bowls of amethyst stones
Terri Webster Schrandt

Sunday Stills Monthly Color Challenge: The Purple Haze of #Amethyst

It has been 4 years since I used the color amethyst in a monthly color challenge! I thought it would be interesting to revisit parts of that post this week.

Rather than use the predictable reds or pinks typical for February in recognition of Valentine’s Day, I thought the purple tones of amethyst would be fun to explore.

Amethyst is the February birthstone. The Amethyst gem is also associated with the calming of physical passions. The gem’s purple colors represented the purity of spirit. In folklore, amethysts were used to aid in the healing of wounds.

Gemstone colors
Original Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

“Amethyst is a meditative and calming stone that works in the emotional, spiritual, and physical planes to provide calm, balance, patience, and peace.” – Miranda Kerr

Skies of Amethyst

Nothing was more exciting in the night skies than seeing several northern light displays during 2024-2025, but 2026 is also proving to show its true colors.

This was a foggy view of a rather strong aurora last week. But nothing compared to …

purple northern lights

….these astonishing auroras taken in 2024!

Leafy Northern Lights
northern light, corona
The Phoenix Shall Fly

“Yesterday and tomorrow cross and mix on the skyline. The two are lost in a purple haze. One forgets, one waits.” ~ Carl Sandburg

Amethyst in Stones

These are the best images I have of amethyst stones. Last year, while in Arizona, I went shopping with my daughter at a “make-it-yourself” jewelry store. One table displayed countless bowls of gemstones, and I was particularly drawn to two filled with amethysts.

bowls of amethyst stones

I also have some jewelry with amethysts in the settings.

amethyst and silver earrings
Amethyst and Sterling Earrings

Pleasing Purple Passions

Our February landscape is devoid of any color now except brown and gray. At least when we’ve had a decent snowy winter, we’d have scenes like this:

Pink skies create amethyst snow
An Astonishing Winter Dawn, 2022

By May, spring will have arrived, bringing riots of color, including lots of purple florals. Here is a gallery of what’s to come:

Every spring is the only spring, a perpetual astonishment. — Ellis Peters

Purple Bearded Iris
Neighbor’s Bearded Iris
crocus
Tiny Crocus
Purple pansie
Pansy

These wildflowers begin growing in May. Hurry….!

Ladybug on Lupine
Ladybug on a Lupine
10 purple and white flowers
Purple Wild Iris Olsynium
Grass Widow or Purple Olsynium (Wild Iris)

Wait, I’m supposed to be patient…

“Flower of this purple dye, Hit with Cupid’s archery, Sink in apple of his eye.” – William Shakespeare

All images in this post were taken with Samsung Galaxy Cell Phones

Sharing for Johnbo’s CellPic Sunday and Lens-Artists: What Astonishes You?

purple brushstroke

Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders

The Sunday Stills weekly-themed photo challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post. Please use your own original images, whether new or from your archives.

  • Remember to title your blog post a little differently from mine.
  • Please create a new post for the theme or link to a recent one.
  • Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
  • Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
  • Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
  • I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.

If you are participating in the photo challenge, I look forward to seeing how you interpret this week’s color challenge theme! Creativity is encouraged, so please share your own photographs (old or new), poems, original short stories, and music inspired by the theme.

You have all week to link your amethyst-themed posts for the color challenge! Join me next week as we explore the theme “SWEET.”

amethyst meme
signature purple floral

© 2026 Copyright — Terri Webster Schrandt and secondwindleisure.com — All Rights Reserved

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110 comments

  2. Amethyst is a wonderful colour, and lovely variety of shots that speak of amethyst, Terri. I was really happy when you showed photos of amethyst gemstones, and read that you went shopping with your daughter in a jewelry store and amethyst caught your eye. I love gemstones and collect them, and amethyst is one of them. In fact I have some amethyst just like the bowls in your photos – hard to stop at collecting one as they can be so beautiful. Your amethyst earrings are beautiful.

    How lucky you got to see some auroras last week. But wow the previous ones you saw are truly something spectacular. A stunning riot of colours 🙂

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  5. Terri, thank you for this beautiful celebration of amethyst. It’s my Mother’s birthstone and it does make very special jewellery pieces – I love the ones you feature here. Wow! Those aurora photos are stunning and surreal! Absolutely breathtaking!

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  6. Terri,

    I love your Winter Dawn photograph, and the Northern Lights are stunning through your camera. Many years ago, Helen and I visited Rio where Amethysts are mined. We bought one and had it placed in a pendant. I would love to show it off here, but we’re in Florida on an RV trip and it’s at home. My contribution is a purple Rhododendron which is native to our mountains. BTW, when I was young, my favorite song was “Purple People Eater” (LOL).

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  13. Such glorious shades of amethyst you’ve shared here! Amethyst was one of my mom’s favorite stones (alongside rose quartz) and I always think of her when I see it ❤ My brother has given me a few raw hunks of amethyst over the years and they truly do carry a sense of calm within them.

    Hope you’re having a lovely week!

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  22. 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜
    What lovely amethyst photos you shared! I needed all the flower therapy you shared after that cold week in Pennsylvania I had! 💜🪻Thank you!
    I do have a funny amethyst in my Tuesday post! Look for it towards the end!
    Happy Valentine’s Day!
    💜💜💜💜💜💜

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  36. Amethysts are beautiful stones. My mom’s birthday is in February and you may recall my post about how she gave me her amethyst ring and I lost it (as well as her silver locket). Your earrings are beautiful here Terri. I like that you can pick the type of jewelry to put the stone into. After my father left, my mom had a cross with a diamond inset made for me out of her engagement ring and gave me the band with tiny diamonds which I wore as a pinkie ring for many years. I do not have amethyst in tonight’s post – it is part three of my long walk on September 10th, but I will be doing a tribute to my mom on what would have been her 100th birthday for Valentine’s Day this Saturday, so I’ll mention amethyst, but I have a flower post for Wordless Wednesday too.

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      • Amethysts are so pretty. My birthstone is diamond … colorless and a bit boring as gemstones go.

        Yes, it will be a heartfelt post. I have a lot of vintage photos, a few that I’ve used in prior posts about my mom, but I am amazed that except for two photos, one tattered and one with a stain (both of them 100 years old), that these photos look as good as they do. I’ve written the post and the pictures are ready, but I have to put it together now.

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  41. Cindy’s favorite color. It’s a great color for flowers and kings’ robes. It’s an unusual color rather than one we see constantly. If we wear purple or amethyst we stand out a little bit. At least the color would stand out in my closet! It’s a breath of fresh air. I’ll take some deep amethyst breaths and post them by Wednesday. 🙂 Have a great week! xxxxxxxxxxx

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  42. It’s a wonderful colour, isn’t it? I have a pale amethyst in my engagement ring, Terri. I was horrified to lose the stone a couple of years ago. The replacement isn’t the exact same colour, but close. Happy Valentine’s week! xx

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