The stone guide
12 stones, and what each one does with light.
Written to be useful rather than mystical. What the stone actually is, how it behaves in different light, how much it varies, and how hard it is.
Eleven stones, and a short honest description of each. The two columns worth reading before anything else are colour and hardness: colour tells you what you are getting, and hardness tells you whether it will survive the way you intend to wear it.
| Stone | Colour | Mohs | Pieces |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rainbow Moonstone See the light change. | Translucent white with a blue or rainbow flash | 6 to 6.5 | 12 |
| Labradorite The flash hiding in grey. | Grey to smoke, with a blue, green or gold flash | 6 to 6.5 | 9 |
| Aquamarine The colour of still water. | Pale blue to blue-green, transparent | 7.5 to 8 | 9 |
| Amethyst Violet, and quiet with it. | Pale lilac to deep violet, transparent | 7 | 7 |
| Citrine Kept warmth. | Warm yellow to amber | 7 | 1 |
| Rose Quartz Softness, worn openly. | Soft translucent pink | 7 | 1 |
| Black Onyx Nothing to see through. | Opaque black, polished to a mirror | 6.5 to 7 | 7 |
| Lapis Lazuli Blue with gold inside it. | Deep blue, usually with gold pyrite flecks | 5 to 6 | 3 |
| Tiger Eye Light that moves when you do. | Golden brown with a moving band of light | 6.5 to 7 | 2 |
| Ethiopian Opal Every colour, briefly. | Translucent milky body with flashes of green, orange and pink | 5.5 to 6.5 | 1 |
| Turquoise The oldest blue there is. | Opaque sky blue to blue-green, usually with dark veining | 5 to 6 | 1 |
| Garnet Red, and certain about it. | Deep red, transparent | 7 to 7.5 | 1 |
How to read the hardness column
The Mohs scale runs from 1, talc, to 10, diamond. For a ring worn daily, 7 and above is comfortable and 6 to 6.5 wants a little care and a bezel setting. Below 6, which here means lapis lazuli, is better as earrings or a pendant than on a hand.
On meaning
Every stone here carries traditional associations, drawn from crystal and folk traditions and in some cases from Vedic astrology. We describe them because they are genuinely part of why people choose one stone over another. They are cultural and historical associations, not medical ones, and we make no health claim of any kind anywhere on this site.
If you would rather start from what you want rather than from a stone name, shop by meaning or take the four-question finder.