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Year of the Horse
Valentine's Day
Amethyst for February - The Royal Popestone
How to make an Amethyst Necklace
Gothic Jewellery
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Offer valid until Friday 31st January 2014 only - so act now! Only for use in our store at the checkout and not valid with any other offers.
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In Mainland China many people work inside large prosperous cities in the South East, a long way from their poor native village homes. Over Spring Festival hundreds-of-millions commute back to their village to be with the family. It's always a big strain on the railway and airways, and often made worse by severe snow cutting off power lines and runways!
For 2014 predictions and more on the Year of the Horse click Chinese New Year
See my video of last Chinese New Year in HongKong: Year of the Snake
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Amethyst is always purple, but comes in shades of pale lilac to deep purple. Deeper colours are more valuable - milky amethyst is the cheapest. Amethyst is mined in South American, but the best in Africa. Very dark amethyst, mostly in small sizes, also comes from Australia.
Mythology
According to Greek mythology, Dionysus, the God of Intoxication was angered by an insult from a mere mortal and swore revenge on the next mortal that crossed his path, creating fierce tigers to carry out his wish. Along came unsuspecting Amethyst, a beautiful young maiden on her way to pay tribute to the goddess Diana. Diana turned Amethyst into a statue of pure crystalline quartz to protect her from the brutal claws. Dionysus wept tears of wine in remorse for his action at the sight of the beautiful statue. The god's tears stained the quartz purple, creating the gem we know today!
The Church & Crown
Purple has long been considered a royal colour, featured in the British Crown Jewels and a favorite of ancient Egyptian royalty. Leonardo Da Vinci wrote that "amethyst could dissipate evil thoughts and accelerate intelligence".
Because amethyst was believed to encourage celibacy and symbolize piety, it was very important in the ornamentation of churches in the middle ages. Amethyst is still the stone of bishops' who often wear amethyst rings. Even in Tibet, amethyst is considered sacred to the Buddha.
Benefits
Amethyst's sobering and calming qualities is why it's considered to have the power to purify and bring peace. It's also believed to boost lower energies higher, and heal at all levels of mind, body and spirit. Amethyst is especially useful to calm overworked minds as it brings mental strength, stability, and vigor, and reduces negativity.
Amethyst also supports all that is transitional. Especially death and rebirth - providing peace of mind when a loved one is lost. As an elixir, amethyst can help toothache, bone and joint discomforts and problems with the stomach and digestion. It has also been known taken for blood disease and balance blood sugar.
In yoga, amethyst aids the 6th Chakra, the Third Eye, center of the body's spiritual power. Because amethyst heightens awareness, both spiritual and psychic - increasing intuition and psychic development and transition from a normal state of consciousness to a deeper awareness.
Amethyst Jewellery Design
Amethyst jewelry sells well because it has never gone out of fashion. In fact new-agers have made it more popular than ever. It's dark royal colour oozes style. Amethyst goes well with silver, clear crystal and other subtle colours. If you make hand-crafted jewelry; design matching necklaces, bracelets, and earrings to offer more choice to your customers. Don't overpower your design with too much of the gemstone - add lots of silver spacers and findings to balance.
To see our amethyst beads click MrBead.com or MrBead.co.uk
1) Get all materials ready: nylon wire, crimping beads & 5mm stardust gold spacers, crystal rondell beads, crimping pliers, wire cutter,
catches, all beads.
2) Slide 2mm crimp bead onto wire and insert wire into eye on clasp
3) Loop and connect crimp bead.
4 & 5) Crimp attached to eye on clasp, and squeezing crimp bead closed.
6 & 7) Thread the beads into the wire.
8) Repeat steps 2 to 5 to secure the other end of the necklace.
9) Cutting off excess wire
10) Finished.
Goth is a style and way of thought. The common thread is an appreciation for the contrast between light and dark, good and evil. Goffs know that the two can't exist without each other, and the traditional values of those opposites are not necessarily true.
Gothic jewellery has never really gone out of fashion, and today's shamballa bracelets worn by the top hip-hop artists have added to the resent demand for skull beads.
Try wicked gothic jewellery using the below free shipping voucher from our sister store: AwesomeRings.com
Our Skull Beads: MrBead.co.uk or MrBead.com
Offer valid until Friday 31st January 2014 only - so act now! Only for use in our store at the checkout and not valid with any other offers.
To go to our MrBead shop click MrBead.com or MrBead.co.uk - or at our sister shop AwesomeRings.com.
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