Waxy green stone with a snakeskin mottle. Often sold as a jade that it is not.
The aesthetic
Serpentine is a group of related minerals formed when water alters the rock of the earth's mantle, and the name comes from the mottled green-on-green pattern that looks like snakeskin. It has a soft waxy or greasy lustre and is soft enough to carve easily, which is why so much of it is sold as new jade or Korean jade despite being a different mineral entirely.
The dynamic
Serpentine is associated with renewal and shedding, an association drawn straight from the snake, and with clearing the way for something new.
Some variations
- bowenite
- antigorite
- infinite stone
- atlantisite
- new jade