Martian Moldavite

Here is a rock so rare, it is extraterrestrial! Moldavite is the only known gem-quality crystal that comes from outer space. About twenty million years ago, there was a meteor shower in the Czech Republic’s Moldeau Valley, leading to the only known occurrence of moldavite to this day. As a medieval scholar, I find the association with the legend of the Holy Grail and moldavite to be of utmost importance. For one, Excalibur, King Arthur’s sacred sword, was supposedly forged from the iron of a meteorite. In Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival, the grail is a lapsit exillis (stone out of the heavens). Many other theories equate moldavite with the philosopher’s stone, the long-sought source of wisdom for all alchemists, and it is even thought to perhaps be the sacred stone of Islam in Mecca, the center of the Muslim faith.

As such, moldavite is widely believed to be one of the stones that will help humans evolve. I have heard miraculous stories about moldavite that, quite frankly, I didn’t believe until my friend Bill Cocke loaned me the book Moldavite: Starborn Stone of Transformation, by a couple, Robert Simmons and Kathy Warner. Upon reading this book, I grew so curious; I felt I had to get some moldavite. Kathy Warner wrote of her immediate spiritual connection and growth from the stone, and how it helped her to trust the universe enough to open a crystal shop, Heaven and Earth, in Gloucester, Massachusetts, with no money, no plan, a few rocks, and a lot of faith. I was also struck by the episodes in which the authors told of customers that came in, browsed around their shop, and often had incredible encounters with the bottle-green tektite. Kathy even named the physical reaction to moldavite flush. People sweated, turned red, and either laughed or cried. But what really made me curious was Robert’s story of how he had had no reaction at all to the moldavite for many months and then, after patient meditation, he had a magnificent spiritual awakening. Robert’s story appealed to the skeptic in me. What if I got some moldavite and it had no effect on me? Well, just in case, I could take comfort in Robert’s long-delayed epiphany.

So, the same friend who alerted me to the moldavite went to the Psychic Eye in San Francisco, got a lovely green silver, and brought it back to me while I was at work on this very book. I took it out of the bag and touched it, noticing how it felt rather like a piece of textured plastic. Bill looked at me with that charming grin of his and a twinkle in his eye and told me that he had gotten some moldavite for several of our friends. He seemed excited. Bill was a moldavite initiate, and just having it around had already made him happier. For himself, he had gotten a moldavite pendant, and he showed me how he could also wear it as a headband. I noticed that the moldavite rested on the exact spot of Bill’s third eye. I didn’t really feel anything except that it did rapidly pick up the heat from my hand, and seemed to hold it. Anyway, I felt rather disappointed that I didn’t have a reaction like those I had read about in the book Moldavite. I was, after all, hoping to feel exhilarated and ecstatic. Who wouldn’t?

The next day, I was to go to my own birthday party at a place in San Francisco’s Chinatown called Li Po, named for the great drunken Chinese poet. Apart from being a bit grimy, the bar is a re-creation of a Buddhist shrine set in a cave with lanterns, incense, and many sacred icons, including some fabulous Buddhas. I was looking forward to my party but was also worried about the deadline on this book, feeling stressed, and, as always, more concerned about my friends’ happiness than my own.

That morning, I woke up feeling a bit odd and couldn’t go to the office to write. For four months, I had worked seven days a week; I had assigned myself a strict per-day word count, and if I didn’t make my word minimum, I would beat myself up and increase the already considerable pressure on myself. I had planned to work all day and then go to the party. By mid afternoon, I felt hot and uncomfortable. I tried to read but I couldn’t concentrate on anything. By the evening, I was in the midst of a full-fledged fever and was nearly delirious for two days straight. I missed several days of work and gave up any idea that I could work on this book. I simply had to give in to my body and let it all go. I heard the party was fun and everybody got along great. For me, and almost compulsively social person and over-giver, not attending my own birthday party was unthinkable. Interestingly, it happened, and there was no catastrophe. But, the big news was that I had put my health and myself first.

Afterward, I felt clear, and somehow lighter. Even though I was tragically far behind on all my various projects and duties, I wasn’t worried. I knew they would get done in good time. A thought had flickered through my feverish mind as I lay in bed unable to even lift the remote control to adjust the TV—could that have been the moldavite? It seemed like a silly idea, and I figured I had just caught a flu that came on very suddenly. I had left Robert and Kathy’s book on my writing desk at my office and figured I would reread the moldavite encounters section to see if anyone had had similar reactions. Here is what I found as I paged through their book: “Also for many people, there seems to be a cleansing process involved. Here the moldavite energies go first where there are blockages. When these have been released, there usually follows a pleasant lightness of emotion.”

I have gone on to read many stories of people who at first felt ill or felt like they opened a door into a new reality. Others quit jobs that made them miserable, got out of toxic relationships, moved across the country, and made many other fairly drastic changes. Whatever the change may be, moldavite transforms with no turning back and absolutely no doubt.

I have kept my moldavite crystal on my writing desk to accompany me during the transformative journey of writing this book, I plan to further explore the outer reaches of my moldavite revolution through meditation. I am ready to shed a lot of old habits, old consciousness and cleanse my “doors of perception.”

I urge you to do the same!