Last week we talked about how Phantoms are formed in Quartz crystals . This week we are going to discuss two variations of Phantoms found in Arkansas. These are: 1. Gas Phantoms and 2. Reverse Phantoms (also called Overcoat Quartz and Snow Quartz). We'll start with Gas Phantoms.

GAS PHANTOMS

Initially, I was introduced to these beautiful crystals as "Titanium Gas Phantoms". There is a lot of controversy as to what creates them and if titanium is even involved. I choose to call them simply Gas Phantoms. The mine where they were found in Arkansas is now closed, and, as far as I know, they don't plan to re-open it.

This week (and next week) we're going to be talking about crystals with Phantoms. Phantoms are mineral inclusions formed evenly throughout a crystal. They are formed when the crystal is growing, still in solution, and a different mineral (or even a more gas-filled layer of milky quartz) gets introduced. The forming crystal point is then surrounded by this now mineral-filled (or different consistency quartz) solution. Settling of the mineral causes the solution to return to clear. Sometimes Phantoms will even have layers of Barnacles on them, inside the crystal, like the one below:

Manifestation crystals fall into the category of crystals within crystals. Unlike a Bridge or Inner Child, a Manifestation point doesn't protrude from the main crystal, it is completely enclosed within it. Descriptively they are small points that have formed within a larger point and they are quite rare. 

Manifestation points are sometimes difficult to determine from a photograph. When you have the crystal in hand, you can see that there is a point within the point, but you also must not be able to feel any of that point on the outside of the crystal. If you do, it is an Inner Child, not a Manifestation. I have encountered some websites using the terms "Manifestation points" and "Inner Child points" interchangeably. However, in my understanding, the difference is that the energy of an Inner Child point is similar to a Bridge (bridging or connecting one thing to another). If the Inner Child were completely enclosed, how would one have the feeling of reaching or bridging to the Inner Child? But again, I reiterate that the names are very often used slightly differently, and neither is right, neither is wrong, just pointing out that you may see this sometimes.

Last week we discussed Lineated Sides. This week we were going to discuss Lineated Faces. As a recap, collectively the lines on the sides or faces of crystals are referred to as Lineation. To specify where the Lineation occurs, you add "side" or "face".

This week we were going to discuss Lineated Sides and Lineated Faces. Collectively they are referred to as Lineation. To specify where the Lineation occurs, you add "side" or "face". Because the blog post grew and grew, I have decided to break up the information. This week we'll cover Lineated Sides and next week we'll cover Lineated faces.

This week we're going to talk about Inclusions in crystal, sometimes called Included quartz or Included crystals. This basically occurs when crystal is forming, and there are other substances present in the solution. These substances might be air bubbles or other minerals. They become trapped within the crystal during its growth. Air and moisture inclusions fall into the category of Fairy Frost, a non-mineral inclusion which we discussed a few weeks ago.

I have some pictures of Included quartz which I have adopted out through Arkansas Crystal Works, some of them from Arkansas, some from the Cascade Mountains in Washington. Crystal may be included with any number of minerals, some are more commonly found paired with quartz than others. The pictures I am going to share represent just a tiny percentage of the possible pairings. The inclusions may also appear in different forms, such as blobs, spots, specks, phantoms, whole minerals, needles, Rutile, etc. Here is a picture of Chlorite needles in quartz, (these crystals came from the Cascade Mountains in Washington State.)

Today we're going to talk about Growth Interference which is a condition in which a crystal changes shapes as it grows due to the presence of another mineral which acts as an obstruction. These shapes might be squares and triangles, and more often than not, it looks like a buzz saw was taken to the crystal. Sometimes there is a little bit of mineral left in part of the crevasses.

Here are some crystals with the buzz-saw type of Growth Interference: