Staurolite
Staurolite is a reddish dark brown, mostly opaque gem which doesn't look like it would be considered a gemstone when you first see it. It naturally is formed in a cross shape and is quite popular in both raw and cut forms. staurolite is found in metamorphic rocks and it times metavolcanic rocks, it can be found surrounded by Quartz and Muscovite. It has a hardness of 7-7.5 and can be found all over the world now but main mines are in the USA, russia, Australia and more. The first finding of this gem is unknown with its first description being dated back to 1751 by alfred lacroix who was a mineralogist, geologist and a professor of mineralogy and quotes Christophe-Paul.G de Robien’s scientific description of staurolite in his essay. I personally could not find much information on a “Christophe-Paul.G de Robien”, just a biographical article on Christophe-Paul de Robien who i will assume is the same person as I mentioned before, and there was also a wikipedia page which while not available in english, google translate was useful. He was a “French magistrate, historian, naturalist, and art collector” He seemed to be a collector of all things possible, as an antiquarian, he possessed a significant scientific collection. He wrote Historical, Topographical, and Natural Description of Ancient Armorica as well as being more modernly known as Historical and topographical description of Brittany(“Description historique et topographique de la Bretagne”),Ancient Armorica is located in modern-day Brittany which is the location of where staurolite is known to be originally from. Going back on track to the original topic, staurolite’s name originates from greek, stauros for cross and lithos for stone, it's also been known as Fairy Stone or Fairy Cross and symbolises good luck and protection. It is heavily associated with the root, heart, and third eye “chakras”/energy sources.
This information is not my own nor are the images, I am not an expert. It was all found from various websites. If this actually gets seen feel free to ask for the websites I use and I will comment all the links. Please let me know if any information is incorrect and provide links to resources if possible :)
Wording/writing style may vary since all of these current posts were written at different times. I will put this note in the ones written longer ago and a new note in newer pieces.
