Rhodochrosite

The name simply means “rose-colored,” and the color is astounding. This stone seems as if it is lit from within. It is one of the newer crystals on the scene, coming from Russia and North America. Rhodochrosite is imminently appealing, with its stripes of pink and sometimes orange.

Rhodochrosite is a love stone that will enable anyone who believes they have never truly felt or experienced real love to find it. I heard and read about some people gleaning much good from it during the aftermath of 9/11. It functions as a heart-chakra opener that brings compassion and expands consciousness. One fascinating legend associated with rhodochrosite is that it can connect you to your soul mate if used in meditation. This is also a crystal that helps with the healing power of forgiveness. It also helps overcome irrationality and can prevent a mental breakdown. I think my favorite feature of rhodochrosite is that it overcomes a poor memory. So, this rose-colored beauty banishes forgetfulness and promotes forgiveness—what a nice combination. Healers also work with this stone for respiratory disease. It has a warm energy that is very good for the body.

This striking stone is also invaluable for overcoming fear and paranoia (mental unease). Rhodochrosite abets a more positive worldview. One of the simplest and best aspects of this crystal is that it will help you to sleep more peacefully, shoving apprehension, worry, and woe out of your mind so you can heal body and soul. Your dreams will be positive, too. This is a remarkable stone for affirming the self, allowing absolute self-acceptance and self-forgiveness. Rhodochrosite brings together the spiritual plane and the material place. The crystal is important because it permits the heart to feel hurt and pain deeply, and this processing of emotions nurtures growth.

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.

Chrysoberyl

This under-known gem has two siblings, alexandrite and cat’s-eye, that have stolen all the attention away from the lovely but less showy green, yellow, and brown transparent type of chrysoberyl. The stone occurs in Canada, Norway, Australia, Ghana, Burma, the Ural Mountains in Russia, and the other gem havens of Sri Lanka and Brazil. It appears in rare instances as a cyclic crystal that looks to be hexagonal but is a triplet of three twins called a trilling.

Cousin cat’s-eye, also called cymophane, occurs in colorations ranging from honey gold to bright green. It usually comes in a domed cabochon shape. If intense light is shone in a cat’s-eye, one side will look milky and the other will remain golden; this is known as the milk-and-honey effect. The eye effect is the result of infinitesimal needle-like inclusions that refract light, creating a line of light that runs through the center. A handful of other stones, scapolite, spinel, quartz, tourmaline, and corundum, have a similar appearance as a result of those inclusions, but only chrysoberyl can be called just cat’s-eye; the others require the stone name in front of cat’s-eye. Cat’s-eye has been used to manifest destiny and direct fortune for centuries and makes an excellent talisman.

Healers prize chrysoberyl because it can double the power of other stones and reveal the causes of illness. It can assist with lowering high cholesterol and the hormonal surges of adrenaline. Chrysoberyl is a crystal used for compassion, forgiveness, and emotional release and has been called the stone of new beginnings. This is one of the few crystals that can enable one to see both sides of an issue and get over blocks and stubbornness. If you are harboring a grudge against a coworker or loved one, chrysoberyl will cut right through the old anger and help you to move on.

Aventurine

Associated with the eyes, this crystal is most commonly found in green, but it also appears in blue, red, and brown. Aventurine comes from Russia, India, Nepal, and Brazil and was at one time believed by Tibetans to be able to overcome myopia, both literally and figuratively. In Tibet, aventurine was also thought to have the ability to open the third eye and to release imagination and perception.

Considered to be beneficial to the thymus and the nervous system, aventurine is one of those rare general healers that can offer wellness to any part of the body upon which it is laid. As a general healing stone, it can also be used in tandem with other stones, such as rose quartz and malachite. Combined with rose quartz, aventurine can help open your heart and soul to love and compassion. Used in combination with malachite, the benefits are clarity and raised consciousness. Highly recommended and an excellent boon for young children, aventurine is a wonder stone for the well-being of the whole family.

Headdresses

It is no accident that kings, queens, and emperors wear crowns. The ancients wanted their leaders to be wise, and bejeweled crowns brought the energy of gems to bear on their brows. While you might not want to wear a tiara to the office, you can wear hair clips and barrettes with crystals and stones attached for some of the same reasons. Why not be smarter and smartly accessorized? I love it when bindis (the “dots” traditionally worn by Indian women on their foreheads) came back into vogue, because jewels on the third eye (an invisible organ of spiritual perception) stimulate intuition and compassion. Wear bindis in moderation, however, to avoid exhausting your center of intuition.

Rhodochrosite

The name simply means “rose-colored,” and the color is astounding. This stone looks as if it is lit from within. It is one of the newer crystals on the scene, coming from Russia and North America. Rhodochrosite is imminently appealing, with its stripes of pink and sometimes orange.

Rhodochrosite is a love stone that will enable anyone who believes they have never truly felt or experienced real love to find it. I heard and read about some people gleaning much good from it during the aftermath of September 11. It functions as a heart-chakra opener that brings compassion and expands consciousness. One fascinating legend associated with rhodochrosite is that it can connect you to your soul mate if used in meditation. This is a crystal that helps with the healing power of forgiveness. It also helps overcome irrationality and can prevent a mental breakdown. However, I think my favorite feature of rhodochrosite is that it overcomes a poor memory. So, this rose-colored beauty banishes forgetfulness and promotes forgiveness—what a nice combination! Healers also work with this stone for respiratory diseases. It has a warm energy that is very good for the body.

This striking stone is also invaluable for overcoming fear and paranoia (mental unease). Rhodochrosite abets a more positive worldview. One of the simplest and best aspects of this crystal is that it will help you to sleep more peacefully, shoving apprehension, worry, and woe out of your mind so you can heal body and soul. Your dreams will be positive, too. This is a remarkable stone for affirming the self, allowing absolute self-acceptance and self- forgiveness. Rhodochrosite brings together the spiritual plane and the material place. The crystal is important because it permits the heart to feel hurt and pain deeply, and this processing of emotions nurtures growth.