Saturday-11:45am

Okay--back to the New Year's Eve table--hehe!

This is almost like having a real conversation with me! I go off on tangents telling stories and may or may not get back to the subject--ROFL!!

The Tibetan Monks and the mandala sand.....

First of all, here is a link to show you pictures of that process:

http://www.artnetwork.com/Mandala/gallery.html

It was amazing! Talk about patience! I used to stop by inbetween classes and just watch them. You didn't talk to them, of course. You could stand and watch more closely or sit and watch from a few feet away. I was there a lot. Just such a good feeling being around them--used to sometimes just close my eyes and listen to the metallic rubbing of the sand tubes.

I was around so much and went to anything they had--various talks, music demonstrations, hung around the table where they sold things--that they got used to seeing me around. When they gave away half of the sand in these tiny plastic bags after they destroyed the mandala, I waited to be at the end of the line so that I could ask them if I could have some extra sand so that I could give some to my son. They smiled and gave me an extra bag of sand for Dagan--filled them both really full! He did the clasping of my hands with both hands that always felt like a blessing.

The monks had a ceremony later (I had a class and missed this one--the only event I missed) where they poured the rest of the mandala sand into the pond on campus. They energize the sand to be a healing agent for the earth, as I understood it. Water cycles from land to air and back--all over the earth--so they put it into water--sending off that healing energy. What a beautiful concept. The earth needs it--that is true!

I wanted to find something small and appropriate that I could keep the sand in--something special. I discovered this small container that looks like it is made of amber. Seemed perfect! It was near the center of the Tibetan cloth on New Year's Eve.

It was difficult for me to get a shot so that you could click and enlarge and see the rainbow of colored sand--but I think I finally got one!

My friend Jennifer (from MSUM writing classes and the student writing group we used to have at my apartment in Moorhead while we were in college) was going to this shop in Bismarck, North Dakota one time and told me they had pendulums there made of crystals and stones, etc. I asked her to pick me out a clear crystal pendulum.

She called me from the store and told me they had these wooden ones that were hollow inside and had a cap. I knew right away that I could put some of the sacred sand inside of it! Cool! So I had her get me two of them. Thank you, Jennifer! I don't let anybody else use this wooden pendulum.

And here is the crystal one Jennifer picked out.

The one I have had for many years is made of brass. I don't clean it. Don't want to disturb the energy, I guess.

And what do we use pendulums for? Actually--to pick cards or rune stones (the white ones).

The Angelic Messenger cards are way too large to shuffle. For years I shuffled them by laying them all over a table and swirling them around. That takes up a lot of room, for one thing. Tried to pick by instinct, warmth, tingling of the hands...whatever. And you can do it that way, of course--I did for many years.



What we found was easier was to kind of give the cards a little side-shuffle and then just split them up into three piles. Then use the pendulum to tell what pile the card is in. Split that pile up...and so on--until you are down to one card.

The pendulum will swing in a circle when it likes a pile or card.



We also used pendulums in the Healing Touch classes I went to at St. Catherine's in Minneapolis. We used them to determine whether chakras were blocked or not.



Seems like a bunch of hokus pokus at first--but I was won over. Besides--you can't possibly pick a bad angel card--hehe!



The last thing I have to show you from New Year's Eve is my crystals. And, of course, I have a story about the biggest one...:)