Alaca Taşı, or Agate for the Unlucky

Alaca Taşı - Agate

As I watch the Turkish series Muhteşem Yüzyıl, more and more interesting folklore comes up. Last episode, there was something called an Alaca Taşı - literally, "a taking stone". So, being the diligent researcher that I am, I dug up some information about it.

An Alaca Taşı is a type of color changing agate, white with black veins, in this case. The stone captures illness, bad luck, stress, or any other problem and locks it up inside itself.

It's all in black and white.

Black:Evil
White:Good

If the agate has done its job, then the black veins creep into the white stone, eventually turning the whole thing black. Soaking the stone in white vinegar "resets" it for further use, so I'm guessing the color change has to do with and acid/base balance in the stone, but I'm not a scientist. All agates can change color if exposed to heat or chemicals.

In researching this stone, I also discovered that "mood rings" are actually a type of agate. I remember getting one as a souvenir one summer, and then watching it slowly change from green to blue, and back again.

I digress.

Agate is known across the world from absorbing negativity, and is used in making evil eye charms. I even found one site claiming that agate "Can give you the strength to carry on."

Hmm. I might want to find out where I hid that souvenir ring.