Thursday, February 11, 2021

Malachite—Stone of Juno

This stripy green stone belonged to the Greek goddess Venus. The Greeks believed it had major magical powers when set in copper jewelry. The Romans switched things around a bit and turned malachite over to Juno, cutting it into triangular shapes to indicate her sacred peacock symbol. My favorite bit of malachite lore is that drinking from a goblet cut from this stone supposedly gave the imbiber understanding of the language of animals!

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