December 2007 Living With Crystals
Living With Crystals
A Newsletter from Beyond the Rainbow
http://www.rainbowcrystal.com/
PO Box 110, Ruby, NY 12475 Volume XI, Number 11
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Living with Crystals gives monthly information about working with crystals, flower essences, and aromatherapy.
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In This Issue
I  Welcome
II  Email Address for Beyond the Rainbow
III Feature Article: In Times of Transition and Transformation
IV  Courses
V  Bach Flower Remedy Classes
V  Courses
VI  Good Vibrations

Welcome to the Beyond the Rainbow's newsletter about crystals, Living with Crystals, first published February 1997. We wish you a joyous holiday season and a new year that brings all your dreams to fulfillment.

Every year we put a holiday greeting card on our web site. You can see it this year at http://www.rainbowcrystal.com/xmascard2007.html

Every issue of Living with Crystals is dedicated to all of you who read it; we dedicate this issue with special appreciation, and pledge that Living with Crystals will continue to serve all those who wants to learn more about working with crystals as our partners in creation.

May you every day become more crystalline.
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A Reminder: We have a search engine!

We know it's frustrating to search for something and not be able to find it. Many pages on Beyond the Rainbow have a link to our internal search engine. You will usually find it towards the bottom of the page. We are now adding more search engine links to our pages.

You can also go to http://rainbowcrystal.com/search.html You might want to bookmark this url. It works the way other search engines do. Put in a word or term, and it will come up with matches. If you're looking for a particular stone or essence, you will find the search engine especially helpful.
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In Times of Transition and Transformation

I'm old enough to realize that the nature of how humans live has been transforming rapidly since the 1960s. Issues of race, sex, how we feel about work, religion, family, and spirituality are but a few of the areas where we have experienced enormous change.

It seems likely that transformation in all areas of life will continue. My feeling about this is that more and more people are, whether consciously or not, asking for this, and the universe is answering with an increased volume of nonphysical, transformative energy.

What we need to do now is to allow and welcome the flow of this energy. The process may be as simple as breathing deeply and fully several times a day. It can involve interactions with crystals, flower essences, and essential oils. Reiki and meditation are also powerful methods for allowing the energy of transformation.

Whatever the source, we can all benefit from learning to allow, rather than resist, transformation. In this article I list some specific suggestions for easing the process.

Breathing

Deep breathing is probably one of the most important blessings you can give your body, mind, and spirit.

On the physical level, it relaxes your muscles, especially the diaphragm. It helps to make the blood oxygen-rich and helps to release carbon dioxide and other toxins, a factor many practitioners believe is essential for physical health. Deep breathing also assists in the proper metabolism of food, thus allowing essential vitamins and minerals to be fully utilized.

On the mental/emotional levels, when sufficient oxygen is going to the brain (which requires large amounts) we feel alert, energized, clear, able to concentrate, and emotionally balanced. Deep breathing also reduces feelings of anxiety--and low (better yet, no) anxiety is vital when we are contemplating or in the midst of transformation.

Deliberately practicing deep breathing can help to interrupt cycles of worry and anxiety by shifting our focus to a consciously practiced act. There are many ways to practice deep breathing. Two of my favorites are:

Hands-On Breathing

Put one hand on your abdomen, one on your heart. Inhale so that first your abdomen rises, then your chest. Reverse the process when you exhale.

A Basic Breathing Technique

This is a method I practice regularly. It is very relaxing.

1. Inhale deeply for 4 seconds. As you do so visualize whatever positive energies you desire (love, kindness, peacefulness, etc.) coming to you. It may be easiest to focus on one attribute at a time. Fill your lungs completely.

2. Hold your breath for 4 seconds, and as you do so feel these energies filling you completely, entering every cell of your body.

3. Exhale for 8 seconds. Feel yourself expelling all negative energies (hatred, anger, resentment, etc.)

I particularly like to combine this breathing method with Reiki self-treatment. In general, I find that Reiki is one of the most relaxing ways to make oneself receptive to transformation.

Meditation

Meditation using deep breathing gives you the additional benefits of relaxing the mind. You can also use a meditative state to envision yourself in a new and desired state. For example, if you have a dream of how to transform the way in which you work, visualize yourself in the new situation. Keep on imagining this until you are comfortable with both how it looks and feels.

Beyond the Rainbow has two articles on meditation:

Meditation 101: First You Breathe
http://www.rainbowcrystal.com/crystal/meditation.html

Meditation Made Easier
http://www.rainbowcrystal.com/crystal/meditation1.html

In addition, an article about programming crystals, You and Your Crystals: Partners in Creation, has information about the power of visualization. It's at http://www.rainbowcrystal.com/crystal/program.html

Crystals and Essences

These subtle healers and agents of transformation can ease your passage of transformation.

Even if you've targeted transformation for a particular area of life, i.e., career, you as a total being will be affected. Thus, in terms of crystals, all-over chakra balancing can be a vital part of your vibrational readjustment.

Since you can put more than one crystal on a part of your body associated with a chakra, you may also want to emphasize the area of transformation. For example, if you are going to begin to work for yourself instead of for someone, you might want to place on the third chakra area (navel-solar plexus) citrine for self-confidence, tiger's eye for patience and knowing when to act, and a Herkimer diamond to activate the energy of both the chakra and the other two stones. Then put stones of your choice on the other chakra areas.

You may also want to program a crystal for the purpose of easing the transition. See the article mentioned earlier on programming crystals for specific information. As you program the crystal, visualize yourself happy and stimulated in your new situation (or whatever emotions feel best for the situation).

Essential Transitions

Walnut is the second most popular Bach Flower Remedy in North America (first is Rescue Remedy). The reason for this is simple: a key aspect of modern times is the degree to which change characterizes people's lives. They may make transitions from one job or career to a new one, move across the country, adopt and practice new belief systems.

Walnut also helps other kinds of transitions: that from childhood to adolescence to adulthood, then changes that are part of pregnancy and parenthood, menopause. There's probably no more useful flower essence for transition and transformation.

I have also found the following three Wild Earth Animal Essences to be very valuable for transition and transformation, because they contain the energies of animals who go through their own transformations.

The frog is a literal harbinger of transformation. When I begin to hear the spring peepers sing in late March, I know that winter (which never seems to want to give up where I live) is finally retreating. The sound of the fall peepers signifies the end of the warm weather.

Heightened singing of frogs also signals the coming of storm (and according to some Native traditions, calls the thunder and rain). Frog is most commonly considered a symbol of emotional healing and transformation, and is a good choice when you want to wash away obstacles or blockages to emotional wholeness and well-being that may prevent growth and change.

The salamander is associated with earth, water, and in, magical traditions, fire. This animal can conveys to me a grounding energy, a feeling of stability in myself during times of change. When one is able to draw on these "earthy" qualities, it's also possible to utilize the fire aspects of Salamander to jump-start the process of transformation.

The butterfly is a familiar symbol of transformation, its ultimate form being preceded by three others. The transition from cocoon to butterfly is the most powerful symbol in connection with the subject of transformation. We can all receive inspiration from the fearlessness with which Butterfly fearlessly leaves the safety of its cocoon to meet a new world in a new form, trusting its untried wings to allow it to fly.

You can view this online at http://www.rainbowcrystal.com/crystal/transition.html

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A New Way to Learn About Our Courses

If you've been interested in our email courses but have been unsure which would be best for you, you now have a new way to choose.
I've put together a pamphlet in Microsoft Word format that fully describes each course:

• Bach Flower Remedies: A User-Friendly Guide


• Crystals and the Chakras


• Allow More Love in Your Life


• Think More: Work Less