Stone of the month: January Garnets
January is garnet month, and what a gorgeous stone to kick off the new year! Garnet is possibly most recognised as a red, ruby-like semi-precious stone. However, many people don't realise that garnet actually comes in a wide range of colours, some more common and affordable and others quite rare and pricey.
Garnet is actually a mineral supergroup. There are many different varieties with different chemical compositions. Due to the differences in the composition of each type, garnet comes with a hardness range of 6.5 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale, which measures the hardness of gemstones.
Garnets can be broken down into primary species. Each species may have a range of colours and varieties, and some species will combine with other species to create blends. This is what makes garnet such a fascinating stone. Due to the blending of species, no garnet is 100% pure and will always contain some elements of another species. The table below helps to explain this breakdown of species, varieties, and blends.
| Primary Species | Colour |
| Andradite | Green, yellow, brown, brownish red, black |
| Almandine | Red to reddish brown |
| Grossular | Almost every colour including clear except rarely ever dark or red |
| Pyrope | Very dark red |
| Spessartite | Reddish brown to pure orange |
| Uvarovite | Vibrant dark green |
Images left to right: Almandine garnet, Andradite garnet, Spessartite garnet
Images left to right: Uvarovite garnet, Hessonite garnet, Demantoid garnet
| Varieties | Colour | Origins |
| Hessonite | Orange to yellow, cinnamon | Variety of Grossular |
| Tsavorite | Vibrant dark green | Variety of Grossular |
| Demantoid | Bright grass green | Variety of Andradite |
| Melanite | Black | Variety of Andradite |
| Topazolite | Yellow | Variety of Andradite |
Images left to right: Mali garnet, Rhodolite garnet, Tsavorite garnet
| Blends | Colour | Origins |
| Common Red | Shades of red to red-brown | Blend of Almandine/Pyrope |
| Rhodolite | Pink, purple, magenta | Blend of Almandine/Pyrope |
| Mali | Green, yellow, gold, brown | Blend of Grossular/Andradite |
| Malaya | Rose, orange pink, peach, | Blend of Pyrope/Almandine/Spessartite |
| Mandarin | Pure vibrant orange | Blend of Pyrope/Grossular/Spessartite |
Mandarin garnet in a faceted stone
As you can see from those hopefully helpful tables, the world of garnets is vast, exciting and colourful. So much more than just a common, inexpensive, semi-precious red stone.
Historically, garnet has been treasured as a protective tasliman for hundreds of years. Naturally, as each variety of garnet has a unique chemical makeup, they also have unique metaphysical properties. Here is yet another helpful table to allow you to see the metaphysical attributed to each species, at a glance.
| Species | Properties |
| Almandine | Psychic protection, strength, protection, love and relationships |
| Andradite | Strength, safety, attracts love, self-empowerment |
| Grossular | Nurturing energy, hope, prosperity, abundance, gratitude |
| Pyrope | Inspiration and creativity |
| Spessartite | Energy, confidence, creativity |
| Uvarovite | Prosperity, wealth, joy, peace, calm, serenity |
So happy birthday to all of you who were born in January. I hope this blog has allowed you to see your birthstone in a whole new, exciting light. Stay tuned for the February installment of the birthstone series where we will talk about the much loved and ever popular Amethyst.