Published December 2020  •  Updated February 2024 •  Read Time: 8 minutes
Rhodolite Garnet is a trade name that is used to describe pink and purple Garnets.  It was originally used just for Pyrope Garnets found in North Carolina, USA, but is now used for any Pyrope or Almandine Garnets if it has the right color.  Rhodolite Garnets are an incredible talisman for emotional wisdom.  They sharpen our gifts of discernment and help us to distinguish between reality and our hopes and fear.  It is a great stone for parents who want a happy relationship with their adult children.  This jewel helps establish a new social contract between two equals, rather than clinging to an old paradigm of parental authority.

Rhodolite Garnet

Rhodolite Garnet Meaning

Spiritual Healing Properties

Rhodolite Garnet connects our root and crown chakras so that we come into an easy alignment between what is most real and what is most inspired. It keeps our consciousness and subconscious deeply rooted in reality. This isn’t so we dream smaller dreams, but rather so that we can accurately assess what we’re working with and what needs to be done in order to make our loftiest dreams come true. Rhodolite Garnet revels our life’s purpose. It might be a single, lifelong purpose. It might be an ever-changing purpose that fits each moment perfectly. In either case, Rhodolite Garnet helps us to make steady progress, enjoy the journey and to celebrate each success as it comes. Rhodolite Garnet strengthens the voices of our spirit guides and our own heart’s yearning, so that we can hear and understand them very clearly. Its energy is serene, but not solemn. There is a lightness and a sparkle to Rhodolite Garnet that reminds us to smile often and to not take ourselves so seriously. It encourages us to walk our path with a light heart and an easy mind, trusting that we are in tune and in balance, and that all will be well.

Metaphysical Properties Rhodolite Garnet
Chakra Root, Heart and Crown
Element Earth
Numerology 5
Zodiac Cancer and Leo

Emotional Healing Properties

Rhodolite Garnet offers us great gifts of emotional wisdom. It is a love stone for abundance and magnifies the love between people without creating codependency or losing ourselves. Rhodolite Garnet shows us how to have beautiful boundaries that bless our lives and those of our loved ones. It is a particularly good for parents with older children or adult children, because it encourages parents to love generously without needing to exert their own will over others. As a result, children are allowed to be their true selves and can cultivate a steady sense of confidence. Rhodolite Garnet has a warm, gentle, and quiet energy that is very soothing during times of distress or when we need to heal. It is an excellent crystal ally when healing from sexual or emotional abuse. Rhodolite Garnet dissolves feelings of shame, guilt and inadequacy. It lessens painful memories, so that we don’t feel past trauma as a present reality. When we need emotional support, Rhodolite Garnet helps us to get what we need, whether that means supporting ourselves or asking others to assist. Rhodolite Garnet speaks truth to us, so that we can make good choices that support happiness and peace.

Mental Healing Properties

Rhodolite Garnet gives us keen discernment so we can judge what is real and what is good. It calms our heart so that hopes and fears don’t cloud our judgement. Rhodolite Garnet invites us to explore a deeper level of self-knowledge. It asks us to love and respect ourselves for all our good qualities. It also asks us to honestly acknowledge any areas where we need further polishing before we can truly shine. Rhodolite Garnet teaches us that self-improvement is not a doomed desire for perfection, but rather a noble quest for excellence. Rhodolite Garnet is a wonderful talisman for philosophers, particularly stoics, who seek to understand the true nature of reality and what it means to live a good life. It encourages us to live in balance and wisdom. It helps us to accept the past and present fully so that we can be at peace in our minds. Rhodolite Garnet reminds us that while we can’t change the past or present and refusing to accept that only brings us misery. But the future, both near and far, are yet to be written. Rhodolite Garnet emboldens us to take appropriate action to create the future life and future self that will most deeply satisfy us.

Physical Healing Properties

Rhodolite Garnet is recommended for anyone concerned about sexuality or reproductive issues. It is particularly good for pregnant women who want to nurture a loving connection with the new life inside them and the new life they themselves will be stepping into as a mother. It can also help fathers and other members of the family to be excited to take on new roles and responsibilities. Rhodolite Garnet reminds other family members that the mother faces very real physical challenges and deserves extra support from her family. In particular, women may need to be reminded by their partner that they are still sexually desirable and will continue to be desirable regardless of any physical changes that occur due to the pregnancy. Rhodonite Garnet is also recommended for anyone who has suffered from sexual abuse. It helps us to feel more safe and secure within our physical body. Rhodolite Garnet helps us to work through our fears and other negative emotions, so we can reduce our stress levels. This in turn allows our body to naturally rebalance and heal stress-related problems in our digestive, elimination, reproductive and circulatory systems.

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Rhodolite Garnet Mineralogy

Where does Rhodolite Garnet come from?

Garnets are found worldwide. Rhodolite Garnet is a form of Pyrope, with notable deposits in the Czech Republic, India, Tanzania 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.

Rhodolite Garnet Placeholder
Rhodolite Garnet

The Environmental & Social Impact of Crystals

Your crystals should have a healing energy that is clean, powerful, & makes a positive difference.

Mineral Family

Rhodolite Garnet is a dark purple Pyrope or Almandine Garnet. 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.  The variety of Rhodonite Garnet sold at Moonrise Crystals is most likely a Pyrope.

Rhodolite Garnet’s energy works well with its family – other garnets.  Try it in combination with Almandine, Andradite, Grossular, Spessartine and Uvarovite

Rhodolite Garnet Formation and Crystal Associates

Garnets can be formed in igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks.  Pyrope Garnets are only found in igneous and metamorphic rocks that have a low silica content.  It is difficult to distinguish between Almandine Garnet and Pyrope since they both share the same dark reddish-purple color.  Almandines are far more common, but Pyropes are more likely to be perfect, with fewer flaws and inclusions.  The easiest way to distinguish the two stones is to know their geological environment. Almandine Garnets can grow in many types of rocks, while Pyropes are always in ultramafic ones.  There is no difference between Pyrope and Rhodolite, the later is simply an accepted trade name rather than a scientific one.

Rhodolite Garnet’s energy works well with its “friends” – crystal associates formed in the same geological environment.  Try it in combination with Diamond, Kyanite, Peridot, Ruby, Rutile and Sapphire

Mineralogy Rhodolite Garnet
Chemical Formula Mg3Al2(SiO4)3
Cleavage None
Color Red
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 Rhodolite 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.

Ancient Vedic texts record the origin story of many gemstones including Garnet. According to legend, long ago the demon, Vala, took the form of a stone cave where stolen cows were hidden. Indra, the leader of the demigods, split Vala apart, killing him and freeing the cows. Vala’s body was scattered across the earth and his various body parts were transformed into gems. His toenails became Red Garnets!

Garnet’s energy has always been considered particularly powerful. In Roman times, it was thought to bring out passion, even anger. Red Garnet’s blood-like color made it the obvious choice to represent Mars, the god of war. Centuries later, warriors from India would use Garnets as a projectile in guns, believing that a wound inflicted by the red stone would cause a more grievous injury than a mere bullet. By contrast, Christians saw Garnet as a symbol of Christ’s suffering on the cross and the Holy Qur’an describes the light of fourth level of Heaven as glowing like a Garnet. In Hindu and Buddhist traditions, red Garnets were associated with red lotus flowers and believed to increase wealth and fertility.

According to the medieval European lapidary, The Book of Seals, “…a Garnet with the image of a lion engraved thereon (is used) to protect and preserve the honors and health of the wearer.” As early as 1391, Garnet was listed as a cure for inflammatory diseases and in a departure from ancient thought, Garnet was said to cool anger. Garnet was also a popular antidote for poisons, either worn as jewelry or powdered and taken internally. It was thought to prevent over-indulgence and to encourage humility and bring peace. Chavealier Jean de Mandeville’s 14th century Lapidaire stated “They give courage to the heart, they chase away sadness and bring joy.” While the Book of Dreams states, “[Garnet] brings sleep to the sleepless, drives away the plague and evil spirits and attracts to its possessor riches, glory, honor and great wisdom, and to crown all, constancy with fidelity to all obligations.”

Rhodolite Garnet is a beautiful pinkish garnet, whose name is from the Greek word rhodon, or rose.  It was originally used to describe Pyrope Garnets in North Carolina, USA.  Today it is commonly used for gem-quality pinkish Almandine and Pyrope Garnets.

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