Shortly after that, I received an invitation from Michele
to attend a Conscious Creation workshop.
It was to be on making tabletop crystal energy grids
that can be used as aids and companions in consciously creating.

Seemed like a great idea.
I had worked with crystals a lot in the 1980s.
Then, somewhere along the way, I decided to "get serious" with my life.
The crystals stayed for a while
and then, over time, almost every one of them departed.
So, in preparation for the workshop I had to reacquaint myself.
I asked around about where to find stones these days
and visited those stores.

In the process, just a very few lovely small stones
found their way to me.
In the workshop we learned how to physically build a grid
and how to activate it.
At some point in the afternoon Michele passed around two necklaces
she had made to be WEARABLE energy grids.
As some people spoke of good places to buy beads in town I absently,
but without real interest,
looked at the necklaces and, obligingly, politely, passed them on.

The workshop was fine but at the end of the day I felt disappointed.
The audio presentation had been so specific
and conceptually powerful.
The workshop, on the other hand, had seemed rather
content-less to me.
But, having invested the time, I decided I would follow through
and create two grids at home
— one for healing, one for manifesting —
and just be open to see what might happen.

To do so, I needed more crystals.
They are not as easy to find as they were 20 years ago.
So I searched.

Remembering that background conversation about beads,
I explored some of those stores.
A whole new world presented itself.
In one store I gravitated to a small section of round, natural stones.
A thought surfaced:
"Well, if I can't find what I need to make a table top grid,
I'll make a necklace for myself for now."

Now the budding subtle power of the stones,
of my relationship with the magic and mystery of the stones,
begins to blossom.

The stones do not require me to think -- at least not very much
and, for sure, not in the ways I am used to thinking:
problem solving, enacting linear steps of processes, etc.

Rather, to receive the gifts of the stones
(through the power of their Mother Earth),
I am "only" required to BE.
To be present, open, available.
Then the subtle can reveal itself.
And it sure doesn't look like what I think or how I think!
For now, quite the contrary.

I made a necklace of pink chalcedony, green serpentine, garnet,
rose quartz, and watermelon tourmaline.
I set an intention for the combination of stones
to serve as a healing agent at many levels
but primarily for physical healing.
I gave it a name:
"Healingently."
I put it on.

I continued my search for crystals to make my grids at home.
I remembered a shop I had gone to last fall –
not for the crystals they sell
but rather, because they have a Kirilian photography camera
which photographs the aura.
I had taken my son and we had our pictures taken.
It was fun.

His was vibrant with lot of red/orange/pink. Seemed right.
Vital, growing, dynamic. Very accurate!
Mine was quiet purple/blue/green. Also seemed right.
Contemplative, spiritual, still. That was how I was feeling.

I decided to have another photo taken with the necklace off.
Back to purples and blues.
Ah! Except, that is, for my left side which is still orange.
Of course, because that is the receiving side.
I am receiving from the power of the necklace
even after taking it off.

On my way home I stopped at a bookstore
to look for books on sacred sites around the world.
No luck.

Instead a huge book of photos called "Earth from Above"
caught my attention.
I remember thinking that even though it wasn't about sacred sites,
I would really enjoy looking at it.
My favorite part about flying is the treasure of seeing our earth
from the perspective of "above."

So, letting the temple-in-Asia idea go for now,
I took the book home and settled in with it.
Beautiful.
Hundreds of photos.
Patterns of land, of water, of people. . .

It was when I was almost at the very end of the book
that I got my surprise.
There was a photo of the rooftops and courtyard of a temple in Japan.
It was in the exact same colors at the stones of "Luscious Life."
It was so exact that it took my breath away.
Unbelievable!

How could it be?
I had never seen the photo before.
Or this book.
Or this temple.
And, while I have been to many sacred sites around the world,
I have never been further into Japan than the Tokyo airport.

It would be one thing to see such a photo,
to like the color combination
and decide to make a set of prayer beads
using stones that are those colors.
But that’s not what happened.
In fact, what happened is exactly the opposite!

Then I began to wonder. . .
Did others of the 44 StoneCircles
have a particular place where they sit on Mother Earth?
Next stop:
the basement to find an old National Geographic map of the world.
There had to be one down there somewhere!
There was.

I laid the map out on the table and gathered all of the StoneCircles.
One by one I began to lay them onto the map.
Just by what felt right.
And I "listened" to them.
Within a very short time about 50% of them found their homes.
Some — especially the bracelets — were more difficult, more subtle.
By the next day perhaps 70% had found their places.

Then, for the ones that were unclear to me,
I "asked" some of the places that seemed to "want" stones,
which of the 44 would each take?
A few moved around and within a couple of days
each of the StoneCircles had found a home.

My next thought was that it would be nice if I could find
a few more photos that matched the stones.
Even if only three or four.
Just to make the point.

Working with the few books of photos I had at home,
I found about 10!
Now the quest became that of finding matching photos
of the specific homes for each and every piece.
Off to the library to haul home books on sacred sites, history,
art history, travel, etc.
Within a day all 44 photos showed themselves effortlessly.

And more mystery with them.
Remember that all of the pieces had been named
and their themes had been designed in the previous months.
Yet, now an alignment between the names and themes of the StoneCircles
and the power of the sacred sites began to unfold.
Some were obvious but for others the relationship seemed obscure.
Yet, one by one, the connections unfolded.

It has been so non-linear, so "backwards."
Again, if I had decided to create jewelry that aligned
with sacred sites, that would be one thing.
But to find that the jewelry I previously created
and "randomly" placed on a world map actually aligns with
the places, that's something else altogether!

Had I ever been able to imagine it in the first place,
I could have easily done it the other way round:
chosen sites first, found photos secondly,
and finally created jewelry.
But to have it work the other way:
create jewelry first, "hear" sites, find photos. . .
Awesome mystery.

Yet, nowhere that I know of did my imagination ever
have such an idea.
Setting an intention to be open to the process
more than an intention, for example, to make jewelry
led me places I never dreamed of going.

And what is it that has been created?
I looked to see if any global pattern
emerged as a result of the placements.
Though not a perfect one,
the pattern that showed itself was like a sine wave.

And only AFTER that recognition appeared,
while I was looking for resources on something else,
did I come across a website where someone has mapped
sacred sites of the ancient world
and found that they form a perfect sine wave.
Okaaaaay....

Nonetheless, I saw that while the pattern created on my map
fit a rather loose definition of a sine wave when looked at broadly,
it didn't really fit when looked at more closely.
So what was the pattern?

Then I saw it. It is a fractal!
Just like the branch of a tree repeats the pattern of the tree,
each piece of jewelry repeats the pattern
of a much larger multi-stranded StoneCircle
that is encircling, embracing Mother Earth!

In the same way that each stone serves to create a whole
that becomes a piece of jewelry you or I might wear and carry,
each piece serves as a single stone in her StoneCircle.

When we have one or more of the 44 pieces
anywhere in our energy fields by consciously wearing them,
carrying them, placing them in a special place at home or the office,
we serve as single stones of her StoneCircle
strung together with the other 43.
As such, we become connected to all 44 of the sacred sites.
Thus, when we have one or more of the 44 pieces,
not only doe we receive the support of Mother Earth
We also become lightworkers who support her.

I went back to visit the shop where I had previously
had the aura photos taken.
I wanted to share the unfolding with the shop owner
who had served as inspiration.

I also wanted to have some more photos taken
Just to see.

This time I again saw significant changes in my aura.
In the first I am not holding any stones.
However, I had been working with Superior Sunrise