Entry № 210
Grape Agate
Botryoidal Purple Chalcedony
A cluster of tiny purple spheres, misnamed but unforgettable.
Chakra
Third Eye · Crown
Element
Water · Air
Zodiac
Pisces · Aquarius
I. The Metaphysical Reading
How the stone has been held.
Grape agate is worked with as a stone of communal reverie, held during group meditation and shared dream work. Practitioners hold that each sphere carries a small share of the practice, and that the cluster reminds them dreaming is rarely a solitary act.
- Chakra
- Third Eye · Crown
- Element
- Water · Air
- Zodiac
- Pisces · Aquarius
- Keynote
- A cluster of tiny purple spheres, misnamed but unforgettable.
II. The Scientific Reading
What the lattice actually does.
'Grape agate' is a merchant name — the material is neither true agate (which is banded) nor grapes. It is botryoidal purple chalcedony: cryptocrystalline silica that grew as tight clusters of small spherulites in vesicular volcanic rock. The purple colour is attributed to trace iron and manganese. Nearly all commercial material comes from a single volcanic field in Sulawesi, Indonesia.
- Formula
- SiO₂ (chalcedony, botryoidal habit)
- System
- Trigonal (cryptocrystalline)
- Hardness
- 6.5 – 7 (Mohs)
- Provenance
- Indonesia (Mamuju, Sulawesi — the principal source)
References & Sources
Independent mineralogical references used to verify the scientific details above.
Mineral Profile
Fact Sheet
- Chemical Formula
- SiO₂ (chalcedony, botryoidal habit)
- Crystal System
- Trigonal (cryptocrystalline)
- Mohs Hardness
- 6.5 – 7 (Mohs)
- Density
- 2.57 – 2.64 g/cm³
- Refractive Index
- 1.530 – 1.543
- Provenance
- Indonesia (Mamuju, Sulawesi — the principal source)
- Color Origin
- Lilac to deep purple botryoidal spheres
Related Crystals
Stones that share this lattice
Next in the Atlas
Green Apatite
The stone that lends its name to appetite.
