February Birthstone and Meaning of Amethyst

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. It opens intuition and enhances psychic gifts. This is an excellent stone for meditation and can be placed on the third eye to stimulate it. Sleeping with Amethyst facilitates out of body experiences and brings intuitive dreams

Amethyst is an extremely powerful and protective stone, with a high spiritual vibration. It guards against psychic attack, transmuting the energy into love. A natural tranquilizer, Amethyst blocks stress and negative environment energies. Its serenity enhances higher states of consciousness and meditation. Amethyst has strong healing and cleansing powers, and enhances spiritual awareness. Traditionally, it was worn to prevent drunkenness and has a sobering effect on overindulgence and physical passions, supporting sobriety it overcomes addictions and blockages of all kinds.

Amethyst opens to Amethyst boosts production of hormones and tunes the metabolism. It strengthens the cleansing and eliminating organs and the immune system, an excellent cleanser for the blood. Amethyst relives physical, emotional and psychological pain or stress. It eases headaches and releases tension. This stone reduces bruising, injuries and swellings, and treats hearing disorders. It heals disease of the lungs and respire tract, skin conditions, cellular disorders and disease of the digestive tract. Amethyst treats insomnia and brings a restful sleep.

Mentally Amethyst help you feel less scattered, more focused and in control of your facilities. It enhances the assimilation of new ideas and connects cause with effect. It turns thoughts away from the mundane into tranquility and deeper understanding.

This stone facilitates the decision making process, bringing in common sense and spiritual insights, and putting decisions and insights into practice. Mentally, it calms and synthesizes and aids the transmission of neutral signals through the brain. It is helpful where insomnia is caused by an over active mind and protects against recurrent nightmares. Amethyst enhances memory and improves motivation, making you more able to set realistic goals. It can help you remember and understand your dreams.

Amethyst balances out your highs and lows, promoting emotional centering. It dispels anger, rage, fear, and anxiety. Alleviating sadness and grief, it supports coming to terms with loss.

According to Greek mythology, Amethyst was a young virgin who became the object of wrath of the Greek God Dionysus after he became intoxicated with red wine. When Amethyst cried out to Goddess Diana for help, she immediately turned the girl into a white, shimmering stone (quartz). When Dionysus realized what had happened and felt remorse for his actions, his tears dripped into his goblet of red wine. The goblet overturned, and the red wine spilled all over the white rock, saturating it until it became the purple quartz that is now known as Amethyst.

The name amethyst derives from the ancient Greek word amethustos, meaning sober. It was said that an amethyst could prevent the bearer from becoming excessively drunk and also sobers a serious mind. It was believed that if a person drank from a cup or goblet made entirely of amethyst, he or she would not get drunk at all. In Greek mythology, amethyst was rock crystal dyed purple by the tears of Dionysus, the god of wine and revelry.

Amethyst has religious connotations, as well. Amethyst later has stood for the tribe of Dan, one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The Apostle Matthias and the Guardian Angel Adnachiel spirit are associated with Amethyst. During the Middle Ages, Amethyst stood for piety and celibacy and was therefore worn by members of the Catholic Church clergy and was used to adorn crosses. The ancient civilizations prized the stone more than many gems, which today, enjoy more recognition and value. Amethyst saw its place in the Christian church, worn on Bishops’ rings. The royal purple colour used to symbolize Christ. Saint Valentine was thought to wear a ring set with an antique Amethyst carved with an image of Cupid. The stone is also a symbol of Saint Matthias. There are a number of Biblical references to the amethyst. It was also one of the twelve precious stones in the high priest Aaron’s breastplate. The twelfth foundation of the Holy City was built of amethyst. For some time, true amethyst was valued equally with the diamond. Then great finds in South America and elsewhere made it more plentiful.

Amethyst gemstone was believed to assist prophecy and visions and to bring riches and powers to its owners. It has always been associated with the civil and religious classes that have ruled human cultures. In the Chinese philosophy of Feng Shu, the amethyst enhances the wealth corner focusing on the giving and receiving of material wealth. At the highest level, amethyst bestows the spiritual understanding required to reach the state of bliss. It is associated with the crown chakra at the top of the head where divine essence enters. It is a good stone to solve discord, suggested for children and warring relatives. In Renaissance magic, an amethyst engraved with the image of a bear was worn as a protective amulet. In Graeco-Roman times, rings of amethyst were worn as charms against evil, and magical cups carved from amethyst banished sorrow and evil from all who drank

In Egypt, the Egyptians wore Amethyst to protect them from being poisoned. Amethyst was very common for Pharaohs to have their tomb adorned by the gemstone. Amethyst also tells historians a little bit about the wealth that was experienced by Egypt at one point. When the country became very wealthy, the royalty of the country gave gifts of both Amethyst and gold to many of the families from the middle and working classes. The proof that historians have found of this are the gifts that can be found in the tombs of people who lived during this particular time period. Ancient Egyptians used the stone as the representative of the zodiac sign of the goat. The goat was considered the enemy of vines and vineyards, and therefore the antidote of wine.

The stone is included in royal collections all over the world, from ancient Egypt to the British crown jewels, and Amethyst is Queen Elizabeth's favorite gemstone.

Great Egyptian pharaoh Cleopatra had an Amethyst ring which was believed to capture the hearts Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony, who were both Romans. After this happened, many Roman women began wearing Amethyst rings, necklaces, and other forms of jewellery that contained Amethyst because they thought that it would help keep their husbands faithful towards them.

Amethyst also is important in the Buddhist religion. It is one of the gemstones which was believed to have been of significant meaning to Buddha. This is why Buddhist prayer beads, often contain Amethyst. In both the Buddhist and Catholic religions, the gemstone was believed to be representative of celibacy.