Stone of Self-Expression
Learn to Listen
The Secret to Success
Welcome back to The Schapera Show, where Viv and Neil explore this big adventure called Life. This is the part of the show when Vivien speaks to crystals, and today, I am in conversation with Blue Lace Agate.
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I first encountered crystals when I was 10 years old, and Blue Lace Agate is one of those stones that I grew up with. I knew that Blue Lace Agate came from South Africa, but I didn’t realize it only comes from Southern Africa — actually Namibia — except for a very few small deposits in other localities like Brazil and the USA.
Blue Lace Agate is a chalcedony, and chalcedony has a host of healing properties. But what is remarkable about Blue Lace Agate is the color — the shade — of blue, and the nature of the banded pattern. I was lucky enough to acquire a Blue Lace Agate egg many years back, that taught me all about the significance of this pattern.
The information came forward when I asked my guides: “What is the best stone for the throat chakra?” And my guides responded with another question: “For developing the throat chakra or for supporting the throat chakra?” It turned out that the best stone for supporting the throat chakra is Sapphire, and the best stone for developing the throat chakra is Blue Lace Agate. Of course, this is a big generalization, because for any particular individual, the individual need can be different with regard to what’s “best.”
Blue Lace Agate revealed to me that as a chakra develops, its structure changes. We have a fairly simplistic understanding that a chakra is a vortex of energy, and that a chakra spins in a spiral. However, in the same way that the brain and nervous system develop neural pathways as we learn, and that brain tissue changes in structure and function as it develops, the etheric tissue of a chakra also develops pathways, and the etheric tissue also changes it structure and function as it develops. And the thing about the throat chakra is that the etheric tissue of the throat chakra develops into a pattern that resembles a lace collar, and takes on a specific hue that is exactly the blue shade of high quality Blue Lace Agate — sky blue with a hint of indigo-purple, forerunner to the third eye and crown shades — a blue color known as “periwinkle.” In other words, Blue Lace Agate exactly depicts the underlying potential design of the throat chakra, both in structure and color. This is what makes it so perfect for developing the throat chakra — it can inform the chakra and even offer a template for development.
Blue Lace Agate is asking me to tell you this now: “Self-expression” is one of the most poorly understood dynamics in the west. Westerners think of self-expression as the right to say whatever they want … but that isn’t self-expression, that is gross self-indulgence. Self-expression is when you develop the voice of your soul in this specific incarnation, in order to make your contribution to humanity and the world.
It is no coincidence that the throat chakra includes the voice. It is no coincidence that voice is a word that means so much more than just the capacity to vocalize; and it is also no coincidence that the throat chakra includes the ears and the faculty of hearing. As a society, we are big on “freedom of speech” and very short on listening, indicating severe imbalances in our throat chakra functions.
Many years ago, after much frustration, I decided to do a little research on “effective communication.” After three years of observation, I came to a conclusion: communication requires two dynamics — a sender and a receiver. No matter how careful the sender is, no matter how skilled, no matter how brilliant, if the receiver is faulty the communication cannot be effective.
Blue Lace Agate taught me that to develop the throat chakra, we should begin by addressing the most common make-or-break dynamic — that is, very specifically, creating a competent receiver — and that means, bluntly stated — learning how to listen!
When I was studying Psychology, back in 1975, I came across an absolutely wonderful book that made an extraordinary impact on my life and career: How to Talk so Kids Will Listen, and Listen so Kids will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish. Without bragging, I can say that I have been unusually successful in my career, and with great humility I would like to share that this book, together with the help from Blue Lace Agate, are the secret to my success. Written half a century ago, it is still a bestseller, available on Amazon and probably one of the most helpful books you can ever read — because even though it says “kids” in the title — this is about how to communicate successfully with other people, no matter the age, culture or religion. And this successful communication begins with “listening.”
Thank you for joining us here on The Schapera Show! Please join us on the second Friday of the month, or listen on demand, whenever it suits you.
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