Entry № 242
Hypersthene
(Mg,Fe)SiO₃
Dark pyroxene that flashes bronze in the light.
Chakra
Root · Third Eye
Element
Earth · Storm
Zodiac
Leo · Aquarius

I. The Metaphysical Reading
How the stone has been held.
Hypersthene is worked with as a stone of decisive stillness, held when someone needs to cut through indecision and act from grounded conviction. The bronze schiller is said to catch inner light in a mind that has gone dark.
- Chakra
- Root · Third Eye
- Element
- Earth · Storm
- Zodiac
- Leo · Aquarius
- Keynote
- Dark pyroxene that flashes bronze in the light.
II. The Scientific Reading
What the lattice actually does.
Hypersthene is an iron-rich orthopyroxene along the enstatite–ferrosilite series (roughly 30 – 50 % ferrosilite component), though modern mineralogy prefers the compositional names enstatite or ferrosilian enstatite. It occurs in mafic and ultramafic igneous rocks such as norite and gabbro, and its characteristic bronze-to-copper schiller ("bronzite" effect) is caused by light reflecting off oriented exsolution lamellae of ilmenite or magnetite within the crystal.
- Formula
- (Mg,Fe)SiO₃
- System
- Orthorhombic
- Hardness
- 5 – 6 (Mohs)
- Provenance
- Canada (Labrador), Greenland, Norway, India, USA
References & Sources
Independent mineralogical references used to verify the scientific details above.
Mineral Profile
Fact Sheet
- Chemical Formula
- (Mg,Fe)SiO₃
- Crystal System
- Orthorhombic
- Mohs Hardness
- 5 – 6 (Mohs)
- Density
- 3.4 – 3.5 g/cm³
- Refractive Index
- 1.669 – 1.703
- Provenance
- Canada (Labrador), Greenland, Norway, India, USA
- Color Origin
- Dark grey to greenish-black with coppery schiller
Related Crystals
Stones that share this lattice
Next in the Atlas
Imperial Topaz
Golden-orange topaz once reserved for royalty.




