Along with a new year bringing the hopes of a new beginning, garnets bring their own fairy tales and special powers.

Gem enthusiasts pride the garnet for not being artificially enhanced in any way. Jewelry made using garnet has been found as early as 3000 BC in burial sites. The gem is also considered a protective stone for journeyers. One biblical legend said that Noah hung this gem on the ark to light his way through the dark and stormy nights. The gift of garnet is believed to be symbolic of love and the desire for a loved one’s safe travel and rapid homecoming.

Garnet’s powers include healing, strength, and protection. Ancient Egyptians and Greeks, along with New Age and Crystal healers, have shared a belief that this gemstone may possess the highest healing qualities of all stones.

In ancient times, garnets were exchanged as gifts between friends to demonstrate their affection for one another and to insure they meet again. Garnets have been said to be the chosen stone you wear most often with your soul mate and special friends to deepen your feelings of intimacy and kinship. Ancient people credited the garnet for bringing relief to debilitating arthritis, and others thought that a dream involving garnets would offer a solution to the mysteries of life.

The largest supply of garnets are found in Africa, but this is predicted to change someday. In December of 1996, in central Australia, a university student discovered what is believed to be the largest single garnet ever – thought to weigh thousands of tons and measure nearly one hundred feet across.

Because garnets are a large and varied group, it is thought that one garnet mineral group or another can be found almost anywhere in the world. Along with Africa and Australia, significant sources are also found in India, parts of the former Soviet Union, and Brazil. In the U.S., Garnets are found in Arizona, California, Idaho, Maine, Montana, New Mexico, and North Carolina.

Since this mineral is in great abundance, gem experts feel it will remain in the world for centuries to come; however, some garnet groups are considered rare.

The garnet gemstone has a durable hardness of 7.0 on the Mohls scale, which means that your beautiful garnet can be worn everyday and will survive the test of time. Which also means that even if you’re not a January baby, a garnet will bring you the brilliance and reliability of your dream stone.

Tags: garnet gemstone, garnet's powers, garnets, gem enthusiasts, gem experts, gift of garnet, jewelry, largest single garnet, Mohls scale, pride the garnet

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 7th, 2010 at 6:15 am and is filed under Birthstones, Gemstones. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.