The Role of Amber In Religious Beliefs and Popular Medicine

Amber has a very rich history. It was already a valued raw material in the Early Stone Age (Palaeolithic) and was used for the production of ornamental goods for many centuries in all the major cultures of Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the Far East.

Amber also played a role in numerous religious beliefs. Dependent upon their shape and form, researchers consider amber objects found during excavation of early sites to have been of significance in various cults. The solar cult was linked to fertility. One of the attributes of this cult was flat, round amber discs decorated with a series of dots applied in the shape of a cross. Amulets in the shape of small axe-heads (occasionally double-headed miniatures), which were worn to ward off danger, are thought to have been associated with the battle-axe cult. Zoomorphic figurines probably served as protective amulets safe-guarding their wearers against any dangers they may have encountered whilst hunting. Anthropomorphic female figurines were a schematic representation of a “mother-goddess” and a symbol used in fertility cults. Male figurines and phalluses probably had some association with the ancestor cult or were used as representative symbols of gods and heroes.

The ancient Greeks and Romans both believed in the magic powers of amber. It was thought that its electrostatic energy also had the power to draw all manner of misfortune away from people. Tiny pieces of amber have been discovered inserted beneath the skin covering the hands of Egyptian mummies.

The Egyptians believed that amber secured the mummy against destruction and decay. Amber amulets have also been found in ancient graves, where they were placed in order to protect the dead in the afterlife. To this day, Zuni Indians produce a variety of amber amulets, occasionally combining them with other semiprecious stones, such as turquoise, for artistic effect or maybe ritual purposes. The belief in the power of these talismans to safeguard and protect is one which is not only popular among Indian tribes, but is also gaining favour in other societies, e.g. Germany and Japan.

The conviction that amber possesses remarkable properties has lasted for many centuries and is still evidenced in folklore. In the Kurpie region, a bridal necklace has to include at least one amber bead with an organic inclusion. This bead is known as a meddler and serves as an amulet. Amber necklaces are handed down from generation to generation with great ceremony and reverence in Kurpie and Cashubian families.

Coming into contact with amber as a stone whose properties are so very different to those of any other, people were quick to discover that amber held certain medicinal properties. The earliest accounts of amber’s medicinal properties are found in the works of Hippocrates (460 – 377 BC), who is known as the father of medicine and Pliny the Elder. Callistratus states that a short string of amber beads worn around the neck brought relief to the wearer in some cases of severe head, neck and throat complaints. Wearing amber bracelets was thought to be beneficial to sufferers of rheumatism and arthritis and reduced fatigue and feelings of general weariness. A similar effect was said to be achieved by rubbing the body with a fairly large piece of the mineral. Various other creams, balms and infusions of amber steeped in alcohol were also recommended for external use. All manner of concoctions, of which amber was the main ingredient, were also widely used to remedy respiratory complaints, asthma, bronchitis, bowel and bladder disorders, heart problems and ailments of the circulatory system.

In nineteenth-century literature we find evidence of amber having been used as a remedy for virtually all illnesses. Haczewski wrote that amber was one of the six more efficacious medicinal substances. Amber is probably the only stone which is considered to be of such great use in medicine.

In today’s era of “healthy lifestyles,” when everything that is “closer to Nature” is in vogue, using every available natural product has become very popular. Thus, it comes as no surprise that medicines whose main ingredient is amber are in such great demand at homeopathic chemists. The cosmetics industry has also jumped on the amber bandwagon, using this mineral in an ever wider range of creams, tonics and treatments which are easily absorbed into the skin’s deeper layers.


From AMBER Treasure of the Ancient Seas
Oficyna Wydawnicza Sadyba
Warszawa 1998
Edited by Barbara Kosmowska-Ceranowicz
Translated by Barbara M. Gostynska