Leo Crystals

What crystals are best for Leo?

Leo is a fire sign ruled by the Sun itself, and the collection reads like late summer. Golds, wine reds, and one showy flash of blue.

1. Tiger eye. Golden brown quartz from South Africa with a band of light that slides across the surface as the stone turns. That moving band is chatoyancy, reflection off parallel fibers locked inside the quartz.
2. Carnelian. Orange to red chalcedony from Brazil and Madagascar. The color comes from iron, and the more iron, the deeper the red.
3. Garnet. Deep wine red, from Madagascar. Garnet grows as near-perfect twelve-sided crystals, which is why even rough pieces can look faceted.
4. Peridot. Olive green olivine from Arizona. It's one of the few gems that forms in the Earth's mantle rather than the crust, carried up in volcanic rock.
5. Labradorite. Storm gray until it catches the light, then blue and gold fire from inside. A stone with a big reveal, for a sign that appreciates one.
6. Ocean jasper. Orb-patterned jasper from a single coastal deposit in Madagascar. The loudest pattern in the shop, in the collection that can carry it.

What is the Leo birthstone?

Leo runs from roughly July 23 to August 22, crossing from one birthstone month into the next.

• August, which covers most of the sign, is peridot, spinel and sardonyx.
• July is ruby, for Leos born in the season's opening days.
• The traditional zodiac stone is onyx, though tiger eye has become the everyday favorite and the one most Leos actually reach for.

Leo crystals to avoid

No crystal is banned for any sign, Leo included, but here's what the question usually means.

The stones the tradition tells Leo to handle lightly are the strongly muting ones, on the logic that Leo's warmth is the engine and shouldn't be turned down. Whether that fits depends entirely on the Leo in question. Some of our steadiest repeat customers are Leos who buy calming stones by the handful.

Practically, watch the labradorite. At 6 to 6.5 it's softer than the quartz stones around it, and the flash sits close beneath a polished face, so a scratch there costs more than it would on a jasper. Give it its own pouch.

Leo and the solar plexus chakra

Tiger eye and carnelian also anchor the solar plexus chakra collection, the one tradition ties to confidence, which makes it the natural cross-reference for a Sun-ruled sign. Leo sits between Cancer and Virgo on the wheel, and moving to either neighbor drops the temperature noticeably.

Buying a Leo birthday gift

Three notes for the gift buyer.

• Leo season runs late July through most of August, peak summer holidays, so order early if the birthday falls mid-month.
• Tumbled tiger eye and carnelian are the workhorses here, hard enough at 6.5 to 7 for a pocket or a car console.
• Presentation counts double with this sign. One striking labradorite in a decent box beats a bag of small stones every time.