Labradorite with Moonstone Iolite  bracelet 

Moon Stone

Moonstone shows an almost magical play of light as its characteristic feature. It owes its name to this mysterious gleaming which appears different whenever the stone changes its position in movement. Experts call this the “adularescence”, and in earlier times the phases of waxing and waning moon were though to be discerned in this phenomenon.


Moonstone from Sri Lanka, the classical country of origin for Moonstone, shimmers pale blue on almost transparent ground. Specimen from India shoe cloudlike plays of light and shade on beige brown, green, orange or simple brown background. These subdued colours in combination with the fine shine make Moonstone an ideal gemstone for jewellery with a sensuous and feminine character. This gemstone was once before extremely popular, about a hundred years ago in the times of Art Nouveau. It used to decorate a striking amount of pieces of jewellery created by the famous French Master Goldsmith René Lalique and by his contemporaries. These pieces are usually only found in a museum or in collections nowadays.

Many mystical and magical connotations surround this stone. In several cultures, like for example in India, it is considered a sacred and magical gemstone. In India Moonstone is also appreciated as a “dream stone”, as it is supposed to bring about sweet and beautiful dreams. In Arab countries women often were Moonstone sewn into their garment, because there this gemstone is appreciated as a symbol of fertility.

Moonstone symbolises a holistic view of man and woman. Its soft shine will support the emotional and dreamy tendencies of a person. The associations thus involved make Moonstone of course the ideal stone for lovers, reputed to bring forth feelings of tenderness and to protect true love. It is also reported that wearing a Moonstone will further intuition and your sensitivity for others.

What are Moonstones and where do they come from?

The mystical stone belongs to the large mineral family of feldspars, which provide almost two thirds of all stones on our Earth. In the case of Moonstone, we are looking at the feldspar variety called “adularia” a silicate of potassium aluminium in gemstone quality, which is also found in the European Alps near the Adula-group – thus the name “adularia”. Another synonym for Moonstone is “Selenite”, according to the Greek goddess of the moon, Selene.

When uncut, Moonstones look quite boring and make it difficult to discern their attractiveness: the mysterious play of light. It will only be brought out by the cutter’s expertise and skills. Classical Moonstones are always cut as cabochons. Here the appropriate height of the stone is essential. The cutter must also bear in mind to locate the crystal axis exactly in the zenith of the stone, because only then the desired effect of light play will be achieved.

The classical, bluish and almost transparent Moonstones traditionally came from Sri Lanka. But they are also found in the USA, in Brasil, Australia, Myanmar, and Madagascar. Since blue Moonstones in fine qualities have become more and more scarce in recent time, the prices have increased accordingly.

For some years now also green, blue and peach or smoke and champagne coloured, black and reddish specimen have been offered, which come mainly from India. Some of these show not only the typical the typical floating play of light, but also a cat’s eye or a multi-rayed star. These stones, then, are not only cut as cabochons, but also cut as intricate cameos, sometimes engraved as children’s -, moon - or gargoyle face. They also show the play of light which is so typical for Moonstone, just like the spheres and beads made from suitable raw material to be crafted into fine necklaces.

Where does the striking play of light come from?

The light of a Moonstone is something special indeed in the fascinating world of gemstones. Experts call this phenomenon “adularescence”. The origin of this phenomenon is the interior structure of the gemstone in scales or lamellas. Incoming rays of light are refracted inside the stone and scattered. In this way, then, there is created a unique play of light, which makes Moonstone so special and coveted.

This beautiful gemstone, however, has a considerable drawback: it only achieves a hardness of merely six on the Mohs’ scale. Moonstones should thus be handled carefully, as they are very fragile. On the other hand, small damages which will arise after longer periods of being worn, can be corrected relatively easily. A jeweller can have a dulled Moonstone polished in such a way, that it will regain its mystical light like on the first day.

Three-dimensional colour and seductive charm

When purchasing Moonstone you will be astonished at the striking differences in price. The more intense the colour, the larger and more transparent the stone, the more valuable is the gem. Really top quality fine blue Moonstone show an incredible “three-dimensional” depth of colour, which you will see clearly only when playfully tilting the stone and moving it. Such specimen are very rare and thus highly coveted, and of course accordingly valuable. The brighter coloured Indian Moonstones are not only a fashion trend. They are usually a little less expensive than the classical blue variant, so that everybody today may pick his or her favourite Moonstone to meet exactly all requirements of taste and budget.

Moonstones are Nature’s treasures with a sensuous and seductive charm. The do not only ask to be looked at and admired, the require to be worn and moved a lot. Because only then the soft veil of light which makes this gemstone so attractive will be able to display its beauty to the best effect.

Labradorite

Labradorite (also called Spectrolite sometimes) is a considered by mystics to be a stone of transformation. It is said to clear, balance and protect the aura. It is purported to help provide clarity and insight into your destiny, as well as attract success. It is used in metaphysics for dream recall, and finding ways to use dreams in daily life. Mystically, energies of stress and anxiety are reduced by labradorite. Labradorite is said to increase intuition, psychic development, esoteric wisdom, help with subconscious issues, and provide mental illumination. Labradorite is associated with the solar plexus and brow chakras.

Labradorite is the gemstone of magic, and it awakens in those who carry or wear it the awareness on one's innate magical powers. The term 'magic' refer to the mental and intuitive abilities which include but are not limited to clairvoyance, telepathy, astral travel, prophecy, psychic reading, access to akashic records, past-life recall, communication to the higher guides and spirits, and coincidence control. 'Coincidence control' is the practice of increasing the observe degree of synchronicity and serendipity in one's life. Labradorite is a stone ideally suited to facilitating the enhancement of these abilities. It is an interdimensional stone, emanating an energy which helps one to consciously pierce the veil between our waking world and the many domains and planes of inner awareness. It is a gemstone of adventure, for it offers one the chance to embark upon a multitude of voyages self discovery. It is said that a tyrant wants power over others and a true magician desires power only over himself or herself. In wearing or working with Labradorite, one disconnects from any tendencies to attempt to control others, while one bonds deeply with the knowledge that self-mastery is the path of true fulfillment.

Wearing Labradorite as a pendant or necklace can center one in constant awareness of the multiplayers of reality. In bracelet or rings, Labradorite can enhance the sending and receiving of the impulses of all varieties of magic. In earrings it can especially enhance one's hearing the messages of one's spirit guides. Place on the third eye in meditation, Labradorite can facilitate visionary experiences of the future, the past, and the many inner domains of time and timelessness.

Labradorite harmonizes with most other Feldspars, including Moonstone, Sunstone, Spectrolite and Golden Labradorite. Moonstone brings in emotional balance and the vibration of the Divine Feminine. Sunstone and Golden Labradorite assist in opening the lower chakras during magical practices and in manifestation through magic. Spectrolite works with one's 'Rainbow Body' to enhance awareness of the higher realms.

SPIRITUAL  Labradorite assist one in moving between realities and connections with unseen realms. It enhances psychic abilities and increase one's capacity to visualize and perceive with the inner eye. Labradorite is particularly useful for magical and ritual work and acts as psychic protection for those who travel and serve on other levels of reality.

EMOTIONAL  Labradorite can aid in uncovering unconscious and unconscious belief patterns that generate unpleasant emotional states. It can help one to become clearly aware the source beliefs, self-talk and ego influence on one's habitual emotional states.

PHYSICAL  Labradorite can help reveal the nature of 'mystery illnesses.' It can show the patterns that have created disease and can amplify one's healing thoughts and prayers.

AFFIRMATION  I call forth the magic of higher awareness.

Faceted

Facets are flat faces on geometric shapes. The organization of naturally occurring facets was key to early developments in crystallography, since they reflect the underlying symmetry of the crystal structure. Gemstones commonly have facets cut into them in order to improve their appearance.

 

Of the many hundreds of facet arrangements that have been used, the most famous is probably the round brilliant cut, used for diamond and many colored gemstones. This arrangement of 57 facets was calculated by Marcel Tolkowsky in 1919. Slight improvements have been made since then, including the addition of a 58th facet (a culet) on the bottom of the stone. Since this is calculated to show maximum brilliance, round diamonds are rarely cut in any other arrangement, although recently the Princess cut is becoming popular. Other cuts, including "rose" cuts, are most typically found in antique jewelry. See diamond cuts for an in-depth discussion and diagrams of various shapes and ways of cutting faceted stones.

The art of cutting a gem with facets is a very precise activity. The aim with a faceted cut is to produce an article that sparkles with internally reflected light, and that shows off the "fire" of the stone. Accordingly, only transparent or translucent stones are usually faceted.

The angles between each facet are precisely calculated. As the aim is to maximise the effect of the internal reflections, these angles depend on the refractive index of the material. This means that although the name and general shape of a particular cut may be the same between different materials, the actual angles will be slightly different, for the maximum effect.

Thus, although cubic zirconia and rock crystal may look similar to diamond, and all can be cut in a round brilliant cut, the angles must be different to produce the same optical effects. Additionally, as diamond has a refractive index significantly higher than the other natural transparent stones, it can have a much greater sparkle than other materials.

While some facets can be cut by cleavage, specialised machines are used for cutting arbitrary facets. These consist of two main features:

a flat abrasive, usually diamond dust of precise size bonded onto a metal disk (called 'laps') or carried by an oily fluid on a smooth metal or ceramic disk, and
a system for holding a stone onto the disk at a precise angle and position.
This usually requires the stone to be attached to a holder or dop, which is then placed in an indexed vice. This allows progressively finer abrasives to be used without disrupting the orientation of the stone. The final abrasive must be smaller than the wavelength of light, so that the scratches it creates are invisible. Modern machines tend to have indexed gears for moving the stone, so that rotating the stone to cut the next facet can be more precisely controlled.

An older machine called the jamb peg faceting machine used wooden dop sticks of precise length. By placing one end into one of many precisely located holes in the jamb peg, the other end, with the stone, could be precisely placed onto the lap. These machines took considerable skill to use effectively.

Much less commonly, faceters use cylindrical machines, which leave concave facets. This technique is most noticeably used around the gem's girdle.

Iolite

This gemstone is called the gemstone of the Vikings, Iolite is also very often mistaken for Tanzanite. It derives it's name from the Greek work 'ios' which means violet. This gemstone is bluish violet in color, Iolite with prominent blue color tones resembles blue sapphire and in lighter blue violet shades represents the more expensive, tanzanite.

The Iolite gemstone posesses a very important feature that is called pleochroism. This property posessed by a few other gemstones too, causes the gemstone to show different colors when viewed from different angles and sides. When viewed from one side the Iolite gemstone will show a gorgeous bluish violet color and when viewed from the other side, appears very pale colored and almost colorless.

Gemstone of the Vikings is related to the pleochroism feature of the iolite gemstone. It is believed that the Vikings used the Iolite gemstone to help them navigate on the high seas when very far away from the coastline. Looking through the gemstone at a certain angle, the Vikings could determine the exact position of the sun and never got lost when on the high seas.