Lasavia Minerals Collection

The predominant experience that most people have in their relationship with the kingdom of minerals is a sense of preciousness, sometimes verging on possessiveness. There are many mysterious and magical stories in literature where a person becomes possessed by the very thing they wish to possess. The force of mineral is integral to the material world on which our society is based. It is a force that can create a deep rift in our human relationships, creating feelings of superiority and deep unhappiness. Awareness and understanding of our relationship with the material world can lead to co-operation without the need to renounce or discard. I often think that what balances all that power and strength of the material force is tenderness.

 

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To see a World in a Grain of Sand,
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour.
William Blake From Auguries of Innocence 1803

In the study of geology the rocks are being continuously reworked. This is the rock cycle. Igneous rocks which are formed by the melting of the earths crust, Metamorphic rocks that have altered by pressure and heat at depth and Sedimentary rocks where the debri comes to rest. Erosion and gravity carry rocks down to the depths of the earth and forces of heat and energy make their way up again.

The rock is universal, it is the stuff of the universe, the fundamental element of life, in essence it is star dust.

In merging with the mineral or rock through meditation. Is to experience the great dropping away of what we identify with in the world. Interesting the paradox of this is that the mineral and the material world is what we create so much to bolster our identities.

Our relationship can begin with the small stone we find and slip into our pocket, it can feel like our protector or something that can only belong to us. In its very inertness we are able to create and play with it in our mind and in our feelings. I once found a small Maori rubbing stone like this when I was a child on the pa site at Ohope. I showed it to Mr Paul, my teacher, who told me what it was and from that moment I carried it around for many years. It became intrinsically connected to me, I would hold it and rub the worn shape of it. I remember one particularly frightening incident which induced a state of shock. In touching the stone at the time I felt it myself come into my body. With the stone and my on going relationship with it I was able to somehow share my troubles and it gave me a strength that enabled me to get through some troubling times. I eventually gave it to a friend who did not understand its significance and it was lost in the way stones are. Today, as I write this, I feel the loss of a small and powerful friend. Stones and crystals also have a way of vanishing and re-appearing and I have heard many stories like this, particularly with pounamu or family heirlooms.

In the plant and insect collections the remedies are particular to earth and to life, in the mineral collection the remedies are universal in nature. I have placed the pearl and the nautilus shell in this collection for although they are created by an animal they are made up of a mineral substance. The shells also break down and are part of our sedimentary process of the rock cycle. Each remedy has its own story and the making of the remedy is linked to the environment and the time it was made. None of these remedies can be remade, after the mother tinctures runs out it will be a different story, a different remedy if I was to try to recreate it.