Saturday Special Stones - Amber

Amber compiled by Sarah the Swamp Witch

THE SCIENTIFIC

Amber is not a stone, but a fossil resin from pine trees (Pinus succinifera)of the Oligocene period 30 million years ago. Most amber is golden yellow to golden orange. Some amber has been found to contain red, blue, or green hues. Transparent to translucent it usually occurs as nodules or small, irregularly shaped masses, often with a cracked and weathered surface. Amber may contain insects, moss, lichen, or pine needles that were trapped millions of years ago while the resin was still sticky.

Amber can be found in the Baltic region of Poland and the former USSR. Amber has been found on the coasts of England, Norway, and Denmark. Other localities include the Dominican Republic, Mexico, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Romania, Canada, Czechoslovakia, and the USA. The Baltic amber is considered by gemologists and mineralogists to possibly be the best of the ambers. True amber is pre-Jurassic, any amber that is younger than that is called Copal.

Beware of melted and artificially molded amber being sold as the original fossil amber. This is due the steadily "declining" size of pieces of amber found in the Baltic region, especially after the Soviet "mining" of the former Soviet occupied Lithuanian and Latvian shorelines. Be prepared to pay quite a bit for genuine, unprocessed amber. And if it has a bug in it, expect to pay even more.

HEALING

Amber is a powerful healing stone with a large amount of organic energy. Amber emits a sunny and bright soothing energy which helps to calm nerves and to enliven the disposition. The different colors of amber may be used on the appropriate chakras to facilitate opening and cleansing. Amber allows the body to heal itself by absorbing and transmuting negative energy into positive energy.

Amber is useful in healings related to purification; releasing fluids from the body; digestive track; memory loss; eccentric behavior; anxiety; inability to make decisions; thyroid; hepatitis; fertility, pregnancy and childbirth; inner ear; neuro-tissue; endocrine system; eyes; spleen; heart; nerves; depression; rheumatic fever; asthma and hay fever; tiredness; and infections. In ancient times, amber was ground into a powder and mixed with honey or oil of roses for various physical problems. They also at one time made pipe stems from amber in the belief that the gem did not retain germs and was antiseptic. Many people swore that wearing an amber pendant relieved arthritis, and fought infection and respiratory illnesses. Amber was thought to be especially good for all types of throat ailments, earaches, toothaches, and asthma, which were treated by burning Amber powder and sniffing the smoke. This also was said to stop a nosebleed.

Amber cleanses the environment in which it rests and is an excellent mineral for use in purifying birthing and re-birthing rooms. It also acts to purify one's body, mind, and spirit when worn, carried, or used as an elixir. Because it was thought to be purifying, in ancient times amber was used as a penicillin-type remedy, ground and ingested or soaked and subsequently drunk. Amber is an excellent detoxification and offers protection from radiation, especially x-rays, sun, computers, airport, planes and others' energies.

ENERGIES

Amber is dedicated to the connection of the conscious self to universal perfection. It helps one in the art of manifestation to bring that which is desired to a state of reality. It stimulates the intellect and opens the crown chakra. It also transmutes the energy of physical vitality toward the activation of unconditional love. Amber provides an energy to kindle the realization and subsequent response of choice -- helping one to choose and be chosen.

Amber aligns the ethereal energies to the physical, mental, and emotional bodies, providing for an even flow of perfect order to the requirements of the Earth plane while balancing the electro-magnetics of the physical body. Since it is Electromagnetic, Amber helps the body heal itself by absorbing and transmuting negative energy into positive energy, thus helping to calm the nerves and enliven the disposition. By the energy of its color, it aids in the making of correct choices - it aligns mental and emotional bodies via orange and yellow.

Amber can help restore energy and help one cast off negative energies. One way to do this is to surround yourself with an amber circle or put Amber in water and then soak in the water. Amber is electrically alive with solidified golden light. It stabilizes kundalini awakening and spiritualizes the intellect.

MISC. LORE

Only the pearl is older than Amber in use as jewelry and Amulets - Amber talismans have been found in Stone Age archaeological deposits. Amber was heavily traded by the Phoenicians. It is a sacred stone to both the Native Americans and Eastern Indians. Different cultures had myths about how Amber was formed. A Roman author said that amber was Lynx Urine. The Greeks said that amber was the juice or essence of the brilliant rays of the setting sun congealed in the sea. In Classical myths, Amber was said to originate from the tears of nymphs over the death of Phaeton (the child of Phoebus who drove the sun chariot out of control).

Because Amber often contains plant and insect parts, many of the ancient cultures gave it special magical properties. In Denmark, pieces found with depressions in them were thought to be the resting place of spirits. In most cultures, Amber was thought to possess life due to the inclusion of insects and its warmth to the touch. In ancient times, Amber was sacred to Mother Goddess worshipers, because of its animating principle of containing the essence of life. The relationship between magic and Amber continues today. In some contemporary Wiccan covens women (usually the HPS) wear necklaces consisting of amber and jet, with the two stone representing the Goddess and the God, the feminine and masculine principles. Because of it being once a part of a living substance, Amber is often associated with Akasha, or Spirit, the fifth element of the pentagram that binds the other four elements together.

GENERAL MAGICKAL PROPERTIES

Amber’s high electrical charge for positive energy makes this a very effective stone for use in magic. Even having a piece of amber on the altar can increase effectiveness of magic and spellwork. In Norway, it was thought that amber carved in the shape of animals improves its power. Amber has these Magical Attributes:

• Protection
• Love, fertility, and Community harmony and peace
• Beauty, joy, inner peace, healing, strength, and mental clarity
• Luck, money, and success
• The Sun and Fire

SPECIFIC MAGICKAL PROPERTIES

* PROTECTION: Amber has been highly prized as a protective substance since prehistoric times. It has often been made into amulets to protect against witchcraft, sorcery and poisons. Amber was also burned, beginning in the medieval days, as a fumigant and as an incense to clear the environment of negativity and to protect the area. Amber absorbs negative energy, and helps to ground you to the earth plane thereby providing good protection for a sensitive person. Amber is considered protective when worn, especially in safeguarding children. Amber is also a favorite among many Magical people for necklaces, to symbolize the sacred circle and to provide the protection of that circle. If an Amber talisman is shaped as a phallus, it is said to be especially good against the evil eye and evil spirits. If you feel you are being subjected to heavy negativity, light a white candle and place it on the ground or floor. Sit before the candle with a handful of small amber beads or pieces, and using them, create a circle around yourself. Sit within the circle while restoring your energy and closing yourself to any and all outside influences. Repeat as necessary. Another method of using Amber for protection is to place nine small beads or pieces of amber into a bath of very warm water. Soak in the tub until the water cools, then retrieve the amber, towel off, and carry or wear one of the beads or pieces until your next bath. This will also protect you from negative magic.

* LOVE, FERTILITY, AND COMMUNITY HARMONY AND PEACE: Amber is a sensual, warm to the touch, magnetic stone that attracts love. Wear amber to attract warm, loyal, and generous people into your life; especially if that amber is worn near the heart. Amber can be worn to bring a soul mate. Amber has been used as a symbol for renewal of marriage vows and to assure promises, and it facilitates family bonding. Amber is also a stone that can be used in fertility magic. In the East, amber amulets were worn in the shapes of lions, dogs, frogs and fish in order to increase fertility. It was also believed that amber helped woman in labor. On a more worldwide plain, amber can be used to bring about harmony and to encourage world peace.

* BEAUTY, JOY, INNER PEACE, HEALING, STRENGTH, AND MENTAL CLARITY: Amber can be used for beauty spells - both the kind for outer beauty and also those for inner beauty. Carry amber on your person to lend logic or wit to a difficult situation, to make your mind clear and to give you inner peace. Amber can be used in spells done to calm hyperactivity and stressed nerves, and to help you find humor and joy in your life. Because amber has a high electrical charge of positive energy, it can be used to harmonize yin and yang. Amber also can be used to enhance artistic qualities, help overcome obstacles, relieve grief and melancholy, bring greater awareness of inner self, provide strength, and convey harmony. Mixed with turquoise, amber is reminiscent of Sky Father or the sun in the sky, and this combination of stone energies may be used successfully to quiet the mind and calm the nervous system. Amber is a very powerful stone to use in healing rituals. Since it is actually fossilized tree sap, many folk healers fell amber is the best stone to lay against an afflicted area of the body to entrap sickness.

* LUCK, MONEY AND SUCCESS: Amber is considered a bringer of good luck - it has even been said to bring good luck to warriors before battles. Amber has magnet like qualities and can be used to draw money, power, and success. If you knock on wood three times with a natural piece of amber you can call on the spirits of the trees for special favors. To increase your prosperity, sew amber and turquoise along with several coins in a coyote skin pouch and bury the pouch in the earth. Amber also can be used to have success in judicial matters.

* THE SUN AND FIRE: Amber is a stone of the sun and the fire. It has long been used in the fire ceremonies of ancient tribal healers. The golden color of amber is associated with the sun, and with the solar plexus Chakra. In Middle Eastern belief the Chakras are the connections of the soul to the body, and the main "entry" point is the solar plexus Chakra. As such, the Higher Self connects to the physical self through this Chakra, and the wearing of amber will strengthen this connection.

Disclaimer: No one involved in this blog or its contents may be held responsible for any adverse reactions arising from following any of the instructions/recipes on this blog. It is the reader's personal responsibility to exercise all precautions and use his or her own discretion if following any instructions or advice from this blog.

Saturday Special Stones - Amber

Amber is one of the stones associated with Lammas/Lughnassadh, so here is some info on it:

Amber, or fossil tree sap, was made famous in the movie "Jurassic Park". Amber is a beautiful stone that is cut and polished and used as a valuable gemstone. It is also a fossil and can contain many preserved insects and other animals and plants. Millions of years ago large stands of forests in some parts of the world began to seep globs of sticky resin. This aromatic resin oozed down the sides of trees, as well as filling internal fissures, trapping debris, such as seeds, leaves, feathers and insects. As geologic time progressed the forests were buried and the resin hardened into a soft, warm, golden gem, known as amber. The odd inclusions that are often seen in amber usually add to amber's unique look and in many cases greatly increase its value. The fossils that are encased in amber probably got there when they flew or crawled on to the fresh seeping sap and then got stuck. The sap oozed over the trapped animals and perhaps fell to the ground and was later covered by dirt and debris. The sap later hardened and became a fossil. Invaluable plant remains have been found in amber including flowers, mushroom caps, seeds, leaves, stems, pine needles and pine cones. Remember these are fossils and are not the same species that are alive today. Amber has greatly increased the knowledge of the evolution of insects and plants as well as enlivening the interest in paleontology in general.

Amber is not produced from tree sap, but rather from plant resin. Sap is the fluid that circulates through a plant's vascular system, while resin is the semi-solid amorphous organic substance secreted in pockets and canals through epithelial cells of the plant. This aromatic resin can drip from and ooze down trees, as well as fill internal fissures, trapping debris such as seeds, leaves, feathers and insects. The resin becomes buried and fossilized through a natural polymerization of the original organic compounds. Although a specific time interval has not been established for this process, the majority of amber is found within Cretaceous and Tertiary sedimentary rocks (approximately 30-90 million years old.) Although there are contrasting views as to why resin is produced, it is a plant's protection mechanism. The resin may be produced to protect the tree from disease and injury inflicted by insects and fungi. Resin may be exuded to heal a wound such as a broken branch, and resins possess odors or tastes that both attract and repel insects. In mature trees, resin may simply exude from vertical fissures in the bark due to tension produced by rapid growth. Resin may also be produced as a plant's method for disposing of excess acetate.

Amber is known to mineralogists as succinite, from the Latin succinum, which means amber. Heating amber will soften it and eventually it will burn, a fact that has given rise to the name of bernstein, by which the Germans know amber. Rubbing amber with a cloth will make it electric, attracting bits of paper. The Greek name for amber is elektron, or the origin of our word electricity. Amber is a poor conductor of heat and feels warm to the touch (minerals feel cool). Amber studies are truly interdisciplinary. Geologists and paleontologists are interested in amber because it is a fossil, evidence of prehistoric life. Archeologists look at trade routes and the barter view of amber. Organic chemists investigate the physical and chemical properties. Botanists and entomologists examine the botanical sources of amber and embalmed insects and debris. Poets, writers, and artists look to amber for sunny inspirations. Gemologists and jewelers desire amber for its beauty and rarity. Curators and conservationists preserve and archive amber. Technology has allowed for the extraction of DNA from animals and insects trapped in amber.

Most of these forests were situated in what is now the Baltic Sea area, although large deposits are also found in the Dominican Republic and China. As the Baltic Sea slowly encroached upon the pine forests, huge deposits of amber were submerged. Amber is thus often associated with the element of water, although for many it symbolizes fire. Dominican and Chinese amber is mined from deep underground deposits, giving it more of an association with earth. Amber is found in all Baltic countries; Venezuela; Russia; Romania; Burma; in coal seams in Wyoming, USA and the Dominican Republic. Color is amber yellow to orange.

Amber is found in a dazzling array of hues, and many of their names refer to food. The costly and rare "cherry" amber is a deep wine color, and derives it's colors from the sap of the now-extinct pine trees that they exuded from. These are found only in the Baltic, so most paleontologists theorize that these trees, with their deep green or deep red saps, were indigenous to this region. The enormous pine forest that once covered what is now the Baltic Sea is now completely submerged. "Custard," "butterscotch," "butter," "caramel," and "cream" ambers are self-descriptive. "Egg-yolk" amber actually looked like beaten eggs, with streaks of yellow and white. "Tomato" amber looks like partly ripe cherry tomatoes. The classic Baltic amber is usually called "honey" or "cognac," while the deeper, sunnier amber of the Dominican Republic is called "orange." An opaque type of Baltic amber is called "fatty" since it resembles a lump of animal fat, although this does not diminish its magical properties. Amber from Romania tends to be quite dark, as does Burmese, which is often called "tiger" amber because of its swirls of black in a dark orange. Amber also comes in a very rare blue, and black-and-white, as well as a lovely green. "Blonde" or "white" amber is often referred to as "new" amber by dealers. Although it is new only by a few million years!

While many people prefer amber in natural chunks, the process of slightly heating amber to make it malleable into round beads does not change its magical properties. Hand-faceted amber is very expensive, but molded faceted amber is affordable and genuine. However, "fused" or "reconstituted" amber is simply tiny chunks of amber fused together with a resin binder. Amber is often imitated by plastics, colored glasses and some modern tree resins. However, its hardness is usually greater and it is tougher than other resins. Amber can be burned, and is fluorescent under UV light and is much tougher (will not crumble as easily) than modern tree resins.

Amber is probably the oldest substance used for adornment, ritual and magical purposes. From ancient times, it was prized as "solidified sunlight," and believed to possess many of the sun's life-giving properties. As the fabled "gold of the North," it was much sought-after by the Greeks and Romans. Scott Cunningham notes that "amber has been used for nearly every purpose in magic." It was often worn by shamans and witches, who believed that it could increase the power of their magic. To this day, it is widely used around the world to safeguard health. Amber pendants were worn to preserve chastity, and used as rosary beads or talismans against evil and dark forces. Sailors burned amber on ships to drive away sea serpents and the perils of the deep. Amber was burned along with non-fossil tree resins, such as frankincense, myrrh, and copal to dispel evil spirits (and fumigate worldly nuisances such as mosquitos). Prussians and Samogitians used amber in the manufacture of incenses. In former times Lithuanian tribes employed such incense to drive away evil spirits from the dead and help the soul travel to good spirits. The newly born babies were fumigated so that they could grow faster, the newly-weds - that they could live happily and those going to war so that they could return with spoils of victory.

Before World War I amber was still used for treatment of various diseases, e.g. tincture made of pieces of amber and vodka was thought to increase sexual potency of men. In Lithuania and in tsarist Russia nannies had to wear amber beads to protect themselves and babies from diseases. As late as before World War II, especially in Germany, amber beads were put on babies to make the eruption of teeth less painful and make the teeth grow stronger. Even now in Lithuania many women suffering from goitre purchase curative amber beads made of unpolished pieces of amber to wear around the neck. It is a bio-stimulant that has a positive effect on the nervous system, the heart, and the kidneys and stimulates recovery processes. Honey was mixed with powdered amber and prescribed for asthma, gout, and the black plague. It was believed that amber protected one from madness, powder of amber mixed with honey cured throat, ear and eye diseases and taken with water cured stomach illnesses. It was also as a remedy for "swollen glands and sore throat and palate", and as a remedy for many diseases. There was a belief in eastern countries that amber smoke strengthens human spirit and gives courage. In China "amber syrup", a mixture of succinct acid and opium, was used as a tranquilizer and antispasmodic. In the Middle Ages amber beads were even worn for the treatment of jaundice. It was believed that the magic force of this yellow stone could absorb unhealthy yellowness of the skin and the weakness of the organism. Today amber is still used as a medicine!

Amber has a unique charm and air of mystery surrounding it. Amber may also possess magical properties now unknown to us: many Atlantologists believed that the fabled "aurichalcum" of Atlantis was actually molten amber. Its intensely magnetic and electrical properties (the Greek word elektron means amber) may indicate that it holds properties yet to be discovered. Anyone interested in amber is well advised to read Dr. Patty C. Rice's Amber: The Golden Gem of the Ages for an exhaustive and fascinating study.

Sources:

Amethyst Gallery

Emporia State University

Amber Gallery

Lady Bridget's Wiccan Ways

Disclaimer: No one involved in this blog or its contents may be held responsible for any adverse reactions arising from following any of the instructions/recipes on this list. It is the reader's personal responsibility to exercise all precautions and use his or her own discretion if following any instructions or advice from this blog.