Golden, honey, caramel and dark brown, these tiger's eye stones are cut flat, polished and marked with a gold-coloured rune each. Parallel bands, typical of tiger's eye, run across their faces. Roughly rectangular, they have rounded edges. Made in India.
A shimmer that moves as you turn it
Thin, fibrous layers run parallel inside tiger's eye, and these reflect the light. Turn a stone slowly and a silky band of light slides across the stripes. The effect is known as chatoyancy, or the cat's eye effect, and shows best under a lamp.
Memorial stones of the Viking Age
Originally, the word runestone meant something else. In Viking Age Scandinavia, people raised large memorial stones carved with runic inscriptions, mostly in memory of a relative who had died. Sweden alone has several thousand, and many still stand where they were first put up. One of the best known, the Rök stone in Sweden, bears the longest runic inscription known.
Today's rune in your pocket
Tiger's eye is the stone of courage and self-confidence in crystal tradition, and rune tradition holds that a drawn sign offers guidance. If you draw a rune in the morning, you can carry the stone in your pocket, so its meaning stays with you through the day.
Keep it away from your keys, though, as the gold sign could wear. In the evening, put it back in the pouch so the set stays together and the stones do not scratch each other. On a pale wooden tray the brown stones and gold signs go well together. Wipe them with a soft cloth.