Fullmoon Magic Crystals

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There are several choices when deciding where to shop for your crystals and each has plusses and minuses. If your sole interest is price, metaphysical shops generally have the highest prices. If you are buying online, compare the prices if you are thinking of purchasing crystals from a metaphysical or witchcraft supply Website as they are often overpriced. Rock shops have high end specimens of very high quality that are pricey, but they also have low cost tumbled stones and bargain specimens. Online stores, auction sites and other choices also exist.

Metaphysical shops

If you have a metaphysical store where you live you will likely find the basic sorts of crystals there, at least all the quartz varieties. Most of these will be in the form of tumbled stones, meaning that they have been run through a rock polisher and are now smooth, shiny, and rounded in form. The blue chalcedony on the right at the top illustrates what tumbled stones look like. The same type of stone is also shown in the rough at right. Not every sort of mineral is available in tumbled form, but most of the more common sorts are. Tumbled material is the least expensive form in which to purchase minerals as they are generally produced from low to average grade material without obvious crystal form.

Some minerals will be available as rough or as mineral specimens as well. These will be higher in price than the tumbled stones and not all types of stones will be available in this form. Generally speaking quartz points, topaz, tourmaline, pyrite, and a few others are available at most metaphysical shops in the rough. You may want to comparison shop at a rock shop if you have one nearby as the prices may be lower than at the metaphysical store. In the higher quality materials found as specimens size does matter and the larger the piece the more it will cost. Most times tumbled stones are very roughly the similar in size for the set price but there will be some variation. If you prefer a larger stone for your altar, or a smaller stone to put in an amulet bag you will usually be able to select with this in mind.

You should be able to look through the available stones and choose the one you want if you're purchasing in person, but you will not have a choice if you buy online or from a catalog. Try holding the ones that appeal visually to you one at a time in your receptive hand to see if you can feel which one to choose. If you aren't sure which is your receptive hand it is often the one you don't write with. The stone may feel warm, like it's vibrating, alive, it just depends, but it will stand out in some way if you are one of those able to pick up the sensations, not everyone can.

Rock shops

Rock shops are also great places to look for crystals and many of them are good places to find the more unusual mineral species. You will likely find the most variety at a rock shop, either online or in person, and they will likely have the highest quality stones, good examples of the species with clear crystal form. They are often good places to find relative bargains for metaphysical use as well since the criteria that make a particular stone desirable are quite different for those seeking crystals for magical and spiritual purposes from what is sought by mineral collectors. This can be a benefit to you.

For example, a mineral specimen that is from an unknown location is basically worthless to a collector. The mine or area of origin is vital information to the collector, to whom a famous location, a closed mine, or the area of origin adds significantly to the value of the stone. This information is not important for magical use and you may be able to find stones without full information offered quite cheaply if they are available.

Also, the aesthetic features of the stone are more important to the collector, they want to see characteristic crystal structure, prime color, form and condition. These elements are of less importance if you are interested in the stone for its non-visible properties. For example, many calcite specimens offered for sale in metaphysical shops have been acid dipped to make them shiny, this treatment makes them almost worthless to a mineral collector since it obliterates the crystal structure, surface etching and patterns of the crystal.

There are fewer retail rock shops around than there use to be, but there are a large number on the Internet. Generally they cater to collectors of minerals and lapidary enthusiasts so they tend to have materials aimed at those markets. Gem quality material (transparent enough to facet) is sold for more than tumbled stones go for and generally by the carat weight or gram. The pieces will be small. Cabbing rough is generally a bit less and is often sold in sawn slabs or medium size chunks. Sometimes you will find lapidary rough by the pound which is normally sold to those who tumble their own materials at home or to be sawn for cab rough. This can be a very good deal if you can get a small enough quantity for you to make use of. It is usually in chunks which vary from a couple of inches across to six to eight inches across.

Higher quality, large pieces showing good crystal structure are usually sold as specimens to mineral collectors at a higher price. Some rarer minerals in a particularly large, or fine specimen may cost thousands of dollars. This sort of material is not the average however, many specimens are under $20. If you don't have a rock shop near you check the Internet for mineral dealers there are many listed. There are a number that do mail order as well if you prefer.

Purchasing tumbled stones

The cost will vary from one mineral species to another depending on how common it is and how easy to obtain. I would hesitate to pay more than $3 for any tumbled stone though, most of the common varieties should be between .50 and $2.00 each unless they are particularly large. The material that is prepared as tumbled stones is generally massive and of average quality but it should be representative of the mineral and the piece should be uniformly of the named mineral with little or no matrix included unless this is usual for the species. There are only a few minerals that nearly always have matrix included, among them are sodalite which has white veining; sugalite which has black to gray matrix; rhodonite which has black spots or/and veins; lapis lazuli which by definition consists of calcite, pyrite and lazurite has white veins and gold specks; and turquoise often has gray or black veining.

Purchasing mineral specimens

The stones in this category can consist of crystallized minerals on matrix. This means that the mineral that you are buying will be sitting on a base of another material as in the illustration on the right. In this example the red crystal is cinnabar and that is the actual specimen you would be purchasing. The white crystals it's sitting on are dolomite and they are the environment on which the crystal grew. This material is referred to as the matrix.

You commonly find specimens offered that are a crystal of the mineral with no other material. This is quite common with the quartz minerals which can be found as "floaters" or unattached crystals. Sometimes the matrix material has been cleaned from the mineral crystal or removed with chemical or mechanical means.