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Rutilated Quartz

Clear quartz shot through with golden needles of titanium oxide.

Family
Quartz
Formula
SiO₂
Mohs
7
System
Trigonal

Science

Rutile (TiO₂) crystallised first, then quartz grew around it, trapping needles that can radiate from a central hematite plate in a 'star'. The colour of the needles runs from silver through gold to copper red depending on iron content.

Mineral
Quartz (variety)
Formula
SiO₂
Crystal system
Trigonal
Mohs hardness
7
Specific gravity
2.65
Refractive index
1.544 to 1.553
Lustre
Vitreous
Colours
Colourless, Gold

Composition

SiO₂. Made of Silicon, Oxygen, Titanium.

in formula

Origin

  • Brazil
    Bahia, Minas Gerais
  • Madagascar
  • Australia
  • United States

Filled dots are primary sources

Rarity

Common
2 of 5

Good material with dense, bright needles is limited mostly to Brazil.

  1. 1 Abundant
  2. 2 Common
  3. 3 Uncommon
  4. 4 Rare
  5. 5 Exceptional

Hardness

Rutilated Quartz sits at 7 on the Mohs scale. It will scratch glass and holds a polish in daily wear.

Fingernail
Copper coin
Knife, glass
Steel file
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Energy

Associations from crystal-healing tradition, recorded here as folklore. They are not medical claims.

Chakras

  • Solar Plexus
  • Crown

Element

  • Fire

Zodiac

  • Leo
  • Gemini
  • Taurus

Planets

  • Sun

Properties

  • Energy
  • Manifestation
  • Insight
  • Uplift

Lore

Older names include Venus hair stone and Cupid's darts. Renaissance lapidaries sold it as frozen sunlight.

Modern practice treats it as the most energetic quartz, an amplifier with its own charge.

  • Rutile
    The same mineral supplies the titanium in white paint.
  • Star rutile
    Needles radiating from a hematite plate, mostly from Bahia.