Amazonite

Amazonite

Amazonite (also known as amazon stone, Green feldspar and Neshmet) – A popular stone among ancient Egyptians, the greenish amazonite represented rebirth and fertility.

For this reason it was often used in jewellery and funerary amulets. The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead recommends amazonite for papyrus sceptre necklaces.

These necklaces were to be worn over the throat of the deceased in order to ensure they have everlasting youth and vitality in the afterlife.

Amazonite was also treasured among Phoenicians, Chaldeans, Assyrians, Aztec, Mayans, and natives of Brazil, Trinidad, Venezuela, Wisconsin and California.

In later times, amazonite was believed to give luck at playing cards.

Sources

Encyclopaedia of superstitions, folklore, and the occult sciences of the world. : a comprehensive library of human belief and practice in the mysteries of life ... Editorial staff: Cora Linn Daniels and C.M. Stevans. (1903). Chicago.

George Robert Rapp (2002). Archaeomineralogy. Berlin ; New York: Springer.

Harrell, James A., 2012, Gemstones. In Willeke Wendrich (ed.), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, Los Angeles. http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/viewItem.do?ark=21198/zz002czx1r