ORE FEATURES: Amber

Amber was our first jewel. Its connection to a past even more ancient than our own. Life seemingly captured within its golden embrace. The warmth of its touch and the electricity it exudes. Soft, yet sturdy and so easy to carve or drill. All these aspects combine to elevate Amber to its monumental place as our first adornment, first magical tool, first healing stone.

Resin from primal forests, buried beneath seas or sediment for hundreds of millions of years evolve into the gemstone known as Amber. Resin is not the same substance as a Tree's sap. Sap is a liquid that flows through the vascular system (the veins of branches and leaves) of a Tree. Resin is created by the Tree to help prolong its life and manage its health. It fills in gaps between growth rings, heals insect bites and open wounds caused by branches broken during violent weather.

Most Amber began as a resin from extinct Conifers (various evergreens). Araucariaceae appear to have produced the greatest about of Amber specimens (related to modern Norfolk Pines, Monkey Puzzles and the Kauri Pines). Other primal pines include Taxodiaceae (Sequoias), Taxaceae (Yews), Cupressaceae (Cedars, Cypresses, Junipers) and Pinaceae (Pine). Podacarpaceae were also responsible for some of the fossilized resins, but appear to have no modern decedents.

The first resins that fossilized date back to the Carboniferous era approximately 360 to 385 million years ago. These ancient Amber gems are found in the United Kingdom and the United States. Over the next 220 million years, from the Permian era to the Cretaceous era geological forces were working around the planet to produce this warm gold gem. Eventually Amber deposits would emerge in Russia, Austria, Denmark, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Poland, Spain, France, Israel, Lebanon, Japan, Sweden, the Dominican Republic and all across the African continent.

Conditions for evolving gooey resin into an Amber gemstone are equivalent to those required for any Fossil to form. The organic matter must be buried in some manner that prevents oxygen from beginning the decay process. Unlike wood or animals where organic matter is replaced by Quartz over millions of years, resin must literally evolve into Amber.

The warm woodsy smell coming from resin (and Amber) is the result of a set of chemicals called terpenes. Over the slow passage of geological time these terpenes break down into gasses and escape from the buried resin, allowing it to harden. Copal, a baby sister to Amber contains a higher quantity of the volatile terepenes and is not completely fossilized. Copal is resin that is less than 100 million years old (approximately).

Amber's intriguing physical properties continue to add to the gem's mystic and power to capture our attention. It is the only gem that floats on salt water. The earliest known "mining" of Amber was literally picking up pieces that had been washed to shore by surf or storm. One way to test if your Amber is real or a reconstituted piece is to put it in a glass of water mixed with table salt. Real Amber will float, man-made will sink.

Rub a specimen with a wool or silk cloth and it will build a static electric charge. Watch it attract dust and light pieces of paper. In the dark you will see sparks. The early Greek name for the gem was Elektron, the root for the modern word electricity.

Over the centuries this gem has picked up a number of names. In Latin it was known as Succinum and mineralogists refer to it as Succinite. Germans inspired by the Fossil's ability to burn dubbed the gem Bernstein.

Other names like frothy, soily, foamy, bone and fatty are used to identify various colors and/or degree of transparency within a gem. Amber is normally yellow to gold, but has also been found in green, red, black and a rootbeer brown. Pyrite inclusions often create the frothy/foamy effect. Green is thought to be the result of decaying organic matter being dissolved by the resin before it hardens into Amber.

Succinic acid is one of the compounds in the chemical makeup of Amber. In the human body it works as an organic stimulant, aiding the nervous system, heart, kidneys and healing processes. It is no wonder Humans instinctively turned to this fossil gem to cure a variety of our ills.

Hippocrates (460-377 BC) writings on the medicinal uses of Amber were used by alchemists and scientists throughout the middle ages. One of the oldest remedies involving Amber is to crush it and mix it with honey. This mixture was used to treat gout, asthma and the black plague. Roman physicians used the same honey mix to cure throat, ear and eye maladies. In China Amber was added to Opium to make an Amber Syrup which was prescribed as a tranquilizer and antispasmodic.

Tribes from Lithuania would smudge newborns with smoke from Amber to ensure healthy growth. Doctors in the middle ages gave Amber beads to draw the yellow out of jaundiced skin. Russian men mixed the gem with vodka to improve fertility and performance. In Germany it was given to teething infants to promote strong teeth.

Amber's power is not limited to healing. Its warm and electric personality made it a must have in any magical tool kit. Magicians frequently employed the gem's energy to empower spells and potions. Often carving symbols or animals on the stone to "spark" up its energy. Shamans and tribal spiritual leaders around the globe used Amber in a variety of fire rituals and ceremonies. Amber pendants were given to daughters to ensure their virginity. Soldiers wore it to bring victory. Nannies were provided with Amber beads to protect them while they were caring for your child.

Greek and Roman myths are rich with stories of gods that cried Tears of the Sun (Amber). In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Phaeton's sisters weep Amber tears when their brother fails in his efforts to please his father, the Sun. Appollo cried tears of Amber when he was banished from Olympus.

Even today Amber is the subject of myth and mystery. In spite of the popularity of the Jurassic Park movies, scientists have yet to extract any viable DNA from insects or creatures encapsulated by fossilized resin. Though specimens that contain these primal relatives are becoming more rare and increasingly more expensive.

Your Amber doesn't need a bug or beetle inside to help you create your own golden myths and magic. Amber is considered the essence of life, use it to recharge your own joy for living. Carry or wear the gem to help capture the special moments along your journey. Then, in those lonely moments, rub your Amber and reawaken those happy memories.

These days many families are faced with the fearful prospect of seeing their child deployed on very dangerous military endeavors. Send an Amber with them to help protect their lives and give them a piece of your loving warmth to carry with them. Are you afraid of the dark, or currently working through a dark time in your life? Bring some of the Sun's tears along to brighten your path and ease your fears.

When working through difficult problems or trying to untangle complicated situations, a quiet meditation with an Amber may help you fill in the gaps. Bring to light those areas of the problem you've been overlooking, so you can see the whole picture and manifest the correct solution.

Use the gem when you are feeling stuck. Working with an Amber will inspire your creativity, help you see old ways in new lights. This Fossil will teach you to roll with the flow. Stop trying to control everything, and on occasion allow life to just happen.

SUBSCRIBER'S SPECIAL: FREE extra small Amber

Receive a FREE small Amber with any purchase from Ozark Rock Exchange. You can shop on line at https://www.ozarkrockexchange.com/cart You can also place your order by email at stephanie@ozarkrockexchange.com or send your telephone number for a phone appointment. Discount will be taken at the time of purchase. You must be an ORE FEATURES subscriber as of May 2, 2007 to be eligible for the Subscriber's Special; the Subscriber Special is not valid with other offers (unless otherwise stated). Only one special per subscriber, please. This Subscriber Special expires June 5, 2007

The Amber Room
By Stephanie Pflumm

Research brings me to so many different places. One of this month's discoveries was an almost three hundred year project that involves kings, tsars, Amber and WW II.

It begins in 1701 when Prussian King Frederick I commissions Andreas Schluter and Gottfried Woffram to create an Amber Room in the Great Royal Palace at Berlin. Work on this magical room continues until 1713 until bickering, court politics and the death of King Frederick I brings everything to a halt.

When Frederick Wilhelm I took over power, he has the work removed to the Berlin Armory. Three years later, Russian Tsar Peter I comes to Russian and immediately begins coveting the Amber architectural masterpiece. In an effort to promote peace between the two historic enemies, Wilhelm presents Peter with the room as a diplomatic gift.

When the room arrives at Peter's Summer Palace is left to sit unpacked until the 1740's. When Elizabeth I takes the Russian throne, she has the Amber Room installed in the audience hall of the third Winter Palace. Faux amber mirrors and panels are added to fill in gaps as a result of the dimensions for the different rooms.

In 1755 the Tsarina moves the Amber Room to Catherine Palace (near modern Pushkin). Finally in 1770 the room is finished and put into use. Konstantin Akinsha, an art historian wrote that the room was like walking into a Faberge Egg. Lit by over 500 candles the room glowed with the warmth of the Amber and sparkled from the reflections of mirrors.

Empress Catherine II comes into power in 1763 and has the faux panels replaced with real Amber. Florentine mosaics representing the five senses using precious and semi-precious gems are added to the room. Additional repairs and or changes are done four different times during the 1800s.

Some minor repairs were made during the 1920s and 30s. Finally major renovation was slated to begin in 1941, but was sadly interrupted by the war. As the German troops moved into Russia, efforts were made to disguise the room's glory with cotton panels and gauze. Now a faux wallpaper hung over the Amber.

Hundreds of thousands of Russians are victims to Germany's brutal assault. When the palace containing the Amber Room is finally sacked, the Nazi troops easily discovered the attempts to camaflouge it. The room is dismantled and whisked away to Germany.

In April of 1944 the Amber Room has been reassembled as an exhibit at the Konigsberg Castle. However, in January of the following year the allies bomb Konigsberg extensively and the magical Amber Room that glowed disappears.

What's Happening At Ozark Rock Exchange?

MEMPHIS FOSSIL, GEM & MINERAL SHOW: Was truly overwhelmed by my first rock show here in Memphis. So many choices, so little time, sigh. I did manage to discover and bring home some wonderful Fossils, gems and minerals and plan to have them posted in the catalog by mid-month.

JANICE CASEY: My sincerest apologies to Janice Casey for incorrectly crediting her poem when it was first posted on the Poets Page. The copyright is now correct and hopefully we can look forward to more poetry from Janice.

ORE FEATURES ARCHIVES: Help!?!?!?!?! stephanie@ozarkrockexchange.com

ORE'S POET PAGE (updated April 18): Read Forsythia from Tasha Halpert, Look to Grandmother Moon by Carole Strong or Diamond penned by Elfkin. There are nine new poems in all for the April update. Send your submissions for the April update to webmaster@ozarkrockexchange.com - Please send your poem, prose or short essay as text (please do not send .txt or .doc attachments) in an email to webmaster@ozarkrockexchange.com - put Poets Page in the subject line.

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