Aquamarine

Our current Aquamarine items

  • A nice darker piece of aquamarine bracelet
    Aquamarine beaded bracelet 14 by 9 by 17mm
     69.95
  • beautiful blue aquamarine bracelet, as blue as the sea
    Aquamarine large beaded bracelet 1cm
     59.95

Aquamarine is a beryl crystal made up of beryllium aluminum cyclosilicate. It’s cousin in the same family is would be the Emerald and Kunzite. In nature Aquamarines can be found in a hexagonal crystal structure and it can grow to be several meters tall. Most beryl crystal is colorless but it’s often it is also tinted with impurities which give it colors such as Green, Yellow, Blue, or even red which is the rarest of them all in this crystal.

The name “Beryl” means “precious blue-green color-of-sea-water stone” From the greek “βήρυλλος beryllos“. This term was later adopted for the whole beryl family.

The long history of aquamarine

The Aquamarine is a stone with vast history and legends in the ancient world. The Romans had a whole range of uses for Aquamarine. Carving it into the figure of a frog served to make your enemies forget his hatred and turn them into friends. So too did they believe that the stone absorbed the atmosphere of young love. It was a good gift for a bride and her groom. Both the Romans and The Greeks considered the aquamarine a sailor’s gem. It would protect them on long and arduous journeys and protect them providing a prosperous and safe journey even over stormy seas. In Medieval times the stone was also associated with love. But this time mainly for reawakening love in married couples. Also, it was a stone that made a soldier invincible some believe. 

An aquamarine crystal as it appears in nature.

Aquamarine as a tool for devination

Sources from the middle ages also claim that aquamarine was the premier “oracle” crystal when cut into a crystal ball. It was though to be the best stone for fortune-telling. Many methods where used involving Aquamarine. It was also said to be used to find lost things. 

The first eyeglasses were made in Italy in the 13th century and used beryl for the lenses. Though they were not clear enough. Later the Dutch and Germans would derive their name for “Glasses” “Bril” and “Briller” from the word beryl.

Also in other parts of the world the Aquamarine was valued and admired.

Aquamarine as an antidote

Much later the Aquamarine also developed a reputation as an antidote for poisoning when William Langland’s wrote: “The visions concerning piers and the plowman” in 1377. In that time being of royal blood made you a prime target for assassination and one of the most prevalent “cloak and dagger” ways of removing someone was poisoning them. This made the Aquamarine very popular because it was believed that just wearing it on a ring or neckless (Tranquility bracelets weren’t around in those times, otherwise it would have been bracelets, naturally.) would help as an antidote. One did not even need to pulverize the stone and ingest it. This is ironic because when cutting and polishing the aquamarine the jeweler has to be careful not to breathe in the dust due to it being toxic to the airways. In its finished state it’s perfectly harmless however.

The Egyptians, Sumerians, and Hebrews saw it as a symbol of everlasting joy and youth. The Aquamarine was also associated with the Apostle St. Thomas. Because it “Imitated the sea and the air” and this saint made a long journey all the way to India to preach the biblical gospel there. It was common these days to associate a stone with an Apostle.

Attributes

Overal the Aquamarine is a very versatile stone with a very strong connection to the element of water. It’s a stone that brings happiness and love in your life, helps promote good health and is to this day a popular stone with people who travel a lot oversea. And finally, it’s divination potential is also mentioned in many sources.