Is all magnetite lodestone?

No, and the distinction matters. Magnetite is attracted to a magnet; lodestone is magnetite that has itself become permanently magnetised and therefore attracts iron. Only a small fraction of natural magnetite is lodestone, and the leading explanation for the magnetisation is lightning strikes.

Was the compass really invented for divination?

In China, the earliest documented use was geomantic. Han dynasty texts describe a spoon-shaped lodestone implement rotating on a bronze divination board, used for siting and for prognostication. Navigational use is recorded in China by the eleventh century and in Europe by the twelfth.

How do I test whether mine is real?

See whether it picks up iron filings or a paperclip on its own, without another magnet involved. Ordinary magnetite will not. Also weigh it in the hand: genuine lodestone is dense and irregular, while ferrite ceramic magnets sold under the name are lighter and suspiciously regular in shape.

Can a lodestone lose its magnetism?

Yes. Heating it above its Curie point destroys the magnetisation permanently, and hard impacts weaken it. Keep it away from heat and do not drop it. It can also rust at the surface if kept damp.

Is it safe to keep around electronics?

Keep it away from credit and hotel cards, mechanical watches, older hard drives and anything with a magnetic stripe. It should also be kept well away from pacemakers and similar implanted devices, which is a genuine caution rather than a formality.

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The metallic ores · Black ray

Lodestone

Lodestone is magnetite that has become naturally magnetised, probably by lightning, and it is the material that made the compass possible. Han dynasty China used lodestone spoons on divination boards before anyone used them for navigation, and every folk practice about drawing things towards you traces back to a stone that visibly does exactly that.

At a glance

Naturally magnetised magnetite, the material of the first compasses, and the root of every folk belief about attraction.

Composition: Fe₃O₄, magnetised
Crystal system: Cubic
Hardness: Mohs 6
Family: The metallic ores
Colour ray: The black ray
Main sources: United States, Mexico, Sweden, Russia, Italy
Care: Hard and stable, but it loses magnetism if heated or struck hard. Keep it dry.

Themes

direction attraction the first compass orientation what pulls

What it actually is

Magnetite, Fe3O4, cubic, hardness 5.5 to 6.5, that has acquired a permanent natural magnetisation.

Magnetite itself is common and strongly attracted to magnets, but only a small fraction of natural magnetite is itself magnetised strongly enough to attract iron. That distinction matters: magnetite is magnetic in the sense of being attracted; lodestone is magnetic in the sense of attracting.

The leading explanation for natural magnetisation is lightning. Strikes produce very strong transient magnetic fields, and the distribution of lodestone at and near the surface matches what that would predict.

A lodestone will pick up iron filings, paperclips and pins, and a freely suspended piece will align itself roughly north-south.

Heating a lodestone above its Curie point, or striking it hard, destroys the magnetisation.

Where it comes from

Lodestone occurs where magnetite is exposed at or near the surface. Notable sources include Magnet Cove in Arkansas, Cedar City in Utah, Mexico, Sweden, Russia and Italy.

Magnetite itself is a major iron ore and is mined at enormous scale, particularly in Sweden and Russia.

Magnesia in Asia Minor is the traditional origin of the name magnet, and classical sources connect the stone to that region.

Chinese use is the earliest documented. Han dynasty texts describe a spoon-shaped lodestone implement rotating on a bronze divination board, the sinan, which aligned north-south. Navigational use of the magnetic compass is recorded in China by the eleventh century and in Europe by the twelfth.

What the traditions claimed

The compass is the substantive history, and it began as a divination instrument rather than a navigational one. The Han sinan was used for geomancy and for siting buildings, which places lodestone at the origin of the feng shui compass tradition as much as at the origin of navigation.

Classical writers were fascinated by it. Pliny reports the story of Magnes the shepherd whose iron-nailed sandals stuck to the ground, and Lucretius devotes a passage of De Rerum Natura to explaining magnetic attraction.

Medieval European lapidaries treat lodestone extensively, and it appears in folk magic across Europe, the Americas and Africa as a drawing or attracting agent, often fed with iron filings and used in rituals about bringing something towards the practitioner.

That folk tradition is unusually direct: the stone does visibly pull, so the metaphor requires no argument.

Modern practice inherits the attraction reading with little modification.

How it is worked with

Lodestone is one of the few stones in the catalogue whose traditional use rests on something you can demonstrate. Put iron filings near it and they move, which is a very different kind of evidence from anything else here.

That makes it a good object for a reflection about attraction: what is actually pulling in a situation, and whether the pull is yours or the object's.

The folk practice of feeding a lodestone with iron filings is worth knowing as ethnography and is harmless.

Keep it dry, since magnetite can rust at the surface, and keep it away from heat and hard impacts, both of which reduce or destroy the magnetism.

Store it away from credit cards, mechanical watches and anything with a magnetic stripe or a sensitive mechanism.

Buying it honestly

The main misrepresentation is a manufactured magnet with a stone glued to it, or a piece of ordinary magnetite sold as lodestone.

Test it directly: a genuine lodestone picks up iron filings or a paperclip without help. Ordinary magnetite is attracted to a magnet but does not attract iron itself.

Ferrite ceramic magnets, the same material sold as magnetic hematite, are also sold as lodestone. They are uniformly dark, often suspiciously regular in shape, and much lighter than they look.

Genuine lodestone is irregular, rough and noticeably dense.

Beyond that, there is nothing valuable enough here to make elaborate fraud worthwhile, which is a pleasant change from the rest of this catalogue.

Handle with care

Loses magnetism if heated or struck hard. Can rust if kept damp. Keep it away from credit cards, mechanical watches, pacemakers and anything with a magnetic stripe or sensitive electronics.

Preguntas para reflexionar

What is actually pulling in this situation, and is the pull mine?
Which direction am I facing by default rather than by choice?
What would I have to put down to move towards what I say I want?

Follow the thread

⚫

Hematite

The other iron oxide, and the non-magnetic one

🟡

Pyrite

The third metallic ore here

🔷

Iolite

The other stone tied to finding direction

🪨

The metallic ores

The family this stone belongs to

⚫

The black ray

The ray it carries

Frequently asked questions

: No, and the distinction matters. Magnetite is attracted to a magnet; lodestone is magnetite that has itself become permanently magnetised and therefore attracts iron. Only a small fraction of natural magnetite is lodestone, and the leading explanation for the magnetisation is lightning strikes.
: In China, the earliest documented use was geomantic. Han dynasty texts describe a spoon-shaped lodestone implement rotating on a bronze divination board, used for siting and for prognostication. Navigational use is recorded in China by the eleventh century and in Europe by the twelfth.
: See whether it picks up iron filings or a paperclip on its own, without another magnet involved. Ordinary magnetite will not. Also weigh it in the hand: genuine lodestone is dense and irregular, while ferrite ceramic magnets sold under the name are lighter and suspiciously regular in shape.
: Yes. Heating it above its Curie point destroys the magnetisation permanently, and hard impacts weaken it. Keep it away from heat and do not drop it. It can also rust at the surface if kept damp.
: Keep it away from credit and hotel cards, mechanical watches, older hard drives and anything with a magnetic stripe. It should also be kept well away from pacemakers and similar implanted devices, which is a genuine caution rather than a formality.

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