Description

Carnelian tumbles are the closest thing to keeping a tiny sunset in your pocket.

Every shade from peachy orange to deep amber red turns up in these tumbles, sometimes all in the same stone, and they glow like they’ve got their own fire hidden somewhere inside. If most crystals whisper, Carnelian waves at you from across the room, and shouts “hi!”

There are two types to choose from. The minis are little pops of pure colour that measure approx 2cm, perfectly made for bras, pockets and purses. And then there are the banded South African tumbles, which are a bit larger at 3 to 4cm, and these are the ones that stole an entire afternoon from me, because every single one is totally different to the next. Some have neat creamy pinstripes, and some look like a sunset that got stirred mid pour, and I turned every single stone over looking for its story, because they all have one.
Those bands are real time too. Carnelian belongs to the same family as Agate, and it’s built up in layers as mineral rich water came over it, so every stripe is a chapter you can actually see. It’s a stone with its whole diary written on the outside.

And people have been unable to leave this stone alone for thousands of years, for reasons that get better the further back you go. Ancient warriors wore Carnelian for courage before battle, Egyptian master builders wore it to show their rank, so it was the stone of people who got things done. And the Romans loved it for the most practical reason of all – they’d use it as a stamp to seal wax on their letters, because wax sticks to almost every stone except this one, so the ring lifted away cleanly and left a perfect seal every time. Not bad for one orange pebble!

And all of that doing energy is still exactly what Carnelian is loved for. This is the get up and go stone, the one for motivation when the sofa is winning, for creativity when the ideas have wandered off, and for that warm, steady confidence that finally starts the thing you’ve been circling for weeks. It’s long been tied to vitality and passion too, like a little spark for the days you’re running on empty and need a little fire, quietly refusing to let you fizzle out.

But my relationship with Carnelian is personal, because this is the stone that helped me overcome a phobia of swimming pools. I’m not promising it will march you up the high diving board, but it’s been my confidence stone through more occasions than I can count, and it’s the one I recommend most often when someone tells me they’ve got something scary coming up. Whatever your version of the swimming pool is, this is the stone I’d hand you.

Both sizes are sold individually and every tumble is different, especially the banded ones, where no two patterns on earth match, so the photographs show you the kind of stone that will arrive rather than the exact one. Yours will be intuitively picked at packing once you’ve selected your size, and it arrives.

The Run Down
Who it’s for:

• Anyone with something scary coming up
• Creatives whose ideas have wandered off
• Anyone whose get up and go got up and went
• Pattern lovers – the banded ones are little works of art

What it does:

• Builds courage and warm, steady confidence
• Gets motivation moving when the sofa is winning
• Wakes up creativity and new ideas
• Supports vitality, passion and energy
• Worn by ancient warriors for bravery
• A sunset for your pocket on grey days

Why you’ll love it:

• Glows like it has its own light source
• Every banded tumble wears a pattern nothing else on earth matches

The details:

• Mini Carnelian tumbles, approx 2cm
• Banded South African Carnelian tumbles, approx 3 to 4cm
• Chakras: Root and Sacral
• Sold individually, and intuitively picked at the time of packing, once you’ve made your crystal type selection.

Screens all have their own opinion about colour, so the shades you see here may sit slightly differently in person. Every detail and marking is true to life though, and there’s always a little something extra that only shows up when a crystal is finally yours.