The Amazing Power of Pascalite Clay
It's not hard to find claims of products with extraordinary
healing powers online and offline. Always have been, always will
be those who try to sell you instant wealth, instant success,
and best of all, instant health. We want quick fixes, whether
over-the-counter, doctor prescribed, or self-medicating
synthetic drugs. Yet it seems to be that some of the simplest
and most effective remedies come directly from the earth itself.
And what's earthier than clay? And how powerful is clay? Well,
what if you found out that for some 30 million or so years there
has been a clay mined in only one area of the United States? And
that one part of the country is near the Big Horn Mountains in
northern Wyoming, home to the Big Horn Medicine Wheel? So what?
Being a logical person, you should ask questions about medicine
wheels in western states. First of all, the wheel is
approximately 10,000 feet above sea level. Secondly, while it's
a lot newer than Stonehenge, it does serve the same purpose in
that it is 80 feet across, and maintains 28 spokes, comparable
to the lunar month. To the Native Americans, this has always
been a sacred site, sort of like an astronomical observatory.
Not far from this sacred site is a mine where pascalite clay,
also known technically as Calcium-Bentonite Montmorillonite,
hails from. This clay is mined underground to avoid
contamination, and then the dense, beige colored clay is solar
dried at the mountain site. Unlike the more commonly found
sodium bentonite, pascalite is a non-swelling clay, meaning it
doesn't expand up to seventeen times its size when water is
added. While pascalite absorbs water like a sponge, it doesn't
increase in proportion. Pascalite also is high in calcium, iron
and magnesium; making is safe for internal and external use.
Several years ago I ordered some pascalite from pascalite.com as
I'd been researching an article about various clays and the
references to pascalite were somewhat astounding. It seemingly
cured spider bites, cleared up bad skin, stopped minor skin
irritations such as poison ivy and oak from spreading and
itching, and even helped revive flagging energy if taken
internally. With recommendations like that, I had to try the
stuff. So I got some, used it a few times, experimented with it
in clay facial masks, and then forgot about it as I investigated
other natural oils, butters and clays. In fact, I'd forgotten I
had a jar of it buried in my bathroom cupboard until last month.
The great thing about clay is that if it's correctly stored, the
shelf life is infinite.
My cat got into a fight with a spider recently, not surprising
since she came home wearing a shroud of cobwebs on one ear as a
trophy. But a day later one of her eyes began watering, then
discharging some ugly colored pus. Beneath her eye was a new
shape - puffy. Uh oh, that cat was about to go to the vet when I
recalled that pascalite jar and also remembered that I had been
sent some accompanying literature, which was still in the file.
To make eye drops, all I had to do was mix one teaspoon's worth
of pascalite into a lidded container along with a tablespoon or
so of spring water, shake thoroughly, allow the clay to sink to
the bottom and separate almost completely, and then take the
water from the top and apply into the cat's infected eye. I did
this, amidst some protesting, as most cats only like to drink
water, not have it applied elsewhere, and sit back and wait for
any improvement.
Fortunately, I read the part about how the condition might get
worse before it got better. And that's what happened. There was
more swelling, and her eye was closed except for a dark red spot
beneath it where it was swollen. She looked like a prizefighter
who had lost the prize. So I gave her a few more drops. The next
day I saw that the inflammation and puffiness had diminished. In
fact, I was able to see what color her eye was instead of just a
patch of angry red. Giving her more of the pascalite and water
mixture, she still wasn't too thrilled about it, but she must
have known the stuff was helping her.
By the end of the day her eye had returned to normal. That
pascalite sure helped as no other remedies were used. Also, her
illness was only eye-related as her appetite hadn't diminished
nor had her sleeping/cleaning habits changed.
I decided to try a pascalite clay mask to condition my scalp, as
I'd read that many toxins are stored there due to the products
we use and environmental factors. While I've used neutral henna
in the past, and sometimes powdered amla, the one thing in
common with both of those herbs is the fact that they are
extremely difficult and time consuming to wash out of my hair.
Not so with pascalite, which was easily rinsed out within a
matter of minutes. And I didn't even need to shampoo it out. The
results were also worth it--my hair was shinier and fuller and
it felt very clean--as did my scalp. Odd, but I'd just added
clay to my scalp and hair and it felt cleaner than if I'd used a
shampoo! So, I also put about a teaspoon's worth into my shampoo
so I could have a clay shampoo. Of course I had to shake it
really well, but again, it was easier to rinse out and I had
fewer tangles. Then I made a small peppermint pascalite soap
with added powdered green tea so I could have my own pascalite
shampoo bar--which smelled terrific and worked really well.
Pascalite is different than other clays such as rhassoul, French
green, Moroccan red, kaolin and even sodium bentonite. Perhaps
because it's near an energy vortex of a Medicine Wheel, or that
it is solar dried at a high elevation, maybe because of the
geological formation of the earth in that area of Wyoming, or
all the factors contribute into making pascalite a helpful,
healing clay that can be of benefit to many. It seems as though
pascalite, which is named after the French trapper, Emile
Pascal, the first white man who used pascalite back in the
1930s. According to the company's literature, "...while setting
out his traps in the outcropping of clay, his badly chapped and
cracked hands became covered with the cheesy earth. Later when
he washed his hands off, he noticed they seemed better. He
started using the clay, and encouraged his friends, as well."
And there it is, some information about a clay that you might
never have heard of before reading this article. A special clay
found only in one area of the U.S., older by far than any of us,
and it can help assist us with mending minor complaints or
injuries in a very earthy way.