Chakra Choices

Both my websites, Glimmerdream and Elle Schroeder, celebrate color and its amazing ability to affect our emotions.

Intimately linked with color are the seven invisible energy centers of the body called chakras, a Sanskrit word for "wheel" or "disk." Wheels of subtle spinning bio-energetic activity, the chakras radiate from nerve ganglia (clusters) that start at the base of the spine and continue on to the crown of the head. When the nerve centers are open, energy flows.

Problems of the mind, body or spirit, however, can cause these energy centers to become unbalanced or even closed. Ultimately, the imbalance is noted on the physical/cellular level since each chakra is a "door" to a major nerve plexus and glandular center within the endocrine system. Unless the source of the imbalance is dealt with physical illness will soon manifest itself in some way.

Used by healing practitioners for centuries, color therapies can be traced far back to Chinese, Indian, Tibetan, Ayurvedic, and Egyptian roots. Based on the theory that each color in the visible light spectrum has its own wavelength and frequency -- producing a specific energy and therefore a specific effect on us -- the conscious use of color can enhance our minds, bodies, and souls.

Shop for Chakra Choices jewelry.

Lapis on the Aegean

Passing several vendors selling souvenirs outside the Basilica of St. John in Ephesus, on present-day Turkey’s west coast, my husband and I stopped to look at some deep blue stone & metal jewelry. The metal work was cheap (silverplate over brass?), but the blue stone was beautiful. I’d read about lapis lazuli -- the exotic blue stone that tiled ancient Egypt’s royal floors and which was also used extensively in their jewelry – but I don’t think I’d ever see it in person.

Ephesus – what’s left of it -- is impressive. At its peak during the first two centuries CE, second in importance and size only to Rome, it was estimated to have 400K-500K inhabitants. However, despite repeated dredges during the city's history its importance as a commercial center declined as the harbor slowly filled with sedimentation from the Cayster River. A visit from the Goths in 263 CE didn’t help the struggling city. Today, the ruins are 5 km inland from the Aegean Sea.

Famed for the Temple of Artemis (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World), Ephesus is also home to the Library of Celsus (built to store 12,000 scrolls), a grand amphitheater capable of holding 25,000 spectators (still in use today, Sting, Yanni and Elton John are just a few who have performed there) and the Basilica of St. John, built in the 6th century CE under emperor Justinian I.

(left: lapis & 22K vermeil necklace from Glimmerdream.com) Under the fierce Mediterranean sun outside the Basilica, the haggling began. I ended up with a pair of lapis earrings and an impressive lapis necklace (which I eventually gave to a friend who admired it), and my husband with a blue glass "Nazar Boncugu" or "Eye Bead" on a leather cord, worn for protection against the ‘evil eye’ in Turkey.

At the time, I didn’t know that 95% of all the world’s lapis comes from Afghanistan (Chile produces some, but of poor quality), where it’s been mined for 6,000 years.

Turkey and Afghanistan have a long history of friendship. It’s been said that "Turkey is Afghanistan's closest neighbor without common borders." While 12% of Afghanistan's population is ethnic Turkic, and nearly 100% Muslim as is Turkey, historic ties also draw the two nations together.

In the 1920's during the time of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the modern Turkish Republic, and Afghan King Amanullah (r. 1919 to 1929), relations grew tighter and trade flourished. Like Ataturk, Amanullah was reform minded and interested in following the path of secular Turkey. In fact, Afghanistan was the second country after the Soviet Union to recognize Ataturk's government. (Irony…)

Learn more about lapis at Glimmerdream.com

Ametrine, Ametrine, Prettiest Gem…

Ametrine… Ametrine… prettiest gem that I’ve ever seen…” (to the tune of “Abilene”)

Wandering through one of our local weekend swap meets some years ago – before I had an inkling I would someday be designing jewelry -- my husband and I came across a rockhound’s display area. In the midst of polished rock slices, geodes, gem spheres, rough (sometimes just barely out of the ground but hosed off) and objects d’art, one item in particular caught my eye: a semi-transparent tapered obelisk with inclusions, about 3” long, pale amethyst gradually morphing into a pale sunny yellow.

I knew absolutely nothing about gems. Well, a wee bit -- I knew amethyst was purple and citrine was yellow. But this looked like the result of an amethyst-citrine marriage that produced a bi-colored child. I know the seller told me the name of the stone but I didn’t remember it. I only knew what I wanted to do with it: hang it from the brass pot holding the Christmas cactus above my kitchen sink with its window that looks out to the back yard. But how?

(right: ametrine necklace from Glimmerdream.com) At the time, I had a wonderful jeweler, Henk, who hailed from Hong Kong. No matter what the jewelry issue, Henk always came up with an artistic -- and oft times, technical -- solution. He agreed to drill a hole in the slightly rounded top and install an eye screw so the piece could be hung. He told me it was ametrine, a colored quartz. It was only later that I learned that ametrine -- also known as Bolivianite and found only on the Brazilian-Bolivian border -- is a naturally occurring composite of amethyst and citrine.

“Twice powerful,' ametrine is said to embody the properties of both amethyst and citrine, making it a "bridge" that helps balance the spiritual and the material worlds. While amethyst helps one visualize a desired result, citrine helps one manifest the vision into the physical. Learn more about ametrine at Glimmerdream.com.

It's Your Choice

Laura was a great CPA. Probably still would be if that is how she had chosen to continue her life. 

Dating my stepson, Laura was an up and coming star at a large regional CPA firm and she was nearing the end of the grueling 80-hour work weeks that make or break young CPAs but which expose them to a wide range of businesses. College was paid off. The future was gravy. 

However, Laura was a victim -- a victim of a culture that says 18-year olds should know what they are going to do for the rest of their lives when they pick a college major. By the time Laura was a senior, she pretty much knew she didn’t want to be a CPA. But her parents had all that money invested in her (not a small consideration when one’s parents have sacrificed) and, well, she was about to get her degree. The time for choosing something else was over. 

Laura put in her time at the firm, working weekends and holidays when necessary…until gradually she came to a startling conclusion: she wanted to touch lives. Literally. 

She wanted to become a massage therapist -- specializing in pregnant women -- and a labor doula. So she saved her money, quit her job and did just that, enrolling in Seattle's Ashmead College, then continuing her pregnancy focus with Doula training from Seattle Midwifery School. 

Today, Laura’s dream has gotten even bigger. She’s now pursuing a degree as a Nurse Practitioner Midwife, still focused on pregnancy. Touching lives. She’s touched mine.

‘Vision’ vs. Execution

From my first magical moment of clarity – not only seeing the path to which I was being called, but also knowing with certainty that I would be very good at it – I can honestly say I have never been without ‘the vision.’ Without any conscious thinking, planning or effort to ‘stir the creative juices,’ I am blessed to have more design ideas swirling in my head and crying out to my hands than I will ever have time to execute. When I purchase gems, it’s almost always because I can see the finished product. 

For someone whose previous professional life required living in a world of empirical data, rationality and business process, I still find this fact quite astounding. Not to mention that I had never thought of myself as particularly creative – certainly not in any ‘artistic’ way. I just greatly admired artists from afar because they had some magical thing IN them that the ‘rest of us’ did not. 

However – and that’s a big ‘however’ – what I want to pass along is: just because the vision is clear doesn’t mean the execution is. Vision is the easy part. That’s why it’s called ‘vision’ – because it’s mental, it doesn’t exist in the physical plane. Execution, on the other hand, is pure reality. It can be quite technical with lots of trial and error. And so one learns the many ways that something doesn’t work. Until it does.

Pavo Cristatus, Monsoon Maker

Since one of my Elle Schroeder Collections, Ancient Splendor, features 20K-22K antique Indian plaque amulet pendants and Mughul jeweled pieces, I’m always curious to know the significance of what I’m working, both for my benefit and that of my customers. One recurring theme in Indian pieces is perhaps the most beautiful bird on earth, pavo cristatus -- or, as we know it, the male half of the peafowl, the peacock.

Called "the bird with one hundred eyes" due to the eye-like patterns on its tail, the peacock is the national bird of India. The Peacock Dance, sometimes called the Monsoon Dance, plays an important role in the Indian ethos. Believed to be a harbinger of the approaching monsoon and hence, fertility, at the sight of dark clouds the bird spreads out its tail and starts dancing in rhythmic fashion, strutting and displaying its feathers in an impressive fashion as if welcoming the gathering of clouds at the end of the summer (although he’s just trying to attract a mate). And for Indians, at the height of their sweltering hot season, there can be no greater joy than the beginning of the rainy season.  

Its scientific name, pavo, derives from the Sanskrit, “pavana,” referring to the Hindu deity Vayu, the wind who is also the breath of life and the father of Hanuman. The peacock is the vahana (vehicle) of Kartikkeya, the god of war; Saraswati, goddess of knowledge, music and the arts also rides a peacock in the entourage of the Goddess Durga. Lakshmi, goddess of wealth, fortune, love and beauty, is also sometimes depicted with armbands in the form of peacocks.

The ‘Mohs Scale'...and Why You Should Care

Devised by the German mineralogist Frederich Mohs (1773-1839), the oft-referred-to Mohs scale measures the relative hardness of ten minerals, numbered 1-10 -- chosen at the time because they were common and/or readily available.

The scale starts with talc (#1) a very soft and unstable substance. However, the scale is somewhat arbitrary and is not scientifically linear. For instance, while #9, corundum – a category that includes sapphire and ruby -- is twice as hard as #8 (topazes), the diamond (#10) is more than four times as hard as corundum.

1. Talc (plastic)
   
2. Gypsum (salt, fingernails, gold)
   
3. Calcite
   
4. Fluorite
   
5. Apatite (copper coin, window glass)
   
6. Orthoclase (includes moonstone & labradorite)
   
7. Quartz (tourmaline, crystal quartz and all colored quartzes)
   
8. Topaz (also beryl’s – emerald & aquamarine)
   
9. Corundum (sapphire & ruby)
   
10. Diamond
    

One can see why calcite -- #3 on the scale and therefore relatively soft -- was a favorite material for Egyptian sculptors. Also known as ‘Egyptian alabaster, calcite was used to create the canopic equipment that eventually contained the internal organs of individuals removed during the process of mummification (and which can be seen firsthand in many museums).

So – all very interesting you say…but why should I care about this? The biggest reason I think is the ‘ole gotcha, “caveat emptor.” Whenever one is purchasing gems it seem a good idea to be an educated buyer.

For instance, it’s become very popular for the public to attend gem fairs where they can purchase faceted stones to be set later. However, one should know, for instance, that although fluorite and apatite are both beautiful stones with a huge color range, they are not recommended for rings -- because they are soft enough to scratch easily or even crack. Therefore they should be used only for necklaces and/or earrings that don’t experience the same kind of wear.

On the other hand, quartzes (#7) are beautiful, come in a wide range of colors, are relatively inexpensive and -- can take a lot of daily wear.