Practitioners keep fluorite for focus, clarity, and balance: it is the study stone, the desk stone, and the one crystal that comes in every color of the rainbow, often several in a single piece. The mineral gave its name to fluorescence, has been smelted into steel and ground into camera lenses, and was carved into the vases Roman senators paid fortunes for. Here is what fluorite is, its colors and what each is used for, its meaning from Rome to the crystal books, its chakra and zodiac, how to use and cleanse it, and how to care for a stone that splits along its own perfect planes.

White selenite tower standing among smooth gray pebbles

Selenite Meaning: Spiritual Properties, Uses, and How to Work With It

Spiritual Meanings & Symbolism

Practitioners keep selenite for cleansing, peace, and the crown chakra: it is the stone that clears other stones, the wand that sweeps an aura, and the white glow on the nightstand. Named for the moon and soft enough to scratch with a fingernail, it is really gypsum, and most of what is sold as selenite is its silky sibling, satin spar. Here is what selenite is, its forms from wands to desert roses, its meaning from the Greeks to the crystal books, what it is good for, its chakra and zodiac, how to use it, why it never goes in water, and how to care for the softest stone on your shelf.

A pyrite cluster against a black backdrop

Pyrite Meaning: Spiritual Properties, Uses, and How to Work With It

Spiritual Meanings & Symbolism

Practitioners keep pyrite for money, luck, and protection: it looks like gold, and it throws sparks when struck. The brassy cubes called fool’s gold have been struck for fire since the Stone Age, polished into mirrors, set into Victorian jewelry as marcasite, and kept on desks and in cash drawers by practitioners who want abundance with a shield around it. Here is what pyrite is, how to tell it from gold, its forms from cubes to suns, its meaning from Cunningham and Hall, what it is good for, its chakra and zodiac, how to use it, why it must never go in water, and what it should cost.

Dark red tumbled garnet stones and one rough twelve-sided garnet crystal on a wooden table

Garnet Meaning: Spiritual Properties, Uses, and How to Work With It

Spiritual Meanings & Symbolism

Practitioners keep garnet for passion, vitality, and a safe return home. The seed-red stone named for the pomegranate has been set into jewelry since the Bronze Age, carried by travelers and crusaders as a talisman, and read by practitioners as the stone that relights a fire that has gone out. Here is what garnet is, its colors from wine red to tsavorite green, how to tell it from ruby, its meaning from ancient Rome to the crystal books, what it is good for, who should not wear it, its chakra, zodiac, and birthstone month, and how to care for a stone that lasts.

Tumbled white moonstones with a soft blue sheen scattered on sand

Moonstone Meaning: Spiritual Properties, Uses, and How to Work With It

Spiritual Meanings & Symbolism

Practitioners keep moonstone for intuition, new beginnings, and the calm of the moon. The feldspar that glows from inside when you tilt it has been read as solidified moonlight since Rome, and practitioners keep it for dreams, cycles, travel by night, and the start of anything new. Here is what it is and why it glows, its colors from peach to black, why rainbow moonstone is a different stone, what it is good for, who should not wear it, its chakra, zodiac, and birthstone month, and how to care for a stone that cleaves.

Rustic table setting with palo santo sticks and lit candles.

Palo Santo: Meaning, Uses, and How to Burn It

Spiritual Meanings & Symbolism

Palo santo is the holy wood of the South American coast, a close relation of frankincense and myrrh that is burned for cleansing, peace, and protection. Here is what it is and where it comes from, how to light a stick so it stays lit, how to cleanse a house with it, what to say, sage versus palo santo, whether it is a closed practice, whether it is endangered, and how to buy it ethically.

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