Making Sense of Tragedy

 Buddha statue among the rubble in Kesennuma, Japan

"Either God can do nothing to stop catastrophes like this, or he doesn’t care to, or he doesn’t exist. God is either impotent, evil, or imaginary. Take your pick, and choose wisely.

The only sense to make of tragedies like this is that terrible things can happen to perfectly innocent people. This understanding inspires compassion.

Religious faith, on the other hand, erodes compassion. Thoughts like, “this might be all part of God’s plan,” or “there are no accidents in life,” or “everyone on some level gets what he or she deserves” - these ideas are not only stupid, they are extraordinarily callous. They are nothing more than a childish refusal to connect with the suffering of other human beings. It is time to grow up and let our hearts break at moments like this." - Sam Harris

"Proud of their secular society, most Japanese aren't religious in the way Americans are: They tend not to identify with a single tradition nor study religious texts. The average Japanese person doesn’t consciously turn to Buddhism until there’s a funeral.

In the days and weeks ahead, huge numbers of Japanese will be turning to their country’s religious traditions as they mourn the thousands of dead and try to muster the strength and resources to rebuild amid the massive destruction wrought by the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and the resulting tsunami." - Dan Gilgoff

Image source unknown but greatly appreciated
 

Healing Properties of Aquamarine

Aquamarine crystals cluster with light green fluorite

Aquamarine is a variety of beryl. It is a relatively common mineral that mostly occurs in pegmatite rocks and is often found together with the ordinary beryl. The biggest deposits were found in Brazil, Colombia, United States, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, Russia, India and Pakistan.

Aquamarine forms pyramidal crystals that can be quite large. Its color ranges from pale blue and transparent turquoise to bluish-green and depends on the concentration of the iron particles within the hexagonal crystalline structure of beryl. The bluish-greenish hue is responsible for the stone's name which comes from the Latin "aqua marina" or sea water.

The stone was well known and valued in Antiquity. It was regarded as a symbol of peace and tranquility. Aquamarine jewelry was highly prized not only for its beauty, but also for its protective value especially for sailors and those who had to undertake a sea journey as this stone would ensure a safe passage to those who wore it. Aquamarine amulets would protect them from sea sickness and from drowning in raging seas.

Aquamarine is associated with the throat chakra and has the ability to activate this energy center. It stimulates, balances, and cleanses the throat chakra. It gives the courage to articulate one's deepest convictions. It also helps improve communication skills and takes away the fear of public speaking. The stone helps clear doubt and uncertainty and enhances creative verbal expression. It encourages tolerance and honesty and enables the expression of truth.

Aquamarine is a stone of beauty, honesty, courage, and loyalty. It has the ability to clarify the thought process and perception and to speed up response in difficult situations. It helps deal with difficult emotions and grief. The stone emanates calming energy that helps reduce stress and pacify the mind. It also sharpens intuition and brings inner peace and serenity. These qualities make it a perfect stone for deep meditation. One gains the ability to access higher levels of awareness.

Aquamarine is sometimes used in thanatology as it is believed to ease the pain of the dying person and to facilitate transition. The stone helps release the karmic bonds. 

In Antiquity aquamarine was used to cure eye diseases. To achieve an healing effect the eyes were washed with aquamarine gem water. Aquamarine was also used traditionally to cure conditions of the throat and the thyroid gland. The stone is considered to be useful for curing toothache, cough, and pain in the jaw. It helps balance the hormones and calms an overactive immune system. It is believed that aquamarine strengthens the kidneys and helps reduce water retention. For best results, aquamarine should be worn next to the skin.

Aquamarine is a very beautiful gemstone that balances energy flow and creates harmony in the house. Those who contemplate its beauty report enhanced awareness and tranquility. The calming energy of aquamarine gives any home the quality of a sanctuary.

By Dominique Allmon

*This information is for educational purposes only and is not meant to diagnose, treat or cure a disease.

Healing properties of aquamarine by Dominique Allmon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Mourning the Loss of Elisabeth Taylor

 Elizabeth Taylor February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011

Dame Elizabeth Taylor, actress and legend of the silver screen, passed away the morning of March 23, 2011 at age 79. She suffered from chronic health problems and died at Cedars Sinai Hospital from congestive heart failure, a condition she was initially diagnosed with in 2004.

Born in London, Taylor began acting at the age of 12 scoring her breakthrough role of Velvet Brown in the 1944 film National Velvet, where she played an aspiring equestrian who illicitly competes in the Grand National Steeplechase. She became a major child star at MGM; and was one of a few of young actors who were able to make that difficult transition to adult roles. Maturing into a dazzling beauty with raven hair and violet eyes, Taylor was at her zenith during the 1950s and 60s, appearing in films such as Father of the Bride, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Suddenly Last Summer and Cleopatra, where she met her future husband Richard Burton. She took home Oscar gold for her performance as a call girl in Butterfield 8 and for playing the disillusioned and acidic Martha in a cinematic treatment of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 

In 1956, she appeared opposite James Dean in a screen adaptation of the Edna Ferber novel Giant. During filming, photographer Sid Avery captured a behind-the-scenes shot of the actress, currently on view at the National Portrait Gallery. “It is in the unscripted, candid moment captured in this image that Taylor’s extraordinary beauty is most striking,” says Ann Shumard, the Portrait Gallery’s curator of photographs. “Blissfully unaware of the camera, the 23-year-old actress raises her face to the Texas sun as she enjoys a break in the filming of Giant. Even in an unguarded moment, she is every bit the star whose beauty made her such a mesmerizing presence on the screen.” 

Taylor also had a longstanding love affair with jewelry and wrote a book about her collection and the stories behind her pieces. Currently on display at the Cooper Hewitt Museum’s exhibition Set in Style: The Jewelry of Van Cleef and Arpels is a lamartine bracelet that dates from 1970.

“Elizabeth Taylor had extraordinary taste in jewelry and a very fine collection,” says Sarah Coffee, a curator at Cooper-Hewitt. “The bracelet and earrings that go with them were both a present from Richard Burton that he bought her in Geneva in 1971.  He liked them because the cabochon amethysts went with her violet eyes.”

Her film career waned in the 1970s and in the 1980 she was a recurring figure on the daytime soap operas “General Hospital” and “All My Children.” It was also during this period that she poured her time and resources into AIDS charities at an era when it was still a taboo subject. She created the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation in 1991 to assist people living with the disease. And though she was absent from acting and made few public appearances in her later years, she kept in touch with her legions of devoted fans via Twitter, sending out messages until just days before she was admitted to Cedars Sinai Hospital on February 11, 2011. 

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