Agate - History & Properties

History-Name

Agate (“achatis” in Greek) took its name from the Achates river (known today as Dirillo) in Sicily, as Theofrastos, discovered this stone along the shores of this river.
Agate, a semi-precious stone, has been used mainly for making tools, from more than 6.000 years ago. It was as well widely used in antiquity in jewelry making- especially cameos-, for talismans and amulets. It was believed that such agate talismans protected people from poisons, while they had a calming effect on tempests.

Formation

Agate is a quartz variety, formed in concentric layers that usually resemble those of a tree’s trunk, in a very large variety of colors. The color and arrangement of the layers depends on the temperature, pressure and ingredients that existed during the formation process of each deposit.

Types of Agate

Agate comes in semi-transparent or opaque form and in many types. Some of them are:
Moss agate, banded agate, dendritic agate, red agate, carnelian, onyx, milky agate among others.

Healing Properties - Metaphysical

All agate types are considered to be strong grounding and balancing stones.
Agate brings emotional, physical and mental stability.
In the emotional level, it facilitates with a calm way the acceptance of ourselves, releasing anger and frustration, while it helps in overcoming the negativity and bitterness of heart. In the spiritual level, agate enhances the consciousness and helps us to be connected with the collective consciousness in our life.
Agate also stabilizes the aura, by eliminating and transforming the negative energy.

Healing Properties - Physical

Agate placed on the heart, cures the emotional illness that holds back the acceptance of love.
When placed on the stomach, agate is beneficial for the stomach area, stimulating the peptic system, while it cleans the lymphatic system and the pancreas.
Agate also cures the eyes and it enhances eye-sight, endures the blood vessels and cures the skin diseases.

Chakras

Agate is associated with the base chakra.

Astrological Sign

Agate is associated with the Capricorn, Aries, Taurus, Sagittarius, Aquarius, Pisces and Gemini signs.