The Skull

At the Barnes and Noble in New Mexico, a woman approached me about my hair and I told her I was an artist and she told me she knew she was an artist inside too but just hadn't created anything yet. All of the people at her spiritual center are artists, she said. So I gave her my card and told her to look at my art and email me to tell me more about her spiritualism.

I don't know why, I just want to listen openly to people. But I had another run-in with spiritualism today, in AZ. We were at the site of a meteor crater and of course I had to browse through the gift shop. Gift shops for places like this usually have similar things: rocks and crystals imported from somewhere else that have nothing to do with what you just saw, books that are about what you just saw, and, in this region, jewelry with local stones like turquoise.

This time in one of the glass cases something caught my eye: a display of crystal skulls. My own thoughts, rumors, clips from geology and history films from my public school education, and sentences from magazine flip-throughs of yore flooded my mind and I knew this was one piece of useless junk I really wanted.

Functional (i.e. wearable) is the way to go with souvenirs so they don't end up in the "throw away" laundry basket on cleanup day/judgment day for my room.

As I made my purchase the girl at the register got really enthusiastic when I asked for information. We talked for a while about how the skulls have a mysterious history and some people think they have supernatural powers. Some people meditate with them. There are large famous ones at museums and personally owned that are thought to have the knowledge of our ancestors gathered inside. Some of what I read online got to be a little much for me.

A little much both ways: the Wikipedia article was depressing because it debunked every myth and story about the skulls. It outlined that the skulls are really only a couple of hundred years old (and not the ancient artifacts they were said to be as they were donated to museums). The pro-spiritual link I went to had testimonials about people happily dancing around their thirteen skulls and smiling all day, and their skulls helping them with bills and constipation.

When Heather and I walked out to the car after my purchase, I explained that I try to be on the same page as people as long as I can keep Jesus involved and give Him the credit. Only He can help me with my bills and constipation, thank you very much. But if God wanted to trap memories in crystals, or if he wanted to heal me with the way the light waves change as they shine through the crystal, then so be it. So long as it doesn't become an idol.

So, no Bert sits on our dashboard as our trip mascot.

He stands for life and beauty, because our skeletons are the foundations of our bodies and they are beautiful. He also stands for clear-mindedness, because I picked the little clear crystal skull, not the cloudy one.

Oh, and by the way, this one isn't a legendary one or anything. He's pretty small and was probably carved a week ago. He's staring at me right now.