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Dumortiorite You know that you are the backbone of the marriage. Without you he would wither away as he writes his ‘Magnum Opus’ in his dusty study. You pause in your contemplations to listen as he starts out on one of his long, solitary walks. Entering his study, you smile to find the usual chaos - papers and books on every surface, the tea cup half full of cold tea.

You sigh and pick up his latest manuscript. You hope his walk will be a long one, otherwise you will just have to finish it after he has fallen asleep tonight. You fill your pen with ink and begin to revise his ramblings into a semblance of meaning. The things you do for love!

Dumortierite is well know for its ability to stimulate and enhance intellectual capabilities. Who are you to pass up any kind of stimulation or enhancement?

The soft colours of the mookite pearls sooth your eyes and remind you of good times past and to come. Your body changes, you start your life anew. Again. The fluidity that is the greatest feat of womankind is all within your scope. But as with molten steel, once the change is over, the centre hardens into an elemental force.

Your child looks up at you, small and fragile, and your primal instincts rage within you. Protect, nourish, survive. No one is ever going to patronize you by calling you ‘yummy mummy’ as though you were a muffin or a slice of air filled cake. You will not be consumed. Like mookite, your exterior shows warm, soothing, elemental colours. But like all stones - and all mothers - you bend the world to your will in order to achieve your objectives.

The storm gathers. Carefully, deliberately, you stir your dangerous teacup. You do not cower at the boom of thunder, nor do you jump at the lightening’s flash. Instead, you prepare. You knew the storm was coming, you could feel it in its infancy. Far from fleeing, you prepare. Like a good housewife with her canning jars, you will capture, constrain and contain the power of nature with your own iron will.

The swirling tempest reflected in the pearls of pietersite lie in calm obedience atop your collarbone. These hard spheres contain the energy of the storm, they feed your spirit and keep you strong.

This piece from ‘Pearls for Bad Girls’ is a one-off, but don’t let that stop you imagining them as a flaming circle of dancing stones adorning your neck.

In the middle ages, Opals were thought to have supernatural powers. Wrapping them in a fresh bay leaf and holding them in your hand was thought to make you invisible - a useful feature as you are cursing your neighbor or stirring your cauldron. Nowadays we know better. We don’t want to be invisible. We want to be seen. Thumb your nose (gracefully) at past misconceptions and embrace your inner witch.

This necklace is strung with fire opals, mother of pearl and jasper.

The Amazons, women of legendary strength and competence, rewarded their menfolk with beautiful stones in return for specific favours. The stones were the colour of the jungle and the mighty Amazon river named after these brave, heroic women. The female warriors were not ungracious in their thanks and jewels were given as tokens of appreciation for services rendered.

Today, you look out your window and survey your own domain. You are pleased with what you see before you, the arrangement of blocks and bricks grown together in your jungle. He too, like his ancestors, will not find you unappreciative of his efforts. The blue-green pearls around your neck flash a final reminder of ancient, powerful tribe, they catch the last ray of the sunlight as you draw the blinds.

You have seen the little domestic cats as they stroll languidly about the house. Always proud and never apologetic, they tolerate the attentions of the people around them with grace and dignity. They have a reputation to uphold. Their ancestor is the goddess Bastet, protector of the king and defender of the helpless.

The flash when you look into the tiger's eye strung around your neck reminds you of the power of the ancient goods, sleeping so soundly with their followers beneath the sands of Egypt. Bastet watches over you when you travel, smiling beneficently at your friends while snarling at your enemies.

She watches over you, but she watches inside you as well. She sees in your soul and helps you to stay true and steadfast. She stops you from abusing the power that comes to you. She teaches wisdom, gives council and unsheaths her claws when things get out of hand. A lucky woman lives within the protective embrace of the magnificent Bastet.

You watch as the young one giggles and takes another sip. They flock around as she gets progressively more intoxicated. The conversation becomes more patronizing as she finishes another glass.

You watch, but you aren’t concerned. She is young and pretty - but far too foolish. Like a moth in a flame she burns brightly for a brief time. You will watch as she falls, as so many others have done. Your attraction is more sedate, enduring. Let him have his fun, he is coming home with you at the end of the night - when all is said and done.

In earlier times, Amethyst was worn to protect the wearer from drunkenness. Soldiers wore amethyst charms into battle to keep them cool headed and to heal their wounds more quickly. The social battleground is no less deadly. For your own protection sling this string of Lavender amethyst around your neck. The cool pastels will match perfectly and when everyone else is losing their heads, you can calmly pick them up to add to your trophy collection.

Jasper is known as a stone that protects against the hazards of the night. Bad dreams and things that go bump are wary around this stone. You wear the necklace of Mexican Jasper as you sip your tequila and think about the past day.

You sigh and add another slice of lime. The heat of the night washes over you and you surrender to its warm and humid touch. Respectability is lovely at times but there is no need for it here, you leave it in the corner with your other garments, draped across a chair to prevent wrinkling.

Labrador, where this stone comes from, is a challenging place. Not for the faint of heart with its cold winters and bitter winds coming in off the Atlantic. The grey colouring in the sone reflects the colour of the sea on a cold morning as it drives against the rocky shore. When it catches the light, the refractions of the stone’s cleavages shine a startling royal blue.

There you sit, composed as always. Soft contours of your flesh are not repeated in your eyes. The warmth you show him at night is only part of you, the depths that he has not yet seen are as grey and unpredictable as the sea. You can be soothing, accommodating and nurturing. But everyone knows you should never turn your back on the sea.

This pretty little set of stones is the new neighbour. She is still moving in, the dust covers haven't even been taken off the sofa yet. Ruby Zoisite is the unwritten book in the life of your social circle. Underneath it's placid, tri colour exterior it could be anything. It might have a sordid past. It could have a history more colourful than a bed of roses. It might be in trouble from the law.

Or it could be the placid, honest respectable stone it claims to be with its string of perfect pearls. It certainly doesn't carry it's history on it's sleeve. Anything it may have done before moving into your neighbourhood is locked within its ruby heart - and its not about to tell you!

So be a good neighbour. Make a cake and put it on your second-best stand. Ring the bell and introduce yourself to the new next-door-neighbour.

Noreena is the superhero of jaspers. She was born to wear tights and bustiers. She can run in heels. She doesn’t hide in the shadows cloaked in her subtlety, she shouts, WOW! BOOM! KAPOW!

When Noreena is around, humanity is safe.

Wear this string when you are having a super day. You will find it easier to leap tall buildings in a single bound or run faster than a speeding bullet. Its mild manner is deceptive, this stone packs a punch!

They have often been mistaken, those men who write the books that get taken for history. Following generations do not often take into account that history is written by the winners and they weren’t always the kind of people you would want to invite for dinner.

You think of this, of mistakes made as you fasten the clasp of your red jasper necklace. You count the pearls and find solace in the rhythm of the numbers. When you face your demons, you want to look your best too.

No moss grows on you, you are industry itself. You are heated with an inner fire, far below the surface. When rhyolite is formed by the earth it begins as hot magma. When it erupts, it can be highly explosive. I think you know the feeling. Driving the kids to soccer, then ballet and remedial maths. You simmer quietly, dutifully listening to their complaints about the unfairness of the world.

As a quiet reminder of your molten core, your fiery inner self, you wear your subdued mossy green pearls beneath your sensible scarf. You feel the connection with the stone, the sense of belonging that comes from the shared birthplace in the heart of the volcano. Just like you, the stones are calm now, but as your body transfers its now meagre warmth to the stones, they remember the beginning.

Just like you, pearls go with everything. Maybe in the tiny brains of the soft harmless oysters, there rests a longing for teeth. Not the smooth hard flatness of a protective shell, but the hard biting surface of a tooth. The pearl is the oysters dream of growing a biting surface.

As a decoration, you drape these dream teeth about your neck. They set off the subdued pastel tones of your sweater to perfection. But like the oyster, you dream at night of darker things. You dream of a heated jungle, the moist, damp waves of warmth rising into the leafy canopy as you wait, motionless for the correct moment. We all dream of something out of our reach, but in your case, all you need to do is stretch your arm above you and grab hold.

Hold your tongue. Bite back those words. Control your temper, you will be grateful later. Reticence now may save trouble later. Words are a powerful weapon, they can poison, debase or destroy. They can also buoy, empower or embrace.

Think hard as you stand before them. Hold your clever tongue behind your strong white teeth. Wait for the right time, make every word count. Wear your blue chalcedony, as Cicero did in that ancient forum, and use your cultivated power of the spoken word to leave your own mark in the history of your world.