Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Amethyst



The name comes from the ancient greek to mean "Not Intoxicated" for the Greeks belived that the stone would keep you from becomming drunk! They even went so far as to have goblets made of the stone to prevent the likely outcome!Lore-In greek mythology, Dionysus, the god of intoxication, was pursuing a maiden named Amethystos, who refused his affections. Amethystos prayed to the gods to remain chaste, which the goddess Artemis granted and transformed her into a white stone.
Humbled by Amethystos' desire to remain chaste, Dionysus poured wine over the stone as an offering, dyeing the crystals purple.Variations of the story include that Dionysus had been insulted by a mortal and swore to slay the next mortal who crossed his path, creating fierce tigers to carry out his wrath. The mortal turned out to be a beautiful young woman, Amethystos, who was on her way to pay tribute to Artemis. Her life is spared by Artemis, who transformed the maiden into a statue of pure crystalline quartz to protect her from the brutal claws. Dionysus wept tears of wine in remorse for his action at the sight of the beautiful statue. The god's tears then stained the quartz purple. Another variation involves the goddess Rhea presenting Dionysus with the amethyst stone to preserve the winedrinker's sanity.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AmethystAnd some nice pictureshttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Amethyst

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