Quick Specs
- Type: Bottle pendant necklace
- Bottle: Corked glass, about 1 1/4 inches tall by 1/2 inch wide
- Overall height: 1 5/8 inches
- Fill: Hematite chips
- Charm: Silver-toned crescent moon, about 3/4 inch at its widest
- Cord: Faux leather, 30 inches
Gray Hematite Chips and a Crescent Moon Charm
The pendant is a slim glass bottle sealed with a tan cork, and a silver-toned bail with curled scrollwork and a small teardrop at its center sits on top of the stopper to take the cord. The glass is clear, so the chips show from the front and the sides. Inside, hematite chips fill most of the bottle: small, irregular fragments with a gray, metallic look that runs from charcoal to pale silver as the light changes. A crescent moon charm hangs over the front of the glass, cast in silver-toned metal, with a face in profile along the inner curve and a five-pointed star at the lower tip. The charm measures about 3/4 inch at its widest. The bottle stands 1 1/4 inches tall and 1/2 inch wide, and the whole pendant measures 1 5/8 inches high including the bail. Some chips are dark with a brighter metallic edge and others are paler gray with a soft sheen. Chips are fragments with no set shape, so they shift and glint when you tilt the bottle or move. The cord is faux leather and runs 30 inches.
Hematite is iron oxide, Fe2O3, and it takes its name from the Greek word for blood, a reference to its red color. A piece can be steel gray, silver, black, brown or red, and every variety leaves a red to reddish-brown streak. Polished gray hematite has a bright metallic luster, and lapidaries shape it into beads and tumbled stones. Hematite is also the main ore of iron, mined in Brazil and in Minnesota, among other places. In modern crystal practice, hematite is linked with grounding and with the root chakra, the first of the seven chakras in the modern Western scheme, placed at the base of the spine. In that scheme the root chakra’s color is red, the same color as hematite’s streak. Those meanings come from crystal lore, and you can take them as themes for reflection. The crescent adds a lunar theme to the gray stone. The Moon takes about 29.5 days to pass from one new Moon to the next, and it shows a crescent twice in that cycle, once while it waxes and once while it wanes.
Ways to Wear and Keep the Hematite Bottle
Wear the necklace over a sweater or coat, where the bottle and the charm show against dark fabric. At home, hang it from a bedpost, a mirror frame or a hook near the door, so the charm turns slowly in the room. On an altar, the corked bottle can stand in a small dish beside a candle, and tilting it now and then lets you watch the chips slide and settle. A bottle this small also fits in a pocket or a pouch as a travel token, and a dish on a desk keeps it in view between tasks. It makes a compact gift for someone who likes moon pieces. For more crescent and celestial pieces, browse my moon collection.
How to Wear and Care for the Hematite Bottle Necklace
Three steps cover checking the bottle, wearing it safely, and keeping it clean.
- Check the Bottle and Charm
Look the pendant over in good light before you wear it. Make sure the cork sits snug in the neck, the scrolled bail is firm on the cork, and the ring holding the moon charm is closed. Tilt the bottle gently to watch the chips move. Hold the pendant by the body of the bottle, since glass can chip at the rim if it's knocked against a hard surface.
- Wear It Safely
The bottle is glass and holds small loose chips, so keep it away from young children and take the necklace off for sports, sleep and any activity where the glass could be struck or the cord could catch. Keep the bottle outside heavy clothing, clear of zippers and buttons.
- Wipe and Store It
Wipe the glass, the cork and the charm with a soft dry cloth, and keep the bottle out of the sink and the shower. Between wearings, lay the necklace flat in a box or hang it from a hook so the cord stays straight and the bottle stays upright.
The Tarot Fellow Standard
I stock this necklace because it puts a corked bottle of hematite chips and a crescent moon charm into one small piece, 1 5/8 inches tall on a 30 inch cord. The glass lets you see every chip, and the charm gives the gray stone a frame of silver tones. The grounding link is modern crystal lore, and I offer it as a theme for your own reflection. For more stones tied to that theme, browse my grounding and earth energy stones.
Frequently Asked Questions
Hematite itself responds only faintly to magnets. Wikipedia describes a very feeble response, too weak to notice with an ordinary magnet, and geology.com says pure hematite is non-magnetic. Geology.com adds that many specimens contain enough magnetite to attract a magnet, so a chip that sticks to one probably holds some magnetite mixed in with the hematite.
Hematite's powder is red to reddish-brown even when the stone itself is steel gray or silver, and geology.com calls that streak the key identifying clue. Wikipedia says every variety leaves a rust-red streak. Both sources trace the name to the Greek word for blood and the red color of the mineral.
Hematite is an iron oxide, a compound of iron and oxygen with the formula Fe2O3. Pure hematite is about 70 percent iron and 30 percent oxygen by weight, according to geology.com, and Wikipedia calls it a major iron ore. Both sources add that it is also shaped into beads and tumbled stones, which is how it reaches jewelry.
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