Crystalized Magic

TOPIC: Magic

SOURCE: My experience with using stone’s, crystal’s and rock’s energy to get particular outcomes: i.e., luck, strength, love, health, warmth, anxiety relief, etc.This is defined as magic because there is no practical relationship between the energy of crystals and luck or  love.

RELATION: In my observation I have seen magic, as defined in lecture: “[A] practice meant to affect an outcome.” Also I have seen “magic appear where human action alone is ineffective” and “facilitate[es] human control over those dimensions that are otherwise outside of control”(from lecture).
My beliefs about crystal energy have to do with, what was defined in lecture as, “witch craft”: “[A] belief in a life force (essence or energy)”. 



DESCRIPTION: When thinking about how I began using the energy from stones and crystals to get a particular outcome, I could not think of a particular instant. The combination of growing up in a Waldorf (*) private school that encouraged spiritual growth, and having a “hippy” mom may have lead to these beliefs. I always adored being in nature and I collected crystals and stones, along with sticks, leaves and bird’s nest, as a child.  Most of my knowledge about the energy in crystals comes from books that I have collected through out my life. Some were gifts, some bought, some found.  Also, my experience with certain crystals has encouraged the development of my favoritism to certain crystals.  I have met many people in my life that believe in the energy in crystals, and I also know that each individual’s belief varied in some way. In my belief, each crystal has certain energy that brings different outcomes to the individual (similar to the different medicines used in society).  In addition to the crystal having energy, the person also has energy.  This energy can be put into crystals. I always try to put energy into my crystals when I am feeling extremely happy and full of positive energy.  I have a friend that has certain crystals that only she can touch, because she has put all her positive energy into them.  In her belief, another person’s energy would disrupt the energy in the crystal.  To me, as long as people are adding positive energy to my crystals, they are more them welcome to hold them. 

Me, meditating with blue lace agate on my third eye.
It is supposed to open your third eye chakra***. 

COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS:
There is no practical reason or proof that a crystal’s energy can change the outcome of something in “real life”, so it is classified as magic. The crystals hold the potential to change things out of human control, so it is "magical".  If everyone in our society used crystals to get the outcomes they wanted, we would function differently.  Imagine if you went to the doctor's for anxiety and instead of prescribing you xanax he gave you lithium quarts** to destress and calm you with its energy. Imagine the changes in society that could come from these beliefs. From what we have learned throughout this semester, I feel that a society's beliefs can influence everything from language to rituals and values. A belief in magical powers of energy crystals could alter the functions of a society.  This would in turn change how humans intersct in that society.  Other societies that we read about use "magical potions" or drugs to get intouch with spirit energy. This belief shaped partsof that society.

quartz. 

* http://www.whywaldorfworks.org/02_W_Education/grades1_8.asp

**http://www.healingcrystals.com/Quartz__Lithium_Articles_79.html
***http://howtoopenchakras.com/third-eye-chakra/

Gender communication at a young age

Topic: Gender and Communication

Source: My observations took place during the week my family visited Arcata. 

Relation: Dana lectured on gender and communication this week and we discussed jokes in class that had to do with gender policing and communication.

I observed examples of:

1) gender policing- occurs when we fail to represent the assigned gender. 

2) essentialism- defying someone by a set of characteristics. 

Description: 
My cousin and her two children came to visit me from Reno Nevada. My cousin's daughter, Rogue, is four years old and her son, Axel, is one year old. I spent a week with them, showing them around arcata and Humboldt State University. While watching rogue through out the week, I realized that she was learning to take on  and think according to gender roles. I heard Rogue tell her mother "Look mom, Axel's a girl now" as she put her pink sunglasses on her little brother's head. Rogue often would say things like: "I get the one with flowers because I am a girl" that demonstrated how she was beginning to view material objects as associated with gender. I found it very interesting how often Rogue's decisions were made based on the gender roles she felt she should fit into. 



Commentary: 
Rogue said that Axel was a girl, because of the color of the sunglasses. The color pink has been assigned to females. Rogue was raised in a culture that assigned pink to females, and so she now follows those assignments. This was an example of Rogue defining essentialism. She was defining Axel due to a characteristic; such as the color pink.

Bent to fit American culture.

Topic: Globalization

Source: In lecture we learned that "globalization is the movement of money, ideas, and things toward hegemony". Observation in yoga studios all around the country.

Relation: Yoga is a 5,000 year old traditional spiritual practice from India. However, today yoga is globally known and practiced. As yoga spread across the globe, it drifted from its roots as it met new cultures. Yoga has been localized so much in the western world, that it is now seen as a "physical" practice rather than a "spiritual" practice. The media and the culture that surrounds it localizes yoga as it is globalized.

Description: I have been practicing yoga for four years. My practice grew in a few different studios on the Big Island of Hawaii. Now looking back on it, I had no idea what a big jump I was taking in my spiritual life, just by stepping into a yoga class. I've always felt spiritual, but yoga allowed me to connect with that spiritual being without criticism from society. At first yoga really was just a way to stay in shape for me. This is due to how the media and the public views yoga. In America yoga makes you have a nice butt and strong arms. In India yoga is a tool that gets you closer to enlightenment, its a spiritual experience. In my experience I have always tried to pay attention to the traditions in western yoga that have stayed connected to the traditional world. For instance every yoga class I have attended starts with the whole class chanting the "OM" mantra. This is a traditional chant, that has stayed "alive" through the localization of yoga in America. Also, the symbols that are hung on the wall in yoga studios  are often tied to traditional meanings. For instance, many have the chakra symbols, which are energy centers in the  body. Types of yoga, such as kundalini yoga, target these energy centers. Yoga has spread into different part of American life, including fashion. In America yoga has become fashionable. There are entire websites dedicated to "girls in yoga pants" (girlsinyogapants.com) because it is "sexy" when girls wear yoga pants. Now you don't even have to actually do the yoga to be cool. You can just wear the cute pants :) Yoga is also offered in gyms all across the country. This shows how America sees yoga as a fitness routine.

Commentary: In America there is a health and fitness craze, and yoga has been localized to fit (pardon the pun) to these expectations. Americans want to feel healthy and they are told yoga will do that for them. Yoga classes have become expensive. Not to mention the hundreds of dollars American "yogis" spend on mats and pants and towels and bags all dedicated to their yoga practice. America has changed yoga o fit into their cultural world.







yoga is fashionable: http://girlsinyogapants.com/
Info. on Chakras: http://www.tantrakundalini.com/chakras.htm