Garnet

I love that the word “garnet” comes from granatum, referring to the color of a pomegranate seed—how mythic and romantic! (And much more appealing than the word coined by the Egyptians, “carbuncle.”) Garnet has come to be considered a wine-colored stone, but in actuality, it can come in green, yellow, or brown. Garnets are found all over the world and can make up a family of minerals:

• Almandite, the most common of the garnets and probably the favorite, is dark red with a deep brown cast; its rich color is brought on by the content of iron and aluminum. It is often cut as a jewel.
• Andradite is a combination of calcium and iron and varies in color from red to green to yellow to black. Green andradites are favored as gems.
• Grossular, composed of calcium and aluminum, occurs most often in a white or clear color. In Sri Lanka, there is a topaz-like brown grossular that is of jewel quality, and in Siberia, there is one that’s gooseberry green—thus the name of “grossular,” derived from the Latin word for this fruit.
• Pyrope is the most precious garnet, with the clearest red color due to the magnesium content. The most valuable pyropes come from South Africa, in the “blue earth” where diamonds are found.
• Spessartine is the rarest garnet, an aluminum-and-manganese gem with an appealing orange tint.
• Uvarovite is not very common. This grassy green garnet is usually discovered in calcium-rich serpentine rock and has a unique crystalline structure.

Red garnets are love stones. These sexy stones can help those with a lethargic libido tune into their passion. Green garnets are the real healing stones. These crystals offer protection to the chakras. You should wear green garnets as earrings or in a necklace to get the most benefit from the inner and outer healing power.

Garnets are conductors of past-life memories and are memory sharpeners in the here and now. They offer the welcome advantage of increasing patience. Garnets also promote compassion and awareness of the world and the self. They help a person let go, especially of self-loathing.