Crystal skulls in the Mumbai

Mayan firewoman Star Johnsen-Moser is in Mumbai for the next few days. The New Age healer may have left her fire staff behind, but she has carried a pair of crystal skulls along, to channel cosmic light and heal people

Anyone who doesn't share your sense of personal space takes a little getting used to. So, when we extend our hand to greet Star Johnsen-Moser and she instantly throws her arms around us to give us a hug, we are more than taken aback. But the Mayan firewoman is incredibly warm and easy to like. By the time we settle down on a sofa, even though two massive crystal skulls, named Xamaku and Amakua, stare at us from a coffee table, we have no real reservations.

Pic/Satyajit Desai

Dressed in white and smiling, Star crosses her legs and takes a seat on the other side of the table, as we enquire about the stand surrounding the skulls, with crystal protrusions set in a circle. Star explains that she calls it Stargates. "These devices employ geometry and raise the vibrations in conjunction with the skulls," she smiles.

Forty years of healing and experimenting with various techniques and 'vibrational healing modalities' is hard to summarise in an hour,u00a0 but Star tries. The healer from Yucatan, Mexico, tells us that her spiritual expedition began when she was part of the Essene brotherhood in California, "a Shamanic group that Jesus, Joseph and Mary were once part of".

Star's association with Xamaku (Shamaku), a Brazilian Citrine crystal skull, goes back 12 years. "Amakua is one of the 13 ancient Tibetan quartz crystal skulls discovered in the Himalayas in 2002. I recently became its caretaker. These crystals have formed over a millennia and serve as a living library of events. They have the power to impart the information they contain to you if you are willing and ready to receive it," she explains.

"Every religion has a name for The Light. The Sikhs have the light of the Shabad guru. The native American story (Lakota story of White Buffalo Calf Woman) speaks of a holy woman, who is described as having eyes full of light and power. Muslims revere the Noor, and for Christians, the candle's flame represents the Holy Spirit."

According to Star, her spiritual gift is to 'channel' this light to heal people, something that she discovered at 24, while she was at the Essene brotherhood. Prior to that, she was working as a graphic artist in Universal Studios, where she designed album covers and billboards of movies.

"I left my career to get more involved with healing," Star explains. Star turned to an ancient Mayan technique of healing with crystal skulls. In a session, Star makes the participant lie down and places one skull near their head and the other by their feet. The Stargates sit on either side of the skulls. Star then proceeds to "raise the energy of the vibrations in the space so as to tune them to the light." Occasionally, Star may chant in a language she first found herself speaking, when she came in contact with a crystal she calls Max. "I started speaking in a strange language spontaneously, and later, I called the language Tak," Star recalls.

Her private sessions, she points out, are not just about healing your problems, they are also about learning to heal others. "We are all one," she asserts, "The light you see in another person is your own light reflected, and the darkness you see is your own shadow."

Star wants to change the murky reputation that the skull has developed across various cultures. She believes the exercise of channelling light through skulls whose distinct shapes associates them with different cultures will also draw different people together and contribute to the creation of a unified conscience.

The legend of the crystal skull
Crystal skulls are a number of human skull hardstone carvings made of clear or milky quartz rock and are claimed to be pre-Columbian Mesoamerican artefacts. However, studies suggest that they were manufactured in the mid-19th century.

The British Museum acquired a specimen in 1881, from Eug ne Boban, a French antique dealer who specialised in South American artefacts. However, the skull is catalogued as "probably European, 19th century AD" and is described as "not an authentic pre-Columbian artefact" since it was made with modern tools. Another famous specimen is the one discovered in 1924 by Anna Le Guillon Mitchell-Hedges, and called the Mitchell-Hedges skull.

The Smithsonian Skull found in the collections of the Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, USA is the largest of the crystal skulls -- it weighs 31 pounds and is 15 inches high. It has been displayed as a fake. Historians and archaeologists deny that these crystal skulls have anything to do with Mayan or Aztec cultures. However, shamans and New Age healers disagree. According to one legend, a re-uniting of the 13 mystical skulls will forestall a catastrophe allegedly predicted on December 21, 2012.

Private sessions with Star can be scheduled at Andheri (W) from October 10-12 (Rs 3,500 per hour)
Call: 9004083150