Some crystals appear naturally in the most stunning colours, so much so that they can look fake. However, some crystals are artificially coloured either for decorative purposes or occasionally to deceive.
One of the crystals that is often found not to be genuine is Turquoise. Why? Because natural turquoise is rare and expensive. Sometimes you will see it called Turquinite. It is not really related to turquoise, but is howlite, dyed in a turquoise colour. It is quite a nice looking stone, and will also be passed off as Turquoise – often the retailer is unaware that what they are selling on is not real turquoise.
Is this a problem? Well, yes and no. Dyed “turquoise” is still beautiful – and it does have the energies of howlite, which are very good for emotional trauma amongst other things. Also, if you believe that colours have energetic (and I do) then you are combining the energy of the colour with the energy of the natural crystal, but this is mainly on a visual level. Dyed agates can be beautifully decorative and people enjoy having them around.
On a deeper level the energies of natural turquoise, for example, are different to howlite and if you specifically require turquoise then that is what you really want. Additionally, there is a cost factor. Natural turquoise is more expensive than howlite and you don’t want to feel you have been “ripped off”.
Personally, I don’t enjoy dyed crystals as much as natural but that is just my opinion and there are some very beautiful ones out there. With turquoise, though, it is another matter. If it has been dyed to deceive, that is unfair practice and makes me shudder. Usually, if it is called Turquinite, then you know it is dyed and the vendor is being upfront about it.
Agate is another stone which is very often coloured, partly because with its banding, it takes colour so beautifully and some feel the colour enhances the natural stone. I do wear a beautiful Agate necklace which had been dyed a raspberry pink – but because I wanted it more natural looking I left it outside in the sunlight and moonlight until it had faded into beautifully random shades of rose and cream.
There are far too many different crystals for any seller to know and recognise them all and most sellers are genuine and sell all their beautiful stones in good faith. Many stones, especially quartz, can be programmed to various energies so dyed quartz can amplify the energies of the colour applied to it.
There are many other crystals which are dyed and in another post I will also talk about aura crystals, synthetically bonded with precious metals, but whilst not completely natural, I feel have amazing elemental energies.
In short, if a stone is coloured to deceive, that’s bad practice and should be called out. But if you’ve paid a fair price, you know it is artificially coloured and you still like it – why not enjoy it?
