 The emerald is the stone of green light, which
endows it simultaneously with an esoteric significance and with
regenerative powers.
In Central America, the stone was associated with rain and blood and
all the symbols of the lunar cycle. It was regarded as a token of
fertility. The Aztecs associated the emerald with the bird quetzal,
symbol of the renewal of spring, and the stone was thereby linked with
the East and with everything connected with the worship of Quetzalcoatl.
The beneficial influence of the emerald was also recognised in Europe
where the stone was attributed the quality of facilitating childbirth.
Alchemists regarded the emerald as the stone of Hermes, having the
property of penetrating darkness. The stone gave its name to the
Emerald Table, attributed to Apollonius of Tyana, which contained the
secret of Creation of Beings and the Science of Causes of all things.
Hermetic tradition also maintained that an emerald fell from Lucifer’s
forehead during his fall.
 According to medieval folklore, the emerald, placed upon the tongue,
enabled to summon evil spirits and converse with them. However it was
also recognised as being able to heal some diseases, especially those
pertaining to eyesight.
Being a mysterious stone, and therefore dangerous to those ignorant of
its powers, the emerald was almost universally considered as the most
powerful talisman. Hell-born, it could turn itself against the
inhabitants of the infernal regions, whose secrets it knew.
In the Apocalypse of St John, God appears surrounded by a rainbow “in sight like unto an emerald”.
The Grail is carved from an enormous emerald.
As the stone of occult knowledge, the emerald partakes, as do all
symbolic objects, of lucky and unlucky aspects, benign and malign.
Christian tradition drew a distinction between properties connected
with the Heavens and with the Underworld, Good and Evil, and the blue
of the sapphire opposed the green of the emerald.
Nevertheless, the emerald is also the Papal jewel. In the Christian
middle ages, certain Egyptian and Etruscan beliefs survived (such as
the stone placed on the tongue enabling one to converse with evil
spirits). Thus the emerald was the jewel of clairvoyance.
In ancient Rome, it was attributed to Venus. In India, it was believed to impart immortality.
The emerald is the expression of seasonal renewal and therefore it
expresses the positive force of the Earth, of manifested life and of
evolution.
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