GARNET

Wire wrapped garnet from the product gallery.

Wire wrapped garnet by Manitu Okahas

Earth's own Fire
For hope and compassion
Courage and power
Of creative manifestion

fiery garnet is the perfect balance for icy January.  This birthstone of January is actually a class of stones with a Mohs hardness of about 7 to 7.5.  Garnets are, in general, aluminum silicate plus crystals.  The plus being other elements in the molecule.  According to Robert Simmons in The Book of Stones, there are six types of garnet of note.  Some of them are very common.  Garnets of some sort can be found in many places around the world, even in the "flint" mines of Ohio, USA.

Garnets have been used for jewelry and metaphysical purposes for thousands of years.  There is ancient evidence of garnet jewelry in Egypt, Sumeria, and Europe.  They were used for signet rings and to mark the wearer as clergy or nobility in Europe.  In the Americas, garnet has long been used for accessories and ritual.

Garnet is believed to be a grounding stone that both grounds spiritual energy and draws energy from earth's own fire, to bring solid energy into your life.  It is a stone of strength and courage, compassion and hope.  It helps you tap into your creativity, love, and personal power.  Many use garnets to help manifest dreams and goals, and to remove the blocks to that manifestation.  It is a stone of passion, inspiration, and self-confidence.  It is both spiritually expanding and grounding in feelings of safety and abundance.

Each of the types of garnet caries it's own special energy.

GROSSULAR - is a garnet in the shades of green.  It is a grounding stone of manifestation, abundance, and wealth.  It promotes creativity and love.
SPESSARTINE - is the golden to brownish garnet of the sun.  It attracts love, enhances charisma, and encourages creativity and truth.  It is the garnet of the mind.
ALMANDINE - is the purple/red garnet that is most common.  It is earthy and grounding, giving strength and stamina.  It tends to ground spiritual energy and help with past life exploration.
​RHODOLITE - is a clear beautiful red garnet that acts on the heart and base chakras.  It connects to inner guides and guardians and helps create alignment, promotes intuition, and inspiration.
ANDRALITE - or Black Andralite - is a dynamic garnet that both grounds and finds magic and mystery.  It connects to the collective unconscious and your personal power and life force.
Uvarovite - is is a green garnet of heart and healing.  This is a stone of spirit and relationships, abundance and prosperity.  This garnet is calm and peaceful.

​I love garnet.  I love working with it.  When I create jewelry with both Almandine and Rhodalite, I find myself more focused, calm, and energized.