QUARTZ (SMOKY)

GROUNDING | STABILITY | PROTECTION | CONNECTION (ENERGETIC) | ANXIETY (OVERCOMING) | CALMING | MANIFESTATION | ACTION | CLARITY (MENTAL) | DECISIVENESS

Smoky Quartz is the grey to brown to near-black variety of Quartz. The colour comes from natural radiation acting on trace amounts of Aluminium within the crystal. Over a very long time, radiation from surrounding rock knocks electrons out of the lattice and creates colour centres that absorb light, and the stone darkens.

It forms like other Quartz, crystallising from Silica-rich fluids in cavities, veins and pegmatites. It needs the right conditions to colour, which is why it is so often found in granitic rock, where there is a steady source of natural radiation. Crystals are six-sided and prismatic, with a pointed termination, and can grow very large. Smoky quartz is also found with Feldspar, Mica and Tourmaline.

Smoky Quartz sits at 7 on the Mohs scale.

Brazil, Madagascar, Switzerland, Scotland and the United States are all known sources. The Cairngorm Mountains in Scotland gave the stone its old name, Cairngorm.