Natural Stone Pendants

The teardrop, queen of shapes

The teardrop is by far the most frequent shape: it extends the line of the chain and ends in a point, facing down. Next come the heart and the round stone, then a few rarer shapes such as the sphere, the star, or the raw stick, left almost as it was found.

Symbols by the dozen

A pendant takes a symbol more easily than any other piece of jewelry, and the page has plenty: circles, eyes, suns, moons, trees of life, seven chakras. The unalome, a line that unwinds in a spiral upward, represents the path to enlightenment in Buddhist tradition. The dreamcatcher, which comes from the Ojibwe peoples of North America, is said to catch bad dreams.

The stones you’ll meet most often

Tiger’s eye comes first, followed by labradorite and rose quartz. Amethyst, black or gold sheen obsidian, amazonite, and lapis lazuli round out the palette. Each has its own page, for anyone who wants to know its color, its family, and what’s attributed to it.

Unisex, and sometimes resin

Many designs are unisex, and the stainless steel of the chains holds up well to everyday wear. A few resin pendants, which enclose stones and metal, have their own page, the orgonite pendants. As a gift, a pendant has one advantage: it goes with almost anything, from a sweater to a white shirt.