February's  Birthstone

 
    February's birthstone is the beautiful amethyst.  Varying in shade from pale mauve to deep purple, amethyst has long been a much sought after stone for jewelry. The amethyst also has a rich history ranging from mythology to some quite famous admirers.

      Cleopatra was a lover of amethysts. She wore a beautiful signet ring which had the figure of Mithras engraved on it. Mithras was a Persian deity who symbolized the source of light and life.


 While we tend to associate red hearts as a symbol of Valentine's day,  St. Valentine also favored amethysts.  It is said that the Saint wore an amethyst with an engraved image of his assistant Cupid.

      The use of amethysts actually go back a good deal further into our history.  It can be traced back as far as 25,000 years ago in France, where amethysts were used as a decorative stone by prehistoric humans. Amethysts have also been found among the remains of Neolithic man.

     The word amethyst comes from the Greek word "amethystos"  which means "not drunk."  The stone was believed to prevent its wearers from becoming intoxicated. . There is a story from Greek and Roman mythology as quoted from "Birthstones" by Willard Heaps:

 "Bacchus, the god of wine in classical mythology, was offended by Diana the huntress. Determined on revenge, he declared that the first person he met as he went through the forest would be eaten by his tigers. As it happened, the first person to cross his path was the beautiful maiden Amethyst on her way to worship at the shrine of Diana. In terror, she called upon the goddess to save her, and before his eyes, Bacchus observed the maiden changed to a pure white, sparkling image of stone. Realizing his guilt and repenting his cruelty, Bacchus poured grape wine over her, thus giving the stone the exquisite violet hue of the amethyst. The carryover to nonintoxication was quite logical, and in ancient Rome,  amethyst cups were used for wine so drinkers would have no fear of overindulgence."

    The early Egyptians greatly valued the amethyst and believed the purple stone possessed strong positive powers. Amethysts were placed in the tombs of pharoahs.

     During the Middle Ages, amethysts were used as medication. It's powers were believed to dispel sleep, sharpen intellect, and protect the wearer from sorcery. Amethysts were also believed to bring victory in battle. In Arabian mythology, the amethyst was supposed to protect the wearer from bad dreams and gout. The amethyst was also the stone of royalty, representing power.

      The irony of the beautiful purple amethyst is that it is composed of the most common mineral 
on Earth: quartz One frequent location of amethyst is geods.   These round stone balls, associated with volcanoes often contain beautiful crystals inside. It is likely that the purple color of amethyst arises from the amethysts' iron oxide content, while others attribute the color to manganese or hydrocarbons.

 
   Amethysts are very sensitive to heat. When heated to 400 or 500 degrees Celsius, an amethyst's color can change to a brownish-yellow or red. Under some circumstances, the stones can even change to a slightly  greenish hue when heated. Heat may even transform an amethyst into a naturally-rare mineral called citrine.  But even without the influence of heat an amethyst may fade in colour over time.

     Geodes are not the most common places to find amethyst. Commercial sources of amethyst are Brazil and Uruguay; while in the US, most amethyst is found in Arizona and North Carolina.