I have been interested in Himalayan salt lamps for quite some time.  For years I’ve seen them in client’s homes and knew they were supposed to be beneficial but I always viewed them as sort of hippyish.  It is my understanding one must have a salt rock actually from the Himalayas as opposed to just any old hunk of salt.  Millions of years ago, the present day subcontinents of India and Eurasia collided, elevating the ocean beds high into the air, creating the Himalayan Mountains.  Salt crystal from the ocean beds remained trapped deep into the cavernous depths of the Himalayan Mountains for centuries.  The salt comes from a time when the earth was pristine.  Himalayan salt is said to be pure, chemical-free, and contains no impurities from environmental pollution.  Known in the Himalayan region as “white gold”, this form of salt has been maturing for over 250 million years under extreme tectonic pressure.  It is said Himalayan pink salt contains 84 valuable minerals and trace elements considered essential for the body.  Salt is hygroscopic, meaning it naturally absorbs moisture particles from the surrounding environment.  Some of the benefits are believed to be that Himalayan salt releases negative ions which help to purify the air around you and kill bacteria.  It is also supposed to relieve stress, fatigue, anxiety, and may even help you breathe better.  But what sold it for me is a company came up with the coolest thing ever:  color changing LED lights complete with remote!  I have different colors in different rooms although I have not had them long enough to tell whether or not they have made a difference.  We DO all seem to be sleeping better though and frankly the colors make me happy.  We have my favorite blue (pictured here) in our den, our little one’s beloved pink in her playroom (very cool since the rock itself is already pink), a red one in our dining room underneath our Eiffel Tower, stimulating yellow in my office and soothing orange in our loft.  If nothing else, they have given me pause.  The famous Roman poet Ovid once said:

“What is harder than rock, or softer than water?  Yet soft water hollows out hard rock.  Persevere.”

Perhaps that is what draws people to these rocks — their perseverance, natural beauty and strength.  I aspire to acquire more of all three.

I saw you tonight … there in the darkness of the trees.  You didn’t think I knew but I could feel your presence.  You were so calm, your tail so thick, and you were so big I wondered if you had some of brother wolf in you as well.  I called to you so you would know and not be afraid.  It made my heart glad to see you did not run.  I know you were surprised I turned my back on you.  But we are the same, you and I.  I have not forgotten, my brother.  I know my skin is red from my father and I could feel the blood pulsing in my cheekbones as I ran.  I watched you dart in between the three huge trees.  And you were so powerful you could not be concealed.  I know you came to me for a reason.  I heard you move farther into the brush on the creek and I was sad you did not stay closer longer.  I have not forgotten.  I still honor the old ways my father knew.  And I will teach those to my daughter.  We are alike you and I … survivors.  Thank you for coming to see me.  I will wait until you decide to visit again.  I am trying to learn what you came to tell me.  In the meantime, stay safe Nashoba Holba Muskogee.  And God bless you.  Achukma hoke.

“Whenever the pressure of our complex city life thins my blood and numbs my brain, I seek relief in the trail; and when I hear the coyote wailing to the yellow dawn, my cares fall from me – I am happy.  American novelist Hamlin Garland

I guess spiders are owed the credit for being the first ones on the net.  (Couldn’t resist.)  And thanks to the internet I believe this gal is a green Lynx spider.  Just look at her beautiful web she spun by one of our fountains!  Spider silk provides a combination of lightness, strength and elasticity that is superior to that of synthetic materials.  I was explaining to my little one that many people malign and fear spiders much as they do wolves … so quick to kill without realizing how beneficial they are.  I went back to try and get a better picture and her web was already gone.  I was so sad until I noticed one of her babies had taken up residence!  God bless the resilience of nature.  And God bless all our species that are vital to our environment.  There is famous speech attributed to the great Chief Seattle (Suquamish) which says:

“The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land.  But how can you buy or sell the sky?  the land?  The idea is strange to us.  If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?

Every part of the earth is sacred to my people.  Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect.  All are holy in the memory and experience of my people.

We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins.  We are part of the earth and it is part of us.  The perfumed flowers are our sisters.  The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers.  The rocky crests, the dew in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man all belong to the same family.

The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors.  If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred.  Each glossy reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people.  The water’s murmur is the voice of my father’s father.

The rivers are our brothers.  They quench our thirst.  They carry our canoes and feed our children.  So you must give the rivers the kindness that you would give any brother.

If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life that it supports.  The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also received his last sigh.  The wind also gives our children the spirit of life.  So if we sell our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers.

Will you teach your children what we have taught our children?  That the earth is our mother?  What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth.

This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth.  All things are connected like the blood that unites us all.  Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it.  Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.

One thing we know: our God is also your God.  The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator.

Your destiny is a mystery to us.  What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered?  The wild horses tamed?  What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills is blotted with talking wires?  Where will the thicket be?  Gone!  Where will the eagle be? Gone!  And what is to say goodbye to the swift pony and then hunt?  The end of living and the beginning of survival.

When the last red man has vanished with this wilderness, and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here?  Will there be any of the spirit of my people left?

We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother’s heartbeat.  So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it.  Care for it, as we have cared for it.  Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it.  Preserve the land for all children, and love it, as God loves us.

As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land.  This earth is precious to us.  It is also precious to you.

One thing we know – there is only one God.  No man, be he Red man or White man, can be apart.  We ARE all brothers after all.”