Ramblings of a Crystal Lover

This article is really just what it says it is, some of Steve's random (and rambling!) thoughts about all things crystal - of which we seem to have collected rather a lot of now - and so we've decided to add them to our website and share them with you.

It's rather in the nature of this "rambling" page, that these are thoughts as and when they occurred, and are therefore in no particular order of date or subject ... just browse through and enjoy !

Lots of Love, Steve & Mo



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.

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