Turquoise

Turquoise is another gemstone I love. My friend has sent me a beautiful pair of earrings with Alpaca silver.

Amazon Queen: Turquoise and Alpaca Silver

Turquoise is an opaque mineral, a hydrous phosphate of copper and aluminum, used as gem and ornamental stone. The crystal system is triclinic, the hardness on Mohs Scale 5 - 6.

The Native Americans saw Turquoise as a holy mineral, a mediator between sky and sea. Turquoise protects from evil and untimely death. It also warns against sickness by discoloring. Silver enhances the healing powers of Turquoise.

In my friend’s Peruvian jewellery collection there is a beautiful bracelet to match the earrings. To see the whole collection visit

http://gypsybutterfly.myeweb.net/

Onyx & Oxen

Tomorrow I will be wearing the beautiful black onyx earrings with alpaca silver that my friend sent to me. I love their black lustre and like to put them on with black clothes.

Onyx is a cryptocrystaline form of quartz. The chemical composition is SiO2, Silicon dioxide. Its hardness on Mohs Scale is 7. The word Onyx is originally Assyrian, meaning “ring”, because onyx was used to make rings.

Variations of Black Onyx

Mentally black onyx helps self-empowerment, self-reliance, an unwavering sense of reality, analytical and logical thinking.

Spiritually black onyx helps to reach one’s aims by working towards them with great endurance and steadfastness.

My friend also offers black onyx and alpaca bracelets matching the earrings.

Bracelet “Midnight”: Black Onyx and Alpaca Silver

My friend’s Peruvian jewellery collection for sale can be seen on this website:

http://gypsybutterfly.myeweb.net/

Onyx is the birth stone of my Chinese zodiac sign, the Ox. It means prosperity through fortitude and hard work. In China, Ox is a powerful sign. Oxen are dependable and possess the innate ability of achieving great things. Oxen are calm and self-possessed. They need peace and quiet to work through their ideas. When they have set their minds on something it is hard for them to be convinced otherwise.

People born under the influence of Ox are articulate and eloquent. They are kind and caring souls, positive and filled with common sense. Their feet are firmly planted on the ground, and they love security. Oxen are not extravagant, and the thought of living off credit cards or being in debt makes them nervous. They will think twice before spending money, and when they have decided, they will pay cash.

All in all, Oxen can be seen as intelligent, strong-minded and stubborn individuals, who don’t take kindly being told what to do. They like to decide for themselves.

Chinese Zodiac: Ox

Celestine

I have gotten some wonderful earrings from a friend. They are made of alpaca silver and celestine. I love crystals for their looks and believe in their healing powers.

“Blue Moon” Earrings: Celestine and Alpaca Silver

The name “Celestine” comes from the Latin word “coelestus”, meaning celestial or heavenly. The formula is Sr (SO4), the crystal system is orthorombic, its color a heavenly blue. Celestine, a strontium sulfate mineral of the barite group, occurs worldwide in sedimentary rocks, also in carbonite marine sediments.

Celestine: The Heavenly Crystal

Celestine, given to you by a dear and true friend, has great healing powers. It banishes evil and brings friendship into your life. The Romans called it “Aqua-Aura”, and used it to heal bodily wounds as well as those of the soul. Celestine harmonizes the body, spirit and soul.

The Celestine earrings my friend sent me, were made in Peru. They are called “Blue Moon”, shimmering softly and reminding me of heavenly harmony and peace.

To see the complete collection of Peruvian jewellery, go to this website:

http://www.gypsybutterfly.myeweb.net

Adolf Frankl: Visions of Inferno

 

 

 

 

 

Adolf Frankl: Visions of Inferno

On today’s page of Hagalil.online there is a slide show of paintings by the Jewish artist Adolf Frankl. Better than words can do, his work shows what the Jewish people had to go through in the Nazi Concentration Camps.

Adolf Frankl (1903 - 1983), a survivor of the Concentration Camp Birkenau, wrote: “I have painted my memories for all the world to see. I hope that this will never happen again to human beings, no matter what race or religion they are.”

Birkenau, Brzezinka in Polish, was part of the Concentration and Death Camp Auschwitz. Prisoners had to exist under inhuman conditions, more dead than alive, most of them were walking skeletons. The Nazis murdered adults, children, and babies in the infamous gas chambers. Many of the prisoners committed suicide to escape gassing. Today, Auschwitz-Birkenau has the largest cemetery of the world.

Adolf Frankl on his way of painting: “In great joy and wrath I create blotches of color which are formed out my subconscious, forming either chaos or harmony. After a while I get so tired that I have to lie down and fall asleep. Memories haunt me in dreams, memories of the concentration camp Birkenau. Those awful pictures of my past come crawling out of the dark. I have to get up and run to the nearest coffee-house, leaving the unfinished painting behind which commands me to come back and finish it.”

Adolf Frankl on his memories of Birkenau: “With closed eyes I see them in front of me, those Jewish girls, flowers of Zion, standing along the barbed wires with hanging arms and bent heads. They were staring at me like animals, as I came to the Death Camp. Those eyes - I will never forget them!”

“My friend Süss told me: Do not worry. You will only be here for three to four weeks. Then you will leave the Camp through the chimney! He was a Capo, an overseer at the Death Camp, and wore beautiful high boots. I see myself exchanging bread for cigarettes and searching the baracks for cigarette butts at night. And those fat rats everywhere! They were the only living beings at the Death Camp which always found enough to eat. Even today I can still smell the smoke of burnt flesh and hair, wafting through the Death Camp from the chimneys of the crematory. I will never forget that smell.”

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Execution of Jews by Nazis:

This photo was presented as evidence during the Nuremberg Trials in 1945 and 1946

The 27th of January is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The Holocaust was a historical event, an act of murder and violence that the Nazis and their accomplices unleashed against the Jewish people. Death awaited them, and the path to this denouement was paved with ghastly violence.

Samuel Bak: “Star of David I”

My family on the maternal side were Jewish victims of the Holocaust in Riga/Latvia. I want to commemorate them, wishing their souls eternal peace.

Samuel Bak: “Star of David II”

Source: Photos Copyright Yad Vashem, Jerusalem