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This is the show n tell I wanted to do last week, but with the storm coming in and the computer unplugged, I had no chance of really giving this show n tell its much needed time to share the ‘tell’ part……….As promised from last week, this show n tell is all about tears. Apache Tears to be exact. When we lived in Arizona for about a dozen years before relocating to Texas, we loved walking in the desert. From the day trips around the outdoor desert museum of which we were members, to just stopping on a road, and venturing out in the lone, desolate desert landscape and enjoying being with nature, at its finest. There is something about being a desert dweller that no one can appreciate unless you’ve lived there. To experience the diverse and unseen flora found no other place, and the peace and quiet and howling of the coyotes around moonrise is something I wish everyone could enjoy.
But, while walking around the western slope of the Tucson Mountains one fine Spring day, while enjoying the scenery of a wildflower extravaganza [it was a very wet winter]…we walked and walked. Of course, me, being me, when I’d take a step into the cactus paths, my eyes were always downward. Western Diamondback rattlesnakes and Gila Monsters were active this time of year. Tho, the Gila Monsters are poisonous, they never frightened me ’cause they more or less would run from you unless threatened of course, and they need to clamp on you…they’re slow, and the poison they emit from their teeth is only by a chewing motion. I’ve seen them…pink and black in marking-but they’ve always been running from me. Now, on the other hand, the rattlers strike! Giving you not much time to react, and that is why my eyes were on the path in front of me. Always.
Well, this one particular day, with my eyes downward, I spotted a beautiful small stone…it sparkled in the sunlight. I double checked under the cactus for critters within striking distance, stopped and listened for any threatening rattle sounds, and kicked the stone more in front of me to make it more visible in order to reach down and pick it up.
It was an Apache Tear!! I had read about their legend several times in Native American folklore pamphlets and books and magazines. So I knew right off what it was that I had in my hand! I was elated to have such a find in my possession.
Over the years, I found a few more while out walking…..
- Apache Tear Drop is a form of black obsidian. It is a calming translucent stone, found in Arizona and other parts of the U.S. It is composed of feldspar, hornblende, biotite and quartz. It was formed by rhythmic crystallization that produces a separation of light and dark materials into spherical shapes, and is a form of volcanic glass. There is a haunting legend about the Apache Tear Drop. After the Pinal Apaches had made several raids on a settlement in Arizona, the military regulars and some volunteers trailed the tracks of the stolen cattle and waited for dawn to attack the Apaches. The Apaches, confident in the safety of their location, were completely surprised and out-numbered in the attack. Nearly 50 of the band of 75 Apaches were killed in the first volley of shots. The rest of the tribe retreated to the cliff’s edge and chose death by leaping over the edge rather than die at the hands of the white men. For years afterward those who ventured up the treacherous face of Big Pacacho in Arizona found skeletons, or could see the bleached bones wedged in the crevices of the side of the cliff. The Apache Women and the lovers of those who had died gathered a short distance from the base of the cliff where the sands were white, and for a moon they wept for their dead. They mourned greatly, for they realized that not only had their 75 brave Apache warriors died, but with them had died the great fighting spirit of the Pinal Apaches. Their sadness was so great, and their burden of sorrow so sincere that the Great Father imbedded into black stones the tears of the Apache Women who mourned their dead. These black obsidian stones, when held to the light, reveal the translucent tear of the Apache. The stones are said to bring good luck to those possessing them. It is said that whoever owns an Apache Tear Drop will never have to cry again, for the Apache Women have shed their tears in place of yours. The Apache tear drops are also said to balance the emotional nature and protect one from being taken advantage of. It can be carried as an amulet to stimulate success in business endeavors. It is also used to produce clear vision and to increase psychic powers. Black obsidian is a powerful Meditation stone. The purpose of this gemstone is to bring to light that which is hidden from the conscious mind. It dissolves suppressed negative patterns and purifies them. It can create a somewhat radical behavior change as new positive attitudes replace old, negative, egocentric patterns.
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These are a few of them I grabbed from my ‘rock collection’ I have stashed away. You can tell what they are by the area where I found them first off, and then, when you hold them up to the light there is a smoky, iridescence that is unmistakably tear drop.
Here, I tried to hold the teardrop up to the window. The day I took the photo it wasn’t really quite sunny enough, and it was quite wet outdoors to go out with the camera…so I tried to position it enough to show you the smoky yet clarity of the ‘crystallization’ of the drop. At my thumb, you see the glass is quite a different color than the black, obsidian going above to the top….this is not the camera’s reflection [I had the flash shut off, and the lens set on macrolens], nor is it ALL my thumb reflection as it seems…this is the sun filtering through…showing you the ‘see through’ aspect of the teardrop.
The legend in itself is so fascinating, I really do find myself in awe of having these in my hands…there is something about them now that I love even more than when I actually found them on many occasions.
Apache Tears [from wikipedia]
