| Magma is the liquid or molten rock that
swirls around inside the Earth and which is spewed out by volcanoes. When it
reaches the surface of the Earth and runs along the ground, it is then
called Lava. |
| There are just over 4,000 minerals known to
us today. Brazil has about 1,400 of these. |
| Amber is not actually a crystal at all, but
the fossilised resin of ancient pine trees. |
| In the 1700’s it was the Dutch traders
visiting Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) who first saw the many coloured Tourmalines
and who bought them back to Europe as gemstones. |
| Hematite is the most important ore of Iron.
It is also probably the worlds oldest natural pigment having been used to
paint caves in the French Pyrenees and Pharaohs tombs in Egypt. |
| Olivine is the name given to a group of dense
green minerals that form at high temperatures in rocks such as Basalt and
Gabbro. Dunite is a rock composed entirely of Olivine. Have you ever seen
these minerals? Of course you have. Gem Quality Olivine is called Peridot ! |
| Calcite crystals form in more shapes than any
other mineral. It is not uncommon to see Tabular Crystals (2 opposing sides
much broader than the other four sides giving the crystal a wider flatter
look), Fibrous Aggregates (crystals that look like frayed string pulled
apart), Prismatic Crystals (a "normal" regular shaped crystal), Acicular
Crystals (crystals resembling a needle) and many other shapes. |
| The gemstone Lapis Lazuli, is composed of
Lazurite and Sodalite with Iron Pyrite and Calcite. Sodalite and Lapis
Lazuli can be distinguished from each other by the presence of Iron Pyrites.
Only Lapis Lazuli has the fine speckles of Iron Pyrite present which add to
the glorious blue of Lapis. Too much Calcite present, in the form of white
streaks, can lower the value of Lapis Lazuli. |
| Some of the largest Topaz crystals ever found
were over 3ft long and weighed 100kg. That's 220lbs. That's over 15 stone !! |
| We are often asked if we have any Beryl for
sale. Beryl is actually a family of stones that occurs in a wide range of
colours. For example, blue Beryl we call Aquamarine, clear Beryl we call
Goshenite, golden Beryl we call Heliodor, pink Beryl we call Morganite and,
probably the most well known of them all, green Beryl we call Emeralds ! |
| In one ton of the earths crust, only one
seven thousandth of an once (0.004 grams) is Gold. Gold is very rare, but it
is widely distributed. |
| Do you know, I get so many folk asking me
questions like "How does so and so stone form within the Earth?", "Where is
such and such mined or found" and "I have a piece of xyz crystal with some
black/blue/green or whatever, growing along with it. Can you tell me how
that got there?" I’m thinking of putting some more geological information on
the web site now! Keep those questions coming!
|
| Lapis Lazuli used to be ground up, mixed with
a little olive oil, and used as blue eye-shadow in ancient Egypt. Malachite
was used in much the same way in ancient Africa. |
The light from a Laser beam is red because
the light is focused through a Ruby. And while we are on the subject of
Rubies, one of the most famous, The Black Prince’s Ruby in the Crown Jewels,
is nowadays thought to be a much less valuable mineral called Spinel, often
confused in the past with Rubies.
|
| Amber and Fluorite are both said to be good
for memory problems. |
| Fluorite is such a popular stone, and rightly
so. It helps with coughs, cold, sore throats, cold sores etc and can help
you to recognise the purity of the universe when used in meditation. It is
easy to carve and polish and is therefore frequently used to create
obelisks, pyramids, carved animals and jewellery, although because it is
brittle when cut too thinly, it is not often used to make large pendants in
jewellery. |
| Ever tried to do any energy work and/or
healing in a room without windows? Take a clear quartz crystal ball into the
room with you and use it for "dumping" any negative energies. Don’t forget
to cleanse it when you have finished ! |
| A nice little story connected to Jade is that
if you give someone a piece of Jade as a gift, you are giving them a piece
of yourself as well. |
| One of these days I’ll have to write some
more about Quartz Points. There are so many wonderful variations that you
could fill a book by writing about Quartz alone. The flattened points are
called "Tabbies" and are good for energy movement. "Twins" are where two
crystals have grown together and are interlocked. "Window Quartz" has a
small diamond shape below one of the six faces and is a good crystal for
looking within yourself rather than for looking out at the world at large. |
| Bloodstone got its name from the little red
spots on the background of green stone that look like drops of blood. In
early civilisations it used to be crushed up and the powder rubbed into cuts
and wounds to help stop blood loss. When the Romans brought Christianity to
Britain, Bloodstone too was "Christianised" and said to be the blood of
Christ falling on to the green grass at the base of the cross ! |
| The first Turquoise to reach the UK, several
hundred years ago, was mined in Turkey and shipped to the UK via France. The
old French "Turq Quise" meant "Stone from Turkey" |
| Crystals are wonderful, beautiful and natural
objects given to us by Mother Earth, and I’m so lucky to be able to work
with them on a daily basis ! |
| Our word "Crystal" comes from the ancient
Greek "Krystallos" which was the word the Greeks used to describe Quartz.
They thought that Clear Quartz was water frozen so hard that it would never
ever melt. |
| In the Middle Ages, Zircon was known as
"Hyacinth" and was reputed to heal madness ! |
| Tourmaline has the greatest colour range of
any mineral. You can find Green Tourmaline, (Verdelite), Black Tourmaline (Schorl),
Red Tourmaline (Rubelite), Pink Tourmaline, Blue Tourmaline (Indicolite),
Watermelon Tourmaline which is pink and green and also combinations of these
colours as well as Brown, Yellow, Grey and colourless Tourmaline ! |
| Carrying Red Jasper and Jet in the Middle
Ages was supposed to protect you from the powers of witchcraft. Of course if
you were caught carrying Red Jasper and Jet it "proved" that you knew about
the existence of witchcraft and you were likely to be dealt with accordingly
! |
| Apache Tears, a variety of Obsidian, are so
named because they are thought to be the tears cried by Apache women for the
men folk that they lost in battle and also for the lands that they lost when
the white man took it away from them. If this makes you go "goose-pimply"
then according to Cherokee tradition - you have just heard the truth. |
| Dioptase, which is mined in Russia, looks so
much like perfect green Emeralds that people trying to gain favour with the
Russian rulers, would in the past, often give them Dioptase mistaking them
for the much more precious Emeralds. |
| Jet jewellery, hugely popular in Victorian
times as mourning jewellery, was often made incorporating some of the actual
strands of hair of the person recently departed. |
| Some folk miss out on a great pleasure as
they won’t wear Opals - believing them to be unlucky !! |
| Gorgeous blue Larimar is only found in the
Dominican Republic and was named by the man who discovered it, as a
contraction of his daughter’s name, Larissa, and the Spanish word for the
sea, "mare" because of the beautiful sea-blue colour of the stone. Hence, we
get LARI-MAR. |
Ramblings of a Crystal Lover