Gemstone of the month August 2024: Lapis Lazuli - Meaning and Effect
Lapis Lazuli is the appropriate stone for midsummer: life in nature reaches its peak, everything is bursting with power and energy. Light and warmth everywhere! The activities of the first half of the year show tangible results, we can enjoy our first successes. Nature is already adjusting to autumn quite covertly - fruits and seeds grow and begin to ripen. We can also fill up our energy stocks for autumn and winter.
Lapis Lazuli strengthens honesty and sincerity - also towards ourselves. Also, the willingness to recognize, accept and speak truths is supported by the blue stone. The "stone of friendship" can therefore help us to develop a good connection to ourselves and to our fellow human beings, so that we can enjoy the togetherness in a new depth and draw strength for the coming months.
Mineralogical profile Lapis Lazuli
Chemical Formula: Na8[S/(AlSiO4)6]
Mineral Class: Framework Silicate
Evolution: metamorphic by contact metasomatosis of limestone or dolomite with acidic, silica-rich magma.
Color: blue
Gloss: glassy to fatty luster
Crystal system: cubic
Mohs hardness: 5 to 6
Fissility: Imperfect cleavability; fine mushy-grainy fracture
Occurrences, main supplying countries: Afghanistan (Badakhshan, mining here since ancient times), Chile, Russia, Canada and Colorado/USA
Lapis lazuli is a really rare gemstone. It is found in only a few places in the world, and only a few sites have stones that could be used as gemstones or for carvings in the last 5000 years. Very beautiful, intensely blue material was found in Russia near Lake Baikal, but more than a hundred years ago this deposit was exhausted. Almost all pieces today come from northern Afghanistan. The remote area is very barren, always cold and therefore accessible only a few months a year - otherwise the area is mostly covered by snow. Because the stones are transported locally by donkeys, the size of the pieces is limited.
Appearance: fine-grained aggregates, often with pyrite inclusions or calcite
Use of Lapis Lazuli
Lapis lazuli has been in use as a jewelry stone and cult object for at least 9000 years (Indus Valley). Astrology knows it as a stone that supports the dignity, self-expression and inspiration of the Sagittarius-born.
The gorgeous blue lapis lazuli has always been and still is a sought-after gemstone. Already several thousand years ago, it was used in jewelry in Mesopotamia and the blue eyebrows of the mummy mask of Tut-ench-amun, an Egyptian pharaoh from the 14th century BC, were painted with it. Even today, lapis lazuli is one of the most popular stones used to make jewelry.
As a blue color pigment, lapis lazuli was used for paints in the Middle Ages. However, only very talented artists could afford it. In modern times, people are accustomed to strong, intensely luminous colors, but in those days they could only be made from ground lapis lazuli.
Application of lapis lazuli in gemstone wellness
As a classic stone of communication, lapis lazuli is primarily used when the throat area needs to be worked on. Applications with lapis lazuli provide support when something is literally ‘stuck in your throat’ or when your ‘throat is full’.
The blue gemstone supports the ability to communicate with others. Negative things can be addressed more easily and not simply swallowed. For example, stroking out with lapis lazuli helps you to clear your head.
As lapis lazuli supports communication, the stone is also often used after gemstone massages or other treatments to facilitate dialogue between the practitioner and the person being treated.