Uvarovite Garnet Meaning

Uvarovite Garnet teaches us how to be self-sufficient in all areas of our life. It can be used to help us become more successful in our careers and financial life, but also in our emotional and spiritual life. It helps us to see our own strengths and gifts clearly, and to actively cultivate them. It encourages us to be independent, while also being generous and compassionate towards others. If we are blessed with abundance, Uvarovite Garnet helps us to share that goodness with others in ways that feel good to both parties. It reminds us that both giving and receiving are privileges. Uvarovite Garnet is also a great stone for cultivating an interest in our community. In particular, it asks us to consider what we can do to help others, rather than what others can do for us.

Garnets can be formed in igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks.  Uvarovite is the rarest form of Garnet and forms only in chromite-bearing metamorphic rocks. Most of the time, when people think of garnet, they are imagining a dark red Almandine Garnet.  Uvarovites are always green.  They can sometimes be confused with Grossular which is often green.  In general, Uvarovite tend to be a very dark green, while Grossular are usually a lighter green.

Uvarovite Garnet’s energy works well with its “friends” – crystal associates formed in the same geological environment.  Try it in combination with Diopside, Kammerite, and Serpentine.

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. While that sounds generic, there was actual a very specific seed that was being referenced.  Garnets closely resemblance pomegranates, which in Latin are called punica granatum or “Phoenician seeds.” Red garnets have the same rich red color as pomegranates and the gems often grow in a little cluster that can look very similar to the juicy seeds.

Uvarovite Garnets are the rarest form of Garnet and are always a dark green color.  It was first found in the Ural mountains of Russia in 1832 and was named after Count Sergei Semenovitch Uvarvo (1765-1855).  The Count was the Deputy Minister of Education and a mineral collector.  He was known for being quite clever and had a talent for learning languages. Under his guidance, academic standards improved, the noble class had increased access to education, and Russian scientists were sent abroad to mingle with the larger scientific community.

Unfortunately, Uvaro was also proud and wanted to maintain the political status quo. He strongly believe that the lower classes should not be educated.  He believed that “foreign ideas” such as freedom of thought and individualism were a direct threat to the Russian Orthodox Church, the Russian Tzar, and pure Russian folk culture.  He believed that the purpose of an education is to train noblemen into loyal and effective bureaucracy to help run the empire.  While the French Revolution had championed the ideals of “Libery, Equality, and Fraternity” Uvaro’s motto was firmly, “Orthodoxy, Autocracy and Nationality.”

Sergie Uvaro, by Orest Kiprensky (1815)