What does turquoise mean to the Navajo?
Known as “Stone of Life” by Native American tribes, the lingual term for the precious gemstone is “Doo tl’ izh ii”. The stone has been in use for thousands of years now since its inception and is also believed to possess ‘living abilities.’ While there is no scientific reason behind this point, the belief originates due to the stone’s color-changing capacity. Turquoise is one of the many gemstones that can change color based upon the environment, light exposure, dust, and even a person’s skin acidity levels. Due to these properties, Navajo tribes have been using the stone for prophecy, prediction, and other divine works.
Here are some of the top meanings associated with this beautiful stone.
Turquoise meaning according to Navajo Tribes
The beautiful bluish-green opaque gemstone is one of the oldest and semi-precious gemstones that has been taking the world by storm. Although every culture has its own preference for the stone’s usage, some of the most preferred and trusted beliefs come from the Navajo people. Not just that, it has strong healing powers too.
Strong Healing Powers
The first-ever belief that you will stumble across while purchasing a genuine Native American Turquoise necklace is their association with good fortune. According to early beliefs, the stone is blessed with supernatural healing properties and attracts positive spirits. This positive power helps drive away evil and negative entities from homes, therefore inviting success, prosperity, and peacefulness. Similarly, turquoise jewelry was highly popular as a gift and was meant to aid cure a sick person of various ailments.
Divine Object
As mentioned earlier, the stone was claimed to be a prosperity-bringer. This eventually led to it being used as a holy object in various rituals and ceremonies. Used as offerings, they were presented to deities and positive spirits in the hope of getting beneficial results. Some of these include a good grain harvest, seeking out water sources, shelter, and even marriage purposes. These offerings were always followed by ceremonial tribal dances and songs, as they were thought to express one’s thoughts to the deities.
Success-bringer
Apart from being used in daily lives, turquoise was also used in battles. As the stone represents success and tranquility, wearing a Native American turquoise necklace was referred to them as good news. The stone not only served as a protection against accidents but was also claimed to have calming properties in the warrior’s mind. Moreover, many legendary Turkish warriors also used to carve these stones into their weapons as they were thought to improve their accuracy.
Abundancy
The mesmerizing sea-green turquoise stones originally represent bountiful harvest and hence were mostly adorned as charms in houses. The Navajo tribe opined that adorning the home’s entrance with turquoise-related jewelry eradicates negative energy while replacing the place with positive ones. Thus, the household never faces scarcity of food, prosperity, health, and often greatly enhances the dwellers’ relationship. This is also why until now, many individuals prefer having the stone on their shop or store’s entrance.
Secure Relationships
Many Native Americans strongly believe that the stone is highly critical for relationships going through turbulence or destructive periods. The stone is said to be arriving with supernatural abilities that help in eliminating misfortune caused by evil eyes or ill-wills. Thus in earlier times, the Native American turquoise necklace was preferred to married couples, mostly by shamans, as it helped in eventually clearing all misunderstandings and creating a loving bond. Moreover, wearing the stone regularly is also claimed to assist in finding true soulmates or life partners and is also thought to be helpful in getting attention from one-side love.
Precautionary Measures
Undoubtedly, the rarely found stone holds a very essential and respected position in Navajo History. However, its popularity over the decades has also raised an issue. There have been several reports of people being duped by fake turquoise sellers claiming a worthless stone or a piece of plastic to be the precious gemstone. Although recognizing the genuine one might be tricky when purchasing online or even from stores, always make sure to understand the stone and the jewelry before going for the purchase.
End thoughts:
Nowadays, it’s difficult to find original handmade Native American turquoise necklaces in the market. Unless you have an eagle’s eye, it’s difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. In this regard, New Mexico Gems would be your ideal bet as it sells New Mexico native-made turquoise necklaces at a genuine price. Not just that, they also have a wide collection of Navajo Sandpaintings and Chile pepper Ristras for you to choose from. You can order online through a secured payment channel, and rest assured of authentic product quality.
