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ICELAND

The Heart of Water Art

By Jheri St. James

Site of Iceland Soil Collection

Thank you, Helga Sigurdardóttir of Reykjavik, Gullbringu og Kjósasýsla, Iceland, for taking the time to find a soil site, make a collection, and ship it to Gary Simpson’s studio in Laguna Beach, California. This soil is truly unique. Þinguellir, Iceland, is a powerful psychic location in the world. “The exact place of the soil pick up is between Flosagjá and Nikulásangjá where there is a big power sun in the inner realms,” writes Helga.

Additionally, this is the location of the oldest established parliament in the world. No single place epitomizes the history of Iceland and the Icelandic nation better than Þingvellir by the river Oxará. At Þingvellir—literally “Parliament Plains”—the Alþing general assembly was established around 930 A.D. and continued to convene there until 1798. Major historical events in Iceland have taken place at Þingvellir, a place revered by all Icelanders. Today Þingvellir is a protected national shrine. According to a law passed in 1928, this protected area shall always be the property of the Icelandic nation, under the preservation of the Alþing.

Continental Plates at Þingvellir

Iceland owes its existence to a mantle plume that produces twice as much volcanic matter as the Mid-Atlantic ridge. The mantle plume is located east of the ridge channel, but the eruptive belt tends to follow the plume, and it is there that volcanic activity is greatest. The earthquake zone is formed where the eruptive belt is shunted.

In the summer of 2000, two severe earthquakes shook South Iceland. Though their source lay 40-50 kilometers southeast of Þingvellir, stones fell from the ravine walls and water splashed up from the rifts. The earthquakes were a result of movement of the Eurasian and North American plate boundaries that run through Iceland. In the south, the plates inch past each other, but at Þingvellir, they break apart and the land between subsides. Away from the plate boundaries the activity is fairly constant, about two centimeters a year, but in the rift zones themselves, tensional stress accumulates during a long period and is then released in a burst of activity when facture boundaries are reached. The most recent burst of activity swept over Þingvellir in 1789.

In the eruptive belt, a new earth crust is formed that accumulates at the fault edges and gradually drifts away. The oldest rocks in the country are thus found a long way from the eruptive belt, in the east and west of the country. Þingvellir is in a 17-meter wide graben that lies between the Almannagja and Heioargja faults. It is covered with 10,000-year-old lava that originated in a crater south of Mount Hrafnabjörg.

The landscape at Þingvellir is quite different now than at the time when Grimur Geitskor chose the site for that original general assembly. In the Sturlunga Saga it is said that the river Oxara had been diverted into Almannagja and onto Þingvellir. The river Oxara then changed the appearance of the site through sedimentation, and land subsidence caused encroachment of water up to the assembly site. We can assume that the subsidence amounts to almost four meters from when the Alping was established in 930 A.D.

Fjaorarkljufur Hyaloclastite Gorge

Readers who really understand geological language like this are Icelanders and geologists. Is Helga’s reference to a “big power sun in the inner realms” perhaps a combination of both psychic depths (intuition, ESP, psychic precognition) and geologic conditions (movement of magna, continental drift, earthquakes and substrates) from the inner core of the planet?

Here at Common Ground 191, we often contemplate the inner core and the outer shell of the planet earth, not from a psychic or geologic standpoint, but aware that all countries on the planet are related—by the association of surface soil. This has always been so. From the beginning of time, our Earth as Artist has produced this huge “concept art” by manipulating the shifting and changing undercarriage of the earth. Mountains push up, valleys sink down, and yet always there is a surface where the history of mankind is acted out. The magma rifts deep in the Atlantic Ocean act as a palette for the creation of Iceland. Water constitutes a large part of every human being, covers 70 percent of our planet, surrounding Iceland, and plays an important role in the history of thought, as we shall see.

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Iceland is located in the North Atlantic Ocean just south of the Arctic Circle (which passes through the small island of Grimsey off Iceland’s northern coast, but not through mainland Iceland). Unlike neighboring Greenland, Iceland is considered a part of Europe, not North America. It is the world’s 18th largest island. Approximately 10 percent of the island is glaciated. Many fjords punctuate its 3,088-mile-long coastline, which is where most towns are situated, because the island’s interior (the Highlands of Iceland) is a cold and uninhabitable desert. The major towns are the capital Reykjavik; Keflavik, where the national airport is situated; and Akureyri. The island of Grimsey on the Arctic Circle contains the northernmost habitation of Iceland. On the map, Grimsey is a dot, and Iceland is a splotch floating in the Arctic Circle and Atlantic Ocean.

Slightly smaller than the state of Kentucky in the United States, Iceland was settled by Norwegian and Celtic (Scottish and Irish) immigrants during the 9th and 10th centuries, A.D. Independent for over 300 years, Iceland was subsequently ruled by Norway and Denmark. Fallout from the Askja volcano of 1875 devastated the Icelandic economy and caused widespread famine. Over the next quarter century, 20% of the island’s population emigrated, mostly to Canada and the U.S. Limited home rule from Denmark was granted in 1904 and complete independence attained in 1944. Literacy, longevity, income, and social cohesion are first-rate by world standards.

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Water Art in Iceland: Geyser, Mudpot, Gullfoss Falls and a Glacier Field

Iceland is located on a “hot spot,” caused by a mantle plume and the mid-Atlantic Ridge. This combined location means that the island is extremely active geologically, with many volcanoes (notably Hekla) and geysers (itself an Icelandic word). With this widespread availability of thermal power, and also because of the numerous rivers and waterfalls that are harnessed for hydropower, residents of most towns have hot water and home heat for a low price. The island itself is composed primarily of cooled basalt lava. Lakes comprise 1,064 square miles and glaciers 4,603 square miles of a total of 39,768.5 square miles. During the last Ice Age almost all of the country was covered by permanent snow and glacier ice. This explains the low number of living species.

Another explanation is the fact that this is one of the newest landmasses in the world, built almost exclusively of volcanic rocks made of magma, which welled up from the core of the Earth. Parts of the Iceland basalt plateau not exposed on the surface can be up to 25 million years old. The oldest rocks found on the surface were formed about 16 million years ago. Most of the island is much younger, though. The whole island is actually a part of a mid-ocean ridge that is exposed above sea level, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to be precise. Formed out in the ocean, it would be very hard for animals and plants to get out to the island.

A View of Reykjavik and a Lighthouse

Icelandic culture is rich and diverse, as is fitting in one of the 10 richest countries in the world. Some famous Icelanders include The Sugarcubes alternative rock band, world-famous composer/vocalist Björk, the artist collective GusGus; avant-garde rock band Sigur Rós, and novelist Halldór Laxness, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1955. Iceland’s literacy rate is among the highest in the world, and a love of literature, art, chess and other intellectual pursuits is widespread. Here are some museum art pieces on display in the Asmundur Sveinsson Museum in Reykjavik.

Iceland is a gallery of Gaia’s water art—snow crystals, steaming geysers, glaciers, waterfalls, rivers, springs, and mudpots. Within each of these greater forms, smaller, microscopic constructs can be found, and are very instructive about man and his use of mind.

A Happy Water Molecule Photograph

Masaru Emoto was born in Yokohama in July 1943. He is a graduate of the Yokohama Municipal University's department of humanities and sciences with a focus on International Relations. In 1986 he established the IHM Corporation in Tokyo. In October of 1992 he received certification from the Open International University as a Doctor of Alternative Medicine. Subsequently he was introduced to the concept of micro cluster water in the US and Magnetic Resonance Analysis technology. The quest thus began to discover the mystery of water.

He undertook extensive research of water around the planet, not so much as a scientific researcher but more from the perspective of an original thinker. At length he realized that it was in the frozen crystal form that water showed us its true nature. He has gained worldwide acclaim through his groundbreaking research and discovery that water is deeply connected to our individual and collective consciousness.

He is the author of the best-selling books Messages from Water, The Hidden Messages in Water, and The True Power of Water. He is a long-time advocate for peace in relation to water. He is currently the head of the I.H.M.General Research Institute and President Emeritus of the International Water for Life Foundation, a Not for Profit Organization.

“Hado creates words. Words are the vibrations of nature. Therefore beautiful words create beautiful nature. Ugly words create ugly nature. This is the root of the universe.” Masaru Emoto is currently Chief of the Hado institute in Tokyo. He is the author of many books concerning the phenomenon of ' Hado'. The two ideograms comprising this expression Hado (pronounced hadou to rhyme with shadow) literally mean "wave" and "move". The following definition is how Dr. Emoto himself describes the phenomenon, which led him to a series of remarkable discoveries pertaining to the nature of water. “Hado: The intrinsic vibrational pattern at the atomic level in all matter. The smallest unit of energy. Its basis is the energy of human consciousness.”

A rapid understanding of Hado quickly spread throughout Japan as Dr. Emoto's theory gained ground. The word subsequently became part of daily language. "The Hado of this place is really low. Let's leave." "That person has a really powerful Hado." "Let's change the Hado of this environment." Conversations such as this now abound in Japan and it is largely due to his revolutionary photographs of water crystals under high magnification. Frozen crystals of water? Yes.

This is not just any crystallized molecule of water however. What has put Dr. Emoto at the forefront of the Hado phenomenon is his proof that thoughts and feelings affect physical reality. Using high-speed photography, Dr. Emoto revealed how crystals formed in frozen water change when specific, concentrated thoughts are directed toward them. He found that water which has been exposed to loving words shows brilliant, complex patterns, but water exposed to negative words forms incomplete, asymmetrical patterns. By producing different Hado through written and spoken words, as well as music and literally presenting it to the same water samples, the water appears to "change its expression". The exquisite beauty of the above crystal of frozen tap water is clearly the result of Hado being projected at it. The expression of human gratitude (arigatou) is thus immediately reflected in water.

Power of Prayer Water Molecules

Well, if this appears to be the case then let's see what other 'expressions' water may have...

	"Sick" Water
Heavy Metal Rock Music

Iceland is a study in the art forms of water, and Dr. Emoto studies water as a medium for the thoughts of mankind. Common Ground 191 is an opportunity for us to change our minds about the earth and the activities of mankind upon it. We have the choice now to use our intellect to see unity in human life on our planet or to continue to see conflict and destruction. Helga’s awareness of the psychic depths of Iceland contributes to this worldview of mind expansion. Dr. Emoto’s work with water molecules and thought forms contributes to this perception. Gary Simpson’s vision for Common Ground 191 contributes another idea to this process. One by one, people all over the planet are taking this same viewpoint and the day will come when the change will be complete. Each one’s thoughts changing their personal body water, then the group mind changing the earth water. And then all icy beliefs will melt and at last healing waters of harmony will wash over all of us, perhaps emanating from the Arctic Circle of Iceland.

Angel and Demon Waters.

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