Tektite Crystal Tumble

Tektite is for those of us drawn to the strange and the faraway, who want something to hold that feels genuinely otherworldly. And it is otherworldly, in the truest sense, because it didn't form in the earth the way most stones do. It was born from a meteorite strike: the impact melted the ground and flung it up into the sky, and it cooled as it fell into these dark, glassy, deeply pitted shapes. Most of it is black or brownish-black, lighter to hold than you'd ever expect, its surface sculpted and grooved as though someone had worked it by hand. You'll find it scattered across the world, from south-east Asia to the old lands of the Czech Republic, and every single piece carries a story tens of millions of years old. It is hard not to feel a little awe holding one.

It is associated with the Root Chakra, the grounding centre, with the Third Eye Chakra, the seat of insight, and with the Crown Chakra, the centre of spiritual connection.

In the modern crystal healing tradition, tektite is turned to for spiritual expansion and for reaching past the edges of ordinary experience, valued for opening up awareness and a sense of connection to somewhere beyond. People work with it to clear and energise and to sharpen their insight, the stone for anyone wanting to take their practice a little further. Its tradition is wholly modern, but few stones have an origin with quite this pull to it.

Tektite gets people the moment we tell them what it is: a dark, glassy stone born out of a meteorite strike, light in the hand and pitted right across its surface. It feels smooth in some places, rough in others, cool, and far lighter than it looks. We love sharing it with wonder-seekers and collectors, anyone whose whole face lights up at the thought of holding real impact glass tens of millions of years old. The story does so much of the work for us; people are usually won over the moment they hear it.

A lot of people keep tektite for meditation and deeper spiritual work, holding a piece while they sit, drawn to that feeling of reaching past the everyday. Some pair it with moldavite, its better-known green cousin, for inner work; others simply keep it as a marvel, a genuine piece of impact glass to pass around and hold up to the light. It tends to be kept somewhere it can be picked up and wondered at rather than tucked away out of sight.

Tektite (Mohs 5.5-6.5) is a natural glass and reasonably tough, but like any glass it can chip if it meets a hard floor, so handle it with that in mind. Cleanse with running water, sound, moonlight, or smoke, and a soft cloth keeps it looking its best.