Gemstones, minerals, healing stones and crystals: the differences simply explained

Are all Gemstones healing stones at the same time? What makes a crystal and what minerals? In this article you will learn more about the differences between gemstones, healing stones, crystals and minerals.

In jewelry making play the colorful, shiny stones, which are called minerals that occur naturally play a major role in jewelry making. Cut and set, they become precious gemstones - either because of their carat specification or because of their emotional value. But what actually makes a mineral? And can any mineral be processed into a gemstone?

To understand the difference between gemstones, minerals and crystals let's first take a closer look at the generic term. Gemstones and crystals, like aggregates (for example, malachite with its unique green coloration), are minerals (the technical term is minerals).

In recent years, a well-known jewelry manufacturer has made sure that we can see under "Crystal" beautiful, flawless, shiny and multifaceted Gemstones which sometimes gather dust as elaborately cut sculptures in the glass display case. But a crystal is more than that. The term comes from chemistry and, simply put, describes the regularity of a structure, i.e. how the individual components (atoms, ions or molecules) are arranged. In addition to gemstones such as rock crystal or amethyst, salt, sugar and even snow are also crystalline materials. Under the microscope, all of them have a uniform and imposing molecular structure.

So rock crystal, amethyst or pyrite are crystals and at the same time also Minerals. But that there are also gemstones that are not a crystal, but still a mineral, proves the rose quartz.

The opposite of crystalline is amorphous. This term describes a substance with a disordered structure, i.e. an irregular pattern. A special feature of amorphous structures like rose quartz is its tendency to occur in compounds in so-called aggregates. These are associations of different minerals that are often intergrown. Opal and turquoise are also aggregates. But also an amethyst druse with calcite portion is considered an aggregate. It is valid: Rose quartz shows an amorphous structure.

This is good to remember, because have you ever seen a natural rose quartz specimen with imposing crystals? This is because rose quartz does not form uniformly structured crystals, unlike rock crystal. A special feature is the so-called Pink Quartz a rare form of rosé colored quartz, which occurs as a specimen and has flawless crystals.

Amorphous and crystalline structures are minerals. But are all minerals also gemstones? The answer is easy: No, because here it depends on the hardness of a mineral. In our product info you will always find a part that deals with the Mohs hardness of a gemstone. This is because the Mohs scale of hardness tells you how soft or hard a mineral is, and this is how you can determine whether a mineral is a gemstone.

Who hasn't heard it before: diamond is considered the hardest naturally occurring material on earth. No wonder that diamond, with a rating of 10, is enthroned at the top of the Mohs hardness scale. This scale was developed by the geologist Friedrich Mohs around 1800. Mohs came to the conclusion that minerals scratch other minerals and, based on this insight, created a ten-stage scale to determine the hardness, or the resistance of minerals to scratching:

• 1 (Can be scribed with fingernail): Selenite
• 2 (Scribable with fingernail): Gypsum (Halite)
• 3 (Scorable with copper coin): Calcite
• 4 (Can be scribed with pocket knife): Fluorite
• 5 (Scorable with pocket knife): Apatite, also rhinestones
• 6 (Can be scribed with steel file): Orthoclase
• 7 (Can only be scribed through 8, 9 and 10): Quartz
• 8 (Only scribable through 9 and 10): Topaz
• 9 (Only scribable through 10): Corundum (Ruby, Sapphire)
• 10 (Only scribable by itself): Diamond

All minerals with a Mohs hardness >7 count as gemstones and are very popular in jewelry making. All minerals of the quartz family, i.e. rock crystal, rose quartz, amethyst or citrine thus count as gemstones. But also tourmaline, ruby, sapphire, emerald and topaz are gemstones. All minerals with a Mohs hardness of seven or more can also be excellently checked for their authenticity by means of a glass shear test, since glass has a hardness of six according to the Mohs scale: glass does not carve genuine rock crystal, but gemstone fakes made of glass do.

For a long time circulated in the jewelry industry the term "Semi-precious stone"This term refers to minerals that have a hardness of less than 7 on the Mohs scale, but still have a convincing appearance and purity as a piece of jewelry. Therefore, in recent years, the term "Gemstone"and the term "semi-precious stone" has probably become a victim of clever marketing heads. Because who likes to buy a "half" gemstone? Probably even some of your favorite stones are among the so-called gemstones: moonstone, malachite, opal, turquoise or agate belong to the softer minerals.

Now the term "healing stone" is in the room and we leave the level of well-founded chemistry and physics and enter the mysterious spheres of esotericism and spirituality - both fields that are hardly explored scientifically, but nevertheless have a millennia-old tradition.

We cannot completely avoid physical processes, because so-called healing stones are all about vibration and energy. You may have heard that "everything vibrates", i.e. is in motion - this is a recognized physical law. Even the molecules in "dead" rock are in motion and therefore vibrate at a certain frequency. The human body also vibrates, respectively the tiny little atoms in us vibrate. And this concept is also being explored more and more by means of quantum physics: thoughts are also energy and contain information that vibrates at a certain frequency. But what does all this have to do with healing stones?

In esoteric belief, each healing stone vibrates in its own individual way, such as through its color or chemical composition. Through the different characteristics of healing stones and millennia of wisdom of shamans and witches, healing powers have been defined for each individual gemstone or gemstone, which counteract physical or mental "wrong vibrations". The effect of light and color also plays a role; surely you know the classical representation of the seven chakras in the human body, which are all assigned to the colors of the rainbow. Crystals and minerals of the same color promote the chakra flow and release blockages. Each individual chakra stands for a different subject area that we deal with in everyday life.

In general, it can be said that healing stones balance vibrations in the human body. This is not scientifically proven and it seems to be the norm to emphasize this fact again and again, if you look around on the Internet. However, the lack of scientific evidence does not affect the effect of healing stones. Very sensitive people feel the pure energies emanating from a flawless rock crystal even without costly and time-consuming research.

Gemstones, minerals, healing stones and crystals: All terms have one thing in common! They all enchant us with their natural splendor and beauty. Gemstones awaken deep feelings and produce beaming eyes in turn, while children are often equally enthusiastic treasure hunters in phases of collecting and regard every stone or striking mineral, no matter how special, as the greatest treasure on earth. Stones and minerals have fascinated us humans since the beginning of time and stand in the middle of the gap between faith and science. This makes crystals and minerals, despite their natural origin here on earth, mystical and mysterious companions of our lives.