Published July 2014  •  Updated February 2024  •  Read Time: 6 minutes
Normally when people think of Garnet they imagine a dark red jewel.  Spessartine Garnet is always a vivid orange! It is sometimes confused with Hessonite Garnet, which is the orange variety of Grossular. Most Spessartine on the market come from Africa, but the original specimen came from the forested hills of Germany.  Spessartine Garnet has a fantastic energy that is joyful and abundant.  It helps us to believe that we are worthy of receiving good things and also gives us a push to work hard to make sure good things come our way.  It is also a wonderful jewel for sensual energies and is highly recommended for anyone who practices tantric sex.

Spessartine Garnet spessartine garnet

Spessartine Garnet Meaning

Spiritual Healing Properties

Spessartine Garnet is a powerful stone for attraction and manifestation, teaching us how to transform our visions into reality. It gives us confidence, strength and vigor, and inspires our creativity. When we are attracted to Spessartine Garnet, it is a sign that we are ready to move to a higher level, spiritually or materially, and live more fully alive. Spessartine Garnet ignites within us a fierce desire for self-realization and gives us the strength to endure both spiritual hardships, as well as the more prosaic everyday struggles in the pursuit of our dreams. Spessartine Garnet is also a very joyful stone, showing us the incredible beauty of this world and reminding us how truly fortunate we are. Spessartine Garnet helps us to see challenges as adventures and to move with both passion and serenity, as the situation calls for. It also increases the flow of chi energy through our bodies and clears away any negative energy that has become stuck.

Metaphysical Properties Spessartine Garnet
Chakra Root, Sacral, Solar Plexus
Element Earth and Fire
Numerology 1, 2 and 7
Zodiac Leo, Virgo, Capricorn and Aquarius

Emotional Healing Properties

Spessartine Garnet guides us to a place where we can feel emotionally free, peaceful and happy. It is a fundamentally positive stone, encouraging us to be optimistic and daring us to take action. It gives courage to our hearts and strips away inhibitions and feelings of unworthiness. Spessartine Garnet invites us to truly embrace our own sensuality and sexuality, without fear or shame. Likewise, it encourages us to be more accepting and comfortable with other people’s sexuality. Spessartine challenges the concept of “sin” whenever it pertains to love and union, and can help us to explore sacred sexuality, such as Tantric practices. Spessartine Garnet is a wonderful stone for anyone who is currently looking for a romantic partner and is seeking sexual and emotional fulfillment. While we play the dating field, Spessartine Garnet reminds us to also actively cultivate self-love and self-respect and to be willing to explore new ideas and new types of people.

Mental Healing Properties

Spessartine Garnet helps us to release old ideas, beliefs, and patterns, whenever they no longer accurately represent our level of knowledge or our actual lifestyle. 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. Spessartine Garnet is an exceptionally creative stone, making it a wonderful talisman for artists, writers, performers, and anyone else who relies on creative powers for their livelihood or as an enjoyable hobby.

Physical Healing Properties

Spessartine Garnet is most often used by metaphysical healers to aid in fertility and treating the reproductive and sexual systems. Spessartine Garnet is said to invigorate the body and has been used for weight loss and body building. It is also believed to help treat calcium deficiencies and reduce lactose intolerance.

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Spessartine Garnet Mineralogy

Where does Spessartine Garnet come from?

Garnets are found worldwide. Notable Spessartine Garnet deposits are found in Australia, Brazil, China, Italy, Namibia, Pakistan, Portugal, 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.

Spessartine Garnet Placeholder
Spessartine Garnet

The Environmental & Social Impact of Crystals

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

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.

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

Spessartine Garnet Formation and Crystal Associates

Garnets can be formed in igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks.  Spessartine Garnet is typically found in 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.  Spessarine are a unique variety of Garnet which are always a shade of orange.  They can sometimes be confused with Hessonite, which is the orange variety of Grossular Garnet.

Spessartine Garnet’s energy works well with its “friends” – crystal associates formed in the same geological environment.  Try it in combination with Black Tourmaline, Muscovite, Smoky Quartz

Mineralogy Spessartine Garnet
Chemical Formula Mn2+3Al2(SiO4)3
Cleavage None
Color Orange
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 Spessartine 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.

Spessartine is a rare variety of Garnet with a beautiful orange color.  While it has been known scientifically for well over a century, it has only recently gained popularity.  In the 1990s, some particularly vivid and clear garnets were found in African deposits.  The name Spessartine actually comes from Spessart, Germany where these garnet was first documented in the mid 1800s.  Unlike other parts of Germany, mining isn’t a major industry in the area, although there have been some minor copper mines.  The area is known for its beautiful deciduous forested hills.  During the 21st century there was talk of creating a national park in the area, with environmentalist and forestry workers in favor, while local land owners were against the idea.  The locals have enjoyed rights, some dating back in the medieval period, which allows them to harvest wood, hunt and otherwise use the forests.  The locals successfully organized and protested, and the government has said that it will no longer peruse the idea of a national park in the area.

Spessart Forest, Spessartine Garnet spessartine garnet meaning

Autumn leaves in Spessart Forest, Germany

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