Bloodstone

Bloodstone, also called heliotrope, is a dark green cryptocrystalline quartz spotted with red, found mostly as opaque jasper and now and then as translucent chalcedony. In the classic stone the red flecks are jasper coloured by inclusions of hematite, and their likeness to drops of blood gives the stone its everyday name; patches of yellow, white or blue also occur. The name heliotrope, from Greek words for the sun and for turning, goes back to old beliefs about how the stone reflects light, recorded by Pliny the Elder. Wikipedia names the Deccan Traps of India as the chief source of true bloodstone, and notes it on the Isle of Rum in Scotland. Among the legends it gathers are a Christian story that the spots are the blood of Christ, Roman soldiers wearing it to slow bleeding, and Gnostics wearing it for long life, wealth and courage. Cunningham assigns bloodstone to Mars and to fire. Its best-known use in his account is to stop bleeding; he also has it worn for courage, strength and victory in court, kept in a till to bring in money, and smeared with heliotrope flowers for invisibility. Hall calls it a grounding and protecting stone that sharpens intuition, feeds creativity and gives courage. The healing claims both make for it are theirs, not established medicine.