Using clay for healing is usually thought about in terms of the physical body. There is a wealth of documented medical evidence and personal testimonies of the healing power of clay. Among the websites with information on clay healing is www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com. There are personal stories of physical healing, but I share these stories as another aspect of clay’s part in the human story.
I have seen many different colors of clay from the crystal mines. Red, cream, yellow and lavender sometimes all next to each other in veins. For a body masque I use red clay and white clay, or occasionally lavender. Part of the magic of the Crystal Healing Clay body masque experience is the visual transformation that occurs. When I apply the red clay to my light color skin, the visual change is a surprising contrast. As it dries it becomes brighter. When lavender clay finishes drying, it is pale white, ghostly looking. When a dark skinned person uses red clay there is less of a visual difference. When a dark skinned person uses lavender clay and it dries, there is a dramatic visual change.
The comments and stories of people’s experience with the Crystal Healing Clay body masque are rewards in themselves.
At one Clayday event, an African American lady about 25 years old told me “I want to go back, I want to go back”. She applied the red Crystal Healing Clay and I asked her if she would also like to try lavender clay later. She agreed and said she would return after the red clay had dried and she had washed off in the river. Later, she returned ready to try the other clay. She applied the lavender clay, looking sort of gray at first. As the clay dried, she appeared more and more white. She walked off to let the clay dry and I never saw her again.
The next year, at the same event, I heard this story from a friend who had talked with the lady about her experience. The lady was from the city, had not spent much time in the natural world, and had never been camping. As an Africn American, she had some concern about going camping with friends in the backwoods of Missouri, but she came anyway. Ever since she had been five years old, the lady had been searching for a way to connect with her ancestry. As she related the story to my friend, tears of joy and happiness were creating streaks down her white clay face. This clay body masque experience was her connection to her past.
I feel blessed to have provided this experience for this person, and that the web of life arranged our paths to cross in this ancient way.
I understood the statement “ I want to go back” because my first experience with a clay body masque was also going “ back”, but in a different aspect. My first experience with a red clay body masque was on a very rural creek in central Missouri. Indications are that this was an area favored by Indians; what is called “the old Indian road” runs through the land and became part of “The Trail Of Tears”. As I was spreading the red clay over my body on this ancient land, I was drawn into the past, reflecting on people who had inhabited the America’s continents for thousands of years. I felt the spirits of those who had gone before and the power of this ancient human practice of using clay. I felt my red clay body slipping through the forested riveredge, my movements careful and animal like, as if some missing part of my Being was restored. I felt invisable and merged into the natural world. I wondered what I looked like to the animals and birds. I noticed my dog giving me questioning looks as the red clay changed me. Her tilted head showed her concern. I wondered if I dissappeared right before her eyes in her black and white visual world.
One of the first Claydays I held was attended by an African American lady and her two young sons, ages six and eight. I knew her slightly from church. I was a little suprised because she was from the city an hour away, but I felt honored that she had come all this way.
I explained a little about the Crystal Healing Clay and they started applying red clay. After the clay had dried and was washed off, the lady was ready to try the lavender clay, while the boys started exploring nearby. After applying the clay and allowing it to dry, she became more and more white. I noticed the boys watching their mom and talking while throwing rocks in the river. Soon they came over and I heard one of them tell her “Mommy, Mommy, take it off. Your scaring us.” This comment emphisized the real visual transformation that does occur.
The "relaxability factor" can be measured by a woman that was laying directly on a gravel bar and resting as the clay dried. She fell asleep and started snoring. Two ladies arrived, both about 25, one looking apprehensive about the whole idea. As they began applying the clay, they started giggling, slowly feeling comfortable with what they were doing. When they finished, they walked off down the gravel bar, giggling and talking about how they looked. Later, as they washed off in the river, I saw them splashing and still giggling. They dried off and laid on the gravel bar awhile, then were ready to do it again. Both had matted and tousled hair, looking like they might have spent a few weeks on the tv show “Survivor”, but their faces were beaming. I saw two young girls just bursting with life. Later, when they left, they were both glowing, recharged for life.
