Tiger's Eye
quartz pseudomorph after crocidolite
Blue asbestos fibres replaced molecule by molecule with silica, keeping the fibrous alignment and gaining a hard glassy body, the sheen is the ghost of the original mineral. Almost all of it comes from the Northern Cape of South Africa. People carry it for courage, protection and clarity. Tradition attaches it to the element fire, the solar-plexus, root chakra, Sun.
Seen · you don't have this one yet
Red tiger's eye is heat-treated golden material. Bleached ('honey' or 'pale') tiger's eye has been acid-treated. Dyed blue, green and purple tiger's eye is common and reads as unnaturally saturated.
Mineral facts
Hardness
6.5-7 Mohs
Formula
SiO2 replacing Na2Fe5Si8O22(OH)2
Family
quartz
Where it comes from
South Africa (Northern Cape, Griqualand West), Australia (Western Australia), Namibia, India, Brazil
What it is
Blue asbestos fibres replaced molecule by molecule with silica, keeping the fibrous alignment and gaining a hard glassy body, the sheen is the ghost of the original mineral. Almost all of it comes from the Northern Cape of South Africa. Polished, it is completely safe; raw and dry-cut, it is not.
What it is confused with
pietersite, hawks-eye, cats-eye-quartz, fibre-optic-glass, bronzite
A single band of silky light, chatoyancy, that sweeps across the stone in ONE direction as it is tilted, produced by parallel fibres of altered asbestos replaced by silica. The fibres all run the same way, so the sheen is a coherent rolling stripe, not a scattered shimmer. Colour is golden brown to honey with darker brown fibre bands, and thin edges show a fibrous, silky luster rather than a glassy one. Red material has been heated; blue-grey material (hawk's eye) is less oxidised.
Commonly faked · check before you buy
How to tell
The single-direction rule: if the silky sheen runs in more than one direction across a single stone, with fibre bundles pointing different ways in adjacent patches, it is pietersite, not tiger's eye. Fibre-optic glass shows a perfectly regular grid of fibres and often a mirror-flat cut end. Scratches glass.
Red tiger's eye is heat-treated golden material. Bleached ('honey' or 'pale') tiger's eye has been acid-treated. Dyed blue, green and purple tiger's eye is common and reads as unnaturally saturated.
What it means for you
The Moon is at 1° Scorpio today. Tiger's Eye is a quartz, 6.5-7 on the Mohs scale, and it is the stone traditionally carried when the problem is proximity rather than intensity.
You know what this one would do for you. You just don't have it.
Tiger's Eye for every sign
Aries
Polished, it is completely safe.
Blue asbestos fibres replaced molecule by molecule with silica, keeping their direction and gaining a glassy body, so the sheen is the ghost of the original mineral. Polished, it is completely safe. Dry-cut or sanded it is not, which is the only rule and the one you will want to skip.
Taurus
Polished it is entirely safe.
The silky band of light is the ghost of blue asbestos fibres that were replaced by silica one molecule at a time, keeping their direction. Almost all of it comes from the Northern Cape. Polished it is entirely safe, and everything about it is a slow replacement that kept the original shape.
Gemini
The sheen is the ghost of the original fibre.
Blue asbestos fibres replaced molecule by molecule with silica, until nothing of the original was left except the direction it had been pointing. The sheen is the ghost of the fibre. Polished it is harmless, and the only real rule is never to dry-grind it.
Cancer
Nothing of the original survived except which way it pointed.
Blue asbestos, replaced fibre by fibre with silica until none of the original mineral remained and only its direction survived. The sheen is that direction. Polished stones are harmless, and the one rule is that you never dry-grind it.
Leo
The gold sheen is the ghost of blue asbestos.
The gold band that sweeps across it is the ghost of blue asbestos. Crocidolite fibres were replaced molecule by molecule with silica and kept their parallel order, so the sheen rolls in one direction only. Polished, it is entirely safe. Never dry-grind or dry-cut raw material.
Virgo
The sheen is the ghost of blue asbestos.
The parent mineral is crocidolite, blue asbestos, replaced fibre by fibre with silica until only the parallel structure survived. Polished, it is inert. Dry-grinding raw material is the one thing you must not do. The sheen runs in a single direction, and if it runs several ways you are holding pietersite.
Libra
The sheen rolls one direction only and never scatters.
Blue asbestos fibres replaced molecule by molecule with silica, keeping their parallel order, so the sheen rolls in one direction only and never scatters. Polished, it is inert. Raw and dry-ground it is not, and that is the only warning the stone gives.
Scorpio
The silk in it is the ghost of the original mineral.
Blue asbestos fibres replaced molecule by molecule with silica, keeping their direction and gaining a hard glassy body, so the silk in it is the ghost of the original mineral. Polished, it is harmless. Dry-cut it is not, and what it used to be is the reason.
Sagittarius
Polished it is inert, dry-ground it is not.
The sheen runs in one direction only, which is the entire identification. Blue asbestos fibres were replaced molecule by molecule with silica, keeping the original fibre direction and gaining a glassy body, nearly all of it from Griqualand West. Polished it is inert, dry-ground it is not.
Capricorn
The sheen is the ghost of the original mineral.
Blue asbestos fibres replaced molecule by molecule with silica, keeping the fibre order and losing the hazard, so the sheen is the ghost of the original mineral. Polished it is completely safe, and dry-ground it is not. Almost all of it comes from one South African province.
Aquarius
The sheen is the ghost of the mineral it replaced.
Every fibre was once blue asbestos, replaced molecule by molecule with silica while keeping the original arrangement. Polished it is inert, though nobody should ever dry-grind it. The sheen is the ghost of the mineral it replaced.
Pisces
It kept the arrangement and lost the substance.
The silky band moves in one direction only, because every fibre inside runs parallel. Those fibres were blue asbestos before silica replaced them molecule by molecule. It kept the arrangement and lost the substance.
Correspondences
What tradition attaches to this stone. Folklore, not chemistry.
Element
fire
Planet
Sun
Chakra
solar-plexus, root
Signs
leo, capricorn, gemini
What tradition says
In crystal lore, tiger's eye is associated with vigilance, nerve and discernment; Roman soldiers are traditionally said to have carried it engraved into battle.
Care
- Water is fine. Dry it afterwards.
- Hard and stable in water. Do not sand, grind or drill it dry — that is the only real hazard. Warm water and a cloth for cleaning.
The parent mineral is crocidolite (blue asbestos), but in finished tiger's eye it has been fully replaced by silica and the fibres are silicified. Polished stones present no asbestos hazard; do not dry-grind or cut raw material without dust control.
Common questions
What does tiger's eye mean?
Tiger's Eye is carried for courage, protection and clarity. Blue asbestos fibres replaced molecule by molecule with silica, keeping the fibrous alignment and gaining a hard glassy body, the sheen is the ghost of the original mineral.. Tradition links it to the solar-plexus, root chakra.
Is tiger's eye real or fake?
Red tiger's eye is heat-treated golden material. Bleached ('honey' or 'pale') tiger's eye has been acid-treated.. The single-direction rule: if the silky sheen runs in more than one direction across a single stone, with fibre bundles pointing different ways in adjacent patches, it is pietersite, not tiger's eye. Fibre-optic glass shows a perfectly regular grid of fibres and often a mirror-flat cut end.. Red tiger's eye is heat-treated golden material.
Can tiger's eye go in water?
A short rinse is fine for tiger's eye, then dry it.
Common · golden brown, honey, red-brown (heated), blue-grey (hawk's eye)
Where this leads
This stone belongs to
Related crystals
FOR ENTERTAINMENT AND REFLECTION. NOT MEDICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, FINANCIAL OR LEGAL ADVICE. How this works