AirEarth: Pumice

AirEarth: Pumice  

by Sammy Castonguay, M.Sc. Geological Science

Credit: Tracy Terrall
Crack-in-the Ground paleoseismic trench, 2010
The pile of sediment, picture left (north) is mostly Mazama ash. In the photo, I am collecting 1/4 baggies of representative samples from the exposed stratigraphy. Two of these baggies have become the Mazama Air-Fall magickal sediment discussed here. 

           Merry May Day! Rejoice in Beltane! The Spring season is associated with the element Air because of the gusty, tumultuous nature of the atmosphere. Feel the breeze! The wind beneath your wings! Following the article on WaterEarth^[1], I’d like to honor the Air:

Mazama was a towering giant.  Until one day, trapped heat and gases caused a catastrophic eruption that ultimately destroyed his top. His hot ash was blasted into the air and then blanketed the landscape, later becoming fertile soil for growth. The glassy granules are vesicular, full of air-gas pockets.

As did the ash, rise above.

The eruption of Mt. Mazama approximately 7,600 years ago resulted in modern day Crater Lake, the jewel of Oregon. The eruption sent pumice ash clouds across the east. In the Crack-in-the-Ground fault, some of this ash accumulated but was later buried. A 2011 study of the fault activity^[2]  exposed some of this remarkable pumice ash , which was recovered under the summer solstice ^[3].

At ThisMagickalEarth, we use pumice that was ejected from Mazama (Mazama Air-Fall) in a, healing, holistic, and sacred way to invoke:

Air/Fire  -  Interstellar Space  -  Aquarius  -  Hair  -  Rising Above

           Gas is the lightest of the phases of matter, and so has the buoyancy to rise above. 

During eruption volcanic gases are trapped in the lava fragments, which forms vesicular pockets in the rocks. Carbon dioxide, water gas, and methane are all common volcanic gases. This gives pumice a spongy looking texture and lava rock a scoria texture. After the solar system formed out of an interstellar nebula, gases were trapped in the mantle. During the Earth’s Hadean era, those volcanic gases were the source of the second, carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere. The atmospheric gases protect us from the cold vacuum of space. The atmosphere also distributes the sun’s heat more evenly around the earth (the weather). In a storm front, the gust of wind in the air is the water-bearer to Earth. Next time there is a storm on the spring horizon, feel the air through your hair and acknowledge its importance.

           You can invoke this connection by using this MagickalEarth--a crystal--in your energy work: use Mazama Air-fall as a bed under a cone incense, as an abrasive in a home-made bar of soap, or as a simple offering to Air as a thanks for your life.

ThisMagickalEarth.com 

Science. Spirit. Practice.

¹ WaterEarth: Serpentinite, HedraNews, April 2019 archived at ThisMagickalEarth.com/writing

² [Castonguay et al., 2011] Paleoseismology of Crack-in-the-Ground Fault, AGU

³ see Notes on Sediment Collection at ThisMagickalEarth.com/silts-sands-and-gravels

******************************************************************************************************************************************************

Pumice is a volcanic rock that consists of silicic glass and vesicles (gasses trapped during solidification, but have sense escaped). The rock is used in a variety of care products and industry use, 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. As pictured above, we use pumice that was hand collected from BLM land (public land, all permits and permissions approved) during a scientific, fault activity study. Part of these results were published in the academic journal Geosphere. 

Mazama Air-Fall is the pumice sediment that we provide. Please visit this link to the ThisMagickalEarth Store to learn more about this product. 

************************************************************************

Reproduced from HedraNews May 2019, with permission.

Other articles archived at thismagickalearth.com/writing