FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Elise]

I actually finally became a registered user so I could post a question about a project Claus Hedegaard and I were just starting to embark on before he tragically passed away last Spring. In a series of correspondence I had with him early in the year, he wrote that he was preparing an article for a European show catalogue regarding "New Age" crystal healing scams which he had to finish by April with publication set for early November 2009. We were planning to co-author a much expanded article to publish elsewhere and had just begun to exchange notes and our respective literature searches etc. Does anyone know which show that might have been in the Fall in Europe or whether his article was published in its catalogue?

I have before me his last email which contained a long bibliography and notes liberally peppered with his unique humor. We had similar backgrounds of biology and gemology as well as impulse to pursue the "teachable moment" when it comes to science. I was excited to have his stronger mineralogy base behind what we were both interested in writing about. If his article was indeed published, I would very much appreciate reading it. I have been somewhat immobilized on the project since receiving word from his friend that he had passed on (that email was on my work computer and I can't seem to find it now to contact the friend who was then writing from Claus' computer).

Whether or not I pick the project back up, I would like to continue to develop well thought out responses to what audiences I face come up with on the subject - that is, there are often asked questions regarding powers of crystals, minerals, cut gems - specific and general etc, with sometime very intricate, articulate arguments - some of which I haven't always been prepared for answering. I would rather like to take each topic and use it as a basis to expand on - the so called "teachable moment," which is what Claus and I found in common interest. I had thought to put the question to the SMMP curators group, but I am sure it comes up all the time for mineral dealers, or else Claus would not have been writing on it for a show publication. I saw the locked thread on super seven something and don't want to initiate any debate on this; just hoping to locate his work if it exists.

Thank you in advance,
Elise

[Peter]

Dear Elise
Claus was writing reports for Mineralien Welt on the Munchen show often. I know that he wrote some parts on your subject but am not sure if it includes all you are after.

PLease do contact Rainer Bode of Mineralienwelt. He is also the man publishing the Munchen Mineralientage catalogue!
Peter

[Pete Richards]

Sorry that I can't offer more than this, but if said show is in the fall in Europe, the Munich Show would be a strong candidate.

[Tracy]

I opt to stay out of discussing this subject because of the negatively charged commentaries that have been voiced to date. I hope pandemonium can be avoided this time.

- Tracy

[Peter Megaw]

Elise, a story I shared with Claus last year on the subject tickled him immensely. I was once asked to address a group of crystal metaphysical belivers (I will avoid my usual perjorative nickname for them here) and thought it had potential as a teachable moment, so I went prepared to discuss the science of quartz...but I was also prepared to run an experiment on the group to see if they were listening. The experiment stemming from a long beer-drinking session with John Anthony and some other mineralogists.

The crystal power afficionados of course were interested in using quartz to augment or magnify energy and "vibrations" so I explained the basis of radio wave oscillation etc and noted the necessity of untwinned quartz for this since opposing twin domains cancel each other out. I also explained how quartz is enantiomorphous with right and left handed structural spirals possible and explained to them that morphologically right handed crystals are structurally left handed and vice versa. All scientifically accurate to that point...then the beer kicked in. I noted that if they were interested in augmenting or magnifying energy they should also consider the effects of the handed spirals...with the different structural possibilities "channeling" the energy into right and left handed spirals. I then noted that DNA is a left handed spiral and that aging occurs because of errors in the replication of DNA, with each error presumably diminishing the perfection of the original DNA spiral...so surrounding themselves with left-handed quartz would create left handed energy vortices that would help keep the DNA in its perfect spiral. This was all this was done with numerous disclaimers including an outright statement that it was complete nonsense...and I capped it off by noting that the handedness of a given crystal depended on the convention of how you hold the crystal....turn it around and the handedness changes...the same applying to the DNA which is in every imaginable orientation in the human body.

Then the real experiment kicked in...they had asked me to bring some crystals for sale and I had obliged with several flats amongst which was a single flat of left handed crystals and one of right handed crystals...with the left-handers priced 3 times higher than the right handers. Despite the disclaimers and explaining about convention, they purchased every single one of the left handed crystals and none of the right handers...along with 3 flats of unhanded crystals. I was then asked to contribute a "scientific" article on left handed energy spirals for their newsletter, which I did explaining why the idea was utterly absurd...they published it anyway.

Despite our mutual amazement that people could be so blinded by what they already believe Claus was highly amused by this whole tale and asked if I had a copy of the "article". I may and if you choose to pursue it I will look for it.

[Pete Richards]

A follow-up to Peter's detailed exploration of quartz handedness:

I presume that most quartz in the Northern Hemisphere is left-handed, while most quartz in the Southern Hemisphere is right-handed, because of the well-known Coriolis force. Presumably at the equator right- and left-handed quartz crystals are equally common.

Or does the quartz cause the Coriolis force?

If you want more on the Coriolis part of this, check out:
https://www.ems.psu.edu/~fraser/Bad/BadCoriolis.html
(link normalized by FMF)

[Elise]

Thank you all for such a rapid response. I should have thought of the Munich show - I will ask friends who went if they saw anything in the catalogue-- I did just write to Rainer Bode as perhaps there was a pre-publication draft submitted to either publication, if not a finished article.

Peter, I looked through the bibliography email again and didn't find your story; I can't imagine him leaving something like that out, but he said it was incomplete (this was end of January). I would be interested in reading it as it is quartz that comes up the most often.

Best wishes,
Elise

[Amir Akhavan]

I cannot imagine that the organizers of the Munich show would invite anybody to do an article like that for the official show catalog.
There would be a serious conflict of interests and a lot of angry dealers.

So if there is any article like that, then in an independent publication that is a follow-up on the show.

@Peter
I guess this was planned as the "nonsensical" part of your talk, but just in case somebody gets this wrong:
While the handedness of some structure is *named* in a certain way by convention, handedness or enantiomorphy is a true physical property that does not depend on the orientation of the structure (or how we name it). If you take an ordinary screw and turn it upside down, the thread still runs clockwise.
So a left-handed quartz is always left-handed no matter how we look at it.
The same is true for enantiomorphic molecules. A watery solution of L-glucose will change the orientation of the polarization of the light passing through it in a specific way that is different from a solution of D-glucose, although the molecules in the solution are oriented randomly.

Part of the confusion arises because we have not developed a good direct sensation of that property and need to describe it in other spatial terms (left and right, clockwise and counterclockwise).

[mraffordable]

Thank you, forum members, for an honest discussion of a subject that did get out of hand before. I would be interested in the finished project and any related materials that may come up on the healing properties of crystals and minerals. When the subject is addressed with respect for the opposing view, it is definately worthwhile. The professionalism of this discourse is refreshing and I look forward to learning more.