Copper

Copper is the chemical element Cu, atomic number 29, a soft, malleable and ductile metal that carries heat and electricity very well. A freshly cut surface is pinkish orange; in air it slowly dulls to a brown-black oxide, and on roofs it weathers to a green patina called verdigris. It is one of the few metals found native, which led people to use it from about 8000 BC, and it was later the first metal smelted from sulphide ores and the first cast in a mould. Cunningham calls it a reddish orange metal and gives it to Venus and to water as a receptive metal. He records it as sacred in ancient Mesopotamia to Ishtar, Astarte and other goddesses of the planet Venus, and to the Sun in Babylon. Modern practitioners make wands of copper tube tipped with quartz crystals to direct energy, and wear the metal in ritual for the same end. He describes copper worn for healing and against sickness, rings of it set with emeralds to attract love or with mimosa seeds for protection, and old pennies kept in the kitchen to draw money to the household.