When archaeologists opened the tomb of Tutankhamun, they found a sarcophagus with three coffins nested inside one another. The last one, bearing the mummified body of the young king, was made of solid gold. The Egyptians were likely the first people to mine gold, which they considered to be the flesh of the sun god, Ra, and thus a symbol of eternal life. In the Americas, gold sparked exploration and colonization by Europeans hungry for the legendary cities of gold called El Dorado.
Thought to have been produced by the collision of stars, gold is present in the dust from which the solar system was formed. Scientists believe that there is gold at our planetary core but that most of the gold in the Earth’s crust and mantle came from asteroids that bombed the earth 4 billion years ago. Today gold is found in hydrothermal veins and stream bed deposits around the world, most notably from the famous Witwatersrand mine which accounts for 50% of the gold ever mined on earth.
The gold rush defined the culture of the American West, but the first discovery was actually at the Reed Gold Mine in North Carolina and the first major strike came in the small north Georgia town of Dahlonega. People across the United States still pan for gold in rivers and streams where particles of gold weathered from its original rock are concentrated in the gravel as nuggets.
No matter the origin, gold continues to be the most valuable metal on earth. It conducts electricity and so also conducts the subtle energies of stones, which is why it makes for powerful jewelry. It is too soft in its native state to wear well so jewelers often alloy it with other metals. The purity of alloyed gold is expressed in karats with 24 karats equating to 100% pure gold.
Energetically, gold still represents the sun, its radiance symbolizing the heavenly realms. It stimulates passion, creativity, and sexuality while helping one grow and stretch to new limits. It brings joy, excitement, determination, strength, and optimism. The reward for successful quests in many fairy tales, gold brings all the knowledge of the world and helps magnify one’s power.