A Little Crystal Glossary

Crystal listings have their own language — druzy, botryoidal, chatoyant, on matrix — and nobody should need a geology degree to go shopping. Here's every collector word we use around the shop, translated the way I'd explain it across the counter.

Adularescence

The soft, floating blue-white glow that rolls across moonstone as it moves — light scattering between hidden layers inside the stone. Named for Adular, the Swiss peak where the first famous moonstones were found. See it in the Crystal Library →

Aventurescence

The gentle glitter inside green aventurine — thousands of tiny mica plates catching light at once. If a stone seems to have its own inner confetti, this is the word. See it in the Crystal Library →

Botryoidal

From the Greek for "bunch of grapes" — minerals that grew in small, rounded bubbles, like our grape agate clusters. Nature does this when crystals form outward from many points at once, and the result is impossibly touchable.

Chatoyancy

The silky "cat's-eye" band of light that glides across tiger's eye when you tilt it — parallel fibers inside the stone reflecting light in a single moving stripe. See it in the Crystal Library →

Cluster

Many crystal points that grew together from the same base, exactly as the earth arranged them. Traditionally said to radiate energy into a whole room — and to recharge smaller stones set beside them.

Druzy

A carpet of tiny sparkling crystals coating a stone's surface, like frost on a window or sugar on a doughnut. Each little point glitters on its own, which is why druzy pieces seem to shimmer from every angle.

Freeform

A stone polished to follow its own natural lines instead of being cut into a geometric shape — somewhere between sculpture and geology, and no two alike.

Gusher

A cluster or geode so packed with sparkling crystal points that it seems to be overflowing — collectors' slang, and honestly the most fun word in the hobby.

Inclusion

Anything captured inside a crystal as it grew — minerals, gas bubbles, whole tiny landscapes. Inclusions are fingerprints: they're how you know your stone is the only one of its kind.

Lodolite (Garden Quartz)

Clear quartz that grew around other minerals, trapping green, gold, and rust "gardens" inside — like a snow globe the earth made. Every piece is a one-of-a-kind scene.

Matrix

The mother rock a crystal is still attached to. Specimens "on matrix" show the stone exactly as it was found — jewelry for a shelf rather than a neck.

Point / Tower

A crystal cut or grown with a faceted tip, traditionally used to direct energy upward and outward. The exclamation mark of an altar or desk.

Raw / Rough

A stone left uncut and unpolished — straight from the earth, edges and all. Raw pieces trade shine for character, and many folks find their energy feels "wilder."

Specimen

A collector-grade piece valued for its natural formation rather than shaping or polish. In our shop, specimens are always photographed individually — the piece in the photo is the piece you receive.

Tumbled

Stones smoothed and polished in a rotating tumbler until they're pocket-soft. The workhorses of crystal keeping: durable, affordable, and made to be carried and held.

Spot a word in one of our listings that isn't here? Tell us and it'll join the glossary — that's how this page grows.