Garnet may even protect one from thieves. Normally garnets were exchanged between friends to ensure that they would meet again and to symbolize their affection. Garnets were supposed to hold healing properties, relieving skin conditions, protecting against poisons, and if placed under the pillow, garnet would protect one from bad dreams. Magical properties were assigned in the 13th century when garnet was used in rituals. It was suspose to repel insects and some five hundred years ago, people believed that it would drive away demons.
Pyrope is deep red to reddish black in color.
The best place to collect pyrope is from peridotites containing olivine and hypersthene. Pyrope mining occurs in Burma, China, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Tanzania, and within the US, Kentucky, Arkansas, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Almandine Garnet Named for a small town in Asia Minor, almandine garnet occurs in dioritic rock, with andalusite, hornblende, and biotite, in hornfels, and schists of contact and regional metamorphism. Almandine is red to brown, or brownish black, in color. It is mined in Brazil, India, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, the Czech Republic, and Austria.