Entry № 201
Garnet in Staurolite
Almandine with Staurolite Schist
Two crystal habits that only share a schist.
Chakra
Root · Heart
Element
Earth · Fire
Zodiac
Cancer · Capricorn

I. The Metaphysical Reading
How the stone has been held.
Garnet in staurolite is worked with as a stone of anchored crossings, tied to the folk name 'fairy cross' given to staurolite's twinned crystals. Practitioners keep it close during rites of passage and hold that the garnet warms what the staurolite marks.
- Chakra
- Root · Heart
- Element
- Earth · Fire
- Zodiac
- Cancer · Capricorn
- Keynote
- Two crystal habits that only share a schist.
II. The Scientific Reading
What the lattice actually does.
Garnet-staurolite schist forms at medium-grade metamorphic conditions (roughly 550 – 700 °C) in aluminous pelites. Both minerals crystallise as porphyroblasts within a mica-quartz matrix; staurolite is famous for its twinned crystals that intersect at 60° or 90°, forming natural crosses. Their coexistence brackets a specific facies of Barrovian metamorphism.
- Formula
- Almandine Fe₃Al₂(SiO₄)₃ with staurolite (Fe,Mg)₂Al₉(Si,Al)₄O₂₃(OH)
- System
- Aggregate (isometric garnet + monoclinic staurolite in schist)
- Hardness
- 7 – 7.5 (Mohs)
- Provenance
- USA (Georgia, New Mexico), Switzerland (Alps), Russia (Kola)
References & Sources
Independent mineralogical references used to verify the scientific details above.
Mineral Profile
Fact Sheet
- Chemical Formula
- Almandine Fe₃Al₂(SiO₄)₃ with staurolite (Fe,Mg)₂Al₉(Si,Al)₄O₂₃(OH)
- Crystal System
- Aggregate (isometric garnet + monoclinic staurolite in schist)
- Mohs Hardness
- 7 – 7.5 (Mohs)
- Density
- 3.20 – 3.80 g/cm³
- Refractive Index
- 1.73 – 1.83 (bulk)
- Provenance
- USA (Georgia, New Mexico), Switzerland (Alps), Russia (Kola)
- Color Origin
- Brown staurolite-rich matrix with red almandine crystals
Related Crystals
Stones that share this lattice
Next in the Atlas
Garnet in Wollastonite
Contact-zone stone where limestone met granite.




