Published June 2014 • Updated August 2024 • Read Time: 8 minutes
Red Aventurine is a rare variety of Aventurine, which is more famous as a green stone. Aventurine has a distinctive natural sparkle, an optical affect known as aventurescence, which is caused by trace inclusions of Mica minerals. Without its glitter, it would be a chalcedony. It is sometimes sold as Red Muscovite or Strawberry Quartz. Its energy is brave and joyful. While other Aventurines focus on friendship, Red Aventurine attracts friends with benefits, lovers that make our heart flutter. It is a wonderful stone for working through trust issues related to intimacy, sex, romantic relationships, and our own self-expression.
Red Aventurine Healing Energy
Spiritual Healing Properties
Red Aventurine has a joyful energy that make us feel vibrantly alive in the present moment. It firmly connects our spiritual life to our physical body and regular life, and shows us that the mortal and divine are not nearly as separated as we might have been taught to believe. It wakes us up from any spiritual lethargy we may have fallen into. It tickles our passions and sparks our creativity, playful urging us to actively get involved in our own spiritual journey. Red Aventurine reminds us that life is short, so it’s up to us to make it sweet. It seduces the Kundalini energy so that it rises up all the way up to our crown. Red Aventurine also shows us that pleasure and sensuality are not divorced from spirituality, and so is highly recommended for anyone studying Tantric and dealing with feelings of guilt or sin surrounding sex. When used in meditation, it can open and activate all our chakras, bringing us a sense of balance and bliss. Red Aventurine brings us back to Eden, to the time before pain and sorrow. It teaches us that we hold Eden inside ourselves and we can access that purity and perfection, whenever we need to. It helps us to find our spiritual lovers and can transform lovemaking into an act of worship.
| Vibrations | Red Aventurine |
|---|---|
| Chakra | Root and Heart |
| Element | Earth and Fire |
| Numerology | 3 |
| Zodiac | Aries |
Emotional Healing Properties
Red Aventurine celebrates the positive power of sexuality and sensuality and can be used to flame desire. It encourages us to stay heart-centered in all of our relationships and to always act with integrity. It gently pushes us to be honest with ourselves about who we are and what we most want in life. Red Aventurine teaches us that sexual desire is natural and when approached with love and honesty, it is a source of great joy, growth, and healing. If we have suffered from abuse, particularly emotional or sexual abuse, Red Aventurine can help us to discern who to trust and who to keep away. If we feel jaded or frightened to let people in, it can bring back some of our innocence, without leaving us foolish. Red Aventurine helps us to put the past firmly in the past, to be alive to the beauty of the present moment and to have sweet hopes of the future. It helps us create a home that feels loving and safe. It releases anger and resentment, and gives us strength during challenging times. It lights up our path so we can find kind lovers and wonderful soulmates. It promises us that we deserve to be happy and to be loved.
Mental Healing Properties
Red Aventurine provides us with the confidence we need to handle new situations and reminds us that we are fully capable of handling anything life throws at us. It amplifies our leadership abilities and our ability to act decisively. Red Aventurine helps us to balance out the left/right sides of our brains and to think more holistically. It also helps us to balance and align our male/female energies, and to use whichever energy best fits the situation. It has a highly creative energy, helping artists, writers, and musicians keep their work fresh and interesting. It brings inspiration all on its own, but is even better at helping us find other muses to continually inspire us. Red Aventurine also helps us to understand why we feel, think and act the way we do. If certain aspects do not serve us, then it helps us to break free and start anew. It encourages our curiosity and helps us to process information and see the patterns within data. It is an excellent tool for anyone going to therapy or otherwise working on themselves. Red Aventurine helps us to do that important work, but also reminds us that there is at time when we are good enough and perfection isn’t a reasonable request to make of ourselves or others.
Physical Healing Properties
Red Aventurine is believed to be an excellent stone for healing and regulating the physical heart and circulatory system. It is said to be helpful for balancing auto-immune disorders and strengthening the immune system as a whole. It is commonly used by metaphysical healers for detoxes, as well as for treatments that focus specifically on the liver. It is also believed to help with eating disorders and sexual disorders. It helps us to enjoy life in a healthy manner and to treat our physical body like the holy temple that it is.
Geology of Red Aventurine
Where does Red Aventurine come from?
Aventurine is mined in several locations, Red Aventurine typically comes from Brazil or Canada.
Mining and Treatments
Typically mined from the primary deposits which still have their original relationship with the host rock. It is a secondary stone, something that is mined in addition to whatever the main purpose of the mine might be.
All Aventurines are natural, enhanced only through cutting and polishing. “Goldstone” has a similar sparkly appearance, but is a manmade glass.
Red Aventurine
Mineral Family
Aventurine is a type of Quartz, which is in turn a Silicate mineral. 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 Feldspar. Quartz is a large mineral family in its own right, and has two main subdivisions, macrocrystalline (crystals that are large enough to be seen by the naked eye, for example, Amethyst) and microcrystalline (crystals so small they can only be seen through a microscope, for example, Agate). Aventurine is a macrocrystalline. It is most commonly thought of as a green stone, but it can be any color.
Red Aventurine’s energy works well with its family – other microcrystalline Quartz. Try it in combination with any color of Agate, Chalcedony, and Jasper. It also blends perfectly with other types of Aventurine such as Blue, Green, Orange, Pink, White, and Yellow.
Red Aventurine, Quebec, Canada
Red Aventurine Formation and Crystal Associates
Aventurine is created when liquid magma from a volcanic explosion cools down and transforms into igneous rock. During this cooling down period, silica acid bubbles shift from being a gas/liquid into a solid compound. The bubble becomes a hollow space in the igneous rock and the silica acid becomes Quartz crystals. Trace particles of Iron give Red Aventurine its color while Mica gives it its sparkle.
Red Aventurine’s energy works well with its “friends” – crystal associates formed in the same geological environment. Try it in combination with Eudialyte, Golden Labradorite, Labradorite, Muscovite, Red Jasper and Thulite.
| Mineralogy | Red Aventurine |
|---|---|
| Chemical Formula | SiO2 |
| Cleavage | None |
| Color | Red |
| Crystal System | Hexagonal/trigonal |
| Form/Habit | Massive |
| Fracture | Conchoidal |
| Hardness – Mohs Scale | 7 |
| Luminescence | Reddish |
| Luster | Aventurescent, Viterous |
| Mineral Family | Tectosilicate |
| Specific Gravity | 2.65-2.69 |
| Streak | White |
| Transparency | Translucent, opaque |
History of Red Aventurine
Aventurine may be considered relatively “new” healing stones whose properties have only recently begun to be explored. Aventurine was not included as a distinct mineral in most early lapidaries, texts which describe gemstones and their powers. The one thing we absolutely know about the history of Aventurine is how it got its name. It comes from the Italian a ventura, meaning “by chance.” The name actually refers to the 18th century discovery of Goldstone, a man-made sparkly glass, which is usually golden-orange or blue-purple. Goldstone has a distinctive sparkle. Natural Aventurine also sparkles, although less uniformly.
One of the ways that geologists identify stones is by their luster, or how light reflects off a stone. For example, Quartz has a vitreous, or glass-like, luster, while Hematite has a metallic luster, and Jade has a waxy luster. Every stone has a luster, but a few special stones have an additional optical effect. For example, Tiger’s Eye has chatoyancy, which refers to luminous moving bands that seem to move up and down the surface of the stone when it is moved in the light. Another example is Labradorite’s iridescence, known as the schiller effect. Labradorite initially appears to be a dull greenish-grey stone, but when it’s moved in the light, brilliant vivid colors appear.
Aventurescent is another optical affect, it is the official geological term for stones that glitter. Only two natural gemstones have this quality, Aventurine and Sunstone. Both of these minerals are silica minerals, Aventurine is a Quartz, while Sunstone is a Feldspar. Aventurine can be translucent or opaque, depending on the thickness of the stone and how many trace minerals are inside. Red, pink, yellow, and orange Aventurines get their coloring from a combination of Iron and Lithium. Green Aventurine gets its coloring from chromite. The aventurescence is from trace mica minerals, which is why Aventurine is sometimes described as having Fuchsite (green mica), Lepidolite (purple mica), or Muscovite (colorless and any color mica).
Red Aventurine can be confused with Sunstone, since they have a similar coloring and sparkle. Aventurine is more likely to be translucent, while Sunstone is always opaque. Aventurine tends to have tiny bits of glitter, like silvery white spots, that stay in the same place. Feldspar’s glitter may come in an assortment of sizes and colors, include large orange spots or rainbow colored glitter. It may seem to move across the surface of the stone if turned in the light.
The naming of a stone is subject to scientific knowledge, marketing, and personal opinion. For example, the line between red, orange and pink isn’t always obvious, and may be subject to personal opinion. For example, the original Orange Aventurine sold at Moonrise Crystals, was labeled as Red Aventurine from China. Its hue was far more orange, compared to the dark cherry colored Red Aventurine from Canada, so the names were adjusted accordingly. Sometimes these stones are sold using marketing name such as “Strawberry Quartz.” If the Strawberry Quartz is a solid color without any aventuresence it might be more accurate called Hematite Quartz or Red Quartz. If it sparkles, then it is an Aventurine.
Red Aventurine is sometimes sold as Red Muscovite. Muscovite can be red, however pure mica is a soft and fragile mineral, only 2-2.5 on the Moh’s hardness scale. It can be scratched by a fingernail if pressed hard. By comparison, Aventurine is a Quartz, and is 7 on the Moh’s hardness scale, and can’t be scratched by a fingernail or a coin, but can be scratched by glass. If the stone has been tumbled into a round ball, its an Aventurine. If it’s been polished into a flat stone, like a little book with pages that can be easily broken, its a Muscovite.
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