Crystal · Old courage
Bloodstone
- Chakra
- Root, Heart
- Element
- Fire
- Planet
- Mars
- Signs
- Aries
- Tarot
- Seven of Wands, The Chariot
Crystal correspondences are traditional; the descriptions are original to this site.
What Bloodstone means
Red flecks scattered through dark green gave bloodstone its name, and medieval Christians told a story to match: blood fallen at the Crucifixion, set into the stone for good. The flecks look different every time the stone turns in the light.
Emotional properties
Bloodstone has carried courage since the legend of its own making, and it still suits the moment before you do the brave, ordinary thing: the hard conversation, the appointment you keep putting off, the request you are afraid to make. Its dark green holds steady while the red flecks catch the light, like resolve showing itself only when it is needed. Carry it in a pocket on the day you have been dreading.
Spiritual properties
Mars governs bloodstone, and it asks for courage of the least glamorous kind, the kind that starts the task. Sit with it before the one task you have been circling without starting, and name out loud, once, exactly what you are afraid will go wrong. Courage here looks less like certainty and more like moving before the fear has finished making its case.
Physical properties
Polished bloodstone has a close-grained, waxy feel, and it stands up to a hard squeeze. Grip a piece through a task that asks for effort, kneading dough, a jar lid that will not budge, a plank held a few seconds longer; stone and hand push back at each other. The red flecks surface only as the stone turns, then sink back into the green.
Care and cleansing
Being quartz at heart, bloodstone shrugs off a rinse under running water and an afternoon in sunlight without complaint. Recharge it in sun or soil, whichever suits the season, and cleanse it under the tap whenever it feels dull. Store it away from softer stones it could scratch.
A question to sit with
What brave, ordinary thing have you been putting off doing?
Stones that share a chakra
- ChiastoliteMarked crossing
- ChrysocollaCopper's hush
- ChrysopraseGreen ease
- CinnabarVolcanic red
- Dalmatian jasperSpotted play
- Desert roseSand's bloom
- EmeraldGarden within stone
- Fire agateBanked inner flame