaratna. I believe, yes, that there is a sensibility
that holds some kind of truth in the 'nine planetary gems', however, there are
differences of opinion out there by experts (=people who know more about this kind
of stuff than I do), such that inherent and handed down beliefs can be thrown
into question. For example, that the gem
has to be perfect, or near perfect, or 80% clear to the human eye (now we're
getting far far far from perfection, aren't we). That the gem, if 'dirty' will bring bad luck and
not good (and this coming from people who lived in a society with other people
they called the 'untouchables', so I immediately drop credence in this sense of
'purity' that is capable of providing good luck (to those who could afford such
a gem, which is an enitrely financially or politically elite group of people)
or un-pure and provide bad luck (which derives from the opposite sense of
puritanical). In fact, I am only using
this example, not to point to a particular group, but a particular kind of thinking
that is inherent in much of humanity; the sense of what is pure or un-pure,
good and bad, clean and dirty; and the need to determine doctrine, something
concrete to believe in, particularly if it gives you structure and opportunity
in the eyes of the believer).
Besides the issue of purity (as defined by the believer
in whatever system of belief that defines such), is the issue of substitutions
for expensive gems that are unaffordable to the average man/woman. If you search this information, you'll find
different opinions as to what can substitute for what.
Now, we enter the realm of color, and properties that lay
outside the realm of just crystaline structure.
I take the example of Diamond. Diamond is PURE carbon. Plus, there is NOTHING like diamond on this
earth. Any substitution for diamond is
going to be NOTHING LIKE diamond in terms of it's crystalline structure and
what it is made of. Plain and simple.
Yet, there are suggestions by experts for substitutions
for diamond, such as morganite, quartz, white topaz, etc...
What I, myself, derive from this is that both color and
crystal structure and OTHER THINGS we are not aware of, play a role in crystals
and rocks having auspicious properties.
I do not believe that a crystal has to be 'gem quality', for example,
crude emerald is still emerald, it still has the crystalline structure of
emerald in it and therefore will emanate or do whatever else emerald will
do. Yes, you need pure
Ruby to make a Ruby laser (and those are laboratory grown Rubies). Yes, one can
argue that indeed you're making little lasers of a mystical, undefined,
sort. But the laser is a particular
thing that focuses light in a particular way that keeps it AWAY from areas that
would be infiltrated by a diffuse light.
So to, my conjecture is that gemstones don't necessarily have to be
'pure' AND that a crude gemstone is not 'dirty' and going to bring harm or bad
karma to you. I believe that, as an
absolute thought, that way of thinking is totally ridiculous.
For years, red Spinel was called Ruby. Even one of the English Royal Gems is a red
Spinel once thought to be ruby, at a time that there were no scientific means
of determining the difference between a ruby and a spinel.
I also think that the existence of rubies is not from the
blood of a demon that fell to earth, even in a figurative sense, nor is the red
in bloodstone coming from drops of the blood of Christ, even in a figurative
sense. Who is to say though that the essentiality
of such beliefs holds water, such that, the results of wearing such gems seems
to yield results. Perhaps these gems, which indeed may be confering properties in and of themselves, by doing such, channeled into local thinking in order to give explanation to these properties. In fact, I am a firm
believer in the ability of gemstones to confer properties to and to assist in
and nutrify and cleanse, among many other possibilites. It makes sense that besides being
electromagnetic ourselves and that there are non electromagnetic particles in
the billions, everywhere, capable of passing through the earth, that our bodies
and minds may interact with crystal formations and rocks containing certain
minerals.
My own experience has shown me that Lapis Lazuli, for
example, is such an extremely powerful stone, that once I put a necklace of
Lapis around my neck and two days later, had to take it off because of the
effects it was having in my life. I now
wear one stone of Lapis around my neck, perhaps you or someone else might do
well with a lot of Lapis, whereas me and others might not.
more on color...later...
