Welcome to the First Crystal of our weekly crystal special. This week is abalone. First off what is abalone and where does it come from? Abalone shell comes from the Abalone Marine Snail which has a thick inner layer of Nacre -which is commonly referred to as mother-of-pearl. The shell usually has an open spiral structure, and is characterized by several open respiratory pores in a row near the shell's outer edge. Abalone has been used for thousands of years for jewelry, buttons, buckles, inlays and by some of the native tribes of Africa, and in the North Americas the shell was even used as a currency. The snail itself has even been considered a delicacy in many parts of the world, and these snails are farmed for their meat. Unfortunately due to changes in the ocean and farming, it is believed this snail may go extinct in a few hundred years.

In pagan and Wiccan spaces abalone is often used to in smudging or using sage to cleans spaces. It is believed that abalone can lend a protective, healing energy to your spirit. It is supposed to help to shield you from waves of negativity. Its believed -and often seems- that the energy it gives to you is a soothing one full of peace, beauty, compassion and love.

In old Native American practices it is believed that using sage and abalone together would carry their messages to their Gods.

While the Maori people of New Zealand call abalone Paua and used it in depictions of warriors and some demi-god figures. They also believed that the shell strengthens the body and heart of someone wearing it. With a stronger heart and body, the person is thought to be able to communicate their feelings more clearly.

Welcome to our now bi-weekly crystal special. This week is is going to be Amazonite. Now, what is Amazonite and where can it be found?

Amazonite, or Amazon-stone is a beautiful green to green-blue crystal which occasionally has white inclusions or lines through it. Some stories say that it was originally gathered from the Amazon river, which is how it gets its name. This crystal is made of a type of potassium feldspar called microcline, and the stone is classified into the tectosilicate category. This crystal is mostly gathered from granite cliffs, and is known to be found in Russia, China, Libya, Mongolia, South Africa, and the United States. It seems to have been used for over 2,000 years, as it has been found in archeology sites for Egypt and Mesopotamia, but the best records we have of it distinctly being mentioned were in the 1800′s.

Originally it was believed that the color was caused by copper, as copper when is exposed to oxygen it takes on a green or blue-green color - this actually is the reason why the Statue of Liberty has its colorization. However, later tests seemed to say that it was high amounts of lead and water in the crystal that caused the color, which would be a concern. It does seem that these are only two of the minerals that could cause that beautiful color as other tests suggest iron, rubidium, and thallium as other minerals that give Amazonite its color. However, the one given the most credit currently is microcline.

Welcome to our weekly crystal special. This week, in honor of Fox Tail’s birthday, we are going over garnet. Garnet is both the traditional and modern birthstone for January.

Now what is garnet, and where can it be found?

Garnet is actually the name of a group of Silicate based crystals/minerals. There are six “species” of garnet, with one of which being split into a couple different varieties. Now typically, we think of Garnet as that deep rich red -and it is a beautiful stone- however, they can be found naturally in a range of colors, the rarest of which being blue. The mineral, and thus the crystal, garnet is commonly found in metamorphic rock and rarely in igneous rocks. Most natural garnets are contained inclusions in the stones that they form in.

Because of the unique properties of garnet, it can even be used as geobarometers and geothermometers,  as the stone itself uniquely records pressure and temperatures in the history of metamorphic and igneous rocks. They can even form with different textures that can help with the interpretation of structural histories.

Garnet has a long historical use as a decoration, and that has continued into current times as a birthstone for both January and Aquarius.

Welcome to our weekly crystal special. This week is agate. Now there are many different forms of agate, so specifically we’ll be covering Black, Blue Lace, Green, Moss, Pink, Red and Tree Agate.

Now what is agate, and where can it be found? Agate is typically made of mostly chalcedony and quartz and found in volcanic rocks along with metamorphic rock. These crystals tend to form on or within pre- existing rocks, which can create difficulties when trying to accurately determine the time of their formation. Agates are most commonly found as nodules, within the cavities of volcanic rocks. These cavities are formed from the gases trapped within the liquid volcanic material forming vesicles. Cavities are then filled in with silica-rich fluids from the volcanic material, and layers are deposited on the walls of the cavity, slowly working their way inwards. Variations in the character of the solution or in the conditions of deposition may cause a corresponding variation in the successive layers.

These variations in layers result in bands of chalcedony, often alternating with layers of crystalline quartz, forming banded agate. Hollow agates can also form due to the deposition of liquid-rich silica not penetrating deep enough to fill the cavity completely. Agate will form crystals within the reduced cavity, and the apex of each crystal may point towards the center of the cavity. The first layer is often dark green, but can be modified by iron oxide resulting in a rust like appearance. Agate is very durable and therefore is often seen detached from its eroding matrix, once removed, the outer surface is usually pitted and rough from filling the cavity of its former matrix.

Hello! Your friendly neighborhood Sea witch here! I’m Tide Walker and I’m here to start one of two new things; this one is our crystal of the week. However before I truly start this, I want to define what I call crystals, and different uses they may have to your fellow Witches and Pagans.

Okay definition first!

Crystal: A piece of a homogeneous solid substance having a natural geometrically regular form with symmetrically arranged plane faces.

Or

highly transparent glass with a high refractive index.

Okay, so what does this mean? Usually when someone says crystal people think gemstones such as Sapphire, that really nice glass wear that is only pulled out when company comes over, or the glass pieces on a chandelier. However Crystal can also reference things like Abalone Shell, rocks like Jasper and Tigers eye, and even sometimes encased fossils or fossilized teeth.

Okay? So what does it matter? They’re just pretty rocks, right??