More than you ever wanted to know about Chalcedony

This edition of my ongoing series of blog posts about gem and mineral fact, fiction and lore, feature chalcedony; a silica minerial.

The name chalcedony is derived from Chalcedon, an ancient Greek city of Asia Minor. It is a variety of quartz that comes in many colors and patterns. It’s composed of microcrystaline quartz crystals and hydrated silica (opal). Chalcedony is an excellent stone for jewelry because it is durable and takes a good polish.


Chalcedony is generally formed near the surface of the earth where temperatures and pressures are relatively low.

Lore

Chalcedony is thought to bolster emotional balance and increase physical energy. It was once believed that those wearing this stone would be kinder, more charitable, and friendlier.

"A man with his right hand raised aloft, if engraved on a chalcedony, gives success in lawsuits, renders the wearer healthy, gives him safety in his travels and preserves him from all evil chances." 1

"There was never a stone which stood for so many and such virtues. In the worldly sense, it confers riches and honors; it inspires horror of blood, expels sadness and melancholy - like the anti-toxic virtue, a recurring office of stones - and preserves from sudden death, almost a unique quality. It is said also that it calms troubled waters, as if it were a talisman for the macrocosmic world, but perhaps this may be taken in the sense of stilling the waters of the human soul, because it is claimed otherwise that it appeases angry passions. Finally, as the Divining Rod is held to indicate the place of hidden springs and wells of water, so the Topaz is a Magnet for Gold, attracting the precious metal, indicating buried treasures and revealing lodes and veins of gold beneath the earth." 2

Chrysoprase, heliotrope (blood stone), carnelian, sardonyx, onyx, jasper and agate are all forms of chalcedony. Each with it's own properties.


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

2) Lauron William De Laurence "Great Book of Magical Art, Hindu Magic and East Indian Occultism" 1915