The Mythology of Amber

Upon sorting through my largely-forgotten silver rings, I came across my beautiful cognac amber ring and, upon wearing it again, was reminded of the beauty and warmth of spirit of amber. I decided that this blog post would therefore delve a bit more into this gorgeous material. Amber, as most of us know, is fossilised tree resin and, unsurprisingly has a rich mythological and spiritual lore. Its beautiful hues of yellow, orange, and deep reds associate it with warmth, vitality and the sun and the purification of negative, hidden energies. It can also help balance emotions and is particularly good for balancing the sacral and solar plexus chakras which govern creativity and self confidence respectively. It is a substance rich in succinic acid, an analgesic, which explains why it was (and still is) used to help teething babies. Regarding mythology, amber is frequently associated with tales of tragic love and loss. One Roman tale speaks of amber being the crystallised tears of Clymene, an Oceanid nymph whose son, was killed by the Sun God, Helios. Similarly, amber is said to be both the tears of the Baltic Goddess Jurate, lovelorn following the death of her human lover, and the remnants of her underwater amber kingdom, destroyed by the wrathful God, Perkunas with whom she had been betrothed. To me, therefore, amber is not only beautiful, but also has a slightly melancholic and wistful presence and going forward, I will make sure to spend more time sharing space with this gorgeous “stone”.