GEMSTONES launches next Friday (unless you’re an email subscriber in which case you get early access the night before) so I thought I’d share a little bit of the mythology, folklore, etc. that inspired this collection over the next few days.
So.
Back to Amethysts.
If we looked to nature and science, the Incredible Hulk should have actually turned purple instead of green when he was exposed to gamma radiation. At least, that's what happens to amethysts. It's true! Those beautiful deep purples? All thanks to captured gamma rays.
The ancient Greeks believed that an amethyst had been given from the Titan Rhea to the god Dionysus in order to protect him from drunkenness.** Trying to "harness" that same power, this led to some pretty entertaining occurrences- like people making wine glasses out of amethyst so they could drink without consequence. (Spoiler alert- They still got drunk, but at least their cups were pretty.)
Today, it's power is a little more vague and sticks to the overall themes of promoting clarity, level headedness, and intuition. (Which let's be honest, kind of goes hand in hand with sobriety.)
**There is another more Hollywood-esque myth that says Dionysus was trying to capture a woman named Amethyste, but she wanted nothing to do with him. True to pretty much all mythology, the god decided her feelings didn't matter and chased her into the woods. She pleaded with Artemis to save her and the goddess turned her into a pure quartz crystal. Dionysus realized he was a jerk and cried tears of wine onto the crystal forever giving it its deep purple color. This story isn't found in classical texts though, so I thought I'd share the other one first.