Tuesday, July 15, 2008

My Gal asked why Peridot?


I guess the first and most obvious answer would be, because I couldn’t afford 49 emerald cabachons. I know, I priced them. Even the lab created (but still true) emeralds were far out of my price range.

But the stones also have different “feels” to me. To me, the emerald is the Empress Card. The stone is lush, ripe, here and now, in your face. The emerald is a perfectly ripe peach, on a late summer afternoon. It is a perfectly aged Bordeaux on a mid-winter evening. It is the perfume Opium (as it was originally formulated-not the “lite” version). It is a fur coat, turned inside out so the fur is against the skin, on a cold day. Emerald is almost, but not quite, too much.

Peridot is all that in promise, but not yet. It is one of the Princess or Page cards (of Wands?). It is one of the brightly flavored spring fruits, early strawberries or perhaps the rhubarb that grows so well for me. Plenty of sweetness there, but tart, too, to make your mouth water for more. It is a glass of champagne, and the feel of a breeze, that brings the smell of far off flowers. It is silk chiffon, not silk charmeus. Peridot is the promise that is delivered with the emerald. It is late spring, as opposed to late summer, waxing, rather than full, moon.

One of these days, I will work with emeralds. I (and the budget!) just haven’t gotten there, yet.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed reading your poetic descriptions of emeralds and peridot. As a gemstone dealer these are the only two stones I work with. The peridot you picture are beautiful and I’m glad you decided against the lab created emeralds. Natural emeralds have a warmth and beauty that the lab created ones lack.

Lavanah said...

I love both gems, but I, too prefer the natural ones, with occlusions. The lab made stones look too much like colored glass to me. Thank you for stopping by, I'm glad you enjoyed my descriptions.

Soror Gimel said...

Sorry it took a while to respond. Thank you for answering my question :) I suspected that it was more than just your fabulous sense of fashion!

Just for fun I pulled down my Empress (Thoth) tarot card and realized why Peridot. It is all over that card :) She who unites Binah and Chochmah does so with grace :) Go Empress go!