Pearl

Also Margarita

Opaque white, cream, rose, gold, grey or black, with a soft inner glow called orient that comes from the layering of the nacre rather than from any pigment.

Crystal system: Orthorhombic
Hardness: 2.5-4 Mohs
Handling: A pearl is organic and very soft. Acid destroys nacre outright: vinegar, lemon juice and wine eat it, and sweat and perfume dull it over years. Any cleaning agent will strip the surface, including detergent, ammonia, bleach and an ultrasonic bath. Wipe with a soft damp cloth and nothing else. Never soak a strung strand, because the silk rots. Never an elixir.
In water: No

What it is held to be for

A pearl is not a stone. It is nacre, laid down in fine layers by a living mollusc around something that irritated it, and that is the whole of its meaning in the tradition: the grain of sand answered with patience. Pliny puts pearls in his book on sea creatures rather than his book on gems, and tells there how Cleopatra dissolved one in vinegar to win a wager.

Pliny, Natural History IX (margaritae)

Correspondences

These are the tradition's ascriptions, not properties of the mineral.

Planet: Moon, Venus
Element: Water
Signs: Cancer, Gemini
Chinese phase: Water
Year animal: Dragon, Rat
Centre: Heart Anahata
Sephirah: Yesod

How it is used

Worn against the skin, which is said to keep the lustre, and put on last of all, after scent and cosmetics. Kept for mourning and for anniversaries, and taken off before cleaning, cooking or swimming.

Today

Put on the pearl and name, silently, the thing that hurt and the thing you made of it afterwards. Wear it for the day.

A longer working

On the day of an anniversary you would rather not mark, hold the pearl in your palm for the length of one slow cup of tea. Say what happened, plainly, once. Then say what you have done in the years since. Wipe the pearl with a soft damp cloth, dry it, and put it away wrapped in cloth rather than in a box with other jewellery, which would scratch it.

Works with

Herb: Lily
Incense: Sandalwood