August Gem Wise 2018 Purchase

Magic of Tibet

Tara – The Embodiment of All Women

Tara is considered the second most revered Bodhisattva in Tibetan Buddhism – second only to Chenrezig who is renowned as the embodiment of the compassion of all the Buddhas. Tara is known as the “Mother of all Buddhas” and she has twenty-one forms, each reflected as a different color and spiritual quality. There are beautiful stories about the origin of Tara. According to the most popular story, she was a young princess living millions of years in the past. Her name was Yeshe Dawa, meaning Moon of Primordial Awareness. She made offerings to the Buddha for thousands of lifetimes and received special knowledge about the consciousness of a bodhisattva which she practiced with devotion. The monks at the time suggested she be reincarnated as a man in order to accelerate her path to enlightenment. In response, Tara vowed to always be reborn as a female bodhisattva until samsara (our wandering on this planet) ends. She affirmed that from the perspective of enlightenment, there is no separation between man and woman – that division is a conditioned worldview.

The prayers and practices of Tara lead to liberation from fear and suffering. Green Tara’s mantra is: Om Tare Tuttare Ture Soha – “I prostrate to the Liberator, Mother of all the Victorious Ones”.

Green Tara and White Tara are the main and most popular forms of Tara. They are sometimes called the two streams of Divine Compassion or Love. Green Tara is very famous as the embodiment of compassion in action; virtuous or enlightened activity. Her half-open lotus represents the night and she is depicted stepping a foot down, in motion. She is the daughter or young girl of Divine Compassion who descends to Earth as a savior. White Tara is the motherly aspect of Divine Compassion and her lotus is full-open, representing the day. She is serenity and grace, depicted with both legs folded in meditation. Together, Green and White aspects of Tara symbolize the unending compassion of the goddess who labors day and night to relieve suffering.

Green Tara is a fierce form of Tara who acts with youthful vitality. She bestows good fortune and protection when it comes to worldly conditions, but ultimately, when we pray to Tara, we are seeking liberation from suffering caused by negative thoughts and emotions. The first Dalai Lama taught that we can call upon Green Tara instantly to save us from eight physical dangers that each correlates with a human mental obstacle or disturbing thought.

The Eight Dangers:

1. Lions – pride
2. Wild elephants – delusion and ignorance
3. Forest fires – hatred
4. Snakes – jealousy
5. Robbers – wrong views and fanaticism
6. Prisons – greed and miserliness
7. Floods – desire and attachment
8. Demons – doubts caused by delusion

White Tara is called Tara of Seven Eyes and she is often depicted with two regular eyes, a third eye, and an eye on each hand and foot. These eyes symbolize her ability to see all suffering in the world – she misses nothing and she feels everything. Known to bestow long life, healing, and serenity, her embodiment of compassion counteracts illness and is experienced as a motherly love. Her color and radiance are compared to the moon and the white of her light through a prism shines as a rainbow, a symbol of the oneness of all color and All That Is.

When we choose to connect with Tara, we strive to achieve her enlightened body, speech, and mind for ourselves and for the benefit of all. Reciting or chanting Tara’s mantra will open your heart to receive her blessings of healing, love, joy, and peace. She is the greatest hope – not hope that just wishes and waits to be saved, but hope that comes in practicing kindness and compassion as we gently peel away the layers of mental illusion and accept more Truth. Tara instills us with faith in our capacity to free ourselves from the suffering created by our mental delusions and negative emotions. Through her, we can unbind ourselves from misery and allow the natural flow of life to return, bringing with it unconditional happiness that is independent of ever-changing human conditions.

• Discussion Question: How is Tara speaking to you? Are you drawn more to Green Tara or White Tara?

Stones of Tara – The Embodiment of All Women

Each of the stones chosen for this month’s class resonates with Tara. We are working with two gems to represent Green Tara, two to represent White Tara, and one to represent the wholeness of Tara.

Fulgurite – for Green Tara

Planet: Uranus
Zodiac: Virgo, Gemini, Capricorn
Element: Storm
Quality: Feminine
Chakra: All

Fulgurite is a natural glass tube formed in sand or rock formed when a bolt of lightning strikes from the heavens onto the sand. This moment of pure energy is forever preserved and available for you to harness. Fulgurite embodies the super-charged energy of lightning itself – you can feel its high frequency and vibration as you hold it in your hand. It helps you manifest what seems impossible. Just like lightning’s rare but illuminating strike, fulgurite activates your intentions to bring them from the ether and down to Earth. This stone is one of the most powerful initiators of spiritual transformation and rapid evolution. It is also one of the most potent stones for manifesting visions through the power of prayer. Shamans were known to send their prayers through fulgurite with the power of breath – by blowing them through the tubes into the Universe.

Fulgurite assists you in embodying higher energy frequencies and in connecting with the frequency of the Divine. It can rapidly clear patterns from the emotional body and aid in clearing all forms of relationships. It is excellent at shedding light on the karmic aspects of relationships in your life. When fulgurite’s energy is used with the upper chakras, it clears the energetic channels and allows psychic energy to flow freely. In doing so, it creates an energetic bridge between its bearer and the Divine mind, allowing for thoughts to flow in both directions, giving and receiving in energetic harmony with Source. This connection facilitates multi-dimensional healing, aiding in reaching enlightened states and connecting with past lives. It repairs fragmented souls, assists in the retrieval of lost memories, and creates space for healing past life traumas.

• Discussion Question: Are you ready to receive what you wish for?

Natural Fluorite – for Green Tara

Planet: Mercury
Zodiac: Pisces, Capricorn, Virgo
Element: Wind
Quality: Feminine
Chakra: All

Fluorite is the stone of the path, the stone of discernment. It is found in many locations around the world, including Tibet. The name “fluorite” comes from the Latin word fluo, which means “flow”. It aids in revealing your soul path and offers guidance as to where your soul is being called to go, what actions are in alignment with your soul’s path, who your Higher Self is asking you to become, and who is meant to walk your path with you. Fluorite helps overcome fear of the future and aids in thinking through your feelings when you are overwhelmed by the emotional experience.  

Fluorite brings structure and focus to incoherent or incohesive energies. It helps you attune to higher guidance during meditation and tends to produce meditations with rich visions and insights. This gem is used to balance the Third Eye and overall mental energy. It has a special gift of clearing away the cobwebs in your head and energetic disturbances in your field. It will literally suck negativity and confusion from your mind, allowing you to think with renewed clarity and crystal clear perception. Fluorite resonates closely with the energy of Swords in the Tarot, the suit which embodies the mental and social realm. The Ace of Swords is the moment of clarity as you pierce through to the Truth. Fluorite is a tool that opens the door to this experience, and it is eager to be used for your Highest Good.     

• Discussion Question: Is fluorite revealing something new about your soul path?

Orange Kyanite – for White Tara

Planet: Jupiter
Zodiac: Taurus, Libra, Aries
Element: Storm
Quality: Feminine
Chakra: All, Sacral

Orange kyanite powerfully activates the Sacral Chakra, and there aren’t many stones with this capability. The Sacral Chakra is the seat of your creativity and sexuality. Everything you birth into the world comes through this energy center. Orange kyanite helps you release wounding, inhibition, and repression associated with sexuality and creative expression. It is a formidable ally as you reconnect with your creative spark and the pleasure in exploring your passions on all levels. As a stone of creativity, it calls to artists, writers, performers, and musicians, and is powerful in sparking the flames of inspiration and imagination. It also aids in boosting confidence and leads you to share your creations with others with enjoyment and ease.

Connecting you with your youthful innocence, orange kyanite instills a remarkable sense of wonder. It is also a wonderful clearing stone and helps promote optimism and positive thinking. Its uplifting and joyous nature aids in easing depression and provides a boost to your self-esteem. Orange kyanite heightens the senses, enabling you to use your intuition for decision-making in alignment with your Highest Good.

• Discussion Question: What are you currently birthing for yourself and for the world? Is it coming from a place of compassion?

Natural Bloodstone – for White Tara

Planet: Mars
Zodiac: Aries, Pisces, Libra
Element: Earth
Quality: Feminine
Chakra: Root

Bloodstone instills courage and assists you in taking the right action. It helps you fulfill your commitments in the face of obstacles and gives you the confidence to face challenges. Bloodstone is excellent for use when undergoing tremendous life changes due to spiritual awakening. It instills the courage to move forward and carries an encouraging, comforting energy. On all levels, it supports revitalization and renewal – of your body, mind, emotions, spirit, and of relationships. If you feel stuck or in a rut, bloodstone will vibrationally stay with you, encouraging you to thoughtfully and steadily assess your situation and act with mature awareness toward greater happiness.

When feeling fearful or frail, bloodstone brings tenacity and strength. It draws energy through the base, or Root Chakra, filling you with greater determination. It is also tremendously grounding and encourages you to be present now, in this moment. Bloodstone carries the medicine of healers. It heals muscle, aches, and injuries, increases circulation and blood flow, lowers blood pressure, eases trauma, brings closure and healing in emotional situations, and generally improves overall health. Bloodstone can assist in strengthening and fortifying the blood and overcoming blood weakness. It is also useful in balancing female hormonal imbalances and helping to stabilize the hormones throughout menopause. Bloodstone increases overall resilience and resolve.

• Discussion Question: What specific healing is bloodstone offering you?

Tibetan Quartz – for encompassing the whole Tara

Planet: All
Zodiac: Aquarius, Taurus
Element: Storm
Quality: Masculine
Chakra: All

Tibetan quartz has been found in Tibet and areas bordering Tibet and China. Tibetan monks believe these crystals are found where other-worldly beings landed thousands of years ago. They use Tibetan quartz primarily for meditation and connecting with other realms. It serves as an energetic bridge with the ancient cultures of the Far East. This gem opens you to vastly expanded states of consciousness. It clears the auric field and fills the physical and energetic bodies with full-spectrum light. As it transmits this light, it assists the physical body in integrating and using the light as needed for spiritual growth or physical repair.

Tibetan quartz is a dramatic healer, focusing on the origin of each health issue, healing from the place in which the problem began extending to its physical manifestation. It awakens the upper chakras with its enlightened vibration, attuning you to Higher Realms. As it emanates the full spectrum of color, Tibetan quartz can be used for all healing, chakras, and energy fields. Total centering and alignment of the self is the remedy to most dis-ease. In the West, we tend to use our minds as our centering point and centering tool. Because the mind thinks in “problems” and in the context of polarity (e.g., good or bad), there is less room for the full experience of life. Tibetan quartz helps you shift from mind-centered to heart-centered existence, which results in more love, joy, peace, and pleasure – a perfect companion to Tara, “Mother of Liberation”.

• Discussion Question: Does the Far East resonate with you? Are you remembering past lives in those lands when you work with Tibetan quartz?

Acrylic Grid

To channel Tara – The Embodiment of All Women and the magic of these stones, this acrylic grid was designed with beautiful images of Green Tara and White Tara and Tara’s symbol. May it connect you deeply with compassion, the path within your own heart, and all of Tara’s blessings.

Green Tara is on the left side of your grid. Place your fulgurite above her, in the upper left corner. Place your natural fluorite below her, in the lower left corner. White Tara is on the right side of your grid. Place your orange kyanite above her, in the upper right corner. Place your natural bloodstone below her, in the lower right corner. Your Tibetan quartz encompasses the whole Tara, who is always one, even as we work with her different forms and facets. Place your Tibetan quartz at the center of the grid, on the symbol for Tara.

• Discussion Question: What do you feel when placing your stones on the grid and opening your heart to Tara’s blessings?