Aries Crystals

What crystals are best for Aries?

Aries opens the zodiac at the spring equinox, a fire sign ruled by Mars, and the stone list follows from those two facts. Fire favors the warm reds. Mars, a planet that's red because of iron oxide, favors iron.

1. Red jasper. Opaque brick-red quartz from South Africa, colored by the same iron oxide that colors Mars. It's the stone we'd hand an Aries first.
2. Bloodstone. Dark green chalcedony spotted with red iron oxide, from Madagascar. It's both the traditional Aries stone and one of March's two birthstones, which is a rare double.
3. Ocean jasper. Mined in one place on Earth, a remote stretch of Madagascar's northwest coast, and patterned with small round orbs that no two stones repeat.
4. Hematite. Iron oxide with a mirror-gray polish, from Brazil. Drag it across unglazed tile and the streak comes up rust red.
5. Green aventurine. Quartz carrying flecks of green mica that catch the light when the stone moves. The one cool-toned piece in a warm collection.
6. Aquamarine. Pale blue-green beryl from Brazil, the other March birthstone, for the Aries born before April.

What is the Aries birthstone?

Aries runs from roughly March 21 to April 19, which splits the sign across two birthstone months.

• April, which covers most of the sign, is diamond. That's the modern month list.
• March is aquamarine and bloodstone, for anyone born in the sign's first eleven or so days.
• The older zodiac lists name bloodstone for Aries outright, so bloodstone is the one answer that fits the whole sign.

Aries crystals to avoid

Short answer, none. Longer answer, the tradition has opinions.

When this question comes up, the stones usually named are the slow, sedating ones, on the reasoning that Aries runs on momentum and doesn't want it dampened. We'd call that a matter of taste rather than a rule, and plenty of Aries buyers pick a calming stone on purpose, as a counterweight.

The practical note is about hematite. At 5 to 6 on the Mohs scale it's softer than the jaspers, so give it its own pouch or it will pick up scratches from its quartz neighbors.

Aries and the root chakra

Red stones and the root chakra collection overlap almost completely, so red jasper, bloodstone and hematite all appear in both. Aries sits between Pisces and Taurus on the wheel, and both neighboring collections lean noticeably gentler.

Buying an Aries birthday gift

A few things worth knowing before you choose.

• Aries season lands late March through mid April, and birthdays cluster right as spring shipping gets busy, so order a week ahead.
• Tumbled stones survive pockets and post better than raw pieces, and the jaspers here at 6.5 to 7 handle daily carrying.
• Aries taste tends toward one bold piece over a careful arrangement. A single large ocean jasper reads better than a bowl of small stones.