Carnelian Round Crystal Bracelet 8mm

There are weeks when our get-up-and-go has simply gone, and the things we love doing sit waiting for us to feel like ourselves again. We reach for carnelian then, because it looks like the very thing we are short of. It is the colour of embers, running from pale apricot through bright orange to a deep red-brown close to black, often with soft bands of cream. That glow has been treasured since the Bronze Age: craftspeople of the Indus Valley (today's Pakistan and north-west India) shaped carnelian beads more than four thousand years ago, and the ancient Egyptians set it into the gold mask of Tutankhamun. In Ancient Rome it was carved into signet rings for a practical reason we love: hot wax does not stick to carnelian, so every seal lifted away clean. Even its name is warm, from the Latin for the cornel cherry, a small red fruit.

Carnelian sits with the Sacral Chakra, which Hindu and Vedic tradition makes the home of our creativity and our pleasure in life, and with the Root Chakra beneath it, which keeps us steady while we create.

This is our stone for beginnings that take courage: the first page, the first pitch, the conversation that starts something. It has a place in crystal healing too, for the reproductive system and the kidneys, and for the body's own warmth. No stone lights the fire for us, but carnelian is good company while we coax our own back to life.

When we tip a handful of carnelian tumbles onto the counter, no two match: one is clear apricot, the next is banded like toffee, and another is dark as mahogany. Polished carnelian has a smooth, almost waxy gloss, and the paler pieces are our favourites to show, because with a lamp behind them they glow amber right through. The chips in our bracelets are gentler, a mix of peach, rust and near-clear. Carnelian is a stone we keep close ourselves in autumn, when the days shorten and the work still needs doing.

Customers tell us their carnelian lives among the paints, on the sewing table or at the edge of a workbench. A tumble rides along in the bag on the long days: a market stall, a double shift, an opening night. In manifestation work our customers set carnelian out for a creative project, a new business, or the return of their own vitality after illness or burnout. Worn as a ring, earrings or a chip bracelet, carnelian stays against your skin all day, a touch of orange to come back to when your energy dips.

Carnelian is a hard, durable member of the quartz family (Mohs 6.5-7) and copes well with everyday wear. Rinse it under running water, or cleanse its energy with sound, smoke or moonlight. Avoid harsh cleaners, which can dull the polish. Its colour holds in normal light.