Jasper, the first of the twelve gemstones, consists mainly of silicic acid. In fact, the whole circle of apocalyptic gemstones is, chemically, composed either of silicic acid or silicates, i.e. combinations of silicic acid. What is the character of silicic acid? It is the main component (60%) of the earth’s rocks, especially of the continents. That means that it provides, unselfishly, the foundation on which we stand, walk and live. On the other hand the purest form of silicic acid, rock-crystal, is of such a high transparency that even ultraviolet rays pass through. In the technical sense, mankind has learnt to use this unselfish transparency of silicic acid to produce glass from quartz sands.
It is significant that unselfishness is the basic feature of the twelve gemstones. In jasper the pure silicic acid is colored by extremely fine grained particles of iron oxide. Iron is the bearer of the ego force in human blood, oxygen is the life substance. It might be concluded that in jasper we have that kind of unselfishness which is permeated with and borne by ego-force, the kind of unselfishness which is found in the life and work of the greatest artists. It is the unwavering condition of creative work. Strikingly, jasper is one of the two gemstones which characterize the highest divine being in chapter four of the apocalypse: “A throne stood there in heaven and one who sat on the throne. His appearance blazed like jasper and carnelian. And a rainbow shining like emerald encircled the throne.”
- Dr. Simon van der Heide
3 comments:
This is very interesting. I was never sure if the 12 foundation stones were side by side, forming a foundation, or in layers stacked on top of one another. You seem to imply that they are in a circle. I realize that I am trying to imagine this literally, when of course it is spiritual...yet, it is fun to imagine.
"In some elementary esoteric schools a pupil is told to think nothing but glass, glass, glass for 15 minutes every day, for instance. If he succeeds in really keeping all other thoughts out of his soul during this time, then his soul becomes quite empty and pure, and the forces slumbering in it awaken, if other influences aren't too strong. But our meditation formulas contain great spiritual forces; they are portals to the spiritual world. The exercises get ever simpler the more a pupil progresses." http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA266/English/UNK1998/19070129e01.html
"we give silica or quartz containing remedies because this mineral distributes itself preferentially to the periphery of the organism and thus strengthens all the sense organs. Very interesting work can also be done with finely ground-up and specially prepared materials coming from gemstones. Rudolf Steiner points out that at the same time in human evolution when the sense organs were formed in man, out there, in nature, for every one of these sense organs a different gemstone was crystallized. For example, onyx for the sense of hearing, topaz for the sense of taste, etc... The gemstone peridot (or chrysolith) corresponds to the eyes and thus it is not surprising that we find magnesium in peridot, magnesium being a mineral that can particularly work with sunlight in the same way in which our eyes work with the sunlight." http://www.anthromed.org/Article.aspx?artpk=354
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