Happy Full Strawberry Moon in Capricorn, June 24th, 2021 June 24, 2021 14:21
This understanding comes only when man and beast enter a silent contract acknowledging mutual respect and awareness of responsibility to each other.
Alternatively, you must understand that real power is the wisdom found in remembering your journey as a whole. Furthermore, compassion, caring, teaching, loving, and sharing your gifts, talents, and abilities are the gateways to power.
Inevitably, Horse meaning advises you that all pathways have equal validity. Keeping this in mind will give you insight into the power and the glory of a unified family and humanity. Every human being must follow a pathway to empowerment before galloping upon the wings of destiny.”
I chose Aragonite because it’s a great stone for Capricorn. It’s a stone of action, it works with the Solar Plexus to inspire and motivate. Aragonite provides support and inspires confidence. It will help anyone reach the top of their mountain. Aragonite Is extremely nurturing and helps release negativity, fear, nervousness, stress and anger. It instantly connects one to the energies of Gaia to help ground and calm. Aragonite stabilizes the emotions and the mind. This creates a calmer state of being which then allows one to then complete their goals without emotional and mental interference. Aragonite aids in concentration and mental clarity. It’s a great stone to help one focus and finish tasks. It is a grounding stone that helps to bring truth to light. Aragonite helps one to see the true causes of problems so they may see solutions. It helps one to look at their shadow parts with a detached perspective so they may resolve and evolve. It helps one to see the true perspective of all situations. Aragonite helps one to be more accepting and lessen judgements of others.
I’ve lived in Oregon for a few years and have mined agates, jaspers, petrified wood and obsidian but I have not yet mined the State stone, Sunstone. Scott and I have talked about going to the Dust Devil Mine forever but it just hasn’t happened until now! We left Colorado and headed towards the mine, which is located in south central Oregon, in the high desert. Sunstones can be surface collected amongst the sage brush and juniper trees in the Public Collection Area, which is where we started our sunstone adventure. There are camp sites with a well maintained bathroom, picnic tables and fire pits available or you can park out in the collection fields if you prefer your privacy. We spent an afternoon collecting on public land and gathered a half a sandwich baggie full of yellow clears and a few schillers! The term, “schiller”, is unique to Sunstones and describes the fiery layers of copper glow for which the stones are coveted.
The large plateau behind the Sunstone Public Collection Area is Hart Mountain which is an Antelope sanctuary. You can drive to the top and camp in a few areas. The mountain top looks like a valley with its own little mountains and plateaus on top. It’s truly beautiful and there is even a hot spring to soak in after a long day of Sunstone digging.
The entrance to the Dust Devil Mine
This is a view of the Dust Devil Mine from the public collection area.
Hard hats are available for visitors and required for most activities.
One way to find Sunstones is through using sifting screens. You can pay to sift through concentrated ore piles which are guaranteed to produce some good stones. 
The best way to get the top Sunstones is to do a belt run at the mine. It costs $100 to cover fuel and the extra hands to get all the stones. The belt run takes about an hour and it’s really fun. They fill the machine with concentrated ore and water it down so the Sunstones are more visible. The belt runs at your preferred speed and if you miss a stone, the extra miner hands are there to grab them for you.
We did three belt runs and walked away with some gorgeous stones! You only pay for the ones you want to keep and all the clear yellows are free. The Schillers are more valuable and the greens and reds are the most rare and valuable. The green color is actually a stone called Insta Prototype which only occurs within Oregon Sunstone.
These are the nicest of the Oregon Sunstones with Schiller we purchased from the three belt runs we did. Below are some close ups of the Schillers’ fire glowing in the sunlight.
The Schiller really pops when it’s faceted or canned. We plan to cut some ourselves.
These are the light reds, which are more valuable than than the Schillers.
These are the dark reds and Sunstones with Insta Prototype. The dark reds are the most valuable followed closely by the green included Sunstones.
This is the greenest of all the Sunstones with Insta Prototype.
This dark red Oregon Sunstone is so large and amazing that Leif, the mine manager, stopped the belt run for a brief gemstone appreciation moment. This stone alone was worth all three belt runs!
This is my favorite of all the Oregon Sunstones we mined at the Dust Devil Mine. Not only is it a deep red color, it also has an amazing layer of Schiller that glows like fire. I highly recommend going to the Dust Devil Mine if you are planning a few dig for Sunstones. Don, the owner, Leif and they rest of the team will take good care of you and you will leave with some amazing stones.
https://dustdevilmining.com
We were so lucky to be invited to vend at the gem show in Victor, Colorado, our new favorite town! It’s put on by the local mining museum, the Black Monarch Hotel and the Elk’s Lodge. Victor is an old mining town that had 15,000 inhabitants at its peak.
They call it the City of Mines and is the world’s largest producing gold mining area.
It was originally constructed from wood but the city burnt to the ground. It was rebuilt with brick and many of the town’s buildings remain in tact today.
There is still an active mine today that employs 550 people, most of whom commute from outplaying areas. Victor now has around 440 inhabitants but draws many tourists each year.
There are old mine ruins everywhere and you can feel the ghosts of old inhabitants watching you at times. It was a city of miners, brothels, bars, the true Wild West. It burnt to the ground once and was rebuilt entirely of brick which is the gorgeous city that remains today. The architecture is stunning and there are still huge piles of ruins from the original town everywhere.
One of the locals gathers old bits of China and purple glass from the ruins to make jewelry and crafts. The glass was originally clear but the metal oxide manganese it was made with turns to purple with continuous exposure to UV light from the sun over time. It takes the right conditions and decades of time for the glass to turn purple and therefore it’s valued as an antique. I bought some of the China and purple glass from her to make jewelry.
I love Nicola Tesla and was so excited to have him watching over us all weekend long. The mural was commissioned by the owners of the Black Monarch Hotel, Adam and Rachel.
They restored and transformed the old historic brothel into a haunted themed hotel with a haunted themed boutique. They are currently working on their coffee shop that will be opening opening soon. The original decorative tin roofs are reason alone to visit this historic old brothel now hotel. We met Adam and Rachel at our booth and they purchased a bunch of our gemstone specimens to sell in their boutique. They also hired an awesome blue grass band to play for all the vendors Saturday night. We look forward to staying a night in their hotel some time.
https://blackmonarchhotel.com
Scott made a new moth friend who hung out with us for a few hours last night at our camp site.
The moon looked pretty full last night from our camp site in Colorado. It was beautiful!
Our next show is in over three weeks in Durango, Colorado. We will be taking some time to finish the van conversion, make jewelry, cut stones and relax. We’re looking forward to it!
I feel so blessed to be living the van life and I hope everyone enjoyed our travel blog! Happy SUMMER!!!! I hope everyone is enjoying this full moon in Capricorn!
Love and light to you all!
-Garnet