Amazonite

Amazonite is a popular name for blue-green Microcline, a Feldspar mineral.  It is closely related to such popular stones as Moonstone and Sunstone, both of which are used to described a variety of shimmery Feldspar minerals.   The best pieces of Amazonite will have a vivid color as well as a silvery-white iridescence that dances along the surface when light moves across it.  It’s name is tribute to the Amazons, warrior-women that lived life by their own terms.  Unsurprisingly, this stone asks us to stand up and be counted.  It’s energy sings of courage and truth.  It is a phenomenal stone for anyone who is timid and needs to find their own voice.

AMAZONITE HEALING ENERGY

Spiritual Healing Properties

Amazonite is a stone of courage and shatters the lies of “victim mentality.” It empowers us to be the master of our own fate and reminds us that we have the power to do great things. It helps us to heal from past pain and to use it as fuel to move us forward into a healthier and happier future. Amazonite reminds us of who we truly are and helps us to move beyond our fears of judgement or failure. It encourages us to cultivate balance and to ask ourselves if our thoughts and actions are in alignment with our true values. If they are out-of-alignment, Amazonite helps us to make appropriate changes so that we live in a way that matches our noble spirit. Amazonite is an amazing stone for feminists and celebrates the feminine aspects of courage, strength and power. With its emphasis on balance, Amazonite urges us to fight for equality in rights and opportunities.

Heart & Throat Chakra

Emotional Healing Properties

Amazonite balances out mood extremes, so that we can spend most of our time feeling good. It encourages us to trust that “all will be well” and helps us find our way to inner and outer harmony. It is particularly good for helping us to create and maintain healthy boundaries. This usually means boundaries with other people, but it can also be used for work-life boundaries. Amazonite enhances all forms of communication, but is particularly good for encouraging timid people to speak up boldly. It encourages assertive behavior and inspires us to take on leadership roles. Amazonite helps us to trust our own opinions and to have confidence in our own competence. If other people don’t like us or agree with us, Amazonite reminds us to not worry too much about our reputation amongst the small-minded. But if there is discord between ourselves and someone we respect and admire, Amazonite encourages us to set our ego aside and consider the matter honestly. If we are in the wrong, Amazonite pushes us to acknowledge it and make proper amends.

Mental Healing Properties

Amazonite empowers us to make our dreams a reality and magnifies our intentions when they are spoken aloud. It helps us to know what we want out of life and to have the courage to do whatever it takes. Amazonite reminds us that having peaceful and supportive relationships generally makes it easier to achieve our goals. As such, it pushes us to swiftly resolve problems when they come up. Amazonite speeds up the intellectual process of working through emotional or interpersonal issues. It helps us to find the words to describe our feelings and instincts, and it unites our logic with our intuition. When we feel upset, Amazonite helps us to set the emotions aside and focus on problem-solving, rather than insisting that we are right or trying to prove we have been wronged. This doesn’t mean that those facts or emotions don’t matter or shouldn’t be taken into account; but rather that it usually to our own benefit if the emotional intensity is taken down a notch. Amazonite helps us to find reasonable and balanced solutions so that we have the best chance of a happy and peaceful life.

Physical Healing Properties

Amazonite is recommended for anyone feeling physically tense and emotionally overwhelmed. It has a calm and empowering energy that can help us to relax and is especially effective during intense or traumatic situations. Amazonite is a powerful talisman for women enduring the agony of childbirth. It helps women step into their Mother Goddess and Warrior Women power, to survive the pain and bring forth new life. Amazonite is also a comforting talisman when grief threatens to completely overwhelm us and we feel our own body shutting down in exhaustion and pain. In these moments, Amazonite can helps us to breath through the agony and to focus on taking care of our immediate physical needs, moment by moment, day after day, enduring the unendurable, until gradually we emotionally find our way back to peace. Amazonite is also recommended as a talisman for breast health, thyroid conditions and problems with the adrenal glands, especially if the issues are caused by excessive stress.

GEOLOGY OF AMAZONITE

Where does Amazonite come from?

Amazonite deposits have been found in Brazil, India, Kenya, Madagascar, Namibia, Peru, Russia, and the United States (Colorado and Virginia).

Mining and Treatments

Typically mined from the primary deposits which still have their original relationship with the host rock. Amazonite is a relatively rare mineral. Historically, it was mined almost exclusively in the Ilmen Mountains of Russia where it was found embedded in the granite mountains. Today it is mined alongside granite and Pegmatite in the Ilmen and Ural Mountains of Russia, as well as the Rocky Mountains in the United States. It is also mined alongside Pegmatite in Minas Geris, Brazil and in Madagascar.

Mineral Family

Amazonite is a rare blue-green Microcline, a type of Alkali Feldspar, which is a Silicate mineral.  Silicates are minerals which contain the elements Silicon (a light gray shiny metal) and Oxygen (a colorless gas). There are six main groups of Silicate minerals, and these main groups are further subdivided into secondary subdivisions, such as Quartz and Feldspar. Feldspar is a large mineral family in its own right and is subdivided into Alkali Feldspars (rich in Potassium) and Plagioclase Feldspars (rich in Calcium). The most common type of Alkali Feldspar is Microcline, which is typically white or pale yellow. Much more rarely Microcline may be blue-green, at which point it is called Amazonite and considered a semi-precious gemstone.

Amazonite Formation and Crystal Associates

Amazonite is a major component of most igneous rocks, and may also be found in sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. It is created when hot silica acid rich in aluminum and potassium shifts from being a gas/liquid into a solid compound. Trace particles of lead and water within the silica acid gives Amazonite its rich blue-green color, otherwise the silica acid would transform into the more common white Microcline.

What causes Amazonite to shimmer and glow?

Amazonite occasionally has adularescence, an optical phenomenon in which light is reflected between layers of the mineral.  This makes a shimmery glow move across the surface of the stone when the stone is moved around a light source.  This is also known as schiller effect.

HISTORY OF AMAZONITE

For most of its history, Amazonite was known merely as ‘green feldspar’. Some sources state that the name ‘Amazonite’ is reference to the color of the Amazon river and/or that green feldspar is found in the vicinity of the river. Such claims are totally inaccurate since the Amazon river typically appears brown, rather than blue-green, and green feldspar has never been found near it. Instead, the name Amazonite is a modern reference to the mythological Amazons.

European explorers in South America were told by native tribes along the Rio Negro River, a tributary of the Amazon River, that a beautiful blue-green stone came from a ‘land of women without men.’ It was further said that the women gave the stones to men that visited them. The ancient Greeks had told a similar tale in which the Amazons, a tribe of fierce warrior women, were said to carry shields decorated with a blue-green stone. Like their sisters in South America, the Greek Amazons lived without men, but took occasional male visitors as lovers and gave them gifts before sending them away. As interest in the power of crystals gained new popularity during the 18th century, these stories led to the official naming of green feldspar as ‘Amazonite.’

Sourced from moonrisecrystals.com