The electric current generated by the liquid iron in the Earth’s outer core creates the magnetic field that protects us all. Formed by fusion in the cores of stars, it is the last element produced when energy is released from the violent collapse of supernovas, which scatter iron throughout space. Brought to earth in meteorites, the most ancient iron known to humans literally fell from the sky. Beads made from meteoric iron were found in Egypt and date from 3500 BC, and a dagger of meteoric iron was found in King Tutankhamun’s tomb.
The Hittites seem to be the first to understand how to produce iron from its ores and began to smelt it between 1500 and 1200 BC. As the practice spread to the rest of the Near East, the Iron Age began. From India to Zimbabwe and back to Greece and Rome, evidence of iron working is everywhere but didn’t reach Europe until the medieval period, where huge blast furnaces fueled by charcoal gave way to the iconic blacksmith’s forge. Here iron got its name from the Anglo-Saxon, iren, “holy metal,” because it was used to make swords for the Crusades.
Iron is, by mass, the most common element in the Earth’s crust and crucial to the survival of every living organism. Plants depend on it in the production of chlorophyll, and animals need it as a component of hemoglobin, a protein that carries oxygen from the lungs to the tissues of the body. Blood is red because of the way the chemical bonds between iron and oxygen reflect light.
Like its role in defending our planet, iron deflects negative energy from our fields. The ultimate warrior of light, it increases physical strength and gives energy and vitality.