Smoky Quartz
Also Cairngorm, Morion
Transparent to translucent smoky brown or grey, from a faint tint to almost black; six-sided prisms with a pointed termination
- Crystal system
- Trigonal
- Hardness
- 7 Mohs
- Handling
- Hard, and water does it no harm. The colour is fragile in a way the stone is not: strong sunlight fades it over months and heat clears it altogether, so keep it off a sunny sill and away from radiators. Much cheap smoky quartz is irradiated to deepen the colour.
- In water
- Safe
What it is held to be for
Smoky quartz is quartz that has stood for ages in the ground beside something radioactive. The colour is the record of that. In Scotland it is cairngorm, set in dirk hilts and shoulder brooches, which gives it a real national history. The tradition gives it to Saturn and keeps it for weight: it is held to take the charge out of a mood without dulling the person.
Folk tradition; Scottish cairngorm, worn in dirk and brooch
Correspondences
These are the tradition's ascriptions, not properties of the mineral.
- Planet
- Saturn
- Element
- Earth
- Signs
- Capricorn, Sagittarius
- Chinese phase
- Earth
- Year animal
- Ox, Dog
- Centre
- Root Muladhara
- Sephirah
- Malkuth
How it is used
Carried in a coat pocket through a hard season rather than for a single afternoon, or set at the foot of the bed. A point is laid with the tip turned away from the sleeper.
Today
Sit with it in your lap for five minutes, both feet flat on the floor. Breathe out for longer than you breathe in. Then put it down and stand up.
A longer working
At the end of a hard week, fill a basin or run a bath. Set the smoky quartz on the edge, not in the water. Name each thing the week cost you, one at a time, and after each one let some water out or splash some away. When the list is finished, dry your hands, pick the stone up, hold it for a moment, and put it back in the pocket you carry it in.
Works with
- Herb
- Heather
- Incense
- Pine