Anyone who buys an amethyst at a fair will usually be told that it is calming and helps you sleep. These claims blend information from very different origins. Some come from Greek and Roman authors of two thousand years ago. Others come from gemmology laboratories. Others still emerged in spiritual books of the 1980s.
This text proposes separating each claim into three layers: documented historical tradition (ancient sources and museum objects), mineralogy (what can be measured in a stone) and modern spiritual belief, which has value for those who practise it but cannot be verified in the same way.
The three layers at a glance
| Layer | What belongs here | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Historical tradition | Ancient and medieval texts, archaeological objects | Pliny the Elder explains the origin of the name “amethyst” |
| Mineralogy | Composition, hardness, geological origin, treatments | Amethyst is quartz (SiO₂), hardness 7 |
| Modern belief | Spiritual meanings, chakras, programming | Saying that amethyst transmutes energies |
Basic terms
In mineralogy, a mineral is a natural substance with a defined chemical composition and an ordered crystalline structure. Quartz is a mineral: silicon dioxide (SiO₂), with a hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale, according to the Mindat database. The Mohs scale measures resistance to scratching, from 1 (talc) to 10 (diamond).
A variety is a version of a mineral with its own colour or appearance. Amethyst, citrine and rose quartz are varieties of quartz (GIA; Mindat). Selenite is a variety of gypsum (CaSO₄·2H₂O), so soft (hardness 2) that it can be scratched with a fingernail (Mindat).
A rock is, in general, a mixture of minerals. Lapis lazuli is a rock: it combines lazurite, which gives the blue, white calcite and golden flecks of pyrite (GIA). Obsidian is volcanic glass, formed when lava cools too quickly to crystallise, and is classified as a rock, not a mineral (Mindat).
A mineraloid is a natural material without the ordered crystalline structure of a mineral. Shungite, from Russian Karelia, is a carbon-rich mineraloid (Mindat).
Forms you will find for sale
A druse is a crust of many small crystals on a rock base. A geode is a rounded cavity lined with crystals on the inside; the amethyst geodes of Ametista do Sul (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) formed in ancient basaltic lava flows (Bartorelli, Superinteressante). A point is a crystal with a termination, natural or cut. A tumbled stone is one polished in a rotating drum with abrasives.
Layer 1: what the ancient sources say
Pliny and the amethyst that does not intoxicate
The Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder devoted book 37 of his Natural History, written in the 1st century, to precious stones. Of rock crystal, he writes that “it is certain that it is a kind of ice” and that the Greeks named it accordingly (NH 37.23, our translation); in Greek, krystallos means ice.
In the passage on amethyst (NH 37.121–124), Pliny explains the name by its colour, which approaches that of wine without quite reaching it and fades into violet. Further on, he records another version: “the Magi falsely claim that amethysts counter drunkenness, and that they take their name from this” (NH 37.124, our translation). The Greek word amethystos (ἀμέθυστος, also transliterated amethustos) combines the prefix a-, “not”, with the verb methýein, “to intoxicate”, and means “not drunk” (GIA).
Pliny also dealt with fake stones. He reports that cyanus, a blue gem, was widely imitated by dyeing, and that this brought fame to the kings of Egypt (NH 37.119). He also teaches that flakes of obsidian do not scratch a genuine gem, but leave a white scratch on a fake one (NH 37.200).
Almost four centuries earlier, the Greek Theophrastus wrote On Stones, dated to around 315–314 BC by the Caley and Richards edition. The series Ancient Greece: gods, oracles and mysteries provides the religious context of that world.
Egypt and Mesopotamia
In Egypt, the Book of the Dead prescribes in spell 156 a tyet amulet, the “knot of Isis”, made of jasper and placed at the neck of the deceased on the day of burial (UCL Digital Egypt). Turquoise came mainly from Sinai, from Serabit el-Khadim, where Hathor was called “Lady of Turquoise” (Global Egyptian Museum). See also Ancient Egypt: religion, magic and eternity on the banks of the Nile.
In Mesopotamia, the tomb of Queen Puabi, in the Royal Cemetery of Ur, held jewellery of gold, lapis lazuli and carnelian (Penn Museum). The lapis probably came from present-day Afghanistan (Horne, 1998). See also Mesopotamia: where magic gained writing.
The Middle Ages and the birthstone
At the end of the 11th century, Bishop Marbode of Rennes wrote the Liber lapidum, a Latin poem on 60 stones and their virtues, based on authors such as Pliny (Arlima). In the 12th century, Hildegard of Bingen devoted book IV of the Physica to stones and recommended them as remedies, within the medicine of her time.
The list of “birthstones” that circulates today dates from August 1912, when the American National Retail Jewelers Association, meeting in Kansas City, approved a table: garnet for January, amethyst for February, and so on (Kunz, 1913). It is a commercial standard, revised in 1952, 2002 and 2016 (Branstrator, National Jeweler, 2016).
Layer 2: what mineralogy says
Mineralogy also reveals what happens in the market. According to the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), natural citrine is rare, and most of the citrine sold is heated amethyst. Amethyst geodes from Brazil are often heated and sold as “citrine cathedrals”.
Quartz is piezoelectric: it generates a small electrical voltage when pressed. This property is used in watches and radio oscillators. Tourmaline is also piezoelectric and, in addition, pyroelectric: it becomes electrically charged when heated (GIA). These are properties measured in the laboratory, and none of them demonstrates any healing effect on the human body.
One of the most frequently cited tests on crystals was carried out by the psychologist Christopher French, of Goldsmiths, University of London, with colleagues. The results were presented in March 2001, at the centenary conference of the British Psychological Society in Glasgow. Eighty volunteers meditated for a few minutes holding either a genuine quartz crystal or a glass imitation of identical appearance. Almost all reported some sensation, such as warmth or tingling. There was no difference between those holding the real stone and those holding the fake. The sensations tracked each volunteer’s belief in the paranormal and their hypnotic susceptibility (French, The Skeptic, 2021). Crystals are no substitute for medical or psychological diagnosis or treatment. The topic is covered in detail in the post “Does crystal healing work? What science says” (coming soon).
Layer 3: modern spiritual belief
Much of the meaning attached to crystals today comes from books published from the 1980s onwards. Among the most influential are Crystal Enlightenment, by Katrina Raphaell (1985), Love Is in the Earth, by Melody (1991), and The Crystal Bible, by Judy Hall (2003). In modern witchcraft, the reference work is Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem & Metal Magic, by Scott Cunningham (1988). The stone correspondences for the sabbats, such as those in the Beltane post, come from this recent literature; the research for this text found no record of them in ancient Celtic sources.
The chakras come from Indian traditions, but the Western table of the seven colours of the rainbow is recent. According to the researcher Kurt Leland (2017), the colours of the rainbow and the list of qualities for each chakra appear combined in writing only in 1977, in the book Bodymind, by Ken Dychtwald. The expanded second edition of Nuclear Evolution, by Christopher Hills (1977; 1st ed., 1968), also links each of the seven chakras to a colour of the spectrum. The book The Chakras (1927), by C. W. Leadbeater, used a different colour scheme. Recommending a green stone for the heart and a blue one for the throat means matching the colour of the stone to this table. Read more in the articles “The chakras: centres of energy and balance” and, on the symbolism of colours, “Colours: what is your colour?”, both in Portuguese.
This layer also includes energy cleansing, intention programming and crystal grids. The site treats these uses as spiritual practice and warns when a method may damage the stone.
How to read a list of properties
“Amethyst is quartz” is mineralogy. “The Greeks linked amethyst to wine” is tradition, with a source. “Amethyst protects sleep” is modern belief. All three can coexist in the same practice when each is presented with its origin.
The next texts in the series follow this method: “Citrine or burnt amethyst? How to recognise fake, dyed and treated crystals” (coming soon) and “Which crystals cannot go in water, salt or sunlight” (coming soon).
Questions answered
Are a crystal and a stone the same thing?
In popular usage, yes. In mineralogy, a crystal is a solid with atoms arranged in a repeating pattern. A stone may be a single crystal or a rock, such as lapis lazuli and obsidian.
If science does not confirm the effect, why do so many people feel something?
The study by Christopher French and colleagues showed that the sensations appear both with real crystals and with imitations, and that they tracked each volunteer’s belief in the paranormal. Since the reports were the same with both types of stone, the study does not attribute the sensations to the crystal.
Does the stone for my birth month have an ancient origin?
The table used today was approved by American jewellers in 1912 and revised later. The Bible describes twelve stones on the breastplate of the high priest (Exodus 28:17–20), but the text does not associate them with birth months. The names of these stones, incidentally, vary from one translation to another.
Is cheap citrine fake?
Generally, it is treated citrine. According to the GIA, most of the citrine on sale is heated amethyst. It is still quartz, with its colour altered by heat.
Mini-glossary
- Mineral: a natural substance with a defined chemical composition and an ordered crystalline structure, such as quartz.
- Rock: a natural material generally formed by a mixture of minerals, such as lapis lazuli; obsidian, a volcanic glass, is also classified as a rock.
- Mineraloid: a natural material without an ordered crystalline structure, such as shungite.
- Mohs scale: a scale from 1 to 10 that compares the resistance of minerals to scratching.
- Piezoelectricity: the ability of some crystals, such as quartz and tourmaline, to generate electrical voltage under pressure.
Bibliography
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