WaterEarth: Serpentinite
by Sammy Castonguay, M.Sc. Geological Science
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| From the 2019 eROCKtica Calendar, Sammy lickes some partially serpentinized peridotite of the Josephine Ophiolite. |
Happy Ostara! The
fresh spring air and April showers punctuate a water-is-life season. April showers bring May flowers, while water
on the [garden] beds will put salad in the bellies!
In the metaphysical crystal healing
community, water in minerals is not widely discussed, but is very important to
the Earth Systems. It is said[1], metaphysically, that the green
mineral serpentine can be used for “kundalini activation”, “earth healing”,
“working with elementals”, “contacting spirit guides”, “cellular regeneration”
and “the heart chakra”. I don’t know much about that, but undoubtedly serpentinite
is a major stone of the deep-Earth water cycle.
The Water Cycle. I am sure you know
what I am talking about: ocean, clouds, rain, rivers, ocean. Right? Well, that
is only a half-complete picture because it leaves out deep-Earth water that may
be 1-10x[2] more than the oceans. I’m not talking about groundwater:
the aquifers of water that home, farm, or municipal wells tap into. Instead, I
am talking about water that is actually
trapped within rocks and minerals!
Water is a beautiful substance. Two
positively charged Hydrogen atoms, the most common element in the cosmos,
ionically bond with a large, negatively charged Oxygen. Oddly, the ultimate
arrangement looks something like a boomerang instead of a straight-line giving
rise to water’s magnificent properties:
·
Polar molecule: liquid molecules slide
past each other, but the solid phase molecules repel each other. Water is
unusual in that it expands when it freezes!
·
Latent heat: water has a very wide range
of the amount of heat it can absorb before changing phase, so water becomes a
vessel for transporting heat around the world!
·
Solvent: the polar properties give water
the ability to break apart other ionic compounds like salt and many others
substances.
·
Life: water is irreplaceable in
photosynthesis as an electron donor.
Serpentine is made by adding 300 liters
of hot, silica-rich water to a cubic meter of the mineral olivine (the gemstone
peridot is a type olivine). A common reaction in the plate tectonic zone where
an oceanic plate subducts beneath another plate. At about 100 km depth in the
solid mantle of mostly olivine, water is driven from the subducting plate,
lowers the melting temperature of the olivine, and some magma forms. In places where magma does not form, the hot
water injected into the mantle instead makes the mineral serpentine. Serpentine
is GREEN and FULL of water! A spring mineral!
This Spring, work with
ThisMagickalEarth--the Crystal World[3]--by visiting a Serpentinite outcrop[4]!
ThisMagickalEarth.com
Science. Spirit. Practice.
3Crystal World, HedraNews, October 2018 archived at
ThisMagickalEarth.com/writing
4
See ‘Adventure Lithoscrying’ also archived at site  |
| Manny found a piece of Serpentinite! Can you? South of Dayville, OR along the South Fork John Day river is a small exposed chunk of the Miller Mountain Ophiolite complex, which contains this spectacular seafoam blue-green to black Serpentinite. This is the source of ThisMagickalEarth's Serpent Passion. |
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Serpentine, the mineral, and serpentinite, the rock, are both widely available in gem and mineral shops. But where did it come from? You would be hard pressed to find the answer to that question from the shopkeeper. Here at ThisMagickalEarth, it is very important to us to provide ETHICALLY SOURCED and RESPECTFULLY COLLECTED material.
Serpent Passion is the serpentinite sediment that we provide. Please visit this link to the MagickalEarth Store to learn more about this product.
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