Amber: meaning, properties and lore

The mineral

Amber is an organic gem made from hardened resin of ancient pine trees. It is fossil tree resin that became stable after burial in the ground, losing volatile constituents and changing chemically over time. Because it comes from living or once-living organisms, it is not a crystal in the usual mineral sense. Gemological writers describe it as an organic gem produced by biological processes.³¹⁷⁵⁸

Amber has no definitive chemical formula, since it is made of complex organic material. It is amorphous, so it has no crystal system. Its Mohs hardness is 2 to 2.5, which makes it very soft for a gemstone. Because of this softness it must be protected from scratches during wear, and it can melt or burn at high temperatures.³⁴⁸

Amber has a specific gravity of 1.0 to 1.1 and is among the lightest gemstones. It floats in a saturated salt solution but not in ordinary seawater. Its refractive index lies between 1.539 and 1.545. The lightness means that even large pieces can feel very light in the hand.³⁸⁹

Amber occurs as irregular nodules, rods or droplike shapes in shades of yellow, with nuances of orange and brown, and rarely red. It can also be white, and it is usually yellow to brown. Many people think of amber as transparent, but it can also be opaque. Milky-white opaque varieties are called bone amber.⁵⁸⁹⁷⁶

The cloudiness of amber is usually caused by trapped air bubbles, many of them gas bubbles. Strong fluorescence can give amber a bluish or greenish look. Blue amber is found mainly in the Dominican Republic, where it is mined in Santiago Province.³⁵⁷⁹⁶

The largest deposits of amber lie along the Baltic Sea, near Kaliningrad Oblast in Russia, in sands estimated at 40 to 60 million years old. Amber has been found throughout the world, and the Baltic coast bordering Germany, Poland and Russia is still an important source. Other localities include Germany, Italy (Sicily), Burma (Myanmar), Mexico, Canada and the United States. Dominant Dominican deposits occur north of Santiago de los Caballeros and northeast of Santo Domingo.³⁵⁷⁶

Amber is generally natural and not usually treated, though some pieces are fused by heating and oiling. Some amber is heated to darken its colour, and bright yellow green amber results from heat and pressure treatment. Pressed or reconstructed amber is a composite of small pieces bonded under heat and pressure, and it sells for less than non-consolidated pieces. Parallel bands or flow structure help distinguish it from natural amber.³⁸⁵⁹

History and lore

Pliny the Elder, writing in Natural History in the first century CE, said amber is formed from the liquid that exudes from a type of pine tree. He concluded that it is the sap of a pine hardened by frost, heat or the sea. He noted that amber was generally useless except as an adornment for women.²¹⁰

Amber was known as Succinum, a name derived from the Greek word for juice, because of its vegetable origin. The Greeks knew it as ELEKTRON, from which the word electricity has been derived. The modern English word amber derives from the Latin ambrum via the Arabic anbar. Mineralogists know amber as succinite.¹¹¹

Thales observed the electrical property of amber as early as 600 B.C. Amber, like tourmaline and loadstone, is an electric gem that attracts paper when charged. The Persians called amber kahruba, meaning straw-robber, because it attracts light objects when rubbed. Dr. Philemon Holland, translating Pliny's 37th Book in the 17th century, described amber drawing chaff and straws when rubbed.⁴¹¹¹

For the ancient Greek poets, grains of amber were the tears shed by the Heliades over the death of their brother Phaëthon. Ovid retold the old belief that amber was the crystallised tears of Clymene and her daughters. Sophocles, in a lost tragedy, linked amber to Meleager.^1210111

Ancient writers said that amber eased stomach pains, and was credited with curing jaundice and goitre and acting against certain poisons. Thomas Nicols, a 17th century writer, esteemed amber the best for physic use. In the Middle Ages amber was used as a charm against fits, dysentery, jaundice, scrofula and nervous affections.¹¹¹

Amber cut in magical forms was used extensively as a charm against the evil eye, witchcraft and sorcery. The Shah of Persia was said to wear a block of amber on his neck to protect him against assassination. An amber cup was said to reveal the presence of poison in a liquid. Amber was believed to have protective qualities, so Romans sewed it into the nets separating spectators from wild animals in the arena. Prussian royalty regarded amber as their national treasure.¹¹⁴²

Amber is sometimes called gold of the North. The Amber Room was constructed for King Frederick I of Prussia in Danzig between 1701 and 1714 and presented to Czar Peter I of Russia in 1716. Its panels were looted by a German army unit during World War II and never recovered. The 1937 colour slide and 1930s black-and-white photographs served as the main records for its reconstruction. The movie Jurassic Park generated great interest in amber.⁷²¹³

Birthstone and chakra links

Crystal practitioners associate amber with the Sacral, Solar Plexus and Throat Chakras, a link that is modern and comes from practitioners rather than an ancient source. These links are practitioner views, and their lists differ from one practitioner to another.

Practitioners associate amber with the numerical vibration 3, a modern practice-based link. Crystal practitioners also list amber on the Mohs hardness scale at approximately 2 to 2.5, which matches the measured hardness.

What crystal practitioners say

Crystal practitioners regard amber as a powerful cleanser and energiser for the body, mind and spirit. They associate it with purification, strength, good luck and success. Practitioners say amber offers wisdom, psychic and physical protection, and optimism.

Practitioners believe amber helps absorb negative energy and encourages a lighter, more positive outlook. They say it is valued for its calming energy, which encourages inner peace and the release of negative emotions. Practitioners also use amber to encourage vitality and renewal and to support the release of emotional blockages.

Practitioners say amber can help clear mental blockages and improve focus and clarity. Crystal practitioners believe it supports clear thinking, decision-making and intellectual energy, and helps balance the two sides of the brain. They say its connection with the Throat Chakra may encourage honest communication and creative self-expression.

Practitioners advise placing amber on the Solar Plexus during meditation to enhance inner strength and manifest positive changes. Believers hold that amber helps users attract abundance and make transformative changes. Spiritually, amber is said to have a soothing and grounding effect and to help connect with spirit guides or ancestors.

Practitioners advise cleansing amber by rinsing it under running water or smudging it with sage or palo santo. For energetic cleansing, moonlight or sound are recommended as gentle methods rather than salt water for prolonged periods or direct sunlight. Charging is often done by placing amber in sunlight for a few hours, which practitioners believe recharges its natural healing properties.

Amber has been associated with emotional healing and with easing stress and feelings of heaviness. Practitioners say its grounding and healing properties have made it a cherished material in spiritual practices. Crystal healers say that, when used in meditation or carried as a talisman, it helps mend soul trauma and builds self-worth and empowerment.

What testing has found

Edzard Ernst, who analysed 150 complementary and alternative treatments, concluded that rigorous trials of crystal healing's therapeutic value are lacking. He stated that no scientific proof exists of any positive effect beyond a placebo effect.¹⁴

Ernst argued that agreeable feelings or apparent successes linked to crystal healing may stem from a strong placebo effect and cognitive bias. He likened it to the historical belief in charmstones rather than to a practice grounded in modern science.¹⁴

In 2001, British psychologist Christopher French tested 80 volunteers, asking them to distinguish genuine crystals from imitations after holding them and meditating.¹⁴