Helping humankind live with the earth not against it

Category: podcast (Page 1 of 8)

Borealis Meditation – S05E03 How the Ocean Makes Rocks

Welcome to Season 5 Episode 3 where we talk about some of the ways the ocean can make rocks and minerals.

You can listen to the show here:

I have been looking at different ways to get transcripts but I haven’t found a good solution for me yet. So in lieu of a full transcript here are some notes and the images promised.

The Ocean
The ocean covers 70% of the surface area of the earth and is 96.5% water, 2.5% salts, and the rest is dissolved inorganic and organic materials and particulates. Sea level at any location is a dance between the volume of water in the ocean and tectonic uplift and down-dropping of the coast.

Evaporation
This is one of the major ways that the ocean makes rocks. Compounds like salts concentrate in areas where a body of ocean water gets cut off. This can be through sea level change, tectonic changes, or man made intervention. As the water evaporates the concentration of salts and compounds increases until they start to crystalize out and form large deposits. The two maid evaporate minerals are Halite (Salt) and Gypsum. Table salt is mined from these deposits and sea salt is salt that was formed by modern evaporation methods.

Modern salt mining in Huron County Ontario Canada source: https://www.huroncountymuseum.ca/museum-week-may-17-21/

Spontaneous Precipitation
This is my favorite way the ocean makes rocks. Like the compounds that generate the minerals halite and gypsum, the compounds that form the calcium carbonate that make up Limestone come from dissolved compounds. In this case something will trigger a spontaneous crystallization of calcite or aragonite which will rain down to the sea floor. Over time this calcareous mud becomes limestone.

Satellite imagery from 2015 off the coast of the Bahamas (NASA Earth Observatory) of a suspected spontaneous precipitation event

Biogenic
Much like limestone, Chert is formed by things slowly dropping out of the water column. In this case chert is a siliceous material meaning it is made with silica. Chert is made from the hard parts of diatoms, silicoflagellates, and radiolarians which are algae and protozoa. As they die their skeletons build up in the deep ocean over time and form chert in large areas or small patches within other deposits. Another rock that forms this way is Chalk but this forms from plankton with calcite shells and skeletons.

Photomicrograph of radiolarian skeleton from USGS Library of Images From Life

Anthropogenic
In collaboration with the ocean, humans also make stones. The most obvious of this is Sea Glass which is the end product of human trash (glass from various sources) being introduced to the sea and worked in the shallow environment. Another anthropogenic material is the newly discovered Plastic rocks which are starting to form in beach environments. This is likely due to the increasing concentration of plastics and microplastics in the oceans.

Press image for a recent paper on plastic rocks found on a remote beach in Brazil you can read here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0025326X22007135

If you have any questions or comments you can leave a comment here, on the social media posts or through email.

Borealis Meditation – S05E02 Rocks and Stones

Welcome to Season 5 Episode 2! In this episode we are talking about rocks, the types of rocks, stones, and humans history with stones.

You can listen to the show here:

As promised here is the famous tweet!

Borealis Meditation – S05E01 Hunga Volcano Tonga

Welcome back to Borealis Meditation and welcome to season 5! You can listen to the episode here:

Transcript Available here: (work in progress check back soon)

In this episode we talk about the eruption in Tonga on Jan. 15th of Hunga volcano. This eruption was spectacular and in this episode I go over the eruption but also some context in terms of how we monitor volcanoes and tsunami early warning systems.

I have some extra reading for this episode I will put at the end of this post. Also I am working on having transcripts for all my episodes this season. They may take a little time to come out and will definitely be a learning curve but I am working on making my content more accessible.

Please remember to like and share episodes so others can find them.
If you want to support my work I have a Patreon and Ko-fi (current goal is for a fancy paid service to help with the transcripts because you all covered my hosting costs already!)

Links:
Follow me on twitter and instagram
Support me on Patreon and ko-fi
NEW: Follow the show on youtube for an alternative way to listen

Further reading:
NASA post on the eruption: HERE
Global Volcanism Program page for the volcano: HERE (You can read weekly updates on each volcano that has activity)
NOAA Post on this eruption and the future of tsunami research: HERE
An update on the undersea cable situation: HERE

Borealis Meditation S04E18 – The End of Season 4

Sorry to say it but I really need a break. This is the end of season 4. I will be back with another season when I can but right now I just need to step back and take some time for myself.

I will still be around on socials so make sure to follow me on
Instagram: Katborealis
Twitter: Katborealis

And send me an email or a DM anywhere for access to the Discord server

If you would like to help cover the hosting costs for the podcast and website I also have a Ko-fi set up!

Be safe and I’ll talk to you soon!

Borealis Meditation – S04E17 Working with Crystals with Nicholas Pearson

Listen to the podcast here:

Join me as I chat with Nicholas Pearson about working with crystals, trends in the crystal industry, why quartz pebbles are the best, and talking about licking rocks. We get into if you need to cleanse and charge your crystals and a whole bunch more! Curious enough yet? Good. This was a lot of fun!

Catch up with Nicholas Pearson all over the web!
Instagram HERE
Twitter HERE
facebook HERE
Tiktok HERE
Website HERE

Books! Author Page
Crystal Basics (from the publisher)

Follow me on the web
Instagram HERE
Twitter HERE
Ko-fi HERE

Borealis Meditation – S04E16 – Being an Ethical Crystal Consumer

Listen to the Episode here: 


This is part 2 of a two part episode on being a responsible crystal consumer. See part 1 here: Crystal Ethics – Extraction In this episode we talk about the supply chain post extraction.
To review these are my crystals series episodes: 

Two articles Mentioned:

Guests appearing in this episode
Yinan Wang, mineral seller
Find him on Twitter (where you can contact him for mineral requests) 
Patreon – Where he has a mineral of the month club (US only)
He has two Books: 50 State Gems and minerals and 50 state fossils
Shop his Etsy and Ebay

Nicholas Pearson is an author and teaches workshops on crystal healing. 
Find him on TwitterFacebook, and Instagram
Make sure to check out his Website where you can find all of his books

Fire Lyte is a fellow pagan podcaster 
Show: Inciting a Riot 
Upcoming book “The Dabbler’s Guide to Witchcraft: Seeking an Intentional Magical Path”  is available for preorder now 
You can also follow him on TwitterFacebook, and Instagram
Also support his work on Patreon

Phoenix LeFae is the owner of Milk and Honey in Sebastopol CA 
Shop Website
Find her online on Twitter, and support on Patreon
New book with Gwion Raven Life Ritualized, a witches guide to honoring life’s important moments

Althaea Sebastiani is a witch, author, community leader, and independent prospector
Find out more information on her Website including her wonderful classes
Support her on Patreon
I highly recommend her books By Rust of Nail & Prick of Thorn: The theory and Practice of Effective Home Warding and Paganism for Beginners the complete guide to Nature Based spirituality for every new seeker
Follow online on Twitter and Instagram

Robyn Valentine is an author, online shop owner, and podcaster
Shop website
Per order her new Book: Magikal Tarot: spreads spellwork and rituals for creating your life
Listen to the Podcast
Follow on Twitter and Instagram

Devin Hunter is an author, podcaster, and works for the shop The Mystic Dream.
Shop website personal website shop
Personal Website
Books
Listen to his Podcast
Follow on Twitter and Instagram

Borealis Meditation – S04E15 Crystal Ethics – Extraction

Listen to the Episode here: 

This is part 1 of a two part series on being a responsible crystal consumer. In this episode we talk about the extraction side of the supply chain. 
To review these are my crystals series episodes: 

Music played with Permission:
S.J. Tucker – Wild Times can be purchased through Bandcamp
Keep up to date with S.J. Tucker’s online website & twitter
Next Online show March 19 Tickets available soon through “online concert thing

Guests appearing in this episode
Yinan Wang, mineral seller
Find him on Twitter (where you can contact him for mineral requests) 
Patreon – Where he has a mineral of the month club (US only)
He has two Books: 50 State Gems and minerals and 50 state fossils
Shop his Etsy and Ebay 

Nicholas Pearson is an author and teaches workshops on crystal healing. 
Find him on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
Make sure to check out his Website where you can find all of his books

Fire Lyte is a fellow pagan podcaster 
Show: Inciting a Riot 
Upcoming book “The Dabbler’s Guide to Witchcraft: Seeking an Intentional Magical Path”  is available for preorder now 
You can also follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
Also support his work on Patreon 

Phoenix LeFae is the owner of Milk and Honey in Sebastopol CA 
Shop Website 
Find her online on Twitter, and support on Patreon 
New book with Gwion Raven Life Ritualized, a witches guide to honoring life’s important moments

Althaea Sebastiani is a witch, author, community leader, and independent prospector
Find out more information on her Website including her wonderful classes
Support her on Patreon
I highly recommend her books By Rust of Nail & Prick of Thorn: The theory and Practice of Effective Home Warding and Paganism for Beginners the complete guide to Nature Based spirituality for every new seeker 
Follow online on Twitter and Instagram

Robyn Valentine is an author, online shop owner, and podcaster
Shop website 
Per order her new Book: Magikal Tarot: spreads spellwork and rituals for creating your life
Listen to the Podcast 
Follow on Twitter and Instagram

Making a Your Own Wheel of the Year

Well, we did it. The clock has rolled over and it is now 2021. At least on a western calendar. The near year for the Chinese Lunar calendar isn’t until February 12th, in Nepal the New Year’s day for 2077 is 14th April. All of this is to say that time just… is! And calendars are human constructs. So, make your own! 

I thought this would be a good time to reshare an older episode on making your own calendar. 

I started a worksheet after I started working on my calendar this year. Hope it helps! 

P.S. If you are good at design and wanted to help with my handouts and worksheets I would love to hear from you!

Borealis Meditation – S04E13 Mineral Identification

Listen to the episode here:

In this episode we go over the main parameters used to identify different minerals. These would be:

  • visual
    • color
    • luster
    • mineral form
    • streak color
  • physical properties
    • hardness
    • density or specific gravity,
  • mineral structure related
    • cleavage
    • fracture
  • other identifying characteristics
    • taste
    • smell
    • magnetism
    • fluorescence
    • radioactivity
    • reactivity

Music in this episode was played by permission and is by Aazav and SJ Tucker

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