Gemstone Legends & Lore

Wondering which gemstones to select for your wedding ring? First check out these myths that surround some of the most popular stones...

For as long as mankind has walked the rocky places of the earth, he has sought an explanation for its most striking stones, believing, as the Aztecs, that they were a gift from the gods. In the Middle East, it was thought that beauties like vivid opals fell from the sky between bolts of lightning.

As might be expected, Atlantis, the mythical lost city beneath the sea, plays a role in one important Caribbean gemstone legend. Some call larimar, the blue gem from the Dominican Republic, the “Atlantis stone” thanks to a prediction by Edgar Cayce. The man known as “the sleeping prophet” foretold of a blue stone with healing attributes that would be discovered on a Caribbean island. Today, many believe larimar is that stone and that it has the capacity to support the healing process, relieve stress, and even promote speech skills when it comes in direct contact with the skin.

And while speech may be improved by wearing larimar rings or other jewelry, eyesight is said be enhanced for those who wear the topaz. Not only is it rumored to have physical benefits, topaz jewelry is said to bestow the gift of revelation on the wearer. Foresight was also said to be a quality of opals, according to the ancient Greeks while the Romans considered it a symbol of purity and of good luck.

The ancient Greeks are the source of many of the legends surrounding amber as well. Sometimes called the “stone of life,” this material has been used as a medicine, crushed and mixed with honey in treatment of everything from asthma to gout to insomnia. Burned, amber was used to drive away both evil spirits and, while on ships, sea serpents.