TE (తెలుగు)
Feldspar & the feldspathoids · Iridescent ray
Labradorite
Labradorite looks like an unremarkable grey stone until it is turned into the light, at which point internal layers throw back blue, green, gold and occasionally violet. Inuit tradition holds that the northern lights were trapped in the rock along the Labrador coast until a man struck them free, which is a better description of the effect than any technical one.
At a glance
Grey until the light hits it, then peacock blue and gold. Described from Labrador in 1770.
- Composition
- plagioclase feldspar
- Crystal system
- Triclinic
- Hardness
- Mohs 6
- Family
- Feldspar & the feldspathoids
- Colour ray
- The iridescent ray
- Main sources
- Madagascar, Finland, Canada (Labrador), Russia, Mexico
- Care
- Hardness 6 with cleavage. Safe in water, but chips and scratches easily.
Themes
the hidden
the flash
what is under the surface
the aurora
transformation
What it actually is
Plagioclase feldspar, triclinic, hardness 6, with two cleavage directions.
The flash is called labradorescence, and it works differently from moonstone's sheen. As the crystal cooled, its plagioclase composition separated into alternating microscopic lamellae, and light reflecting from the boundaries between those layers interferes constructively at particular angles and wavelengths. That is why the colour appears only from certain directions and why it can be blue in one orientation and gold in another.
Spectrolite is a trade name for the particularly vivid Finnish material, which shows the full spectrum rather than mainly blue.
White labradorite showing multicoloured flash is sold as rainbow moonstone.
Because the effect is directional, cutters orient a piece deliberately to put the best flash on the visible face, and a badly oriented stone can look almost dead.
Where it comes from
Madagascar is now the dominant source and supplies most of the tumbled, carved and slabbed material on the market. Finland's Ylamaa deposit produces spectrolite.
The type locality is Paul's Island off the coast of Labrador in Canada, where Moravian missionaries encountered the stone and it was described in 1770.
Russia, Mexico, Ukraine and the United States also produce material.
Because it is a common rock-forming mineral, labradorite occurs widely; what is uncommon is material with strong enough lamellar structure to show good flash.
What the traditions claimed
Labradorite has no ancient Old World tradition, since Europe only encountered it in 1770 and it was not a recognised material before that.
The Inuit account is the substantial traditional strand: that the aurora was once trapped in the rocks along the Labrador coast, and that a man struck the stones with a spear and freed most of the lights into the sky, leaving what remains inside the stone. That story is about the specific place the stone comes from and about the specific thing it does, which makes it a better fit than most attributions.
Everything else attached to labradorite is modern, largely from crystal writing of the last few decades: transformation, protection of the aura, intuition, and the revealing of hidden things.
Those readings are coherent and they follow directly from what the stone visibly does, which is to look like nothing until the angle changes.
How it is worked with
The useful reading is the obvious one: labradorite is the stone for situations that look different from a different position. It suits questions where you suspect you are only seeing one face of something.
It is common as tumbled stones, palm stones and polished slabs, and a large polished face shows the flash best. Small tumbled pieces often show very little.
At hardness 6 with two cleavage directions it is a pendant or pocket stone rather than a ring stone, and it should not be carried loose with keys.
Clean with a soft cloth and lukewarm soapy water. No ultrasonic cleaners.
Buy it in person if you can, and turn it in the light before paying: photographs of labradorite are always taken at the best angle.
Buying it honestly
Labradorite is rarely faked outright, since good material is not expensive.
The main issues are naming and quality. Spectrolite properly means the Finnish material and is applied loosely to anything with strong colour. Rainbow moonstone is white labradorite under another name.
Some pieces are coated or backed to intensify the flash, which shows as an unnaturally uniform colour and can wear at the edges.
Glass with a dichroic coating is sold in some markets as labradorite and looks too even.
The most common disappointment is not fraud but orientation: material cut without regard for the lamellae shows little flash, and photographs are taken at the one angle where it does.
Handle with care
Hardness 6 with two cleavage directions: it chips and splits under impact and scratches from household dust. No ultrasonic cleaning. Otherwise safe in water.
ఆలోచన కోసం ప్రశ్నలు
- What have I written off after looking at it from only one angle?
- What in me only shows under particular conditions, and is that a problem?
- Where am I taking a photograph at the flattering angle?
Follow the thread
Frequently asked questions
తాజా పోస్ట్లు
టారో కార్డుల ప్రాచీన జ్ఞానాన్ని కనుగొనండి, మీ ఆధ్యాత్మిక ప్రయాణంలోని రహస్యాలను ఆవిష్కరించండి. టారో రీడింగ్లోని గొప్ప ప్రతీకవాదం, అర్థాలు, ఆచరణాత్మక ఉపయోగాలను అర్థం చేసుకోవడానికి మా బ్లాగ్ మీ ప్రవేశద్వారం.
