Mother of Pearl by Rev. Carol A. Ingle (Raven)

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Mother of Pearl

(For Mother's Day)

 

Luminescent and mesmerizing, mother of pearl is one of Mother Nature's finest creations.

 

About Mother of Pearl

 

The iridescent kaleidescope of colors in mother of pearl, or nacre as it is also referred to, can be positively breath taking, but have you ever wondered how it's formed?

 

What Is It?

 

Mother of pearl is actually a substance secreted by certain types of mollusks to protect the lining of their shells from bacteria, parasites and a host of other debris. It's a compound of calcium carbonate crystals, silk proteins and other organic materials that are layered like brick work over the inner lining of the shells.

Now here is where the explanation gets a little complicated. The thickness of each successive layer of mother of pearl is equivalent to the wavelength of visible light, so the staggered layering of the nacre allows different wavelengths of light to penetrate and reflect off of it from different angles. This is what causes that almost supernatural change of colors as a piece is tilted and viewed from different angles.

 

Scientific:

Mother of pearl is the inside lining of shells. It is so named because when an irritant gets inside of a shell, the shell protects itself by coating the irritant with the same material of its lining. (This is what creates pearls...) Nacre is a synonym of mother-of-pearl. (na´ker) or nacre, the iridescent substance that forms the lining of the shells of some fresh-water and some salt-water mollusks.

 

Nacre colors include:

• Mat- Mild silvery gray tone, lacking lustre
• Stone- Nearly white, and mildly reflective
• Chip- Multi-colored variety
• White- Very iridescent and the most widely used for jewelry
• Iridescent- Largely a glossy mix of pink and green

This same nacre is also present in the formation of pearls. The process begins when a single grain of sand or some other debris becomes trapped inside the mollusk, causing irritation. To remove the discomfort, the mollusk begins to coat the gritty intruder with increasing layers of nacre until eventually a visible pearl is formed. The longer the process is allowed to continue, the larger the pearl grows.

 

When pearls are formed by a happy accident of nature, they are considered genuine, but when a person purposely inserts an irritant into the mollusk, the process is called "seeding", and the resulting pearls are referred to as "cultured". Whether genuine or cultured, the quality of each pearl varies, some having greater value than others.

 

Mother of pearl of the abalone or paua variety from New Zealand has a blue green iridescent color play. The indigenous Maori people used it for centuries for inlays and mystical carvings. The mother of pearl of abalone is called sea opal because of its similarity to the effects seen in opal.

If you own mother of pearl, alcohol will eat right through the nacre causing the color and luster irreparable damage.

 

Legend and Lore:

 

In Chinese lore, some minerals have the power to affect energy in positive and negative ways.

 

Practitioners of the ancient art of feng shui believe that mother of pearl symbolizes good luck and prosperity, meaning that it has the power to attract wealth to the person wearing it. This is why nacre jewelry is given as good luck tokens. Think of it as a pearly rabbit's foot.

One of The Eight Taoist Immortals:

Ho Hsien-Ku. Called the Immortal Maiden. In a vision she was instructed that if she ate mother of pearl she would gradually become immortal. She lived in the mountains and became more and more ethereal, floating from peak to peak. At last, dispensing with earthly food, she attained her quest. Her symbol is the lotus, the flower of open-heartedness.

In China, mother of pearl has been prescribed over thousands of years. It is used for heart palpitations, dizziness, and high blood pressure.

In the Peruvian Andes, powdered mother of pearl is sold in the markets to promote healing of wounds.

In Vietnam, the flat shell of the Abalone, with its iridescent inside, is powdered and taken orally to improve vision, to remove keratoses (cataracts), and to improve such conditions as hemeralopia (where you can see at night well, but hardly at all in the daytime!).

Venus, Goddess of the Sea, is believed to have emerged from the sea in a giant scallop shell.

Metaphysical:

 

Mother of pearl helps to stimulate intuition, sensitivity, imagination, and adaptability. It helps with clarity in decision-making.

It signifies faith, charity, and innocence, enhances personal integrity, and helps to provide focus to ones attention. It has traditionally been used to strengthen the environment and bring greater purity to the atmosphere.

Mother of pearl appears in many forms and is the home of many small creatures of the sea. It contains the energies of the god of the sea. These vacated homes have been used to provide boundless energy in all areas of endeavor.

Mother of pearl is particularly protective. It can help protect against irritants, helping us to wash away negativity that is not ours. It transmutes negative energy, and it is symbolic of the white, healing light of the universe.