Lapis Lazuli Meaning and Healing Properties

Lapis lazuli is the oldest luxury good still being sold. The same mountain valley in northeastern Afghanistan has been supplying the world's best lapis for roughly seven thousand years, through Sumer, Egypt, Rome, the Renaissance and into your hand. Nothing else in the mineral trade has that kind of unbroken run.

Here is what it actually is, why it is a rock rather than a mineral, and how to tell real lapis from dyed jasper.

What Is Lapis Lazuli?

Lapis lazuli is not a mineral. It is a rock, a mixture of several minerals, which is why no single chemical formula describes it.

The blue comes from lazurite, a member of the sodalite group, which typically makes up 25 to 40 percent of good material. The white marbling is calcite. The gold flecks are pyrite. Smaller amounts of sodalite, haüyne, diopside and mica come along for the ride.

The proportions are the whole quality story. The finest grade is deep, even, violet toned blue with almost no calcite and a scattering of fine pyrite. Lower grades are paler and streaked with white, or so heavily pyritised that they read grey.

Lazurite gets its colour from sulphur, specifically from trisulphur radical ions trapped in the mineral's cage-like aluminosilicate structure. That is an unusual colour mechanism. Almost every other blue mineral gets there through a transition metal such as iron, copper or cobalt. Lapis gets there through sulphur, which is part of why the blue looks different from everything else.

Sar-e-Sang in the Badakhshan province of Afghanistan is the historic source and still produces the best material. Chile produces large quantities of paler, calcite heavy lapis. Russia's Lake Baikal deposits supply a middle grade. Pakistan, Myanmar and the United States have minor occurrences.

Worth knowing: for centuries lapis was ground to make ultramarine, the most expensive pigment in European painting. It cost more than gold by weight, which is why Renaissance contracts specified exactly how much ultramarine a painter was allowed to use on the Virgin's robe.

Lapis Lazuli Meaning

Lapis has been a stone of rulers and priests for as long as there have been either. Tutankhamun's funerary mask is inlaid with it. The Sumerian Standard of Ur is set with it. Cleopatra is reported to have used powdered lapis as eyeshadow. The Mesopotamian epic of Gilgamesh mentions it by name.

Across all of those cultures the associations are remarkably stable: truth, wisdom, royalty, the night sky, and the authority to speak. It was the stone of judges and scribes.

Modern crystal practice keeps that intact and places it at the third eye and throat. The common reading is self knowledge followed by self expression, in that order. Where amazonite is about saying the true thing kindly, lapis is described as being about knowing what the true thing is in the first place.

It is the September birthstone in some traditions, alongside sapphire, and the ninth anniversary stone.

What People Use Lapis Lazuli For

Third eye and throat work

Placed at the brow or the throat in meditation. The pairing of the two is traditional and most practitioners use it for both rather than choosing.

Study, writing and learning

On the desk during study or deep work. The scribe association has survived and students are a noticeable share of lapis buyers.

Speaking with authority

Carried or worn before anything where somebody needs to be believed. Interviews, court, presentations, hard feedback.

Dream work

Kept at the bedside, drawing on the night sky symbolism. Less common than the others but consistent.

Chakra: Third eye and throat

Zodiac: Traditionally associated with Sagittarius, Libra and Capricorn

Element: Water and air

Common pairings: Clear quartz as an amplifier, amethyst for the third eye, pyrite which it already contains, moonstone for intuition

Affirmation: I know what I think and I will say it.

How to Tell Real Lapis Lazuli From Fake

Lapis is heavily faked, mostly with dyed jasper, dyed howlite and dyed magnesite, plus a synthetic known as Gilson lapis and a long standing imitation called Swiss lapis, which is dyed jasper despite the name. Here is the working sequence.

• Look for pyrite. Real lapis almost always contains at least some pyrite, which appears as irregular metallic gold flecks of varying size, scattered unevenly, genuinely reflective. Fakes either have no gold at all or have gold specks that are too uniform, too evenly spread, and matte rather than metallic. Painted or glittery gold is an immediate fail.
• Look for calcite. White veining is a sign of authenticity, not a defect. Perfectly even blue with no white and no pyrite at all, at a low price, is almost always Gilson synthetic or dyed stone.
• Check the blue for depth. Real lapis has a slightly violet, slightly uneven blue with visible variation across the surface. Dyed material is flat, often more purple or more electric, and the colour frequently pools darker in cracks and pits.
• Acetone swab. Rub an inconspicuous spot with acetone on a cotton bud. Blue transfer means dye. This catches a lot of dyed jasper.
• Check hardness. Lapis is 5 to 6 on the Mohs scale. Howlite and magnesite are 3.5 to 4.5 and will scratch easily with a steel point. Jasper is harder than lapis, around 7, and will not scratch.
• Check weight and temperature. Real lapis is cold to the touch and feels dense. Plastic and resin imitations feel light and warm quickly.
• Be wary of "denim lapis" at premium prices. It is real lapis, just pale Chilean material heavy in calcite. Perfectly legitimate, should be priced as the lower grade it is.

How to Cleanse and Care for Lapis Lazuli

Lapis is softer and more vulnerable than most people assume. At 5 to 6 on the Mohs scale it will scratch against quartz, against steel, and against the grit in ordinary dust.

It is also porous and it contains calcite, which reacts with acid. That combination makes water a real problem. Prolonged water contact dulls the polish, can lift the calcite, and will loosen any wax or resin the piece was finished with. Many lapis cabochons are wax impregnated as standard, and water strips it.

So: no soaking, no salt water, no ultrasonic cleaners, no steam. Wipe it with a soft dry cloth. If it needs more, a barely damp cloth followed immediately by drying.

Keep it away from acids of any kind, including lemon juice, vinegar and most household cleaners. Keep it off perfume and hairspray, which is a genuine issue for lapis pendants.

Prolonged strong sunlight can fade it, and heat can damage both the stone and any wax treatment.

For cleansing, use smoke, sound, moonlight or a selenite plate. All dry, all safe.

Lapis Lazuli at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

Can lapis lazuli go in water?

No. It is porous, it contains calcite that reacts with acid, it is soft enough to dull, and many pieces are wax treated in a way water strips. Clean it with a dry or barely damp cloth.

Is the gold in lapis lazuli real gold?

No, it is pyrite, an iron sulphide also known as fool's gold. It is a natural component of lapis and its presence is one of the better signs that a piece is genuine.

Is white in lapis lazuli a flaw?

It is calcite, and commercially it lowers the grade. It is also proof the stone is real. Fine grade lapis has very little, but a piece with some white marbling is not fake, it is just a lower grade.

What is denim lapis?

Pale, calcite rich lapis, usually from Chile, sold under that trade name for its lighter blue. It is genuine lapis lazuli, just lower grade and it should cost noticeably less than Afghan material.

How can I tell dyed lapis?

Rub it with acetone on a cotton bud and look for blue transfer. Then look at the gold flecks: real pyrite is metallic, irregular and unevenly distributed. Painted or uniform gold is a fake.

Why is Afghan lapis more expensive?

Sar-e-Sang produces the deepest, most even, most violet toned blue with minimal calcite, and has done for thousands of years. Chilean and Russian material is paler and more heavily veined. The price difference reflects a real difference in the rock.

Shop Our Lapis Lazuli

Grade in lapis is all about the ratio of blue to white to gold, and that is impossible to judge from a generic photo. We shoot every piece in hand. Have a look at our lapis lazuli.

References

• Mindat.org, Lapis Lazuli and Lazurite mineral data
• International Gem Society, Lapis Lazuli Value, Price and Jewelry Information
• Handbook of Mineralogy, Mineralogical Society of America