The stones

Hardness

Mohs 7, hard enough to scratch glass and a steel knife.

Formation

It grew in cracks in a dark rock that formed as molten rock cooled underground. Hot, mineral-rich water moved through the cracks and left quartz behind one thin layer at a time, and small differences from one layer to the next make the bands.

Color

Pale sky blue, laced with bands of white and brighter blue, and sometimes threaded with brown. Agate sold in a vivid, solid blue has usually been dyed, because natural blue lace agate is pale and its color sits in bands.

Found in

Most blue lace agate comes from a single narrow band of stone running through the rock on a farm called Ysterputs in southern Namibia, and a few smaller deposits lie across the border in South Africa. The mine at Ysterputs has now closed.

History

Blue lace agate was found in southern Namibia in the 1960s, and a prospector named George Swanson mined it there.

Commonly used for

Calm · Peace · Communication · Self-expression · Restful sleep · Harmony at home

How people use it

Held in the hand or carried in a pocket, for calm in a stressful moment. Carried or worn to a difficult conversation, an interview or a talk, for speaking clearly and calmly. Set on a desk and looked at when work gets stressful, for calm. Placed at the bedside or under the pillow, for restful sleep. Ringed with lit light-blue candles at home, for peace in the household.

Care

Cool water is fine. Rinse it and dry it with a soft cloth.

Hardness

Mohs 6 to 6.5, the same as moonstone and a little softer than quartz. It splits cleanly along flat faces, so a hard knock can break it.

Composition

Amazonite is a kind of microcline, and microcline is one kind of feldspar. Feldspar is the family of minerals that makes up more than half of the Earth's crust. Amazonite's color is thought to come from tiny traces of lead.

Formation

Its best crystals are found in a very coarse granite called pegmatite, and in cracks and open pockets in the rock.

Color

Green to blue-green, from pale to deep, and now and then a true greenish blue. It is often mottled or streaked with white. Some pieces on the market are dyed or coated to deepen the color.

Found in

It comes from Brazil, the United States, Canada, Madagascar and Ethiopia, among other places. In the United States, Pikes Peak in Colorado and Amelia Courthouse in Virginia are known for it.

History

It was once called Amazon stone. In ancient Egypt it was made into beads as far back as the New Stone Age, and it was used for amulets and inlay in the tomb of Tutankhamun.

Commonly used for

Speaking the truth · Calm · Hope · Courage · Luck · Success · Openness to change

How people use it

Held during meditation, or kept close by as a palm stone, for calming energy. Gripped tightly while a wish is said out loud, to give the wish strength. Worn by those who gamble, for luck with money, and carried by anyone taking a chance, for success. Brought into a hard conversation, in a pocket or as jewelry, for the courage to speak honestly. Set where it will be seen every day, as a reminder to keep hope.

Care

Never put it in an ultrasonic or steam cleaner, because either one can widen the cracks inside it. Wash it in warm water with a little mild soap and a soft brush instead, and dry it straight away.

Hardness

Mohs 7, hard enough to scratch glass and a steel knife.

Composition

Quartz with traces of iron. Once the crystal has formed, natural radiation from the surrounding rock acts on the iron and turns it purple.

Formation

It grows in cracks and hollows in volcanic rock, most of all in the gas bubbles left in old lava flows. A small hollow lined with it is a geode, and a large one can hold several tons of crystals.

Color

Every shade of purple, from barely tinted to nearly opaque, and from reddish purple to violet. Much of the golden citrine on the market is amethyst that has been heated.

Found in

Brazil, Uruguay, Zambia, Bolivia and Tanzania are the main producers. In the United States, the Four Peaks Mine in Arizona is the only commercial amethyst mine.

Birthstone

Amethyst is the birthstone for February.

History

In Greek and Roman times, cups were carved from it in the belief that no one who drank from them would get drunk, and rings of amethyst set in bronze were worn as charms.

Commonly used for

Calm · Peaceful sleep and dreams · Meditation · Intuition · Clearing a room

How people use it

Kept under the pillow or on the nightstand, for peaceful sleep and dreams. Held in the hand when stress rises, for calming energy. Set on a meditation altar beside a white candle, or kept with tarot cards and runes, for intuition. A cluster left out in a room, to keep the space clear.

Care

Keep it out of strong, direct sun, because the purple can fade. Dust it, or rinse it in cool water and dry it with a soft cloth.

Hardness

Mohs 7.5 to 8, a little harder than quartz. It doesn't split cleanly along flat faces.

Composition

Aquamarine is the blue kind of beryl, a mineral made of beryllium, aluminum, silicon and oxygen. Emerald is the deep green kind of the same mineral. The blue comes from tiny traces of iron.

Formation

It grows in a very coarse granite called pegmatite, often in narrow cracks and open pockets in the rock. Its crystals are long, six-sided columns, and clear, unflawed crystals are far more common in aquamarine than in emerald.

Color

Pale to medium blue, often with a touch of green. Most aquamarine sold as a cut gem has been gently heated, which clears the green tint and leaves a purer blue. Opaque pieces and collectors' crystals are usually left natural.

Found in

Brazil has been the leading source for more than a hundred years. Aquamarine also comes from Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Russia, the United States and several countries in Africa, Madagascar among them.

History

Its name is Latin for water of the sea. The Roman writer Pliny the Elder wrote that the most prized beryls were the ones the color of the sea. In lore, sailors and fishermen have long carried it as a charm for a safe voyage.

Birthstone

Aquamarine is a birthstone for March.

Commonly used for

Clear communication · Calm · Peace · Courage · Psychic awareness · Purification · Safe travel over water · Harmony between partners

How people use it

Worn at the throat or carried through the day, for speaking clearly and calmly. Held in the hand, or worn as a faceted stone on a necklace, to let psychic impressions come through. Packed in a suitcase or carried on a journey over water, for a safe crossing. Placed in a bath with sea salt before ritual work, for relaxing, cleansing energy. Exchanged between partners, or given by a groom to his bride on the wedding day, for a smooth and loving partnership.

Care

Never put it in an ultrasonic or steam cleaner, because the tiny flaws inside it can make it break. Wash it in warm water with a little mild soap and a soft brush instead.

Hardness

Mohs 6.5 to 7, close to quartz, and hard enough to scratch glass.

Composition

Green aventurine is quartz or quartzite, a rock made almost entirely of tightly packed quartz grains. Scattered through it are tiny flat flakes of fuchsite, a green form of mica that is rich in chromium. Mica is the family of minerals that splits into thin sheets. The flakes give the stone its green, and light bouncing off them makes its glitter, which is called aventurescence.

Formation

Quartzite forms when a sandstone rich in quartz is changed by heat and pressure, and its sand grains grow back together into one tightly locked mass.

Color

It ranges from light to deep green. The more fuchsite inside, the deeper the green, and a piece crowded with it can turn opaque. Aventurine and plain quartz are often dyed bright colors, and goldstone, a man-made sparkling glass, is made to look like aventurine.

Found in

India is by far the largest source, much of it from the south of the country, and Brazil is second. Russia and Tanzania produce smaller amounts.

History

Its name comes from the Italian a ventura, meaning by chance. The name first belonged to a sparkling glass that Italian glassmakers made by accident, and the stone took its name from the glass.

Commonly used for

Luck · Prosperity · Games of chance · New opportunities · Confidence · Calm

How people use it

Carried in a wallet, purse or pocket, to draw luck and money. Brought along to a game or a competition as a gambler's charm, for luck in the game. Worn or carried, for creativity and clear perception. Set in a new home, or taken to a new job or school, for a good beginning. Placed on a desk or near a workspace, to draw wealth.

Care

Cool water is fine. Rinse it and dry it with a soft cloth.

Hardness

Mohs 3. A steel knife scratches it easily, and a knock can split it cleanly along a flat face.

Composition

Calcite is a mineral made of calcium, carbon and oxygen. It is the main mineral in limestone and marble, which makes it one of the most common minerals on Earth.

Formation

Most calcite forms in water. Calcite dissolved in the water of a sea or lake settles to the bottom, along with shells and coral, which are built from the same material. Over time those layers harden into limestone. Heat and pressure deep underground can turn that limestone into marble, and in caves calcite builds up drip by drip into stalactites. Most orange calcite is found in solid lumps. Separate, well-shaped orange crystals are rare.

Color

Pale yellowish orange to bright orange. The duller shades are common, and a clear, vivid orange is the rare one. Calcite as a whole is most often white, and it also comes colorless, gray, red, green, blue, yellow and brown. Its clear, colorless form is called Iceland spar, and anything seen through it shows up twice.

Found in

Mexico is a main source of orange calcite. Calcite of one color or another is found all over the world.

History

Its name comes from calx, the Latin word for lime, the white powder made from limestone.

Commonly used for

Creativity · Happiness and lightheartedness · Confidence · Energy · Passion · Protection · Meditation

How people use it

Held in the hand, for extra energy. Worn or set on the altar during a ritual, to double the strength of the working. Used in meditation, to recenter after a busy, high-pressure stretch. Placed in a studio or office with a written intention tucked underneath, to amplify that intention.

Care

Never let anything acidic touch it, because acid, even vinegar, makes it fizz as it eats into the surface. Wipe it clean with a soft cloth that is dry or only barely damp.

Hardness

Mohs 7, hard enough to scratch glass and a steel knife.

Formation

It forms long after volcanic rock has cooled. Water carrying dissolved quartz seeps into old gas bubbles and cracks in the rock and leaves the quartz behind, and traces of iron in that water give it its color.

Color

Translucent orange, from a pale pinkish orange through red-orange to a deep rusty brown. A darker version is sold as sard. A great deal of the carnelian sold is agate, a plainer, banded chalcedony, heated until the iron in it turns orange to red, or dyed.

Found in

Most carnelian sold today comes from Brazil, India and Botswana, with more from Uruguay and Madagascar. In ancient times it came from around the Mediterranean.

History

In ancient Egypt it was carved into amulets, among them a knot-shaped amulet of Isis whose red stood for her blood, and it was worn on the hand to quiet anger, jealousy and envy. The Babylonians and Romans carved it into seals and signet rings.

Commonly used for

Courage · Confidence · Motivation · Creativity · Eloquence · Passion

How people use it

Carried in a pocket or purse, for self-worth. Worn at the neck or in a ring, for courage and a steady voice when speaking in public. Set on a desk or in a workspace, for creativity.

Care

Keep harsh chemicals away from it. Clean it with warm water, a mild soap and a soft brush, then rinse it and dry it.

Hardness

Mohs 7, hard enough to scratch glass and a steel knife.

Formation

Natural citrine grows mostly in a very coarse granite called pegmatite, and it's rare. Most citrine sold starts out as amethyst and is heated until it turns yellow.

Color

Yellow through orange to brownish orange. A deep reddish orange is rare, and is called Madeira citrine.

Found in

Natural citrine comes mostly from eastern Brazil, with more from Argentina, Bolivia, Madagascar, Mexico, Russia, Spain and Uruguay. Most heated citrine is amethyst mined in eastern Brazil.

Birthstone

Citrine was added to the American list as a birthstone for November in 1952, beside topaz.

Commonly used for

Abundance and money · Manifestation · Optimism · Creativity · Confidence

How people use it

Kept in a wallet, a cash drawer or wherever sales happen, for abundance; it's called the merchant's stone. Held while naming a goal, for manifestation. Set in a room, to clear the atmosphere. Worn to bed, for peaceful sleep.

Care

Cool water is fine. Rinse it and dry it with a soft cloth.

Hardness

Mohs 4. Soft, and it scratches easily.

Composition

Calcium fluoride. It splits cleanly along flat faces in four directions, the only common mineral that does, so a broken piece can come away as a perfect eight-sided shape.

Formation

Most of it grows in cracks in rock that hot, mineral-rich water has flowed through. It also forms in the cracks and hollows of limestone.

Color

Typically purple, green and yellow, and also colorless, blue, red and black. A single piece is often banded through several of them.

Found in

China, Mexico, Mongolia and South Africa are the main producers supplying the United States, which imports nearly all of what it uses. Illinois is the notable domestic occurrence.

History

In Egypt, beads of green and yellow fluorite have been found at Armant, made before the first pharaohs. The Romans carved it into drinking cups, which they called murrina, and paid extraordinary sums for them; Nero is recorded as spending a million sesterces on a single one. Pompey the Great brought the first to Rome after his eastern campaigns, in 62 BC. Two survive, both in the British Museum.

Commonly used for

Clear thinking · Focus and concentration · Study and learning · Making a decision · Calming chaotic thought · Clearing away what you have picked up · Order out of chaos

Color changes what it is for

Purple works on the mind. Green works on the heart. Blue on the throat and on speaking clearly. Clear on the crown. Rainbow does all of it.

How people use it

Kept on a desk beside the work, for clear thinking and focus. Held while you name the thing you want clear, before a study session or a hard decision. Held in meditation, for intuition. Worn, to clear away what you have picked up that is not yours to carry.

Care

Keep it out of the sun, because the purples and blues will fade. Never submerge it; a damp cloth and a soft brush are enough. A knock will split it along a flat face rather than chipping it, so store it on its own.

Hardness

Mohs 6.5 to 7.5, about as hard as quartz. Crushed, it breaks into sharp-edged grains, which is why garnet is used to make sandpaper.

Composition

Garnet is a family of closely related minerals. Each one is a silicate, a mineral built from silicon and oxygen, joined with metals such as iron, magnesium, manganese, calcium or aluminum. Garnets rich in iron or manganese are usually red, and garnets rich in calcium are usually green. A single stone is almost always a blend of more than one kind.

Formation

Most garnet forms deep underground, where heat and pressure change a rock that is rich in aluminum, and new garnet crystals grow inside it as it changes. Garnet also turns up in almost every other kind of rock. It is hard and does not wear away easily, so when the rock around it breaks down over time, the garnet is left behind as grains and pebbles in soil and riverbeds.

Color

Most often deep red to reddish brown, and it also comes in orange, yellow, green, purple, pink and black. Blue garnet is extremely rare. Most garnet is sold untreated, shaped and polished and nothing more.

Found in

Garnet is found all over the world. Gem garnet comes from India, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Tanzania, Kenya, Madagascar and the United States, where New York and Idaho have also been major sources of garnet for sandpaper and other grinding work. The ancient Egyptians used their own, which is plentiful at Aswan, in the Eastern Desert and in Sinai.

History

Its name comes from the Latin word for pomegranate, because small red garnets look like the fruit's seeds. Ancient Egyptians made it into beads before the first pharaohs, and later set it as the eyes of hawks and cobras in jewelry. Garnet was the most popular gem of ancient Rome. In the Middle Ages, a garnet carved with a lion was carried as a charm, especially on journeys. Friends who were parting once exchanged garnets, to show their affection and as a charm to meet again.

Birthstone

Garnet is the birthstone for January.

Commonly used for

Strength and stamina · Energy · Protection · Courage · Grounding · Passion · Love and devotion · Commitment · Manifestation

How people use it

Carried or worn through a long, demanding day, for strength and stamina. Worn during ritual work, for an extra store of energy. Held while a wish is spoken out loud, to put power behind the intention. Tucked into a bag or kept in the car on a trip, for protection along the way. Kept on a desk through a long project, or set on a written list of goals and touched each morning, for the drive to see it through. Placed in a home two partners share, for love and a lasting commitment between them.

Care

Keep it away from strong heat and sudden changes in temperature. Wash it in warm water with a little mild soap and a soft brush, and dry it straight away.

Hardness

Mohs 5 to 6.5, the same range as a steel knife blade. It scratches, and the polish dulls.

Composition

Iron oxide. It's iron already fully combined with oxygen, so there's nothing left in it to rust.

Formation

Some of it forms as molten rock cools, or grows from hot, mineral-rich water moving through rock. The great deposits have a stranger origin. Roughly 2.4 billion years ago, tiny ocean organisms called cyanobacteria began releasing oxygen into the sea; it combined with the iron already dissolved there, and the hematite that formed sank to the seafloor. That went on for hundreds of millions of years, leaving banded iron deposits hundreds to several thousand feet thick.

Color

Red to brown, and black to gray to silver. Rubbed across unglazed white tile, every piece leaves a reddish mark, whatever color the stone itself is.

Found in

Mined in China, Australia, Brazil, India, Russia, Ukraine, South Africa and the United States, where production is concentrated in Michigan and Minnesota.

History

Egyptian headrest amulets of the Late Period, from roughly 662 BC onward, were made almost exclusively of hematite. One was laid under the head of the dead, with a spell asking for protection and rebirth.

Commonly used for

Grounding · Focus for detailed work · Shielding your own energy · Coming back to the present · Anchoring an intention into action · Clear thinking and memory · Scrying

How people use it

Held in the hand, where the weight does the work. Carried or worn in a crowd, for shielding your own energy. Gazed at by candlelight to scry.

Care

Keep it out of long soaks, and dry it off if it does get wet.

Hardness

Mohs 7 to 7.5, the same as black tourmaline, and hard enough to scratch glass and a steel knife. It can split cleanly along one direction inside the stone, so a hard knock can break it.

Composition

Iolite is the jewelers' name for clear, gem-quality cordierite, a mineral made of magnesium, aluminum, silicon and oxygen, usually with a little iron. Geologists call the same mineral cordierite whether or not it is fine enough to cut as a gem.

Formation

It forms when clay-rich rock such as shale is changed by heat and pressure into a new rock, and less often it grows in granite. Most gem iolite is gathered as water-worn pebbles from gravels, where it settled after washing free of the rock it grew in.

Color

Violet-blue to deep blue, and often dark and inky. Turn a piece and its color changes: it looks violet-blue from one side, and pale gray, yellowish or almost clear from another. The color is natural, because iolite is sold without the heating or dyeing that many blue gems receive.

Found in

It comes from India, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Brazil, Madagascar and the United States, among other places.

History

Its name comes from the Greek word for violet. The mineral name, cordierite, honors Pierre Cordier, a French geologist who was the first to study it. Jewelers once called iolite water sapphire, because a piece that shows a sapphire's blue at one angle can turn nearly colorless, like water, at another.

Commonly used for

Intuition · Meditation · Dreams · Finding direction · Focus · Managing money · Safe travel

How people use it

Held during meditation, or rested against the forehead, for clearer inner vision. Worn as jewelry, for staying in touch with one's intuition through the day. Set on a desk or wherever decisions get made, for focus and clear thinking. Given as a parting gift to someone moving away, or carried by a traveler, for a safe return home. Kept close while paying off debt, for steady, clear-headed choices about money.

Care

Water is safe for it. Wash it in warm water with a little mild soap, and pat it dry with a soft cloth.

Hardness

Mohs 6 to 7. Nephrite is 6 to 6.5, the same as moonstone, and jadeite is 6.5 to 7, close to quartz. Both are exceptionally tough, because their fibers or grains lock tightly together, so jade is very hard to break.

Composition

Jade is two different minerals, nephrite and jadeite, which look so much alike that they were not told apart until 1863. Nephrite is made of calcium, magnesium, iron, silicon and oxygen, woven together as fine fibers, and jadeite is made of sodium, aluminum, silicon and oxygen, packed as tiny interlocking grains. The name is also used loosely, and many green stones sold as jade are other stones, such as serpentine or green aventurine.

Formation

Both form when existing rock is changed by great heat and pressure, and they are mostly found where one of the great plates of the Earth's surface is being forced down beneath another.

Color

Green jade runs from pale to deep green, and jade also comes in white, cream, lavender, black and other colors. Nephrite's greens are usually less vivid than jadeite's, and more iron in nephrite gives a deeper green. The vivid, translucent green called imperial jade is jadeite. Some jadeite on the market has been bleached, filled with resin or dyed to improve its color.

Found in

The finest jadeite comes mostly from Myanmar, and Guatemala produces it too. Nephrite comes from British Columbia in Canada, China, Russia, New Zealand and Wyoming, among other places.

History

Its name comes from the Spanish piedra de hijada, stone of the flank. In China, people of the Liangzhu culture were burying their dead with carved nephrite more than four thousand years ago, including thousands of flat disks called bi. In Central America the Maya carved jadeite from the Motagua River valley in Guatemala, and blue-green jade was traded over long distances there some three thousand years ago. The Maori of New Zealand call nephrite pounamu, or greenstone.

Commonly used for

Prosperity · Luck · Love · Wisdom · Clear decisions · Harmony · Protection · Gardening

How people use it

Held in the hand for a few moments before a business decision, for a clear and prosperous choice. Worn as a pendant or a ring, to draw money and success. Carved as a butterfly, then worn or given to someone, to draw love. Carried, worn, or rested against the forehead, for wiser, clearer thinking. Buried along the edges of a garden, or worn while gardening, for thriving plants. Laid around the candle that represents water when a magic circle is cast, to mark water's place in the circle.

Care

Keep it out of ultrasonic and steam cleaners, because a piece that has been treated can crack in them. Wash it in warm water with a little mild soap and a soft brush instead, and dry it straight away.

Hardness

Mohs 6.5 to 7, a little harder than moonstone and close to quartz.

Formation

Ocean jasper formed from lava rich in silica, the substance quartz is made of, and the rock was later filled through with chalcedony. Its round orbs grew where needle-thin crystals of quartz and feldspar spread outward from a single point in every direction.

Color

Green, white and cream, often mixed with pink, red, yellow or brown, and scattered with round orbs in other colors. Some pieces hold small hollows lined with tiny sparkling crystals. No two stones are patterned alike.

Found in

It comes only from the northwest coast of Madagascar, near the village of Marovato. The stone sits at the edge of the sea, so it is reached by boat and dug out only at low tide. The original deposit is nearly used up.

History

It first reached collectors around the year 2000, from a deposit on that coast mined by Paul Obenich, and it was sold under the name Ocean Jasper.

Commonly used for

Calm · Joy · Patience · Self-love · Confidence · Meditation

How people use it

Worn as jewelry, or carried into a big day, for confidence and an easy mood. Held in the palm as a worry stone and rubbed with the thumb, for calming energy. Rested over the heart in meditation, or in quiet time alone, for comfort and self-care. Set on a desk through a stressful workday, for a steady, cheerful mood. Gazed at as a polished sphere by candlelight or moonlight during meditation, for a focused mind.

Care

Keep it out of strong, direct sun for long stretches, which can fade its colors. A quick rinse in cool water is fine; dry it straight away with a soft cloth.

Hardness

Mohs 6.5 to 7, close to quartz, and hard enough to scratch glass.

Composition

Red jasper is chalcedony with so much other mineral matter mixed through it that light cannot pass through the stone. Its red comes from iron, often in the form of the iron mineral hematite.

Formation

It forms where water carrying dissolved quartz seeps into cracks in rock, or into soft layers of mud and sand that have not yet hardened, and leaves the quartz behind in grains too small to see. Iron picked up by the water along the way gives it its red color.

Color

Brick red to a deep, rusty red-brown, sometimes with darker bands or patterns running through it. Held up to a light, carnelian glows and red jasper stays solid, which is the easiest way to tell the two apart.

Found in

It comes from many places, among them Brazil, the United States, Germany, France, Russia, India, Australia and South Africa. In Egypt it came from the desert east of the Nile, where it runs in bands through the rock and was mined in ancient times.

History

Egyptians were working it before the first pharaohs, mostly into beads and amulets, and now and then into inlay, carved beetles called scarabs, and shallow bowls. It was one of the red stones used for the knot amulet of Isis, where the color meant her blood.

Commonly used for

Grounding · Courage · Strength and endurance · Protection · Finishing what you start · Beauty and grace

How people use it

Worn as jewelry or carried through the day, for steady, grounding energy. Chosen by young women as jewelry, for beauty and grace. Carried on stage by actors and other performers, for luck. Kept in an office or studio, for a stable feel while working. Used in a spell in place of carnelian when there is none on hand.

Care

Cool water is fine. Rinse it and dry it with a soft cloth.

Hardness

Mohs 6 to 6.5, a little softer than quartz.

Composition

Labradorite is a feldspar. Feldspar is the family of minerals that makes up more than half of the Earth's crust. The flash of color happens when light enters the stone and bounces back off thin layers inside it.

Formation

It forms as molten rock cools, in dark rocks such as basalt, and in one rock, called anorthosite, it can be most of what's there.

Color

Turned in the light, it flashes blue, green, yellow, orange or red, and sometimes purple, at certain angles and goes dark at others. That flash is often likened to the northern lights.

Found in

Canada, Finland, Madagascar, Russia and Oregon. The Finnish kind, called spectrolite, shows the full rainbow.

History

A Moravian missionary found it near Nain, in Labrador, Canada, in 1770, and it's named for the place.

Commonly used for

Transformation and growth · Inner strength · Intuition · Psychic awakening · Shielding your own energy

How people use it

Held on the third eye during meditation, for intuition. Worn as a ring or pendant, for shielding your own energy. Used in moon rituals, because its glowing flash is linked to the moon.

Care

Dust it with a soft, dry cloth.

Hardness

Mohs about 5, and it varies within a single piece because the stone is not one mineral. Too soft for a ring or a bracelet; it belongs in earrings and pendants.

Composition

Three minerals. Lazurite for the blue, calcite for the white, pyrite for the gold flecks. Most of what reaches the market has been dyed to hide the calcite, then waxed or oiled.

Formation

It forms deep underground, where molten rock pushes up against limestone or marble. The heat and hot fluids change the stone, and the blue mineral, lazurite, grows in its place, often in bands, so the blue comes already streaked.

Color

Deep blue. A stone only counts as lapis if it's clearly blue, with the blue mineral making up at least a quarter of it.

Found in

Afghanistan is the world's leading source and has been worked for thousands of years; mining in Badakhshan Province goes back as far as 7000 BC, and most production still comes from thousands of small mines there. Chile, Russia, Canada, Argentina and Pakistan also produce it, with small amounts from California, Colorado and Arizona.

Birthstone

Lapis was December's stone on the original American trade list of 1912, and was dropped in 1952 when zircon replaced it. The older lists, the ones that circulated before the jewelers standardized them, still name it.

History

In ancient Sumer it was the favored stone for cylinder seals, which were rolled into wet clay as a signature, and it was carried as an amulet. It appears in Egyptian sites from about 3000 BC. Ground to a powder it becomes ultramarine, a blue that does not fade, and costly enough that a Renaissance painting using it counted as a luxury. It is the blue in Van Gogh's Starry Night.

Commonly used for

Psychic awareness · Wisdom and truth · Meditation · Inner vision · Joy · Love · Fidelity and loyalty · Courage · Protection

How people use it

Held in the hand through a ritual, or set around blue or purple candles, to keep the work pointed at one outcome. Worn as a necklace of beads, or held, to sharpen intuition. Kept on a desk where decisions get made, for wisdom. A rough piece with a sharp edge used to carve a heart into a pink candle, for love. Worn as a fidelity charm.

Care

Never let it touch water. The calcite in it dissolves, and water and solvents lift the dye and the wax. Dust it with a dry cloth instead.

Hardness

Mohs 3.5 to 4, and it splits cleanly along flat faces. Soft enough that it chips and powders rather than merely scratching.

Formation

It forms above buried copper ore, where the ore is breaking down near the surface. Water seeping down through cracks and caves carries the copper and leaves malachite behind. Well-formed crystals are rare. It builds up instead the way cave formations do, as stalactites and rounded, bubbly crusts, and cutting through those layers makes the banding and the eyes.

Color

Always green, and only green: pastel through bright to a green so dark it is nearly black. Cut surfaces show banding and eyes, the way agate does.

Found in

Most malachite reaching the market today comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with smaller amounts from Australia, France and Arizona. The Ural Mountain deposits in Russia that supplied the great sculptural pieces of the 1800s produce very little now. The earliest workings were in Egypt and Israel, over four thousand years ago.

History

Ground for eye paint in ancient Egypt, where Hathor carried the title Lady of Malachite.

Commonly used for

Transformation · Protection · Love · Power · Peace · Business and attraction

How people use it

Held, or simply gazed at, for the calm of the deep green. A necklace that touches the skin draws love. Worn plainly, it is said to warn of danger coming, and the lore says the stone breaks apart when it does. Small pieces are set in each corner of a business, or one is kept in the cash register, to draw customers in.

Care

Never let it touch water. Dust it with a dry cloth instead, and keep it away from heat and from anything acidic.

Hardness

Mohs 6 to 6.5, a little softer than quartz. It splits cleanly along flat faces, so a sharp knock can break it.

Composition

Moonstone is two kinds of feldspar, orthoclase and albite. Feldspar is the family of minerals that makes up more than half of the Earth's crust. The two grow together in thin layers, one on top of the next. The soft glow that seems to float across the surface as the stone turns is called adularescence, and it comes from light scattering between those layers.

Formation

It forms as molten rock cools, including in a very coarse granite called pegmatite. Most moonstone is dug by hand from stream gravels, or from the soft clay left where that rock has weathered.

Color

The body of the stone can be white, gray, peach, pink, yellow, green, brown or nearly colorless. The glow is white or silvery, and in the rarest stones it's blue. The thinner the layers inside, the bluer the glow.

Found in

Sri Lanka is the most important source of fine moonstone, with more from India, Brazil, Myanmar and Madagascar.

History

The Romans believed a moonstone held the image of Diana, their goddess of the moon. In India it has long been held sacred.

Birthstone

Moonstone is a birthstone for June, beside pearl and alexandrite.

Commonly used for

Intuition · Emotional balance · Love · Restful sleep and dreams · Divination · Safe travel

How people use it

Held on the third eye during meditation, for intuition. Worn or carried, to draw love. Carried when away from home, especially on journeys over water, for safe travel; it has long been called the traveler's stone. Placed beneath the pillow, or worn to bed as beads, for restful sleep. Set out under the full moon with an intention, to strengthen that intention. Tied to the branch of a fruit tree, for a full crop.

Care

Never put it in an ultrasonic or steam cleaner. Wash it quickly in warm, soapy water with a soft brush instead, and dry it straight away.

Hardness

Mohs 5 to 5.5, about as hard as lapis, so a steel knife can scratch it. It breaks the way thick glass does, along smooth curved surfaces.

Composition

It is mostly silica, the compound quartz is made of, but its atoms never lined up into crystals, and that is what makes it a glass.

Formation

It forms when molten rock cools so fast that no crystals have time to grow, at the edges of lava flows, where lava meets water, or where it cools in the air. Over a very long time some obsidian slowly begins to crystallize, and the small white clusters that grow inside it make snowflake obsidian.

Color

Most often jet black, and sometimes dark brown, gray or green. Traces of other elements and tiny bits of other material caught in the glass give it its color. Held up to the light, a thin edge can let light through.

Found in

It is found only where volcanoes have been active in fairly recent geologic time. Mexico, Iceland, Japan, Indonesia and Italy all produce it, and so does the western United States, including Arizona and California.

History

People have shaped it into knives, arrowheads and spear points since prehistoric times, and carried it in trade as far as a thousand miles from where it was dug. Polished flat, it made some of the earliest mirrors. The Aztecs made obsidian mirrors for divination, and one of them reached England after the conquest of Mexico. There John Dee, astrologer and adviser to Queen Elizabeth I, used it to call spirits, and that mirror is now in the British Museum.

Commonly used for

Protection · Grounding · Scrying and divination · Truth and self-reflection · Energy clearing

How people use it

Held in the hands, or set as two small polished pieces under bare feet, for grounding. Gazed into as a polished sphere or mirror, for scrying, which is divination by looking into a dark, reflective surface. Carried or worn, for shielding your own energy. Kept near the front door, to protect the home. Set around the candle that represents fire when a magic circle is cast.

Care

Keep it away from heat and sudden changes of temperature. Wash it in warm water with a little mild soap and a soft brush, and dry it straight away.

Hardness

Mohs 7, hard enough to scratch glass and a steel knife.

Composition

Silicon dioxide. It turns up in almost every kind of rock there is.

Formation

It grows from hot water filling open cracks in rock. The well-known crystals of Arkansas's Ouachita Mountains formed that way as the mountains finished building, some 280 to 245 million years ago.

Color

Colorless and clear, and in that form it's called rock crystal. Quartz itself comes in almost every color, and amethyst, citrine, rose quartz and smoky quartz are all quartz.

Found in

Well-known sources include Minas Gerais in Brazil and the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas, where quartz crystal is the official state mineral.

Birthstone

Rock crystal is often named as an alternative birthstone for April, beside diamond.

History

People in the Ouachita Mountains chipped arrowheads from it, and Hernando de Soto's men saw them there. During World War II the clearest crystals went into communication equipment, until quartz began to be grown artificially in the 1950s. Old names for it include star stone and witch's mirror.

Commonly used for

Amplifying other stones · Holding an intention · Clear thinking · Clearing away heavy energy · Meditation

How people use it

Set in a grid or beside other stones, to amplify them. Charged with one intention and carried, to hold it. Held in meditation, for clear thinking.

Care

Cool water is fine. Rinse it and dry it with a soft cloth.

Hardness

Mohs 7, hard enough to scratch glass and a steel knife.

Composition

Quartz, colored by microscopic pink fibers of a mineral close to one called dumortierite. The same fibers make it cloudy rather than clear.

Formation

It usually grows as solid masses rather than crystals, in cracks filled by hot, mineral-rich water and in a very coarse granite called pegmatite. Clear pink crystals do form, rarely, in pockets inside pegmatite.

Color

From a pink so pale it's almost invisible to a rich, deep pink, and always a little cloudy.

Found in

Most rose quartz sold today comes from Brazil, South Africa, India and Madagascar, with more from Namibia, Mozambique and Sri Lanka. In the United States, a deposit near Custer, South Dakota, once produced a great deal of it.

Commonly used for

Love · Self-love · Comfort after heartbreak · Trust and warmth in a relationship · Peace

How people use it

Worn as a heart shape, to draw love. Kept on the bedside table, for trust and warmth between partners. Worn over the heart or carried in a pocket through the day, for self-love.

Care

Keep it out of strong, direct sun and away from heat, because the pink can fade. Cool water is fine; rinse it and dry it with a soft cloth.

Hardness

Mohs 7, hard enough to scratch glass and a steel knife.

Composition

Quartz, darkened by natural radiation from the surrounding rock acting on traces of aluminum inside it. The same color can be made in a lab by exposing clear quartz to radiation, and very dark pieces are sometimes heated to lighten them.

Formation

It grows in veins of quartz that fill cracks in rock, and in a very coarse granite called pegmatite. The best-formed crystals grow in open pockets along the edges of the pegmatite.

Color

From a light yellowish brown to a brown so dark it looks black, sometimes with a gray cast. The near-black kind is called morion, and the yellowish brown kind from Scotland is called cairngorm.

Found in

Most smoky quartz used in jewelry today comes from Brazil, with more from Madagascar, Switzerland, Russia and Ukraine, and in the United States from Colorado, California and North Carolina. The best-known historical source is Scotland's Cairngorm Mountains, which gave the Scottish kind its name.

History

In twelfth-century China, flat panes of it were made into early sunglasses, worn partly so that judges could hide their expressions in court. In the Victorian era it was set in mourning jewelry.

Commonly used for

Grounding · Letting go · Clearing away heavy energy · A clear, focused mind · Shielding your own energy

How people use it

Held in meditation, to stay grounded through it. Worn as jewelry, for grounding through the day. Carried in a pocket or purse, to let go of energy that builds up. Kept in a room at home or at work, to clear the air of bad moods.

Care

Keep it out of strong, direct sun and away from heat, because the color can fade. Cool water is fine; rinse it and dry it with a soft cloth.

Hardness

Mohs 3.5 to 4, the same as malachite. A steel knife scratches it, and a knock can split it cleanly along a flat face.

Composition

A mineral made of manganese, carbon and oxygen. Iron, magnesium or calcium can take some of the manganese's place, and that can pull the pink toward gray, yellow or brown.

Formation

It grows from hot, mineral-rich water rising through cracks in rock, often where silver ore is found, and it builds up on the walls one layer at a time. Each layer can come out a slightly different pink, which is what makes the banding. In open pockets it also hangs down as stalactites and builds up as stalagmites, the way a cave formation does, and a slice across a stalactite shows rings of pink and white.

Color

Pale pink to bright rose red, often banded with white or paler pink.

Found in

It comes from Argentina, where deposits such as Capillitas in Catamarca Province yield banded material and stalactites up to four feet long, and from Colorado, where the Sweet Home Mine near Alma is one of the few places in the world with clear, well-formed crystals. Peru and South Africa produce it too.

History

Its name is Greek for rose-colored, and it is also called Inca rose. Inca legend held that it was the blood of their past kings and queens, turned to stone. Argentina counts it as its national gemstone, and Colorado made it the state mineral in 2002. The Sweet Home Mine opened for silver in 1873, and at first the rhodochrosite was passed over.

Commonly used for

Love · Self-love · Compassion · Letting go of old hurts · Peace · Energy

How people use it

Held over the heart during meditation, for self-love. Carried to draw love. Worn or carried through hard physical activity, for extra energy. Set around the candle that represents fire when a magic circle is cast.

Care

Never let anything acidic touch it, because acid eats into the surface. Keep it away from heat as well. Wash it in warm water with a little mild soap and a soft brush, and dry it straight away.

Hardness

Mohs 5.5 to 6.5, close to sodalite and moonstone and much harder than rhodochrosite. It splits cleanly along flat faces, so a hard knock can break it.

Composition

Rhodonite is a mineral made of manganese, silicon and oxygen. Iron, magnesium or calcium can take some of the manganese's place.

Formation

It forms when rock rich in manganese is changed by heat and pressure, sometimes with hot, mineral-rich water moving through it. Most rhodonite is found in solid lumps. Separate, see-through crystals of it are rare.

Color

Pink to rose red, usually crossed by black lines of a dark manganese mineral that fill cracks or branch through the stone like tiny trees. Pieces that have weathered turn reddish brown. The black lines are the easiest way to recognize it beside rhodochrosite, the other pink manganese stone on this page, which is banded with white.

Found in

It comes from Russia's Ural Mountains, and also from Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Madagascar, Mexico, Peru, Sweden and the United States.

History

Its name comes from the Greek word for rose. It was found in the Ural Mountains in the 1790s and given its name in 1819. Empress Maria Alexandrovna, wife of the Russian emperor Alexander II, was first laid to rest under a stone coffin in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. In 1906 that coffin was replaced with a new one made of pink rhodonite from the Urals, and it stands there today. Massachusetts has named rhodonite its state gem.

Commonly used for

Peace · Calm · Clear thinking · Balance · Forgiveness · Self-love · Moving on after heartbreak

How people use it

Held in the hand or worn when confusion and doubt crowd in, for calming energy and a clearer head. Worn by those who practice magic, for a sense of inner balance. Slipped into a pillowcase, for clearer dreams. Set where it will be seen every day, as a reminder to forgive.

Care

Never put it in an ultrasonic or steam cleaner. Wash it in warm water with a little mild soap and a soft brush instead, and dry it straight away.

Hardness

Mohs 6.5 to 9, and it varies within a single piece because the stone is not one mineral. The green zoisite is about 6.5, close to moonstone, and the red ruby is 9, well above quartz at 7.

Composition

Ruby in zoisite is a rock made mostly of green zoisite, with crystals of red ruby set through it and, often, black specks of hornblende. Zoisite is the mineral that tanzanite is also made of. Ruby is corundum, the same mineral as sapphire, in its red form. Hornblende is the name for a group of dark minerals found in many kinds of rock. The stone is also called anyolite, from a Maasai word for green.

Formation

It forms deep underground, where rock is squeezed and heated across a wide area as pieces of the Earth's crust push together, and hot, mineral-rich water moves through it. The ruby and the zoisite both grow in that changed rock, and here they grew together in one stone.

Color

The green is spotted with red and often flecked with black. Traces of the metal chromium give both main minerals their color, the zoisite its green and the ruby its red. The rubies in it are usually opaque.

Found in

It comes from Tanzania, from mines in the Longido district near Mount Kilimanjaro.

Commonly used for

Joy · Passion · Vitality · Courage and confidence · Growth · Peace of mind · Comfort in grief · Past-life work · Turning negative energy positive

How people use it

Carried in a pocket or purse through a time of grief or long stress, for comforting energy. Held in the hand while resting or meditating, for peaceful energy. Left in a room that people share, to turn negative energy into positive energy. Kept by an artist or designer as a talisman, for creative energy.

Care

Keep it away from strong heat. Wash it in warm water with a little mild soap and a soft brush, and dry it straight away.

Hardness

Mohs 2. A fingernail scratches it.

Formation

It forms by evaporation. In dry country, on ancient seabeds and in desert basins, mineral-rich water collects in shallow hollows; as it dries up, what was dissolved in it grows into crystals. So it's found in layers, alongside rock salt and other minerals left by drying water.

Color

Usually colorless or white. Impurities can bring pale yellow, orange or light brown. Gypsum as a whole also occurs gray, red and brown. Its named forms are worth knowing apart: satin spar is the fibrous, silky one, desert rose grows in rosettes with sand, gypsum flower in feathery clusters, and alabaster is the fine-grained translucent carving stone.

Found in

The largest crystals known come from Naica in Chihuahua, Mexico, some of them meters long. Morocco's Tafilalt region is a major modern source. In the United States it is found at White Sands in New Mexico, and in Oklahoma, Utah, Nevada and California. Brazil and Poland also produce it.

History

Named for Selene, an ancient goddess of the moon.

Commonly used for

Clearing and purifying · Meditation · Clear judgment · Protection · Psychic work · Purity · Reconciliation · Clearing your other stones

How people use it

A wand or a flat plate, with other stones set on it for a few minutes to clear them. Worn for energy. Exchanged between two people as a peace offering after a falling out.

Care

Never let it touch water, because it will dissolve. Dust it with a dry cloth instead.

Hardness

Mohs 5.5 to 6, a little harder than lapis and a little softer than moonstone. It is tough, but quartz and other harder stones scratch it.

Composition

Sodalite is a mineral made of sodium, aluminum, silicon, oxygen and chlorine, and it is named for the sodium in it. It belongs to the same mineral family as lazurite, the blue mineral in lapis lazuli.

Formation

It forms as molten rock that is rich in sodium cools. Most sodalite is found in solid lumps. Separate, well-shaped crystals of it are rare.

Color

Royal blue to violet-blue, usually veined or patched with white calcite, and gray, green and yellow sodalite also occur. Gold flecks of pyrite are rare in it, while lapis lazuli usually carries them, and that is the plainest way to tell the two apart. Some pieces glow orange under ultraviolet light, and a variety called hackmanite changes color for a while after sunlight or ultraviolet light reaches it.

Found in

Canada produces much of the gem-quality sodalite, especially around Bancroft, Ontario, and Namibia yields some of the most intense solid blue. It also comes from Greenland, Russia, India and the United States.

History

The Caral people of ancient Peru traded it more than four thousand years ago. Europeans first described it in 1811, from Greenland. After the Princess of Wales chose Ontario sodalite to decorate Marlborough House in England, it became known as Princess Blue.

Commonly used for

Calm · Clear thinking · Clear communication · Intuition · Meditation · Wisdom

How people use it

Held in the hand, or worn, for calming energy. Set at the throat during meditation, or held just before a hard conversation, for clear communication. Rested on the third eye during meditation, for insight. Kept on a desk, for focus while studying or working. Used in a spell in place of lapis lazuli when there is none on hand.

Care

Keep it away from heat, which can fade its blue. Wash it quickly in warm water with a little mild soap and a soft brush, and dry it straight away.

Hardness

Mohs 7, hard enough to scratch glass and a steel knife.

Composition

Quartz that holds the shape of fine, parallel fibers. Those fibers catch the light in a band that runs across them and slides over the stone as it turns. The golden brown comes from iron.

Formation

It began as a different mineral, made of fine blue fibers. Over time, quartz took its place and kept the shape of every fiber, which is why the stone looks silky and striped.

Color

Golden brown to a light honey yellow. Gray-blue pieces, called hawk's eye, keep the color of the original fibers. Red, blue and green tiger's eye is usually colored with heat or dye.

Found in

Most comes from South Africa, with more from Australia, China, India and the United States.

History

Roman soldiers wore it engraved with symbols, for protection and courage in battle.

Commonly used for

Courage · Confidence · Money and good luck · Focus and determination · Grounding · Shielding your own energy

How people use it

Held outdoors on a sunny day and gazed into, for seeing what lies ahead. Carried in a pocket or purse, for confidence when it's needed. Worn as a ring or pendant, often set in gold, for courage and for shielding your own energy. Kept in a workspace or on a list of goals, or set around a green candle in a money spell, to draw wealth.

Care

Cool water is fine. Rinse it and dry it with a soft cloth.

Hardness

Mohs 7 to 7.5, as hard as quartz or a little harder. It shrugs off the everyday scratches that slowly dull softer stones.

Composition

Schorl, the black variety of tourmaline and the most common one there is. It doesn't split cleanly along flat faces, so a piece that does is probably not tourmaline.

Formation

The best crystals grow in cracks and hollows filled by hot, mineral-rich water, and in a very coarse granite called pegmatite. Elsewhere it turns up in small amounts in many kinds of rock, and because it's hard it survives in stream gravel long after softer minerals have worn away.

Color

Black, which is the most common color tourmaline comes in. Black tourmaline is sold under its mineral name, schorl.

Found in

Brazil has been the leading source of tourmaline for nearly five hundred years, with Minas Gerais productive since the late 1800s. Maine and California are long-standing sources, and more recent material comes from Afghanistan, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Tanzania.

History

The green and blue tourmalines reached Portugal in the 1500s mistaken for emerald and sapphire, and were cut for royalty. Tourmaline was not recognized as a mineral of its own until 1793. The first commercial gemstone mine in the United States followed a find near Paris, Maine, in 1821.

Commonly used for

Grounding · Protection · Clearing a room · Standing for earth in elemental work · Steadiness · Turning your own dark thinking into something usable

How people use it

Set on the altar to stand for earth. Placed by the front door, or one piece in each corner of a room, to set a barrier around the space. Kept beside a desk, to turn what is heavy into something usable. Carried in a pocket, for grounding. Charged for one purpose before it goes anywhere.

Care

A quick rinse does it no harm, but keep it out of long soaks and out of salt water. Raw pieces often have fractures running through them, so keep those away from heat and knocks.