Spinel: The August Birthstone That Was Called Ruby
The "ruby" in the front of the British Imperial State Crown is not a ruby. The 170-carat stone that has come down through history as the Black Prince's...
Zircon vs. Cubic Zirconia: How to Tell Them Apart
Two stones, almost the same name, and nearly everyone mixes them up. Zircon is a natural mineral older than anything else you will ever hold: the oldest known...
Aragonite: Sputnik Crystals, Calcite, Meaning and Care
Same formula as calcite, different crystal: why aragonite sputniks look the way they do, how pearls and corals are built from it, how to tell it from calcite...
Crystal Meanings Chart: 40 Stones, What They're For, and Which Ones Water Ruins
Every crystal chart on the internet gives you a colour and a feeling. Almost none of them tell you whether the stone survives being rinsed under a tap....
Celestite: What It Is, Care, and Real vs Fake
Celestite is the stone almost everyone has held without knowing its name: the pale blue geode with the glassy crystals that sits on a shelf in every rock...
Which Crystals Should Not Be Kept Together
Almost every page answering this question talks about clashing energies, and almost none of them mention the one thing that will actually ruin your stones in a drawer....
Vogel Crystals: What They Are, Who Cut Them
Quick answer A Vogel crystal is a quartz point cut to a fixed geometry: doubly terminated, faceted, aligned to the crystal’s c-axis, with one end ground to a...
What It Means When a Crystal Breaks — and Why It Actually Happened
Cleavage, impact, thermal shock — the mineralogy that explains where your stone split, plus an honest dating of the traditional readings and what to do with the pieces.
Crystal Shapes Explained: Tumbled, Point, Tower, Sphere
What each crystal shape actually is, how it was cut, what it costs and why, where the meanings came from, and which one to buy if you are...