Published July 2014  •  Updated March 2024  •  Read Time: 7 minutes
Rhodonite is a rare mineral much beloved in the metaphysical community.  When it is found protected underground, it can be pure pink.  But when if it has been long exposed to the elements, natural weathering will oxidize areas turning them black.  Some of the most striking Rhodonites come from Madagascar where the stone is  vivid hot pink mixed with black.  While most well-known as a pink stone, it can also be green!  Rhodonite is one of the most powerful stones for love, compassion and forgiveness.  It’s a top choice for anyone who has suffering from trauma or heartbreak and wants to find their way back to love and light.

Rhodonite Canada

Rhodonite Meaning

Spiritual Healing Properties

Rhodonite is one of the most powerful stones for love and healing. It is a heart-centered stone that teaches us that our greatest potential is attained by loving as deeply and purely as possible. It invites us to love ourselves, to love the people close to us, to love our community, to love newcomers and strangers, and to simply love all the world. It shows us that when we love, we become a Light Bringer who raises the vibration for one and all. Rhodonite gently reminds us to follow the Golden Rule and to love our neighbors as ourselves. It is a wonderful tool for enhancing love and compassion-based meditations and prayers. It is equally fantastic for anything related to community healing and well-being. Rhodonite inspires generosity, forgiveness, and inclusiveness.

Metaphysical Properties Rhodonite
Chakra Root and Heart
Element Earth and Fire
Numerology 9
Zodiac Taurus

Emotional Healing Properties

Rhodonite is possibly the very best emotional healer in the crystal kingdom. Its soothing energy heals recent emotional wounds as well as old emotional scars. It can help us to make sense of pain caused by our closest loved ones as well as by strangers whose actions have negatively impacted us. Rhodonite gently guides us to forgiveness and peace, both for ourselves and for others. It also helps us to find or re-discover that calm and happy center inside ourselves. It is particularly helpful if we need to explore questions of self-worth and confidence. If our sense of self has been damaged, Rhodonite helps us to see ourselves clearly and compassionately and to stop believing the old lies. If we are in a good place in life, it asks us to generously help those around us so that they too can rise up. It wisely reminds us to give respectfully so that we maintain the other person’s sense of dignity. It helps us to give like a peer and a friend, rather than magnanimously from upon high. It reminds us that everyone we meet is our brother or sister. Rhodonite attracts those people who can best help us or whom we can best help.

Mental Healing Properties

Rhodonite invites us to live and think from a heart-centered perspective. It helps us to understand both sides of any issue and to be merciful in our judgments. If a situation has become chaotic or terrible, Rhodonite sooths and calms so that we can find our peaceful center again. It helps us to keep a cool head, especially when we find ourselves emotionally triggered. It helps us to distinguish between actual reality and the negative beliefs and feelings that have been triggered. Rhodonite gently reminds us to not believe every negative thought or feeling just because it’s in our head, it doesn’t automatically make it real. It asks us to constantly check in with reality and respond wisely with love. Rhodonite can help us lift ourselves out of patterns of anxiety and depression and helps us to see the silver lining in otherwise dark clouds.

Physical Healing Properties

Rhodonite is recommended for anyone who has suffered a major trauma, either recently or in the past. If the trauma was recent, Rhodonite is an exceptionally comforting stone to hold while our body heals. It helps protect our mind, so that even if our body has scars from the trauma, our mind can heal as cleanly as possible. If the trauma was in the past, Rhodonite can help us to see how that trauma is still effecting our body and mind in the present. For example we may have developed autoimmune disorders or perhaps a mental health issue such as PTSD, anxiety or depression. We might also have developed unhealthy coping mechanisms to numb the pain, such as an eating disorder, substance abuse or another forms of self-harming. Rhodonite helps us to recognize when this has happened and to gently shift our beliefs and actions so that full healing is possible. It offers us comfort and patience while we heal. It promises us that the pain of the past can be healed and that a happy future is within our grasp.

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Rhodonite Mineralogy

Where does Rhodonite come from?

Rhodonite deposits are found in Australia, Canada, Finland, Japan, Madagascar, Mexico, Peru, Russia, Sweden, South Africa, Tanzania, and the United States (New Jersey).

Mining and Treatments

Rhodonite is a minor manganese ore and is typically mined as such along with various other manganese ores in large open pits.  Most Rhodonite tends towards a pinkish-brown and so is not particularly desirable as a collectable.  However, if a deposit is has particularly high-quality stones with a vivid pink color, the Rhodonite deposit, may be artisanally mined as a gem or ornamental stone  Transparent Rhodonite crystals are rare, but do occur alongside opaque stones.

All Rhodonite is natural, enhanced only by tumbling, cutting, and polishing.

Rhodonite Placeholder
Rhodonite

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Mineral Family

Rhodonite is a rare type of manganese silicate, a single-chain inosilicate 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. One way the tetrahedra can connect is in long single chains, and it is to this group that Rhodonite belongs.

Rhodonite’s energy works well with its family – other single-chain inosilicate minerals.  Try it in combination with Cat’s Eye Quartz, CharoiteDiopside, Hawk’s Eye, Hiddenite, Jadite, Kunzite, Larimar, and Shattuckite

Rhodonite Formation and Crystal Associates

Rhodonite is formed during the metamorphosis of sedimentary manganese ore deposits, a process which creates the rose color. If left undisturbed, the mineral will be pure pink.  But if the rose colored stone has become exposed to the elements, it will partially oxidize through weathering. This in turn creates black patches and veins of manganese dioxide.  In the 21st century, rare deposits of green Rhodonite have been found, often in the same mine as the more common pink Rhodonite.  The green color is created by a chemical interaction between magnesium and iron.

Rhodonite’s energy works well with its “friends” – crystal associates formed in the same geological environment.  Try it in combination with Galena, Pyrite, and Spessartine Garnet

What is the difference between Rhodonite and Rhodocrosite?

Rhodonite and Rhodocrosite are often confused since they both have a pink color, both are weathered black by manganese, and they have similar names   Rhodocrosite is a softer Carbonite mineral, only a 4 on the Moh’s hardness scale, while Rhodonite is a single-chain insolicate that is a 6.  Both stones range in color from soft pastel pink to vivid magenta.  But one way to tell them apart is to closely study the oxidization coloring.  Both stones may have black Manganese from weathering, but only Rhodocrosite will have grey or white markings.

Mineralogy Rhodonite
Chemical Formula (CaMg)(Mn2+, Fe2+)[Si5 O 15].
Cleavage Perfect
Color Reddish-pink – may have black manganese inclusions
Crystal System Triclinic
Form/Habit Tabular
Fracture Uneven, conchoidal
Hardness – Mohs Scale 5.5-6.5
Luminescence Red (long wave)
Luster Vitreous
Mineral Family Single-Chain Inosilicates
Specific Gravity 3.4-3.74
Streak White
Transparency Transparent to opaque

History of Rhodonite

Rhodonite was “discovered” relatively recently by the metaphysical community and so was not included in any early texts that describe gemstones and their powers. Despite being a very pretty and easily recognizable stone, there is little history attached to it.  It generally grows as a compact massive stone, but can on rare occasions form tabular crystals.  When found underground it is usually pink.  If it is found on the surface of the earth, it is often brown because of oxidation, but in some cases it will remain pink and only a few sections will turn brown or black.

The name Rhodonite comes from the Greek word rhodon, or rose. This is a reference to its beautiful pink coloring, which can range from hot pink to pale pink.  The precise shade of pink is often helpful for identifying the mining deposit.  For example, Rhodonite that is hot pink with bold black inclusions, is often from Madagascar.  Specimens from Canada, by contrast, is a pastel pink with pale green inclusions.  Rhodonite is the official gemstone of Massachusetts, on the USA east coast, and the crystals found there tend to be a sweet bubblegum pink.

Rhodonite Meaning rhodonite meaning

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