Malachite
Also Molochitis, Copper carbonate
Opaque green in concentric light and dark bands, silky where it has grown in rounded botryoidal masses; polished slices show rings, eyes and stripes.
- Crystal system
- Monoclinic
- Hardness
- 3.5-4 Mohs
- Handling
- Treat this as the most hazardous stone in the library. Malachite is copper carbonate and its dust is toxic. Never grind, sand, saw, drill or tumble it, and never work it dry; if a piece must be cut, that is a job for someone with wet equipment and extraction, not a kitchen table. Never put malachite in water and never make an elixir with it, indirect methods included: water and acid dissolve the surface and carry copper into the liquid. It is soft, 3.5-4, so it scratches on almost anything, and sweat, vinegar and lemon eat the polish. Handle sealed, polished pieces only. Keep it away from food, drink and small children, and wash your hands after touching raw or chipped material.
- In water
- No
What it is held to be for
Pliny calls it molochitis, mallow-green, and writes that it was hung on children's cradles as a guard against danger; that is the oldest protective use we have for it. Egypt ground it for green eye-paint, which we now know was a poor idea. Its banded eyes made malachite the tradition's watcher, a stone held to see trouble coming.
Pliny, Natural History XXXVII, on molochitis
Correspondences
These are the tradition's ascriptions, not properties of the mineral.
- Planet
- Venus, Saturn
- Element
- Earth
- Signs
- Taurus, Scorpio, Capricorn
- Chinese phase
- Earth
- Year animal
- Dog, Dragon
- Centre
- Heart Anahata
- Sephirah
- Netzach
How it is used
Worn as a polished, sealed pendant, or set by a door. Kept well away from water, food, and children who put things in their mouths. Wash your hands after handling raw or chipped pieces.
Today
Set the malachite by the door you come home through. Look at its rings once, and leave whatever the day did outside.
A longer working
On a Saturday, take a polished malachite and walk the edge of your home, every outside door and window, in one unbroken circuit. At each, stop, hold the stone up so you can see its bands, and say plainly what you are keeping out: an argument, a habit, a person, a fear. Finish where you started. Put the stone on the shelf nearest the front door and wash your hands. Never rinse the stone.
Works with
- Herb
- Mallow
- Incense
- Dragon's Blood