Favorite Links

This is my gemstone site - currently 128 in-depth articles about gemstones, with photos, and much unique research.  All the content is original (apart from a few quotes).  My target is to make the best gemstone site on the net.   I currently have a database of around 500 gemstones, I'm not sure how far I will get as it has taken me a year already.   But in time it should reach 300-350.

 

This is one of my herbalism web sites.   This one dares to break a lance on that old battlefield - aphrodisiacs.   But I'm not - unlike most - trying to roll out some sales pitch.  I'm just researching the ancient legends, the modern science, and seeing if I can unravel the truth of this old mystery of nature.  It's a massive subject - and I have a database of hundreds of plants. Currently I've written up about 70 - and my articles all cite references for those who are interested in taking the investigation further!

Girasol is a strange one.   It's a gemstone (and also the spanish name for a sunflower) - but most people can't agree on which gemstone it actually is.   It's actually a type of Opal.   I've written it up and attempted to unravel the mystery.

 

I think this is actually my favorite gemstone.  Why?  Because, it is the rebel gemstone.  Once thought of as nothing more interesting than a lump of coal, it turns out that the black diamond has not only unique (and astounding) scientific properties, but that it has many mysteries surrounding it.  Scientists cannot even agree on whether it formed on earth or in an ancient supernova; whether it is harder than other diamonds, or when the first ones were discovered.  Anyway my black diamond page goes deep into the mystery.

 

For this one I did some deep historical research into the Neroli - the essence of the bitter orange flowers.   There's a modern yarn that it is an aphrodisiac - but I contend that this is probably marketing - although in the world of alluring scents, there are still many mysteries to be unraveled.

 

Rhodiola is an obscure little plant that grows in Siberia and parts of China.  It turns out that it has been used since ancient times as a restorative herb and bringer of vitality, possibly even an aphrodisiac.   There's all kinds of hype these days surrounding this sort of thing: I decided to delve in and found out that in this case, there may be more to the story than just the latest buzzword from the natural products hype-machine.

Have Fun!