Amber was always considered as a mystical stone and people were interested in how the amber was created. Ancient Greeks and Romans believed that it was a magical stone, due to the amber’s electrostatic power. In ancient time people were burred with amber amulets as a form of the protection in their afterlife. To early Christians, amber was a presence of God. Chinese believed that amber is a heart and soul of a tiger. When tiger dies, its soul reappears on earth as amber, looking exactly like its heart. That’s why amber is a symbol of tiger’s courage, dignity and prestige.

The Greek myth about Phaeton

This is a legend about love and such a strong grieve that created something beautiful out of it. According to Greek myth, Phaeton was the son of the nymph Clymene and Helios. One day he learned that he was a son of god and, as he wasn’t convinced about it, he decided to travel east to the magnificent palace of the Sun to meet his father. As a proof of his fatherhood, Helios promised to let him drive the gold chariot of the sun across the sky, even if he known that it was too risky for mortal to guide the horses through the journey.

All Helios doubts become true, when horses felt the chariot was lighter than normal and rushed out of their usual course, rapidly across the sky and then down close to the earth. When they almost reach the ground, chaos came and the earth started to burn and sea started to shrank up. Helios had to destroyed the cause of this complete disorder and thrown a thunderbolt on his son.

Phaeton felt straight to the river Eridanus and was greatly mourned by his sisters, the Heliades, so much, that they were turned into the poplar trees and their tears was dropping to the river and became amber.

A tale about beautiful goddess Jurate and mortal fisherman Kastytis

There are more legends about this beautiful stone, one of them is a Baltic story about pretty goddess Jurate who was ruling the sea and over every sea creatures, living underneath in her spectacular amber castle.

A young but poor fisherman Kastytis was living along Baltic sea coast, and often was catching lot of fish, disturbing the peace of the sea and Jurate’s castle. That made a princess furious and she decided to put a stop to it and to punish Kastytis. But once she saw him, she suddenly felt in love, finding this young fisherman very handsome and courageous. So she took him to her beautiful amber castle, where they had happy times together.

Their happiness was destroyed when Perkūnas, a thunder-god, found out that his immortal daughter lives with mere mortal, when she was promised as a wife to Patrimpas, a god of water. Perukunas was so furious, that he thrown a thunderbolt on the amber castle, breaking it in crumbs and killed Kastytis. As a punishment, Jurate was chained to a rock underwater. Every time she cries and wipes for Kastytis, small amber teardrops appear on the Baltic shores.

A mystical stone

Baltic Amber is believed to possess therapeutic and medicinal powers, providing a great pain relief. Its warm colour gives an unforgettable charm, and a relaxing scent when you warm it in your hands. Baltic Amber was used as a material for personal ornaments since Palaeolithic times, first as simple amulets and talismans worn for protection, and over the years it has become more sophisticated and beautiful form of jewellery.