Rose Quartz

Rose quartz is the gentlest-looking mineral on the shelf — quartz blushed pink by traces of titanium and iron, usually translucent rather than clear, as if seen through frosted glass.

It is also one of the oldest loved. Beads of rose quartz have been found in Mesopotamia dating back seven thousand years; the Romans carved seals from it; the Egyptians ground it into cosmetics, believing it kept the skin young. Whatever else changes, people have always wanted this stone close to the body.

The crystal tradition assigns rose quartz to the heart chakra, and to love understood broadly — romance, certainly, but also friendship, family, and the unfashionable work of being kind to oneself. Taurus and Libra claim it in the zodiac. It is the stone most often given rather than bought.

The tradition's counsel is to give the stone something to carry — an intention, named simply when you first place it. Kept on a desk, a pink stone becomes a small standing reminder to be a little softer with everyone, including the person at the desk. The practice is yours; the stone keeps it in view.

We stock it as tumbled stones, hearts and spheres, facial rollers, pendants and bracelets. The colour varies from barely-pink to deep rose; natural stone keeps its own counsel.