Dragon Blood Tumbled Stones, 1 lb

The red-and-green marbling. The stone's signature pattern, distinct in every piece, polished smooth.

A full pound, sold by weight. The count varies with the size of the pieces, generally enough to fill a bowl or supply a season of grids and pouches.

Honest naming. Dragon Blood is a trade name, and the material is usually not a true jasper; we say so plainly.

• Approximately 1 pound of tumbled stones, sold by weight; piece count and size vary
• Material: the green-and-red stone sold as Dragon Blood, typically an epidote-bearing rock, often from Australia
• Naming note: Dragon Blood Jasper is a trade name; the material is generally not a true jasper, and the red is iron-bearing mineral rather than anything to do with dragons
• Pattern and coloring vary widely from stone to stone
• SKU: GTJASDB

The name is the whole appeal, and the trade knows it. The story goes that the green is the skin of a slain dragon and the red its blood, which makes for a stone with a courage story built in, and modern crystal practice has run with exactly that: Dragon Blood is kept for courage, strength, and standing your ground, a stone for the moment you need some nerve. These attributions arrived with the stone in recent decades and we file them as contemporary; there is no old folk record for a stone the trade named in the modern era.

What is true is that the red really is iron, which is the same reason blood is red, so the story is a better guess than most trade legends. Bought by the pound, the stone becomes a working supply: the handful in a courage grid, the pocket stone carried into a hard week, the one pressed into a friend's hand before something they are dreading.

1. Cleanse the batch on arrival with smoke or moonlight, and skip long soaking.
2. Carry one in the pocket through a week that asks for nerve.
3. Scatter a handful through a grid built for courage or strength.
4. Fill a bowl on the desk or altar and let the red and green stand for the register.
5. Give them away; a pound goes a long way, and this is a good stone to hand to someone.

• Jasper Stone Arrowhead, Assorted: the true jasper, for comparison in the hand.
• Jasper Kambaba Pyramid, 25mm: another honestly-named trade stone from the patterned shelf.
• Jet Tumbled Stones, 1 Pound: the grounding register by the pound.
• Green Aventurine Worry Stone: a stone to hold while you work.
• White Sage Smudge Stick: the arrival cleanse for a pound of stones.

Is Dragon Blood a real jasper?

Usually not. It is a trade name for a green-and-red stone, typically an epidote-bearing rock rather than a jasper, which is a chalcedony. We name it as what it is.

Where does the name come from?

The trade legend that the green is a dragon's skin and the red its spilled blood. It is a modern story rather than an old folk tradition, though the red really is iron, which is why blood is red too.

What does practice keep it for?

Courage, strength, and standing your ground. These are contemporary crystal attributions that arrived with the stone, not old lore, and we say so.

How many stones come in a pound?

It varies, since they are sold by weight rather than count. Larger pieces mean fewer stones, smaller ones mean more, but a pound generally fills a bowl or supplies a season of grids and pouches.

How do I cleanse them?

Smoke or moonlight suits them. Keep them dry between uses and store them where they will not knock against harder crystals.