Crystal
Apache Tears
Chakras: Root, Sacral, Heart
Zodiac: Scorpio
Planets: Pluto, Saturn
Elements: Earth, Fire
Summary
Apache Tears are small, rounded nodules of obsidian, volcanic glass that looks black in the hand and glows smoky brown when held up to the light. The name comes from an Apache legend of the 1870s: when a band of warriors was cornered on a cliff above what is now Superior, Arizona and chose to ride off the edge rather than be taken, the tears their families wept fell to the earth and turned to stone. Carried as the Stone of Travelers, Apache Tears are held close for comfort in grief, for gentle grounding and for protection on the road.
Keywords
Stone of Travelers, emotional support, physical strength, energetic clearing, inner strength
Fun facts
True Apache Tears come from the perlite beds around Apache Leap near Superior, Arizona, where the glassy nodules weather free of the soft white perlite that forms as obsidian takes on water over the ages. Hold one to a lamp and the opaque black turns translucent brown. Legend says that whoever carries an Apache Tear will never need to cry again, for the Apache women have already wept for them.
Care and cleansing
Obsidian is glass (Mohs 5 to 5.5), so it can chip if dropped and its edges can be sharp. Rinse briefly, dry with a soft cloth and keep it apart from harder stones. Cleanse with water, smoke, sound or moonlight.
History and lore
In history and lore: Apache Tears are obsidian, and old lore told of obsidian as a whole. The Mexicans, Kunz records, made images of their god Tezcatlipoca of obsidian, a name read as 'shining mirror,' and in sixteenth-century Mexico the Spanish friar Sahagun reported finding by experience that ground obsidian, bound in a cloth over a painful foot, took away gout.
About the sources
- George Frederick Kunz (1856 to 1932), Tiffany & Co.'s chief gemologist and author of The Curious Lore of Precious Stones (1913) and The Magic of Jewels and Charms (1915).
- Bernardino de Sahagun, Franciscan friar and one of the first preachers in New Spain, whose Historia general de las cosas de Nueva Espana recorded Aztec (Nahua) knowledge in the sixteenth century; edition of Carlos Maria de Bustamante (Mexico).