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Evaporites & halides · Blue ray
Celestite
Celestite is strontium sulfate, and its soft powdery blue is one of the few genuinely natural blues in the mineral world. Most of what reaches the market is hollow geodes from Madagascar lined with pale blue crystals, and they are as fragile as they look: the crystals snap, the colour fades, and the geodes crumble at the edges.
At a glance
Pale blue strontium sulfate, usually sold as hollow geodes, and one of very few genuinely blue minerals.
- Composition
- SrSO₄
- Crystal system
- Orthorhombic
- Hardness
- Mohs 3.5
- Family
- Evaporites & halides
- Colour ray
- The blue ray
- Main sources
- Madagascar, United States (Ohio), Poland, Egypt, Mexico
- Care
- Fragile at 3.5, fades in light. A display mineral only.
Themes
stillness
the pale blue
fragility
quiet
what fades
What it actually is
Strontium sulfate, SrSO4, orthorhombic, hardness 3 to 3.5, with perfect cleavage in one direction and good cleavage in another.
Its pale blue is intrinsic and thought to be caused by colour centres associated with trace impurities and natural irradiation, which is why it fades: light destroys the same colour centres.
Celestite is the principal ore of strontium, which is used in fireworks and flares for its red flame, in ceramic magnets and formerly in cathode ray tube glass.
It is also called celestine, which is the internationally preferred mineralogical name; celestite is the commoner trade usage and both refer to the same mineral.
Barite is its close relative, sharing the same structure with barium in place of strontium, and the two form a series.
Where it comes from
Madagascar produces the geodes that dominate the decorative market, from deposits near Sakoany. They form in sedimentary rock where strontium-rich fluids filled cavities.
Ohio in the United States produced the famous large crystals from Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island, where a celestite geode large enough to walk into is preserved as a show cave.
Poland, Egypt, Tunisia, Mexico and Britain also produce material.
Industrially, celestite is mined in Spain, Mexico, China and Iran as the source of strontium compounds.
The geode trade is worth understanding: geodes are cut open and the halves sold separately, which is why so many pieces on the market are open bowls with a crystal lining.
What the traditions claimed
Celestite has essentially no traditional lore. It was named in the nineteenth century from the Latin caelestis, meaning heavenly, after its colour, and it was not a distinguished material before then.
Its softness and fragility also explain the absence: it cannot be worked into jewellery, carried, or made into anything durable, so no culture built a practice around it.
The modern reading, which is all there is, ties celestite to calm, to stillness and to what crystal writing often calls angelic connection, on the strength of its name and its pale sky-blue colour. It appears in that literature from the later twentieth century.
That is a meaning derived from a nineteenth-century name derived from a colour, which is a fairly short chain, and it is worth knowing the length of it.
The honest thing celestite offers is that it is quiet to look at, which is not nothing.
How it is worked with
Treat it as a display mineral. A geode half on a shelf where light catches the crystals is the standard and correct use.
Keep it out of direct sunlight, which fades the blue noticeably within months in a bright window. This is one of the fastest-fading minerals in the catalogue.
Do not wash it, do not brush it hard, and do not handle the crystals directly, since they snap easily at the base and the geode edges crumble.
If you want a blue stone you can carry, blue lace agate at hardness 7 costs about the same and survives.
For the stillness reading specifically, the object works best somewhere you will glance at it rather than somewhere you will pick it up.
Buying it honestly
Celestite is not usually faked, since it is inexpensive and the material is distinctive.
Dyed geodes exist, usually in unnaturally bright blue, and dye pools at the crystal bases and in the matrix.
Some geodes have crystals glued in, which is a general problem in the cheap geode trade rather than a celestite-specific one. Look for adhesive at the base of the crystals.
Quartz and calcite geodes are sometimes sold as celestite.
The genuine buying issue is condition and fading. Pieces that have sat in a shop window are already paler than they were, and there is no way to restore the colour. Ask how long a piece has been on display, and buy from somewhere that keeps stock out of the light.
Handle with care
Very fragile at 3.5 with perfect cleavage; crystals snap and geode edges crumble. Fades quickly in sunlight. Do not wash, do not carry, do not handle the crystal tips.
Fikr yuritish uchun savollar
- What am I keeping somewhere that is slowly ruining it?
- What in my life is quiet enough that I only notice it when I look on purpose?
- Where would stillness serve me better than another attempt?
Follow the thread
Frequently asked questions
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