Sacred Stones ©
May 2015
Crystal of the Month: Aquamarine
By
Larry Bassett
Background: Aquamarine is a very powerful sacred stone because it is a
variety of beryl. Many of the
most powerful sacred stones
in my limited experience
contain a little or a lot of
beryl. Beryls include bixbite
(reddish), emerald (green),
goshenite (clear to white),
heliodor (yellow), and also
morganite (peach, pink, to
purple). I find aquamarine
to be the most powerful of
these primary beryl stones.
Previous newsletters of stones that contain beryl (moldavite, phenacite, and
rhodizite) speak about how beryl is an atom that quickly moves energy. In
our winter travels, we worked more with this sacred stone than others and
we found it to be highly transformational.
Aquamarine was first reported in the geological literature in 1747, by J.G.
Wallerius. Aquamarine is greatly appreciated for its incredible clarity, yet it
be appear cloudy or milky at times. The colors found in aquamarine are a
mixture of pale blue, blue, bluish-green, and sometimes with touches of
yellow. The ancients saw how it looked like the color of sea water. They
named it from the Latin words aqua (water) and marina (sea). This is
translates as water of the sea or sea water. Greek and Roman myths
attributed aquamarine be a gift from the sea and especially from
mermaids. The Romans used it to purify water. They had cups made from
aquamarine and they let water sit in it for a time to purify it. Egyptians
often put aquamarine beads in their graves to protect the dead, and as the
inlays on their statues. Aquamarine was highly valued as a stone of
protection. Sailors and other travelers always carried it. It was carried by
mothers to protect themselves and their unborn child. Many relied upon
aquamarine for safe travel, especially when sailing on water. Everyone
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knew aquamarine to be a seer stone. Aquamarine was the stone that
repelled darkness and brought in the light, visions, or answers. The ancients
experience was that this was a stone of happiness and mysticism. The
energy and power of aquamarine and beryls were worshiped by many.
Aquamarine was highly valued by the ancient Hebrews because it
strengthened ones belief in God. The ancients associated a number of
Goddesses with this sacred stone. This includes Akna (motherhood), Kuan
Yin (compassion and unconditional love), Kupala (water), and Yemanya or
Yamanja (motherhood), are all associated with aquamarine. The ancients
valued and knew aquamarine to be a stone of courage because it is so
protective. It shields the body, aura, and subtle bodies. The ancients knew
aquamarine protected them at all times. It augmented their and our ability
to always be prepared. Aquamarine is also known as the Tears of God,
because when you hold it, you can feel God, and tears form because of the
love you feel. The ancients also believed aquamarine to be a stone of
eternal youth. Aquamarine has a long list of historical physical, and
spiritual healing applications. Aquamarine was used to cure throat and
thyroid conditions, eye disease, toothaches, coughs, hormone imbalances,
immune system issues, kidney problems, reduce water retention, skin
conditions, thymus (immune system), and more. They used an elixir of
aquamarine to wash eyes that were diseased, cure hiccups, and shortness
of breath. I suggest you avoid drinking elixirs made with aquamarine
because it contains aluminum. Aquamarine helped them to understand
and speak clearly. It was known to aid in the assimilation of knowledge,
because it enhanced intuition and awareness. It was a perfect stone for the
spiritual initiate and students in all fields of endeavor. It enhances our
ability to reason and understand the subtle issues of our own creations and
experiences. It was used to calm the body and mind. It provides stability
for the emotions, mind, body, and intellect. It was known to augment the
intellectual reasoning, logic, and create a deep thirst for the truth. The
spiritual students carried aquamarine and they were said to be in a state of
being spiritually prepared for the unknown. It allowed one to see a situation
from a detached perspective. It creates a state of tolerance, and an open
mind, so one can avoid the limiting aspects of judging people or a situation.
One becomes more sensitive to and gains an understanding of the true
factors involved in what they see or experience. Aquamarine helps one
release the old patterns of behavior that you now understand are limiting
and destructive. It creates a state of peace, and quiets an overactive mind,
so life can become a meditative state. Daily insights and awakenings about
what you used to take for granted help one to change in dramatic ways as
you see their flaws and limitations. Aquamarine is a stone that seems to
connect all aspects of your being with your Higher Self. Aquamarine is
found in over 250 locations worldwide. It is found on every continent and
many believe the best is found in Pakistan.
Major producers include
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America, Brazil, Canada, China, Columbia, India, Kenya, Madagascar,
Malawi, Mexico, Russia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and Zambia. Madagascar is
historically known as a producer of beautiful medium dark blue
aquamarines. Today, Brazil is one of the most prolific producers and the
largest aquamarine was found in Brazil in 1920. It was 16 inches wide, 19
inches long and weighed 243 pounds. Be aware that aquamarine will fade
in prolonged sunlight. It is also often heat treated to remove the green and
yellow tones and to enhance the blue color. Irradiation can reverse this
process and restore the yellow and green colors. The darker the blue, the
greater the chances it has been treated. Heating the stone also increases
the clarity. I find that untreated crystals are the most powerful healers.
Today, probably all aquamarine jewelry has been heat treated. Always ask
when trying to decide on a purchase if a crystal has been heated or
otherwise enhanced. Once you feel the energy of a natural and unmodified
crystal you will prefer that to the ones the marketers produce.
Keywords to remember about aquamarine are: affinity, alignment,
ameliorate disputes, awareness, balance, beauty, calming, clairaudience,
clairsentience, clairvoyance, cleansing, clarity, closure, compassion, concise
and improved communication skills, conviction, cooling, courage, creativity,
dependable, development, discipline, exhilarating, fearlessness, fortitude,
gentle, good luck, harmony, healing, honesty, hope, inner peace, inner
power, inner strength, inspiration, intellect, intuition, love, loyalty,
meditative, moderation, patience, peace, perception, perseverance,
protection, purity, reconciliation, recovery, rejuvenation, relaxing, renewal,
resolution, revelations, safe travel, self-expression, sensitivity, serenity,
service, shielding, skin health, soothing, stability, supports, talisman,
tolerance, tranquility, transformation, trust, truth, understanding, union,
victory, will power, and wisdom.
Why I Love This Stone:
The physical properties and metaphysical
effects of aquamarine are easy to experience and challenging to put into
words. These sacred stones have strong metaphysical properties. It is one
of the more interesting stones because I find it to be a stone of truth and
higher consciousness. It is a stone for transition through transformation to
higher states of consciousness. It removes doubt and uncertainty. It
releases the fears of the unknown. It facilitates healing on all levels. It
raises awareness, reduces aggressive behavior as it calms, centers, and it
will compose all aspects of your being. The ancient's knew and highly
valued the effects and blessings of aquamarine. The shielding aspects
protect you from being affected by the emotions and behaviors of others.
They help you to deal with issues of grief, anger, rage, and other limiting
emotions. When I hold it, I am quickly in a state of calm, and clarity. This
gentle and powerful crystal is a life changing sacred stone. I saw my self
created short comings and I saw how to change my thoughts, behaviors,
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and belief systems. By changing myself, the world has to change to adjust
to the new me. Aquamarine is said to remove the fear of speaking in
public. It is a spiritual stone that allows you to connect and align with your
Higher Self and higher dimensional realms. This is an amazing sacred stone.
Composition:
Aquamarine is a beryllium aluminum silicate (and some
say cyclosilicate). It has a chemical formula of Be 3Al2,(SiO3)6. Many allude
to how the blue color is due to the presence of Fe 2+, and Fe3+ will make it a
darker blue. Ironically none of the chemical formulas I have seen have iron
in it, go figure. Beryl is a somewhat common mineral that generally occurs
in pegmatite rock formations. Aquamarine is in the beryl mineral class. It
is in the crystal class of silicates, and the subclass of cyclosilicates.
Aquamarine is most closely related to tourmalines.
Physical Properties: Aquamarine is rated with a hardness of 7.5 to 8
on the Mohs scale. Aquamarine has a hexagonal crystal system. It forms
pyramidal crystals that can be large and incredibly beautiful. Many have a
clarity that is stunning. Some say aquamarine will streak colorless and
others say it streaks white white. The transparency is translucent to
transparent. The specific gravity is 2.6 to 2.9. The luster is vitreous. It will
fracture uneven to conchoidal. The refractive index is 1.564 to 1.596. Be
aware that aquamarine can be brittle.
The cleavage is imperfect.
Aquamarine is an igneous rock found in granite pegmatites. It is also
rarely found to have trace minerals which create the characteristics of
asterism, also known as the cats eye effect.
Experiences: My first experience with aquamarine was when I bought
many pieces of clevlandite from our spiritual crystal dealer and friend Jaffre.
When he works with people, he provides the best crystal, at the lowest price,
for the development of the person. One of the pieces of clevlandite had a
small loose piece of aquamarine that could be pulled out of the matrix. I
held this small six sided piece and was amazed at the power of this small
piece. My hands were vibrating as it also worked on my body and etheric
fields. I was soon in an altered state. As my friend Mike, who also held the
aquamarine, so aptly described the stone, he called it a Buzzmaster. He
calls the very powerful pieces Buzzmasters because in a very shot time you
are buzzing with the sometimes intense energy. A friend who held some of
our aquamarine remarked on how the stone had a heartbeat and that it felt
alive. She was overwhelmed by what she was feeling because it brought a
sense of calm and protection. I found that homes that contain aquamarine
are transformed into a protected and nurturing sacred site that contains
wonderful spiritual energy. I have known a few people who taped a small
piece of aquamarine in their belly button, or other places because they
were convinced this was helping their thyroid and other physical issues.
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Aquamarine, like other sacred stones, works best when touching the skin.
In my experience, aquamarine is one of the more spiritual of the sacred
stones.
Recommended Uses: Aquamarine is beneficial to hold and carry with
you and to especially to hold while meditating. It is invaluable when used to
dispel anger and fear, which seem to be to be the predominant emotions in
most people. It is one of the most comforting of all the sacred stones I have
used. It helps one to see and understand what we have done to ourselves.
We quickly become aware of our behaviors, words, and judgments, that
really created our issues. Aquamarine gives us the courage to change in a
beneficial way. It is a stone that instills a desire to align with our Higher Self
and embrace the spirituality of life.
Essential Oils: Essential oils are powerful healers, most require dilution
with an organic carrier oil, some create photosensitivity concerns, and there
are potentially very dangerous contraindications when clients are on
medications, or if they have certain medical conditions. A listing of safety
concerns and possible contraindications can be found at our web site:
www.kalasgems.com/safety.html.
The properties of aquamarine as a
sacred stone include the ability to align, balance, calm, change, cleanse,
detoxify, exhilarate, ground, harmonize, heal, increase beneficial aspects,
promote spiritual behaviors, release blocked energy, remove painful
behaviors and their associated cellular memories, and so much more, works
well with all essential oils. Every sacred stone works well with all organic
and 100% pure essential oils.
Meditations: Kathy began by by holding a beautiful pieces in each hand
and another piece was placed on her thyroid. The piece on the thyroid felt
as if it were burning for a bit and then the energy adjusted to a nurturing
pulse. She felt intense energy moving in her hands. She immediately heard
the words clearer picture. She was sitting in our gazebo in the country and
quickly relaxed. Then she was taken out of her body. Soon she had a
feeling that I was coming outside to tell her that she had been out there an
hour. Interestingly, she picked up on my thoughts because I was inside
working on my newsletter. Soon she was walking inside, relaxed, and
feeling a sense of awe and introspection.
I began by holding the two smaller pieces pictured on the lower right.
I quickly felt the amazing energy in my hands. I reflected on how we were
traveling quite a bit this winter. The stress of constant travel wears on you
especially after a month of constant travel. We were looking for the ideal
home with enough land to farm organically. We also bought a small flat of
aquamarine pieces found at 12,000 feet in Pakistan (pictured) at the
Tucson Gem and Mineral show from our spiritual crystal dealer, Jaffre. I
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realized that I was experiencing something beautiful. I had an extreme
clarity and understanding of our journey, the places, and people we met. It
struck me that I was just along for the ride. Even though snow storms at
times blocked our path, we ended up where we needed to go. We did find
our ideal property in this process and we were led to it. It was way beyond
what we needed or wanted, yet it was at the right price. After watching the
movie of our journey, I realized how blessed and protected we were. I felt
loved, nourished, rested, and restored. It was an amazingly beautiful and
insightful meditation.
Kathy began with larger two pieces, one in each hand. She again felt
the energy intensely in her hands. She had a slight headache when she
began. The energy of the stones began to circulate throughout her body.
She felt a deep clarity and knowing. As the energy of the stones continued
to relax her. Her headache soon vanished and she also had a deep sense of
clarity about our journey. When the meditation was over, she was filled with
the aquamarine energy for a few hours, like she was still meditating.
I began with two smaller new pieces to hold. These stones begin to
radiate their energy into my hands as soon as I pick them up. I was
overwhelmed by the deep intense feeling of love as I felt the energy move
from my hands throughout my body and into my biofields around me. The
energy went way out of my body. The energy flow balanced as I held these
stones and my body felt as if it were a true sanctuary of peace and
perfection. The clarity and spirituality I experienced were way beyond what
I could put into words. Something like this can only be experienced because
there are no words to describe it.
Miscellaneous: Aquamarine is challenging to find at a reasonable price.
It is worth the effort, and the expense, to find a few aquamarine pieces
that resonate with you.
Aquamarine vibrates to the number 1 and 9.
Aquamarine is the anniversary gemstone for the 16 th and 19th year of
marriage.
Aquamarine connects to, aligns, and balances the heart, thymus, throat
and third eye chakras. Then it aligns all chakras and strengthens your aura.
Aquamarine is associated with the water element.
Aquamarine is associated with the planet Neptune.
Aquamarine is used in Feng Shui because it utilizes water (purification,
regeneration, stillness, and strength) energy. Aquamarine is always placed
in the north areas of a home, property, or room. It is associated with new
beginnings and balance.
Aquamarine is associated with the astrological signs of Aquarius, Aries,
Gemini, Libra, Pisces, Scorpio and Taurus.
Aquamarine is the birthstone for February, March, and October.
Aquamarine is the state stone of Colorado.
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Aquamarine in various forms allows the body to heal on all levels and it is
beneficial to ameliorate the effects of disorders and bodily issues like acne,
allergies, anger, asthma, auto-immune disorders, bladder, brain, breathing,
cataracts, chronic fatigue, colds, cough, depression, digestion, eczema,
edema, endocrine system imbalances, eyes, eyesight, feet, fluid retention,
GERD, glands, grief, gums, hay fever, headaches, herpes, hives, immune
system, inflammation, insomnia, intestinal, jaw, legs, laryngitis, leprosy,
liver, loss, lungs, lymphatic system imbalances, nausea, neck, nerves,
overeating, phobias, pituitary gland issues, psoriasis, regulates hormones,
rosacea, shingles, sinus, stress, sore throat, spasms, teeth, thymus, thyroid,
toothache, urogenital disorders, vision issues, water retention, and watery
eyes.
Disclaimer: The information in this paper regarding the physical and
metaphysical properties of crystals is intuitively derived. It is in no way
intended to diagnose or treat any form of medical, physical, emotional,
mental, psychological, spiritual or other issues. Readers are advised to view
this material as speculative in nature. We recommend you determine
through personal experience the power of crystals.
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