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Thank you all for the compliments.  Mark's smoke effects psd helped me understand the importance of a layer set to exclusion  for a crystalline transparency effect although ultimately I tackled the challenge in a different manner. 

wbiss brought up an interesting point.  How many people here used layer effects or filters for their image?

I used layer effects bevel for the bevel in the lettering, clouds/diffuse/liquidfy for the clouds, and lens flare combined with sparke brushes for the lights.