Hyalite is opal at its most transparent, silica laid down without play of color in clear rounded droplets; its name comes from the Greek word for glass. By daylight it nearly vanishes. Under a UV lamp it surfaces all at once, every tiny grape lit a vivid neon green against the dark, a trace of uranium in the silica answering the light. It is the second life collectors keep a lamp for.
The red is hematite, the iron oxide named from the Greek for blood, for the color of its powder. Here it tints the quartz rather than burying it, so the crystals keep their sparkle, like embers under frost.
In crystal traditions, hyalite has long been called a stone of clarity, said to settle the mind, while hematite has been held as grounding and protective. Together on their bed of quartz, they are said to hold light and weight in balance.
