A variety of crystals…all forms of quartz.

Quartz is one of the most common minerals in the world, second only to Feldspar. It surrounds us in our everyday lives and aids us in our metaphysical or spiritual growth.

Quartz was a highly desirable product for early man and was traded over great distances even before agriculture became a feature of life.

While cutting, scraping and use in spears was certainly beneficial the giant leap was the ability to create fire. Chert (a class of quartz) was perfect for creating a long spark that could start a fire and was used until the invention of matches.

You may well ask what uses quartz has in the modern world? Quartz has a hardness of 7 on Moh’s Scale and is one of the hardest minerals found. Generally all other minerals are compared to quartz (e.g. harder or softer than quartz). Quartz imposes on our lives every day. Soap, toothpaste, paint, rubber, caulking compounds, sandpaper, flux in the smelting process, cell phones, watches, clocks, television, lasers and computers all have quartz as a vital component. Glasses, windows and eyewear are also made using quartz. Microscopic organisms called Diatoms make their shells from quartz. When they die they form Diatomaceous Earth which is used for water filtration, wine filtering and forms the abrasive for toothpaste. Hard to believe but you are brushing your teeth with long dead plankton.

Quartz is somewhat unusual in that when a pure quartz crystal is put under pressure the crystal produces an electrical voltage. This feature and the special qualities it created meant that quartz was able to be used in communication, time pieces and high tech items. Today however, most of the quartz used is synthetic.

Quartz sand is used on golf courses, volleyball courts, children’s sand boxes, baseball fields and is used to replenish depleted beaches.  It is also used for sand blasting, grit for sawing and sanding and scouring cleansers.

The biggest use of quartz worldwide is in the construction industry. The quartz is used as an aggregate for concrete and as sand in mortar and cement . Much of the world’s infrastructure, from roads to buildings, is dependent on quartz. USGS estimates that about ten billion quartz crystals are used every year in industry.

Quartz is also a host rock for precious metals the most important being gold. California is a testament to the power of a gold rush.

Even though Quartz has been used as a gemstone for most of human history it is only in the last 50 years that it has reached such amazing popularity.  It comes in a large variety of sizes and colors. The list includes Amethyst, Clear quartz (sometimes called Rock Crystal), Citrine, Smoky quartz, Rose quartz, Rutilated quartz, Milky quartz, Agate, Jasper, Carnelian, Aventurine, Onyx, Tiger Eye, Prasiolite and Chalcedony.

The huge growth in quartz awareness is not only because it is a natural beautiful stone but also because of the metaphysical aspects that can be attributed to it. Skeptics have long held that the energy felt by people is imaginary. For those seeking scientific proof there is no doubt that quartz has been proven to have a measurable voltage. People using quartz as a spiritual aid do not need scientific proof. They can feel the energy flowing and use it to their own benefit or to the benefit of people around them. Some people use the quartz to channel energy directly from the universe while others amplify their own energy. People use quartz to heal their bodies, to help heal the earth, as well as to purify their water, help their plants and heal their pets.