Trading Stones

As on my last trip to S.E. Asia, my good friend Tanya Corona (http://thecoronas.com/) sent a couple of crystals charged with "the Bethlehem Grid" (Christ empowerment consciousness). The crystals are used to anchor this healing grid along the energetic ley lines of the Earth. They also have healing affects on those who carry them.

I meditate with them and ask where they would like to go. On my 2005 trip to Thailand and India, they led me and my Austrailian friend on some wacky adventures in Chiang Mai and Ladakh. This time, my experiences have been more mellow.

In Thailand on Kho Pha Ngan, I met a beautiful man named Yai. When I showed them the crytals, he couldn't keep away from them, and he lay holding them for hours enjoying their energy. I knew the Thailand crystal was for him and traded it with him for two sandy colored quartz stones he'd found locally.

During my travels I also pick up stones that call to me and often have a collection of six to twelve, knowing they are just passing through me to work their magic. In June I attended a Buddhist Prayer Retreat led by a young Rinpoche from Dali Monastery near Darjeeling. The retreat was at the Sherpa Gompa, a local temple in Darjeeling. I sat with my crystals while the local participants sat with their prayer beads. Martina, a Czech woman and practicing Buddhist whom I'd met in Kolkata was participating in the multiday retreat and had invited me to check it out.

I offered somewhat comical relief to the monks and Rinpoche presiding over the ceremony. Not being familiar with protocal I relied on Martina for guidance. The local attendees were mainly elderly women, who also tried to guide me. I joined in for two days and was often confused by the schedule. We had a break one morning and I asked when we'd start again, and I was told at 1 pm. I ran some errands and came back around 10am to find things in full ceremony. Martina told me I had missed out on the part where everyone gives offerings of money to the Rinpoche. A local woman plopped a kata (silk scarf used to give and receive blessings) with 10 rupees in front of me and waved me towards the Rinpoche. I pantomined to Martina if it was a good time to take the offering to the Rinpoche now? She motioned me to wait, then said I should give an offering to the two lamas who also were helping lead. I only had a 100 rupee note and a 50 rupee note in my pocket and Martina said go... go now. So I did my best to bow appropriately and give the scarfs and offerings, except I was thrown off because the third lama was not in the room. I did my best, then sat down to receive Martina's scolding that I should give all the monks (there were about 10 present) offerings. So I went out to make change, and came back and prepared to finish my offerings. Now Martina told me that I must always give an offering to the Rinpoche first. I was a bit flabberghasted, because I considered this a continuation of my first round, not a new round. But I went ahead and started with the Rinpoche again. When I gave him another 10 rupee note, he said to me "Why are you giving so much?" I shrugged my shoulders and finished my rounds. One of the monks asked what I was giving him money for as well. When I sat down I realized I ought to have just followed my heart which was content with the 10 rupees each I had given to each of the participants the day before. The Rinpoche and monks weren't worried about my protocol or offerings or lack of offerings. Just my friend Martina and the elderly women were worried about it!

About mid way through the ceremony, I felt myself in telepathic conversation with the Rinpoche. It was as if I were downloading my life story, my experiences and how I do my healing work. As the ceremony wrapped up I found myself in an ecstatic state with the whole world vibrating. I thought others might be in this state as well, but no one seemed to be. I chatted with the Rinpoche and monks during a break. I carried a stone from Thailand in my pocket, one that I had picked up in Krabi. It felt appropriate to the ceremony. When the ceremony finished, Martina and I went to Dali Monastery where the monks and Rinpoche resided. It was quite a ride with 9 of us crammed into the jeep. We picked up one monk along the way and he ran and jumped on the back in full monk robes!

I spent a couple of nights in the monastery. An interesting experience to be in a 300 monk all male culture. The day I was leaving I saw the Rinpoche and a group of monks in a jeep ready to leave for Pemayangtse Monastery in Sikkim. I passed them twice in the driveway as I wandered outside the monastery. I shook their hands and thanked them. The stone from Thailand sat in my pocket, fully charged. I had intuitively picked it up in the morning when I left my room. It was later that it dawned on me I needed to give the stone to the Rinpoche. So I wrapped it in red cloth and left it with monk to pass on to the Rinpoche.

A few weeks later, I groggily prepared to go to a friends village. He'd invited me to visit his family with him. As I decided what to take for a day, one of the stone's from Yai in Thailand felt like it needed to go with me. I put it in my pocket. I left my room. Then returned and picked up my ceremonial face paint for some reason. I was in a bad mood. Wondering why I was going with my friend. Low on sleep. Frustrated with myself over transactions of the night before. Later that day we sat in the parlor of a family that was dear to my local friend. The family had a son, who "wasn't quite right in the head", but he worked his magic well. He worked clown magic, and had a way of making people present with his words and actions. He might not have been "normal", but it was clear to me he channeled God well. His mother had a glow about her and though the family's English lacked, we communicated through my friend a bit. The woman went to the other room and brought me a stone... a Vishnu stone and gifted it to me. Then I knew the stone from Thailand in my pocket was meant for her and I gifted it to her. Not to be outdone and clearly wanted to honor her guest, she presented me with another stone, a white stone the shape of an egg. It was from Bodhgaya where Buddha became enlightened. She said if one had stomach pain, you could take the stone and put it in water, then drink the water and the pain would go away.

A little later, a girl came around with Tika paint.. the ceremonial paint Hindu's put on the third eye. She painted everyone in the room. Then I knew that I was to bless them with my ceremonial paint as well and they all readily accepted.

That day on the way home I lingered in the mystical energy state for some time.

My friend told me yesterday that he is going to see Sai Baba in a few weeks. He met a fellow Sai Baba devottee yesterday who asked him why he wasn't going. When he said he had no money, the fellow gifted him 3000rs so that he could make the trip!

Another stone is sitting with a young monk in Saanga Choling Monastery, Pelling, West Sikkim.

A collection is waiting in my room, waiting for the next adventure.

When I remember to carry one in my pocket and put my hand in and feel it, I always have a good day!