Amber Necklaces: Why are all the Christians suddenly relying on Crystals and Metaphysics?

When I got saved back in the late 80’s there was one thing I learned well. To stay far away from the New Age anything! I use to like music termed as New Age and though I loved the calming effect of background instrumental music I was taught it had powers I should not submit myself to. In hind sight I was really being told the powers and spiritual entities behind this metaphysical and pseudoscience New Agey stuff was more powerful than the spirit of God…but that’s a whole other story!

That was then and this is now. It’s been nearly 28 years since I threw out (or gave away?) my New Age albums. I never looked back. Never wondered about it, never really came across the ideas again. Fast forward to the year 2015 and I am now seeing amber necklaces on just about every baby in town. I can recall my first introduction to it. I remember thinking it was pretty. I also remember thinking, but not saying out loud, ‘isn’t that a choking hazard?’ , and ‘but isn’t that a new age crystal thing?’.

I find it strange. 

I don't have any more little babies. All mine are grown up, the youngest is now a teenager. So I’m thankful I didn't have to encounter the question of whether I would submit to cultural peer pressure or the old warnings to avoid all New Age looking stuff. And the peer pressure is real! I get it!! Who wants to have a cranky, drooly, teething baby when the mom beside you at Gymboree has a smily happy baby, supposedly thanks to the amber necklace she wears? It is silently judging you for not being a responsible parent cuz you don't have one for your baby therefore your child is suffering needlessly. Yadah,Yadah Yadah…

I wonder who the first person was who started putting amber necklaces on these helpless tiny humans. It’s a booming business now of course. But does anyone take the time to first find out why? Who said it calms babies from teething? Did anyone try their baby with the necklace and without to see it if made a noticeable difference? It’s totally something I would have done. But I’m super sceptical about almost everything anyway.

Which is exactly why I’m writing this. Because I’m sceptical that Christian moms out there are blindly following the pack without giving a single thought to the power or spirit behind the use of these amber necklaces. And I’m not against them at all! I just want to open the topic up for discussion so people can make their own decisions not based on peer pressure, or parental pressure. Here’s what I found.

Amber is used in the Metaphysical healing and cleansing of oneself or others.

“For millennia, crystals, minerals and gem stones have been used to bring about healing and enhance physical, emotional and spiritual balance. The ancients must have somehow known that when worn, the energies of the stones would interact with the human electromagnetic field to bring about subtle energetic changes.”

Another page goes on in depth about the qualities of Amber itself…

Lots of info out there in Google-land about the healing properties of amber, and other stones. Nothing conclusive scientifically though. Just the suggestion that it is more of a placebo effect.

I also found a writer that sounds like a concerned grandmother who also happens to be an actual scientist. She did some research and its thorough. You can find her article here.

She found that the “scientific” reasons for wearing amber may not be worth it. If Amber contains Succinic Acid and that’s what is leaching out of the amber into the baby to bring calmness then is it measurable, helpful, or harmful?

Here’s some of what she found out…

• Baltic amber (the type usually recommended for teething) does contain succinic acid (here). Other types may not.

• I could find no evidence that Baltic amber releases succinic acid at body temperatures. Succinic acid melts at 187 °C but it’s moderately soluble in water. So if it indeed seeps out of the amber, it couldn’t be in molten form. Body temperature (about 37 °C) would be insufficient to melt it. There is a possibility it could be dissolved by sweat.

• Succinic acid is found naturally in our bodies and in many foods, including beer and wine (here). In some countries, it’s allowed as a food additive (number 363). Generally, it’s considered safe (here), although, just as there are no studies on its analgesic effects (see next point), there are none investigating its safety in humans. Interestingly, in bulk it’s regarded as a skin and respiratory irritant, with a risk of serious eye damage (MSDS here). The oral rat LD₅₀ is 2.26 g/kg.

• There is some history of succinic acid being used externally to treat pain. I could find no scientific evidence that it works. Scepticon had the same problem – no studies, no RCTs, nothing. There is a single animal study (here) showing that succinic acid may help in reducing anxiety in mice, but nothing on analgesic effects.

Those are two perspectives. Here’s mine. 

I absolutely hold no disrespect towards Moms and Dads who use amber necklaces on their babies. I believe God created everything in this world for our use and we, as the prophets of our own lives have full blessing to live and breathe and have our being however we decide is best for us to live. Scientifically we now know that everything has a vibration. Christians would even go so far to say the vibrations in every object is just a remnant of God speaking it into existence. I don’t disbelieve that either. Of course things with their own vibrations can and do effect the vibrations of something near it. If you know anything about music this is a basic principle. So maybe, regardless of whether science has yet been able to prove or disprove the benefit of using crystals or stones there still might be some benefit to the internal vibrations we humans have, or even pick up walking through this messy complex life that can help ground us, or stabilize us. I think it’s possible anyway.

As for me, this topic of Amber Necklaces for babies doesn't yet apply to me (Grandmotherhood could be just a year or four away after all) but the teaching does. So does the life lesson to be open to all that God created and provided for us. Just because something was once wrapped up in spirituality that I didn’t at the time understand, does not mean I should now continue to keep a closed mind to it. I’m actually more apt to go hunt those old fears down and investigate them for some underlying truths that were missed, that made them attractive in the first place. That made them fearful and seem dangerous to the people in my early formative christian years.

Either I was under the influence of some really warped teaching, obviously very fear based, or else there is validity to the apprehension towards crystals, gems, and stones. But that’s not for me to decide for you. That is for you to decide for yourself.