Rose Rocks!

bunch of tiny rose rocks

Before dinosaurs existed, when all the continents were one giant continent called Pangea, the west half of what would be Oklahoma was covered by sea. Amphibians, fish, the ancestors of future reptiles and mammals, the coniferous ancestors of our ever-present Eastern Redcedar and our summertime friends the cicadas evolved during this era. As the waters rolled in and out, they laid down the sediment that would become the red rocks we love today. Geologists call this the Permian period. This period ended with the greatest extinction level event on earth. Science doesn't yet know what caused it, but the face of the earth also underwent dramatic changes. The waters of the sea here receded, cracks formed in the land, and in a small isolated band near the edge of where the red beds of central and western Oklahoma meet the Sandstone hills that stretch east, ground water seeped into the cracks and precipitated out barite, quartz, and hematite in a unique shape.

Permian Red Beds at Lake Draper

Scientists don't know when rose rocks began to form, or whether the process ended or is still ongoing. They also aren't certain what causes the "rose" shape. Barite crystals forming around quartz sand make the petal shape, but barite normally doesn't form rounded edges seen in rose rocks. If they formed as expected, the petals would be more square shaped, like some kind of Minecraft flower. This shape of barite crystal occurs in few places on earth, and most of them form a white-ish rose as they lack the hematite present in Oklahoma's Rose Rocks. There are only a couple other places on earth where you might find red rose rocks - next door in Kansas, and in Australia. Oklahoma's Rose Rocks really are unique.

Cluster of barite petals, baby rose rocks

But they are neither economically or scientifically important in the sense that no one wants to spend the big bucks to study them and answer the questions of their formation. Most Rose Rock deposits are on private land and there is little incentive to make them available to the public. It is possible to acquire a rose rock if you know where to look or shop. Small ones aren't expensive to purchase. But they are rare enough that few who work with crystals have studied them.

A quick internet search reveals that most mentions of "rose rock" in crystal lists refer to a white selenite rock formation and not the barite of Rose Rocks. I'm no crystal worker, but common conceptions seem to say barite is good for opening the crown chakra and facilitates meditation and journeying. Quartz, is, well, quartz. Good for storing power and doing all the things. Hematite is grounding. Seems to me it might be interesting to experiment with using Rose Rocks in journeying to see how the tiny bit of grounding influences it. Sympathetic magic might also suggest using Rose Rocks in similar situations where one might use red roses.

teeny rose rock

To sum up, not only does science not fully understand our rare and unique rose rocks, but little is written about them magically either. Magical Okies, do your things and let us know! Nobody else is gonna do it for us.

barite deposits not quite formed into roses.

Podcast Episode 1

Looks like we've got ourselves a podcast.  I want to know about how other people experience Oklahoma as a magical place and live their magical lives here, so I thought I would ask them and record it for you.  The best way to begin a venture is just to begin.  Nobody is gonna call me a perfectionist with this one.  But Happy Imbolc, we have a podcast!   Hopefully soon you'll be able to listen in your fav podcast app.  For now, go on over to untykey.buzzsprout.com and have a listen!

Here are some show notes:

Welcome to Episode 1, wherein your Unty Key awkwardly tells you who they are. where this ride might take us, and what exactly their intentions toward you are. We talk what it means to be magical in Oklahoma, what the land means to us, and the wonder and challenges of living the magical life here. Key is joined by Vyvyan Wormwood (vyvyanwormwood.wordpress.com) and Shanda McDonald, both members of the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids (druidry.org) and the Oklahoma OBOD Grove Circle of the Six-Fold Path.

Notes: the book mentioned is Land, Wood, and Water by Robert S. Kerr, published in 1960.
Also, I straight up stole the question "Is druidry something you do or something you are?" from OBOD Chosen Chief Eimear Burke's Fireside Chats. Erm. Sorry. She won't hear this. It's cool.

Getting to know Lake Stanley Draper

Lake Stanley Draper in January

If you’ve spent a day out at any lake in Oklahoma, it was at one of the over 200 man-made lakes mostly created in the last 50-100 years. Our natural water systems wax and wane through the wet and dry seasons of the year. This makes for uncertain living conditions for humans. Lake Stanley Draper is a reservoir serving Oklahoma City. Since 20% of the state’s human population lives in Oklahoma County, that’s a whole lot of people who depend on this water. Lake building is an inherently controversial and destructive process, with land and water rights disputes, human displacement, and ecosystem disruption. But whatever healing may be needed from the creation of a lake isn’t the lake’s fault. We can honor both the damage done in the past and the beauty of what exists today.

Lake Draper in the CrossTimbers

This particular lake is protected from seasonal dry spells by water pipelines from southeastern
Oklahoma, so the water in the lake is a mixture of pumped in water from the SE and local rainfall. It sits in Cleveland County, east of Moore and south of Midwest city off I-240 in the Cross Timbers ecoregion. The Cross Timbers is a transitional region where the forests of the east meet the prairies of the west. In Celtic mythologies, liminal, in-between spaces such as the seashore are especially magical places. I personally believe that the Cross Timbers has a particular liminal quality itself. Add to that the blending of two waters in Lake Stanley Draper and standing on those shores is sure to have a special energy of its own. All you magical people out there... do your respective things and let the rest of us know what you find! No one is gonna write this stuff down for us. We have to find it ourselves.

A tiny Rose Rock

Some other magical items of note: Lake Stanley Draper is one of the few places in the entire world where you can hunt for Rose Rocks. Stay tuned for a whole post on Rose Rocks. The Oklahoma City Audubon Society has a whole list of bird species seen in the area including just about any bird of myth you can see here such as hawks, herons, loons, doves, and owls. The Oklahoma Water Resources Board worked with the Environmental Protection Agency to improve the water quality and fish and wildlife habitat by bringing appropriate wetland plant species to the area.

Also, naming is an act of power so who is Stanley Draper? He came to Oklahoma in 1919 after serving in WWI, and began a long career with the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce. He was involved in many projects that give the metro area their character today such as bringing in Tinker Air Force Base and the FAA, building the Civic Center, and the Lake Hefner Reservoir as well as the one named in his honor. I have no idea what kind of person he was or whether we would approve of each other’s philosophies, but he seems to have dedicated his life to his idea of prosperity for Oklahoma City and her people. That is an idea I can get behind even if my version might look different than his.

I can drink to prosperity. Cheers, Mr. Draper.

An Offering for the Lake