Agate

Agate is a mi­cro­crys­tal­line vari­ety of quartz (silica), chiefly chalcedony, which can be found in the cav­it­ies of vol­can­ic rocks. Due to the pres­ence of cer­tain amounts of iron, agates can be­come or­ange, red, brown, or even black in col­or, and the pres­ence of chlor­ides make agates turn green­ish. Agate can hardly be mis­taken for an­oth­er gem­stone be­cause it is so unique due to its grain and col­or. Its unique­ness is per­haps the reas­on why it has been val­ued and widely used by jew­el­ers since an­cient times.

The char­ac­ter­ist­ics agate is val­ued for are its col­or and grain. The vari­ety of tex­tures among agates is the product of dif­fer­ent min­er­al de­pos­itions such as quartz, chalcedony, opal, and quartzine. An in­ter­est­ing fact is that a stone can be called an agate only if it is formed from zig­zag shaped min­er­al lay­ers. When the stone's lay­ers form on top of each oth­er in straight par­al­lel planes, the stone is called an onyx even though it is the same chem­ic­al struc­ture as agate.

Formed in nat­ur­al rock cav­it­ies, agates can some­times in­her­it the rock shape. Agates that are formed by con­cent­ric lay­ers are called cir­cu­lar and are con­sidered to be the most valu­able. Some­times in the cen­ter of the agate, one or more rock crys­tals can be found. It is also in­ter­est­ing that a 1 cm deep agate piece may be com­posed of thou­sands of mi­cro­scop­ic lay­ers. Nat­ur­al agates, in ad­di­tion to their nat­ur­al bright­ness, can also ac­quire col­ors ar­ti­fi­cially, and the trans­par­ent agate lay­ers are very sens­it­ive to col­or­ing agents.

Agate is, without a doubt, one of the most fas­cin­at­ing and beau­ti­ful stones, but nature has in­ven­ted an even more won­der­ful phe­nomen­on – agate geodes. These form­a­tions are hol­low agates full of rock crys­tals or vi­ol­et amethysts and oth­er min­er­als.

Le­gend states that agate can be found only by an in­no­cent per­son with a pure soul. The agate can pro­tect its own­er from pois­ons and beasts and from en­emies’ plots and oth­er threats. The agate can help de­vel­op­ing oratory skills and find solu­tions to any prob­lem. This gem­stone is also be­lieved to in­crease a per­son’s self-con­fid­ence and to raise his spir­it; it can make one wiser and be­stow a sense of em­power­ment and in­spir­a­tion.

Or­ange or brown­ish-or­ange agate is be­lieved to help in mak­ing friends and solv­ing ro­mantic prob­lems; it also helps to find a way to prosper­ity and fame. White agate sym­bol­izes peace of mind and calmness, it also pro­tects its bear­er from evil spir­its and hexes and en­cour­ages kind­ness, sin­cer­ity, and mod­er­a­tion. Yel­low agate as­sists in pre­serving health by ac­cu­mu­lat­ing and restor­ing vi­tal force.

Gray agate is a sym­bol of open­ness and pur­ity, and it helps to ex­pose and avoid lies, de­cep­tion, and be­tray­al; to over­come con­flicts; to pro­tect from those who wish ill-will; to help find peace and mu­tu­al un­der­stand­ing. Blue agate brings calmness and love and in­spires cre­ativ­ity and crafts­man­ship. Black agate is a de­fense against ac­ci­dents and curses and is a source of spir­itu­al en­ergy and sta­bil­ity. Black agate also brings wealth.