Kathryn:
The usefulness of the clays in your area will be dependant upon what has been leeched into the clay. If you are able to find a vein, you may be able to dig into the mountain enough to see how pure the clay is before it is affected by surface conditions.
I've never had the chance to experiment with the turquoise clays. They were highly regarded and traded by many native cultures.
If you find some "dry" clay in "chunk" form, either on the surface or directly from a vein, the clay can be tested. The more bentonite content, the greater the swelling, the more more water it takes to properly hydrate, and the less "seperation" occurs when turned into liquid form.
It should take three to five times the amount of water by volume to hydrate a "pure" bentonite into gel form. If you continue to add water, there will be no seperation of substances in the water - there will just be clay and water evident. If a seperation begins to occur, heavier substances will drop to the bottom of the container being used ( besides sediment ). Allowing a small amount of this watery substance to then dry will give an indication of the impurities as well. If one uses distilled water for the experimentation, any white sediment left over from drying usually indicates the presence of sulphurs or salts.
If there IS an evident seperation of substances, the bentonite/clay will often form on the surface of the "water". This CAN be extracted and then utilized. I have one clay source that I perform this operation with, because the properties of this particular clay are unique. I extract the "purified" clay into another container, then mix it with one of my other clays.
If the clay, when dry, does not take 3-5 times the water to hydrate, then it's either a bentonite compound or has excessive contaminants due to leeching. This is not neccessarily BAD, it simply means that it is more of a "mud" than a clay. I know one natural mud source that will literally rip most of the acidic toxins right out of the skin - somuch so that it will turn any silver you are wearing pitch black. That's one way I used to test the condition of the body in fact - have a person put on a silver ring, and have them stick their hand in this substance! If the ring came out silver, I'd know that their body fluid balance was likely very excellent. If not, three or four days of internal and external detoxification would usually do the trick.
If your clay does have the swelling properties, and upon drying does not overly exhibit a white "crust", then chances are it is suitable for many uses. If not, then only testing will tell what unique uses it might have. There are no two clay sources exactly alike.
If you are able to, create a consistant gel by adding water. Place about 1/2 inch thick "ball" of clay on the backside of the hand. Don't compact it, just make sure there is at least a square inch or so of skin contact with the clay. Let it sit there for about two minutes, then gently wipe it off with a body temperature rag. Do not allow the clay to dry for this experiment. Then, observe the skin for a slight "chemical burn" - redness due to skin irritation. The back of the hand is used, because this minimizes the possible reaction the clay may have on the body. Sometimes the skin does turn red with bentonite use, but for different reasons. Sometimes it turns stark white as well. These are thermal reactions with the body and are not caused by irritants within the clay ( which is what this is checking for ). It would be rare to have such a reaction on the back of the hand.
It IS rare to find an excellent clay in an area that experiences high rainfall, but it is not unheard of. For example, the Pascalite deposit in Wyoming ( a calcium bentonite ) is an excellent clay ( different properties than a pure bentonite ). The vein surfaces on one side of a mountain. There is a large deposit of green clay in Nebraska ( there's a serene picture on the Eytons' Earth website ) that surfaces as well.
The main consideration in the purity of a clay: There must be enough active clay to prevent the existance of bacteria and other undesireable pathogens.
Be careful when combining herbs with clay. It is such a complex endevour that experts such as Raymond Dextreit ( Earth Cures ) strongly recommend that it not be done. Although some people believe that clays do not exchange substances with the body, in some cases a clay CAN deliver substances through the skin barriers that would not otherwise adsorb through the skin. Many herbs that are safely used on the skin contain substances that would not normally be delivered through the natural barriers - some of which are dangerous for use internally, but are fine externally.
One might begin to notice the complexities of herbal use combined with clay upon experimentation. Bentonite immediately begins to dissasociate most herbs upon combining the two. Apparently, some things it literally rejects, and other things it sorpts. If one adds too much of a given substance to clay, the clay will slowly eject the excess, creating an end product that will be bacterially contaminated ( "cultures" will start to grow on the surface ). This might not show for a few months.
A proper clay mixture of any type should have an indefinate shelf life. If it doesn't, something is being done wrong. Even essential oils will last indefinately when combined with bentonite.
I personally do not use raw herbs with clay, but I do utilize, at times, extremely pure and natural oils as well as pure essential oils. It is easy to accidently burn the skin through such endevours also, because one cannot necessarily tell how much of the substance is really active by smell. I utlize floral waters ( these are extremely pure as well ) and colloidal silver with clays as well.
I hope this gives you at least a starting point in your explorations! Jason
From: "Kathryn Neff" <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected] To: <[email protected]> Subject: Re: CS>Unidentified subject! Date: Mon, 24 Dec 2001 10:42:56 -0600 Dear Jason: I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about your posts regarding clay and your up-coming posts regarding how to prepare and use clay.... I live in Real county, in the "Hill Country" of Texas. It is a rocky mountain area, and I have a creek/river that flows through myproperty...the source is a spring that flows out of the side of the mountainabout a mile and a half from my house.....Next to me is some land that I look after for my neighbor --about 1200 acres and it is all mountain and canyons...I was hiking and found a spring and pool where there is a clay bank....the clay is very light, cream in color....it is very elastic and pliable.....I discovered it because the wild hogs had dug into the bank and their dugout stays wet from the water oozing through the bank......I collected some of it, run it through a colander to get out twigs, etc...... Last month we had 17 inches of rain in two days and flooded the area...the canyons were raging with water....when I visited the spring, I found large gray-green or green turquoise slabs in the river bed down from the spring/pool ...I have not found the bank or source of it yet....but I did bring some of the green/slab....it crumbled easily and I soaked it in water....I do not find this clay with as much elasticity as the cream color......the canyon from this spring also goes to my river...when it floods the water comes into the river... On the banks of my river, I find a black clay/mud, I can collect it, and itis very pliable, can be formed easily and holds it shape when dry....I thinkit also has a high percentage of clay in it......I do see some green/turquoise sediment on some of the solid rock bottoms in the river...thinking it might be from a clay bank hidden under the earth.......When the river went on a rise, it went 12 feet above my dam and tore out theroad and my beautiful pond below that is solid rock bottom.....the highway department came to fix the road, and helped me make repairs to the pond.......and it is now bigger and deeper than before because they built a spill-over that maintains the depth of the pond....(it is the source of water supply to the town six miles from me).....now the pond is 8 - 10 feetand 40 to 60 ft wide.......the thing that is interesting is the color of thewater......it has always be crystal clear but has a light green color.....I always thought it must be a reflection of the trees, etc. now all of the trees on one side were ripped out, and the remaining trees have no leaves, no green grass....still the water is a light green, like the sediment Ifound when the pond was drained while restoring the road.....now there is nosediment, just solid rock and a little river rock, and the water is that color....just beautiful....... could we be getting that color from clay banks or would it be some micro-algae that I cannot see.....We have a lot of micro crystals (quartz) and most crystals I have found havebeen calcite.......I would think there is alot of calcite dissolved in the water. The only thing I know for sure, is that when a person floats around in the pond for an hour or so, you feel so good, so full of life and joy....... Now, I want to work with the clays that I have found and see what we can do...... Any advise or information regarding clays and healing would be so appreciated....I am an herbalist and want to consider putting clay and herbs together possibly. I plan on growing the herbs that I would put in the clay, so that the herbs would be fresh and would be grown in the earth that we are working with.....Sorry this post got so long, but I am excited about your post and wanted togive some background information of the land..... ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jason / AVRA" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2001 8:41 PM Subject: Re: CS>Unidentified subject! > > > Greetings, All! >> Bentonite is gray-green to green, in color. Greener clays are considered> more active for healing purposes. > > White bentonite is green bentonite that has gone through purification > processing. Most white bentonites are pharmacy grade bentonites. The> pharmacy grade bentonite is acceptable for internal use ( though not ideal > in my opinion ). I wouldn't even think of using it externally, it is too> corrosive. >> Some clays are greener through an increased level of magnesium. Some, due> to increased levels of ferrous oxide ( which some theorize the reaction that > causes the green color indicates a greater potency ). > > Jason > > >From: [email protected] (John A. Stanley) > >Reply-To: [email protected] > >To: [email protected] > >Subject: Re: CS>Unidentified subject! > >Date: Sun, 23 Dec 2001 18:57:16 -0600 > > > >In article <[email protected]>, > >Roger Barker <[email protected]> wrote: > > >John, would this be the black 'mud' seen in volcanic bubbling mud > > >pools? > > > >No. Bentonite is a white powder. > > > >-- > >John A. Stanley [email protected] > > > > > >--> >The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver.> > > >To join or quit silver-list or silver-digest send an e-mail message to: > >[email protected] -or- [email protected] > >with the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the SUBJECT line. > > > >To post, address your message to: [email protected] > >Silver-list archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html > >List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]> > > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com > >
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