Orange Kyanite Natural Sterling Silver Pendant

A creative spark can go quiet without warning, and when we want warmth and appetite for life to come back without being pushed, orange kyanite is a gentle stone to keep near. It is the newest colour in the kyanite family, first found around 2008 at Loliondo in northern Tanzania, and since kyanite takes its very name from the Greek for blue, an orange one is a genuine rarity, a happy surprise in a family everyone thinks of as blue. The Tanzanian pieces run from soft apricot to deep tangerine, the colours of ripe fruit in late summer, and they keep the family's long, bladed crystals and silky sheen.

Too new to have gathered a tradition of its own, orange kyanite is read by its colour, which modern practice places at the Sacral Chakra of the Hindu and Vedic chakra system, the centre of creativity, pleasure, and vitality.

On that reading, in crystal practice today, orange kyanite is known for lifting our creative energy and for a warm, encouraging kind of confidence. It is associated with play, enthusiasm and emotional warmth, the feeling of a sunny afternoon with nothing scheduled, and like the rest of its family it is said to need no cleansing of its own, holding no heaviness to clear.

Orange kyanite stops people because they do not expect it: everyone knows kyanite as blue, and here are the same bladed crystals in warm apricot and tangerine, with the same silky sheen running down their length like light along a ribbon. The pieces we see are small, usually set in jewellery, and the colour comes alive with light behind it. It is light on the skin and delicate, like all kyanite. It is a joy to show anyone in a creative rut, and anyone who adores blue kyanite but wants a little more warmth.

Those who know orange kyanite tend to put it on for the days they mean to make something: a morning at the easel, an afternoon at the writing desk, a stretch in the studio when the ideas need coaxing. Some wear it during meditation on the Sacral Chakra, others keep it on through a flat patch when enthusiasm needs encouraging back. It finds its way to makers, and to those of us who already love the kyanite family and want its warmest member close to the skin.

Orange kyanite is fragile and splits easily along its blades (Mohs 4-7, softer along the length), so handle it gently and keep it apart from harder stones. A dry wipe is best; avoid water, soaking and sharp knocks. Cleanse, if you wish, with sound or moonlight.