Hello Folks !
It's best to start the story with this Wikipedia’s page to understand what we are talking about here. Then you should understand the importance of this stone here in Saint-Etienne:
Spoil heap subterranean combustion leads to the crystallisation of various minerals: sal ammoniac, sulfur… but also Realgar, whose spectacular crystallisation is the result of arsenic sublimation. Although spoil heaps have no real commercial value, they became very popular among mineral collectors… The search for realgar was dangerous and rivalry fierce among the hunters, thus collecting was kept secret and realgar became taboo. An unfortunate destiny for something which suggests such a beautiful and even mythical image of a spoil heap : that of an alchemist transforming spoil into gemstone, the regenerative process of the phenix rising from the ashes… Realgar kept hunters running at night, roped to each others ! Nowadays it can can hardly be found other then in its symbolic form, but what a symbol ! The spoil heap transmuting spoil into gemstone, veritable symbol of the strength of Saint-Etienne.
Well, last month Woody & Tendo put on their Road Dogs hardhat for a small excursion to the Annual 4th Dimension Seminar in Saint-Etienne. This was an opportunity to share, to pray for Chokko1er, and bring each other closer together. The snow had just fallen, which is a dead season for train hopping… So we decided to go hunting for The Magical Realgar Stone ! ( A Realgar is a type of stone that is especially potent at drawing energy into the body on all levels. This energy can be used in many ways. As a root chakra stone, it tends to bring energy related to kundalini up through the chakras to enable it’s use on all levels). This stone, as you can see, is then very useful in for our future adventures. We proceeded onwards, and climbed the first Slags hip in search of the realgar stone. Everything was covered in snow, and it was thick on the icy ground. Once on the summit, in it’s smoky atmosphere, we contemplated the town below. We were still without our realgar stone… So we ran down in the dead brambles, and climbed the second Slags hip with Woody. Tendo, who was still standing on the opposite summit form us, began « the black smoke signal » which meant he didn't find anything… well, as the last resort : we looked also under the ground, in mines. But to no avail. All in all, the quest for the Realgar was just a pretext to visit the inter-zones, and the memories become the final artifact. To conclude on a spiritual note, we want to the Saint-Pierre Church, more for the Corbusier Architecture stuff than to meet god… Tendo left a long lasting memory in my private garden, and they jumped into the train, back to Babylon — Hello to Top10 by the way ;)
Jack Tezam
Posted by The Road Dogs
03.22.16
