More than you ever wanted to know about Cat's Eye

This edition of my ongoing series of blog posts about gem and mineral fact, fiction and lore, features cat’s eye chrysoberyl.

Cat’s eye chrysoberyl, also called cymophane, gets the cat’s eye description from the resemblance of the stone’s eye to the narrow iris of a cat’s eye. The name chrysoberyl comes form the Greek chrysos (a reference to the golden color).

Lore

Cat's eyes are thought to protect against witchcraft and assaults of the devil upon the soul. Once believed to guard the wearer against physical danger and enable one to weather all storms.

"No gems have afforded more interest to the Oriental peoples than those that are known as phenomenal gems; that is, such as exhibit a phenomenal quality, either as a moving line as in the chrysoberyl cat's-eye, or the quartz cat's-eye, or as a star, a class represented by the star-sapphire and the star-ruby, all these being considered to bring good fortune to the wearer." 1

"Yellow chrysoberyl prevents others form manipulating you, whether psychically or psychologically. It fosters a strong work ethos in a workplace and is good to set near a colleague who is idle or constantly chatters." 2

"Cat's-eye is also used in wealth and money spells. Possession of the stone guards the owner's wealth and will increase it as long as the stone is retained. It is often kept with money for this purpose. Not only does the stone prevent financial ruin, it will also restore wealth lost prior to ownership of the stone. Cat's-eye brings riches and is an excellent talisman for gamblers. 3


1) George Frederick Kunz "The curious lore of precious stones"

2) Cassandra Eason "The Illustrated Directory of Healing Crystals"

3) Scott Cunningham "Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem, and Metal Magic"