Howlite imitates turquoise twice. Left white, it's sold as "white turquoise" or "white buffalo stone." Dyed blue, it passes for turquoise itself. Yet it isn't turquoise at all, but a white borate mineral that quarry workers in Nova Scotia once cursed as a nuisance.
The howlite meaning is calm and patience: a soft white stone for slowing down, quieting a busy mind and letting a hot temper cool. One cotton swab and a drop of nail polish remover will tell you whether a blue bead is howlite in disguise.
Howlite quick facts
- Chakra: Crown
- Zodiac: Gemini, Virgo
- Element: Air
- Color: Chalk white with fine gray or black veins, often dyed blue or other colors
- Hardness: 3.5 on the Mohs scale, soft and porous
- Commonly from: Canada, the United States, Turkey
- Pairs with: black agate, clear quartz, amethyst
A quiet white stone
Howlite's plain white surface, laced with thin gray lines, looks like a calm sky with a few drifting clouds, and its meaning follows that stillness.
Calm. Howlite is a classic calming stone, held when a day has wound you up and you want to come back down.
Patience. It's linked to slowing your reactions, taking a breath before you answer and letting anger pass without acting on it.
Rest. Many people keep a piece on the nightstand as part of a quiet bedtime routine, to set the day aside before sleep.
Its story starts in 1868, near Windsor, Nova Scotia, where gypsum quarry workers kept running into chalky white lumps and pointed them out to the chemist and mineralogist Henry How. He identified a new mineral, and the American geologist James Dwight Dana later named it howlite in his honor.
Crown chakra, Gemini and Virgo
Howlite belongs to the crown chakra at the top of the head, the energy center tied to awareness and a quiet mind. Its signs are Gemini and Virgo, two busy-minded signs ruled by Mercury, for whom a stone of stillness is a welcome counterweight. Its element is air.
Bedtime, hard talks and busy desks
- At bedtime, as part of a wind-down routine
- Before a conversation that could get heated
- On a desk, as something cool to hold through a long call
- During meditation, held in the hand
- As a couple's token, paired with black agate in yin and yang
Keychains, a pendulum and couple's bracelets
Wear it together. Our yin yang howlite and black agate couple's bracelets come as a stretchy pair, one white howlite and one black agate, the light and dark halves of yin and yang. Share one with a partner, a best friend or a sibling.
Carry it. The turquoise howlite moon keychain hangs a blue-dyed howlite moon, a symbol of cycles and new beginnings, from beads on a 7.5 inch strand. The small howlite crystal dowsing pendulum hangs from a short chain for questions that need a calm answer.
Hold it. A white howlite palm and worry stone is smooth and cool, made for turning over in the hand on an anxious-feeling day.
Count the veins. When your mind is racing, hold your howlite under a lamp and trace one gray vein slowly from end to end with your eyes. Then find another. By the third or fourth, let your breath slow to the same pace.
Howlite or turquoise?
Howlite is naturally white, but it's porous, so it soaks up dye beautifully. Dyed blue, it looks so much like turquoise that it's one of the most common turquoise imitations, sold as "turquenite" or "turquoise howlite." Our turquoise howlite is sold by that honest name.
Dyed howlite is an even, bright blue, with gray or black veins that look painted in. A cotton swab dipped in nail polish remover, rubbed on a hidden spot, often comes away blue.
Natural turquoise is rarely so even. Its blue tends toward green in places, its matrix is often brown, golden or black, and it costs far more.
White howlite is also sold as "white turquoise" or "white buffalo stone," though it isn't turquoise either. It's a lovely stone in its own right, and the names only trade on turquoise's fame.
Black and white, and two crown companions
Black agate is howlite's opposite and partner, steady and grounding where howlite is light, which is why the two share our yin yang bracelets. Clear quartz is said to amplify howlite's calm, as our clear quartz guide explains. Amethyst shares the crown chakra and a love of quiet evenings (see our amethyst guide).
More crown stones are in our crown chakra crystals.
Caring for a soft, thirsty stone
Howlite is a 3.5 on the Mohs scale, soft enough for a steel knife to scratch easily, and porous enough to drink in oils, lotions and dye. Wipe it with a soft, slightly damp cloth instead of soaking it, and keep perfume and lotion off it. Dyed turquoise howlite can bleed color if it stays wet, so it's best kept dry.
Store it apart from harder stones. Moonlight and sage smoke are gentle ways to cleanse it. Quick care facts for every stone we carry are in our crystal care chart. Every crystal in our shop is smudged with sage and charged in the moonlight before it ships.
Howlite FAQ
Is howlite turquoise?
No. Howlite is a white borate mineral. Dyed blue, it's often sold as an imitation of turquoise.
Is howlite a natural stone?
Yes. White howlite is natural, and colored howlite is natural stone that has been dyed.
Can howlite get wet?
A quick wipe is fine, but it's porous, so don't soak it, and keep dyed pieces dry.
How can you tell if howlite is real?
Natural howlite is chalky white with fine gray veins and a soft, glassy-to-dull shine. Plastic copies feel light and warm, and their veins often look printed on.
Is howlite expensive?
No. Howlite is one of the more affordable stones, which is part of why it's so popular for beads and carvings.
Which wrist do you wear a howlite bracelet on?
Many choose the left, to take in its calm. With a couple's pair, each person can pick their own side.
See also: how to tell real crystals from man-made ones.
A borate from dried-up lakes and seas
Howlite is a calcium borosilicate, a mineral containing boron, and it forms in evaporite deposits, the layers of minerals left behind as ancient salty lakes and seas dried up. It usually grows in lumpy, cauliflower-like nodules rather than crystals, and fine gray or black veins run between the nodules in an uneven web. True howlite crystals are rare and tiny, about a centimeter at most, and have been found in California and Nova Scotia.
Each piece we sell is one of a kind, and the one pictured is the one you'll receive.