Labradorite
Also Spectrolite
Dull grey to grey-brown until it is turned, when a broad flash of blue, green, gold or violet crosses the whole face.
- Crystal system
- Triclinic
- Hardness
- 6-6.5 Mohs
- Handling
- Safe in water and not toxic. Like all feldspar it has good cleavage and will chip or split on a knock. The flash comes from a thin structure near the surface, which a heavy repolish can dull. Keep it out of ultrasonic cleaners.
- In water
- Safe
What it is held to be for
Labradorite looks like a grey pebble until it turns, and then the whole face lights blue or gold. The effect comes from layers inside the feldspar splitting the light. It was described from the Labrador coast in 1770, so its lore is young and honesty says so, but it has settled firmly into one use: a stone for people who keep far more inside than they show.
Folk tradition
Correspondences
These are the tradition's ascriptions, not properties of the mineral.
- Planet
- Moon, Saturn
- Element
- Air
- Signs
- Scorpio, Sagittarius
- Chinese phase
- Water
- Year animal
- Rat, Pig
- Centre
- Brow Ajna
- Sephirah
- Yesod
How it is used
Worn where you can turn it, as a ring, a palm stone or a pendant you fiddle with, and carried through any work that asks for a public face over a private state.
Today
Turn the labradorite until it flashes. Note what you have been holding back today. You do not have to say it aloud to anyone.
A longer working
At the end of a week in which you have had to be pleasant while not feeling it, sit with the labradorite in low light. Turn it until you find the flash, then turn it away again so the stone goes grey. Do that a dozen times. Each time it lights, name one thing you did not say this week. Each time it darkens, let that one go.
Works with
- Herb
- Yarrow
- Incense
- Storax