All you wanted to know about: Lapis Lazuli

Found in artifacts dating to the predynastic Naqada II (3500-3100 BC) time period throughout the rest of ancient Egypt’s long history, lapis lazuli appears to have been one of the most popular gem stones in the ancient culture. 

In the Epic of Gilgamesh; the oldest known story in human history, lapis lazuli is referenced several times. Lapis jewelry has been found at excavations of the Predynastic Egyptian site Naqada (3300–3100 BC), and powdered lapis was used as eyeshadow by Cleopatra.

Known as KHESBED, the stone was used in jewelry, in effigies, in amulets, and even in medicines.

Lapis is a deep blue stone, reflecting both the life-giving waters of the Nile and the divine expanse of the sky. Associated with the sky goddess, Nut, the goddess of balance and truth, Ma’at, and the sun god, Re, lapis was highly sought after in ancient Egypt. 

Egyptian cultures made a practice of burying a lapis lazuli scarab with their dead, and believed it to offer protection. The very earliest cultures valued lapis lazuli more highly than gold. Greeks spoke of an ancient sapphire which was included with gold, and this was unmistakably lapis. Some believed that dreaming of lapis would foretell love that would be forever faithful.

Healing properties of Lapis Lazuli

Lapis Lazuli is used with other stones when parts of the body need to be purified and cleansed and should be only used by a healer. Lapis Lazuli has high intensity and can open many of the chakra centers. This must be done only with love in the heart and comprehension in the mind and wisdom in soul.

Lapis lazuli is regarded by many people around the world as the stone of friendship and truth. The blue stone is said to encourage harmony in relationships and help its wearer to be authentic and give his or her opinion openly.

Lapis lazuli is a rock, largely formed from the mineral lazurite.

The main component of lapis lazuli is lazurite (25% to 40%), a feldspathoid silicate mineral with the formula. Most lapis lazuli also contains calcite (white), sodalite (blue), and pyrite (metallic yellow). 

Lapis lazuli is an opaque rock that mainly consists of diopside and lazurite. It came into being millions of years ago during the metamorphosis of lime to marble. Uncut, lapis lazuli is matt and of a deep, dark blue colour, often with golden inclusions and whitish marble veins. The small inclusions with their golden shimmer, which give the stone the magic of a starry sky, are not of gold as people used to think, but of pyrites. Their cause is iron. The blue colour comes from the sulphur content of the lazurite and may range from pure ultramarine to a lighter blue. At between 5 and 6 on the Mohs scale, this stone is among the less hard gemstones.

When the cutter turns up his nose ...

Many a cutter ‘turns up his nose’ when cutting lapis lazuli, for as soon as the stone comes into contact with the cutting-disc it gives off a typical smell. An experienced cutter can even tell from the odour how intense the colour is. When polishing this stone, he must handle it gently on account of its modest hardness and not subject it to much pressure. But there is no need for the wearer to worry: a lapis lazuli that has grown matt from having been worn too much can easily be repolished at any time. Lapis lazuli is often sealed with colourless wax or synthetic resin. As long as these substances are not mixed with any colouring agent, this sealing process simply has the effect of improving the stone’s wearing qualities. Having said that, the stone should always be protected from acidic substances, and it should not be exposed to too much sunlight.

Birthstones – Gemstones that tell about you: August, September

For August, we have peridot and sardonyx, and for September we have two blue stones, sapphire and lapis lazuli.

August: Peridot, Sardonyx

Peridot is the gem variety of olivine. Peridot is the birthstone for August and the Zodiac stone for the constellation Libra (astrological sources refer to peridot as Chrysolite). Peridot is associated with the values of fame, dignity, protection, and success.

Peridotes are olive green gemstones. Peridotes are associated with love, faithfulness, loyalty and truth.

 Peridotes are believed to help with dignity, protection, openness, growth and fame. This gem is said to help with illness in lungs, sinuses and lymph.

Gem quality peridot comes from the ancient source of Zagbargad (Zebirget) Island in the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt; Mogok, Myanmar (formerly known as Burma); Kohistan, Pakistan; Minas Gerais, Brazil; Eifel, Germany; Chihuahua, Mexico; Ethiopia; Australia; Peridot Mesa, San Carlos Apache Reservation, Gila County, Arizona and Salt Lake Crater, Oahu, Hawaii, USA. The best quality peridot has historically come either from Myanmar or Egypt.

Sardonyx is a banded variety of chalcedony (cryptocrystalline quartz), with layers alternating between Sard and Onyx. It is an impure fine-grained quartz whose crystals are too small to see. The color is usually a yellow-brown alternating with white, but other variants are also called sardonyx.

The banded nature of sardonyx is used to advantage by lapidaries and artisans, as a careful selection of material and design allows the creation of bas-relief art, where one layer is left as a foreground, and another is used as the background for a carving.

Sardonyx is the traditional birthstone for August. It is associated with relaxation and security.

September: Sapphire, Lapis Lazuli

Sapphires are well known from such places as Sri Lanka and India, and excellent specimens are also found in Tanzania and the Kola Pennensula of Russia. In addition, sapphires are found in many places throughout the world, including North Carolina, Brazil, and China.

Sapphires are extremely durable (only diamond and moisannite are harder).  Artificial sapphire crystals are used are used as the crystal face in genuine Rolex watches, and they are extremely scratch resistant.

Sapphires are gems that come in various colors, including, white, pink and blue. Sapphires will bring truth, constancy and sincerity. Sapphires are believed to help with insight, interpretation and clairvoyance and sapphires banish bad thoughts. The healing properties that sapphires have are cancer, burns, hearing problems and they are said to lower fever.

Lapis Lazuli

Lazurite is a popular but generally expensive mineral. Well-formed, deep blue crystals are rare and valuable. It is more commonly found massive and combined with other minerals into a rock called Lapis Lazuli, which is an alternate birthstone for the month of September.

Lapis lazuli (often simply called lapis) is mostly lazurite but commonly contains pyrite and calcite and some other minerals. The name means “blue rock” and is always a brilliant blue with violet or greenish tints. The rich blue color is due to the sulfur that is inherent in the structure of lazurite. Small crystals of pyrite are always present in lapis and their brassy yellow color is both attractive and diagnostic in distinguishing lapis from its also blue cousin - sodalite rock, which lacks pyrite. The calcite produces white streaks in the lapis and too much calcite will lower the value of the stone.

Lapis lazuli has been mined for centuries from a locality still in use today in the remote mountain valley called Kokcha, Afghanistan. First mined 6000 years ago, the rock was transported to Egypt and present day Iraq and later to Europe where it was used in jewelry and for ornamental stone. Europeans even ground down the rock into an expensive powdered pigment for paints called “ultramarine”. Today ultramarine is manufactured artificially. Although no longer the only source of lapis, Afghanistan still produces the finest quality material.

Sandra Kemppainen, Susan Fred.