Amethyst is one of my favorite stones. The rich purple color reminds me of royalty. Maybe its the purple velvet robes I remember the movie kings and queens wearing. The ones with the ermine collars and sparking diamonds. They must have cost a fortune. Luckily for me, amethyst rocks are plentiful and available to everyone, even a commoner like me.
Cabs, beads, crystals--amethyst comes in many shapes and forms. The rock itself is found in many parts of the world, including the U.S., Canada, Brazil, India and Siberia. It's a type of quartz that gets its purple color from ferric iron. The color ranges from pale violet to deep, dark purple.
Quartz dominates in the cabochon pictured here. We found the slab at the Tucson Gem and Mineral show a few years ago, and Kent cut it into a cab for me. I love its abstract shape, which reminds me of a flower. I paired it with Swarovski crystals and pearls to turn it into one of my favorite necklaces.
I have a couple of amethyst geodes in my casita studio, too. The one pictured below is the largest I have, although it's fairly small as geodes go. About 5 inches long. At the Tucson gem show I saw Amethyst geodes that were three and four
feet tall. Beautiful!
At this year's Pueblo show in Tucson I found geode cabochons. My picture doesn't show its full beauty. The crystals are stunning! It measures about 2" square.
I added Swarovski crystals and pearls, seed beads, and a lot of love. The result was this Amethyst crystal geode necklace. If you want to see more pictures of it, check out my Etsy shop listing for it
here.
Amethyst has been a favorite of jewelry artists for centuries. In ancient times they believed it would keep a person from becoming intoxicated. In addition to wearing the stone, it was used to make wine goblets.
Today many people still believe it has special healing powers. Aiding emotional balance, promoting love and dispelling negative energy are a few of its attributes.
The Crystal Bible calls it an extremely powerful and protective stone. "Amethyst is one of the most spiritual stones, promoting love of the divine, giving insights into its true nature, and encouraging selflessness and spiritual wisdom." (
The Crystal Bible, p. 54)
No wonder Amethyst is such a popular stone!
