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Entry № 177

Desert Jasper

Polychrome Jasper

Madagascan silica painted in sunset weather.

Chakra

Root · Sacral · Solar Plexus

Element

Earth · Fire

Zodiac

Leo · Sagittarius

Desert Jasper

I. The Metaphysical Reading

How the stone has been held.

Desert jasper (polychrome jasper) is worked with as a stone of embodied vitality, kept nearby during creative projects, dance and any practice that asks a person to stop apologising for being alive. Practitioners hold it as a reminder that landscape colours belong in a person too.

Chakra
Root · Sacral · Solar Plexus
Element
Earth · Fire
Zodiac
Leo · Sagittarius
Keynote
Madagascan silica painted in sunset weather.

II. The Scientific Reading

What the lattice actually does.

Desert jasper — sold under the trade name polychrome jasper — is a microcrystalline quartz first commercially discovered in Madagascar in 2010, in which the warm ochre, red, cream and mauve figuring comes from iron and manganese oxides distributed through the silica matrix. Its patterning reflects rhythmic precipitation of these oxides during silicification of the host sediment.

Formula
SiO₂ (with Fe / Mn oxide pigments)
System
Trigonal (microcrystalline)
Hardness
6.5 – 7 (Mohs)
Provenance
Madagascar (western Mahajanga region)

References & Sources

Independent mineralogical references used to verify the scientific details above.

Mineral Profile

Fact Sheet

Chemical Formula
SiO₂ (with Fe / Mn oxide pigments)
Crystal System
Trigonal (microcrystalline)
Mohs Hardness
6.5 – 7 (Mohs)
Density
2.58 – 2.91 g/cm³
Refractive Index
1.530 – 1.540
Provenance
Madagascar (western Mahajanga region)
Color Origin
Warm ochre, red, cream and mauve bands with swirling matrix figuring

Related Crystals

Stones that share this lattice

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A Siberian pyroxene that only borrows jade's name.