Published March 2021 • Updated February 2024 • Read Time: 7 minutes
Garnierite is a beautiful ore rock for Nickel and Platinum. Most Garnierite comes from industrial Nickle mines, but it is occasionally found by artisanal miners. While it can be found in a few locations, most of it comes from New Caledonia, a French territory in the South Pacific. Garnierite has a delicate pastel green color that comes from the Nickle content. It is sometimes sold under as “Green Moonstone”, because it occasionally has a subtle iridescence, but it is not at all related to other varieties of Moonstone. Garnierite has a refreshing energy that helps us feel connected to the natural world, empowered and optimistic.
Garnierite Meaning
Spiritual Healing Properties
Garnierite refreshes the spirit and reconnects us to the natural world. It encourages us to live a healthy and vibrant life and to discover what feeds our soul. It reminds us that life is a sacred gift and deserves joyful reverence. Garnierite both grounds and elevates our energy, helping us to regain our balance in a topsy-turvy world. If we have gotten ourselves stuck in a rut, Garnierite shakes us loose from our inertia and encourages us to listen to our spirit guides and start making positive changes. It is a wonderful stone for activating and cleansing our aura, chakras or other energy fields. Garnierite shows us how to smoothly tap into our subtle energies and gently command them so that we feel peaceful and empowered. It is a good crystal friend for “old souls” who may feel impatient with younger spirits struggling through growing pains. Garnierite urges patience, reminding us that everything develops at its own natural speed and that we cannot rush this process. Garnierite offers deep heart wisdom and can reveal the many sides and aspects of Love.
| Metaphysical Properties | Garneirite |
|---|---|
| Chakra | Root, Heart and Third Eye |
| Element | Earth |
| Numerology | 8 and 9 |
| Zodiac | Gemini and Sagittarius |
Emotional Healing Properties
Garnierite brings a soothing and optimistic energy to our heart. It gently releases pent-up anger, anxiety and misplaced guilt. It helps us to recognize that what we feel on the surface may be a secondary emotion. For example, we may feel and act angry, when deep down we are actually scared. Garnierite encourages us to set aside the secondary emotion and concentrate on the primary emotion. It helps us to calmly figure out practical steps to bring us back to peace and joy. Garnierite replaces fear with hope and steadfastly insists that emotional healing is possible, for individuals as well as for groups. It shows us that simply believing healing and change is possible, is one of the most important steps we can take. Garnierite helps us to be more comfortable with the unknown while also having clear boundaries about what is acceptable. It encourages us to be honest and realistic, and to release any urge to manipulate or hide. Garnierite teaches a sensible and loving wisdom that can be applied to many different situations.
Mental Healing Properties
Garnierite is a wonderful stone for anyone focused on healing, whether themselves or the larger world. It encourages us to be wise and to make healthy choices. It quietly removes the word “impossible” from our mindset and replaces it with curiosity allowing us to imagine and reimagine how things might work. Garnierite encourages us to be proactive and receptive to other people’s good ideas. It helps us move beyond just thinking about healing or acknowledging problems, into actually doing the work to heal, solve and move forward. It is a wonderful talisman for anyone in the medical field as well as for activists who want to heal the ills in our society. Garnierite reminds us that healing is rarely a mysterious magic, it’s more often the logical outcome of hard work and good planning. Garnierite has a very kind energy, asking us to be patient with wounded souls and the world. It reminds us that healing takes time and that sometimes a soft energy is more effective than a blunt one.
Physical Healing Properties
Garnierite is recommended for anyone focused on keeping their body healthy, strong and in balance. In particular, it can help us to examine our eating habits and assess what might need to change so that our body is properly nourished. It encourages us to make smart choices to better stabilize blood sugar levels, stay hydrated and absorb the vitamins and minerals our body needs. Garnierite can also reminds us that our body is not merely a temple, but also a biosphere and we need to consider the wellbeing of the good bacteria that live within us symbiotically. If we have been injured or are in physical pain, Garnierite helps us to send relaxing healing energy to whatever part of the body needs attention.
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Garnierite Mineralogy
Where does Garnierite come from?
The largest Garnierite deposits are in the Dominican Republic, New Caledonia and Russia. Other notable deposits are located in the DR Congo, Italy, Madagascar, Poland, South Africa, United States (Oregon)
Mining and Treatments
Garnierite is mined from the primary deposits which still have their original relationship with the host rock. It can be found in smaller deposits in numerous locations. However, most Garnierite is mined in industrial strip-mining operations for Nickel, Platinum and other desirable metals.
All Garnierites on the market are natural, enhanced only through tumbling, cutting, and polishing.
Garnierite
Mineral Family
Garnierite is not a mineral, but rather a rock. An easy way to understand the difference is that rocks are like cookies and minerals are ingredients such as flour or sugar. Many different minerals are used to create a rock! In the case of Garnierite, it is an igneous rock found in pockets and seams of Serpentinized rocks. It can be composed of a variety of different minerals including Chlorite, Falcondoite, Serpentine and Talc as well as a variety of clay mineral such as Sepiolite and Smectite. It is sometimes referred to as “Green Moonstone”, but Moonstone is a generic name for Feldspar minerals like Orthoclase.
Garnierite’s energy works well with its family – other igneous rocks. Try it in combination with Chinese Writing Stone, Indigo Gabbro, Larvikite, Obsidian, Preseli Bluestone, and Unakite
Garnierite Formation and Crystal Associates
Garnierite is a rare ore formed in igneous rocks and gets its green coloration from its high concentration of nickel. It is created when silica acid water rich in nickel and magnesium flows into veins and pockets of newly formed ultramafic rocks and then solidifies. Prolonged weathering from rain gradually leeches away at the rocks and soil, dissolving softer minerals and slowly bringing insoluble metals such as Nickel and Iron closer to the surface of the earth. Darker-green Garnierite has been subjected to the least amount of weathering, while light-green or greenish-white Garnierite has been exposed to the most.
Garnierite’s energy works well with its “friends” – crystal associates formed in the same geological environment. Try it in combination with Chalcedony
| Mineralogy | Garnierite |
|---|---|
| Rock Type | Igneous Rock, Ultramafic |
| Major Minerals | Falcondoite, Serpentine and Talc |
| Minor Minerals | Clay Minerals (Chlorite, Sepiolite, Smectite) |
| Color | Green and whitish-green |
| Texture | Resinous |
| Transparency | Transparent to opaque |
History of Garnierite
Garneirite is a relatively recent gemstone for the metaphysical industry. It is often marketed as “Green Moonstone” especially in cases where there is a shimmery flash on the stone. But Moonstone is a generic name for a small group of flashy Feldspar minerals and Garneirite is a green Nickel ore found in veins of Serpentine. For more than a century, Garneirite was thought to be a distinct mineral, but that status has recently changed. According to the International Mineralogical Association, Garneier lacks a universally agreed upon composition. It is therefore considered a rock, rather than a mineral.
Garneirte was named after its discoverer, the French engineer, soldier and inventor Jules Garnier (1839-1904). He was a graduate of the Saint-Etienne school of mines and was especially interested in steel, railways, and industrial minerals. Early in his career, he was hired as the head of the mining division of New Caledonia, a group of islands in the southwest Pacific which remains a French Overseas Territory. In 1866, Garnier reported the presence of nickel-rich ore in the region. Eight years later, Archibald Liversidge (1847-1927), an English chemist and geologist who immigrated to Australia, formally described the ore and named it after Garnier. Two years later, Garnier filed a patent for the industrial exploitation of nickel in New Caledonia, cementing his reputation as the international nickel-steel expert. Today, New Caledonia remains the one of the largest suppliers of global nickel and its mining is responsible for the vast majority of the islands export economy. There are a handful of large international mines that operate in the area. The strip mining operations have had an adverse affect on the environment, particularly in regards to wetlands and coral reefs found near the mines.
