Crystals and stones

What each stone is actually made of, how hard it is, where it comes from — and what it has traditionally been used for. Both halves, kept separate.

Birthstones by month The full chart — modern and traditional stones, colours, flowers and hardness for all twelve months. Birthstones by zodiac The older system, running by sign rather than calendar month. Gemstone reference 43 stones with composition, crystal system and origin.

Stones chosen for a purpose

Traditional pairings — what people have historically reached for, and why.

For Anxiety For Love For Money For Protection For Sleep For Confidence For Focus For Grief

Folklore and geology, labelled

Every stone here carries its chemical formula, Mohs hardness and mining origin — things you can check. The traditional associations are here too, but marked as traditional. Mixing the two without saying which is which is how this subject got its reputation.

Birthstone by month

January Garnet February Amethyst March Aquamarine April Diamond May Emerald June Pearl July Ruby August Peridot September Sapphire October Opal November Topaz December Turquoise

Our own reference, summarised

43 stones, measured

Crystal sites tell you what a stone means. Ours also tells you what it is made of and how hard it is — so here is the whole collection summarised on the properties you can actually verify. Average hardness across the reference is 6.35 on the Mohs scale.

35% are hard enough for daily wear — 15 of 43 reach Mohs 7. Below that, everyday dust scratches them, because airborne quartz sits at exactly 7.
10 crystal systems represented. The commonest is Trigonal with 16 stones.
6.35 mean Mohs hardness. For comparison: a steel knife is about 5.5, window glass 5.5, and diamond 10.

Hardest in the reference

Diamond Mohs 10
Ruby Mohs 9
Sapphire Mohs 9
Alexandrite Mohs 8.5
Spinel Mohs 8

Softest — handle carefully

Selenite Mohs 2
Amber Mohs 2–2.5
Lepidolite Mohs 2.5–3
Pearl Mohs 2.5–4.5
Malachite Mohs 3.5–4

By crystal system

16 Trigonal
6 Cubic
5 Monoclinic
4 Orthorhombic
4 Triclinic
3 Amorphous
2 Hexagonal
1 Orthorhombic (aragonite)
1 Tetragonal
1 Cubic (lazurite)

By traditional chakra assignment

6 Root 5 Heart 3 Third Eye, Crown 3 Root, Heart 3 Third Eye, Throat 2 Throat 2 Crown 2 Heart, Solar Plexus 2 Throat, Third Eye 2 Solar Plexus 1 Sacral, Crown 1 Heart, Crown 1 Sacral, Third Eye 1 Crown, Heart 1 Varies by colour — black for Root, pink for Heart 1 Solar Plexus, Throat 1 Root, Crown 1 All, particularly Crown 1 Sacral 1 Varies by variety 1 Solar Plexus, Sacral 1 Third Eye, Heart 1 Solar Plexus, Root