Published July 2017 • Updated August 2024 • Read Time: 5 minutes
Normally when people think of Garnet they imagine a dark red jewel, but Andradite Garnets are more likely to be yellow, green, brown or black! Some of the rarest and most expensive garnets are Andradite. When cut and polished properly, the dark green variety known as Demantoid will have more sparkle and glittery rainbows than a diamond. Energetically they have an empowering energy that encourages us to think big, get better, and let go of anything that holds us back. It is also a stone of new beginnings encouraging us to celebrate this present moment and to dream into an exciting future.
Andradite Garnet Healing Energy
Spiritual Healing Properties
Andradite Garnet is a powerful talisman for spiritual warriors who seek Truth and Freedom and aren’t afraid to pay the price for that knowledge. It ignites within us a fierce desire for self-realization and helps us to maintain our commitment to our spiritual path without becoming dogmatic. Andradite Garnet has strong yang/masculine energies and increases our strength, stamina, and courage on all levels. It encourages mysticism and an appreciation for nature, reality, and profound experiences of all sorts. It cleanses the aura and expands psychic vision. It is one of the very best stones to ground with during intense spiritual experiences, including shamanic work and astral travel.
| Vibrations | Andradite Garnet |
|---|---|
| Chakra | Root |
| Element | Earth |
| Numerology | 2 and 4 |
| Zodiac | Aries, Leo, Virgo, Capricorn and Aquarius |
Emotional Healing Properties
Andradite Garnet urges us to become empowered in every aspect of our life. It helps us to release feelings of shame, unworthiness or victimization. Andradite Garnet is a comforting ally when we are feeling lonely or misunderstood. It guides us to a place where we can feel emotionally free and peaceful, and dares us to love boldly and openly. It also attracts the people and experiences which we need, even if we don’t necessary want them. These energies are critical for our growth and in time we will be able to look back upon them with gratitude. Andradite Garnet helps us to stay calm during hard times and to celebrate each victory as it comes. It promises protection and that everything which happens is for our highest good.
Mental Healing Properties
Andradite Garnet encourages us to think on a grand scale. It is a stone of new beginnings and freedom, shaking us out of whatever rut we are in, and challenging us to come alive intellectually and creatively. Andradite Garnet helps us to let go of dogmatic thinking and be open to new information. It offers tremendous support for anyone who yearns for both practical knowledge and esoteric understanding. Andradit Garnet invites us to be more friendly to the present moment and to stay conscious to what is actually happening rather than allowing our mind to get lost in the past or future.
Physical Healing Properties
Andradite Garnet is a phenomenal stone for revitalizing the physical body. It is most often used by metaphysical healers to help the body assimilate vitamins and treat associated disorders. Andradite Garnet is believed to help improve the workings of the circulatory system and liver. It is also said to help during addiction recovery, and specifically helps to ward off depression/anxiety associated with detoxing and lifestyle changes.
Geology of Andradite Garnet
Where does Andradite Garnet come from?
Garnets are found worldwide. Notable Andradite Garnet deposits are found in Australia, Austria, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Mali, Mexico, Namibia, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain, and the United States.
Mining and Treatments
Garnets may be mined in open pits or in secondary alluvial deposits. They are occasionally found as inclusions in Diamonds. Garnets are mined for use as abrasives as well as for fine gemstones.
Lab-created Garnets exist and are occasionally used in fine jewelry. But the majority of Garnets are natural, enhanced only by cutting and polishing.
Andradite Garnet
Mineral Family
The Garnet Family is a group of 15 silicate minerals. Silicates are minerals which contain the elements Silicon (a light gray shiny metal) and Oxygen (a colorless gas). Together, these two elements form a tetrahedron – a shape similar to a pyramid – with a Silicon atom in the center and Oxygen atoms at each of the four corners. These tetrahedra connect with other chemical structures, in six different ways, to form various minerals and rocks. There are six main groups of Silicate minerals, and these main groups are further subdivided into secondary subdivisions, such as Quartz and Garnet.
Andradite Garnet’s energy works well with its family – other garnets. Try it in combination with Almandine, Grossular, Pyrope, Spessartine, and Uvarovite
Andradite Garnet Formation and Crystal Associates
Garnets can be formed in igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. Andradite Garnet is typically found in metamorphized limestone or calcic igneous rocks/ metamorphic rocks, Granite, but can also be found in some metamorphic rocks. Most of the time, when people think of garnet, they are imagining a dark red Almandine Garnet. Andradite is yellow, green, or brown.
Andradite Garnet’s energy works well with its “friends” – crystal associates formed in the same geological environment. Try it in combination with Chlorite and Vesuvianite
| Mineralogy | Andradite Garnet |
|---|---|
| Chemical Formula | Ca3Fe3+2(SiO4)3 |
| Cleavage | None |
| Color | Yellow, green, brown |
| Crystal System | Cubic |
| Form/Habit | Dodecahedral, trapezohedral |
| Fracture | Conchoidal, brittle |
| Hardness – Mohs Scale | 6.5-7.5 |
| Luminescence | None |
| Luster | Vitreous |
| Mineral Family | Garnet Group |
| Specific Gravity | 3.6-4.3 |
| Streak | White |
| Transparency | Transparent to opaque |
History of Andradite Garnet
Garnet has one of the oldest and most detailed historical traditions of any healing stone. It is included in virtually every known lapidary, texts which describe gemstones and their powers. Originally, the term “Garnet” was only used for the reddish varieties, Almandine and Pyrope and did not include orange and green Garnets. For most of history, Red Garnets, Rubies, and other glowing red stones such as Spinal and Tourmaline were thought to belong to the same mineral family, called “Carbuncle” – a name which means “little spark.” It wasn’t until the 19th century that these stones were correctly divided into separate mineral families.
The name Garnet comes from the Latin words granum or granitus, meaning grain or seeds. These words in turn have an even older origin, coming from the Phonecian punica granatum, meaning “pomegranate seeds.” The reference refers to more than just the glowing red color and common shape of Almandine and Pyrope Garnets. Interestingly, when found in matrix, Garnets often cluster much like pomegranate seeds do.
Andradite Garnet was first described in 1868 from a deposit in Norway. The original Andradite was a dark brown/black gem. It was named after José Bonifácio de Andrade e Silva (1763–1838), a Brazilian geologist, poet, abolitionist, and one of the mentors for Brazilian independence. During his career, he described several new minerals, including Petalite.
Andradite Garnet can be brown, brown-yellow, grey-green. More rarely they can be bright green (Demantoid / Uralian Emerald), bright yellow (Topazolite) or black (Melanite). When faceted for jewelry, Andradite Garnets have a greater color dispersion than diamonds, meaning they are super sparkly and full of rainbows! High-quality Demantoid Garnet is the rarest member of the Garnet Family and commands high prices on the market.
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