Quartz Meaning & Types of Quartz Crystals

Hi, I am Laurie, and quartz is the backbone of my shop. I run Wholehearted Crystal Creations here in Regina, and a big share of what is on my shelves is quartz in one form or another. People are often surprised that amethyst and citrine are quartz at all. This page is the overview: what they share, how they differ, and which ones are natural, treated or something else entirely. Each variety has its own page if you want to go deeper.

What Is Quartz?

Quartz is silicon dioxide, one of the most abundant minerals in the Earth's crust. It grows in six-sided prisms that end in a point, and it is found on every continent. It is hard, 7 on the Mohs scale, which is why quartz stones handle everyday life so well.

It is also piezoelectric: squeeze a quartz crystal and it produces a tiny electrical charge, and run a current through it and it vibrates at a steady rate. That is exactly why quartz keeps time in watches and electronics. It is a nice fact to know when people ask why quartz is called the amplifier.

Pure quartz is colourless. Every coloured variety gets its colour in one of a few ways:

• Trace elements and natural radiation: iron gives amethyst and citrine their colour; aluminium plus natural radiation gives smoky quartz its brown.
• Inclusions: other minerals trapped as the crystal grew, like the iron oxides in strawberry quartz or the gold rutile needles in rutilated quartz.
• Surface coatings: minerals deposited on the crystal after it formed, like the iron oxide blush on tangerine quartz.
• Treatment: heat, irradiation, or vaporised metal bonded to the surface, as with aura quartz.

Quartz also has a fine-grained form, with crystals too small to see, called chalcedony. That is the family that gives us agate and jasper, which have their own overviews.

Quartz Meaning and Symbolism

Across the whole family, quartz is the stone of clarity and amplification. Clear quartz is called the master healer because it is traditionally used to strengthen intention and to boost whatever other stones you work with.

The coloured varieties keep that clarity and add a direction. Amethyst points it toward calm and intuition, citrine toward joy and abundance, rose quartz toward love, smoky quartz toward grounding. That is the easiest way to think about the family: the same clear energy, filtered through a colour.

Types of Quartz: The Varieties Compared

Here are the 27 quartz varieties I have written up, grouped by what makes them what they are. Each name links to its own page.

The core varieties

These are quartz in its own colours, from trace elements and natural processes inside the crystal.

Special growth forms

Same mineral, unusual shapes.

Quartz with inclusions or coatings

Quartz that grew around other minerals, or picked up a mineral coating afterwards. The extra mineral sets the colour and adds its own character.

Treated quartz and look-alikes

I want you to know exactly what you are buying, so these are grouped on their own.

Natural, Treated or Glass?

Quartz is where honest labelling matters most, so here is what I tell people in the shop.

• Aura quartz is real quartz with a man-made finish. Natural quartz is heated in a vacuum chamber with vaporised metal, which bonds permanently to the surface. Beautiful, but the colour is not natural, and I always say so.
• Most cherry quartz is glass. It is melted silica with colouring added. It is lovely and inexpensive, but it is not a natural crystal.
• Much of the citrine on the market is heat-treated amethyst. Heating turns amethyst yellow-orange, often with a whiter base. Natural citrine is paler and more even in colour.
• Very dark, evenly black smoky quartz is often irradiated. Natural smoky quartz tends to be softer in tone and uneven.

None of this makes treated stones bad. It just means you should know what you are buying, and any good seller should be happy to tell you.

How to Choose and Use Quartz

• Start with clear quartz if you want one stone that does a bit of everything.
• Choose by what you need: amethyst for calm and rest, rose quartz for love and self-kindness, citrine for confidence and abundance, smoky quartz for grounding.
• Pair clear quartz with any other crystal to boost it.
• Keep a point or cluster in a room you want to feel clearer and lighter.
• Wear it. At 7 on the Mohs scale, quartz is one of the best stones for everyday jewellery.

How to Cleanse and Care for Quartz

• Water is fine for natural quartz. A rinse under cool running water suits it.
• Keep coloured quartz out of strong sun. Amethyst, smoky quartz and rose quartz can fade with long direct sunlight, and the colour does not come back.
• Treat aura quartz gently. No salt, no scrubbing and no ultrasonic cleaners, which can wear the coating.
• Store it away from softer stones. Quartz will scratch calcite, selenite and fluorite.
• Any cleansing method works: moonlight, sound, smoke, running water or a selenite plate.

Is Quartz Right for You?

If you are new to crystals, quartz is the family to start with. It is affordable, hard-wearing, easy to care for, and there is a variety for almost every intention. If you already have a collection, a clear quartz point is the one stone that makes all the others work harder.

Shop Quartz at Wholehearted Crystal Creations

Every piece is hand-selected and ships from my little studio in Regina, SK, across Canada and worldwide. The biggest quartz collections in the shop are amethyst, rose quartz, aura quartz, spirit quartz and Blue Tara quartz, along with clear quartz, citrine, smoky quartz and garden quartz.

Quartz FAQ

What is quartz good for?
Across the family, quartz is best known for clarity and amplification: strengthening intention and boosting other crystals. Each colour adds its own focus, such as calm for amethyst, love for rose quartz, abundance for citrine and grounding for smoky quartz.

How many types of quartz are there?
Dozens, if you count every trade name. They fall into a few groups: the core colours (clear, amethyst, citrine, rose, smoky), special growth forms (spirit, candle, singing), quartz with inclusions or coatings (strawberry, garden, rutilated, golden healer), and treated quartz such as aura quartz. I have written up 27 of them on this page.

Is amethyst a quartz?
Yes. Amethyst is purple quartz, coloured by trace iron and natural radiation. Citrine, rose quartz and smoky quartz are quartz too.

Is cherry quartz natural?
Usually not. Most cherry quartz is manufactured glass, made by melting silica with colouring agents. It is pretty and inexpensive, but it is not a natural crystal. Strawberry quartz is the natural pink quartz it is often confused with.

Is aura quartz natural?
The quartz is natural, the colour is not. Aura quartz is natural quartz bonded with vaporised metals such as gold, titanium, platinum or silver in a vacuum chamber. The finish is permanent but can wear with rough handling.

Can quartz go in water?
Natural quartz, yes. At 7 on the Mohs scale it handles a rinse under cool running water easily. Be gentler with aura quartz, and keep amethyst, smoky and rose quartz out of long direct sun, which fades them.

Which quartz should I start with?
Clear quartz if you want one all-rounder, amethyst if you want calm, or rose quartz if you want something gentle for the heart.

With love, Laurie. Wholehearted Crystal Creations, Regina SK

Wholehearted Crystal Creations highly recommends that healing crystals are to be used in combination with other therapies and modalities and are not meant to replace recommended treatment from a licensed medical practitioner.