Very old gemstone known as Lapis Lazuli

It has different names and different varieties as well. Some call it the stone azure and the others name it the blue stone. Yeah! You guess is right I am talking about lapis lazuli. The history of lapis lazuli can be traced even 5000 years back. It wouldn’t be wrong at all to call it a stone as old as hills. It has been mined in Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan for centuries. It got that name from the Latin word ‘lapis’ which means stone and from the Arabic word Azul which means blue or the color of the sky. Lapis lazuli is basically a metamorphic rock that has a bright blue color and it is consisted of many minerals like calcite, lazurite, pyrite and sodalite. Lapis lazuli potent dark blue shade is considered its best quality and because of its attractive colors this semi-precious gemstone is widely used in jewelry items, decorative items and ointments. These days lapis lazuli tiles are also being used in walls and other constructions to enhance the beauty of some place.

Lapis lazuli is not a hard gemstone like diamond or ruby, contrarily; it’s quite soft and has the hardness of just 5.5 on the Moh’s scale. Its luster and beauty greatly increase when it goes through different treatments. Heating can fade its color so it is avoided with excessive heat, similarly, different chemicals that are an essential part of its composition can react with other chemicals so it must also be avoided with chemical exposure. However, its beauty increases manifold when it is polished or used with different other shades and metals.

It is also considered a healer stone that keeps the bad spirits away from the wearer and brings good luck and success for the wearer. One must care of it a lot while and keep it as much clean as possible. It is said that if there is some dirt or other object on its surface, they hamper the way of those rays that are emitted by the stone and these rays are of different colors and cast different impact on the users.

It is said that Cleopatra of Egypt was quite habitual to use pulverized lapis lazuli as eye-shade. Similarly, many other well-known spiritual healers used that gemstone in their healings and treatments for the different diseases that were of physical as well as of spiritual kind.

Besides, Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, Lapis lazuli is also found in Russia, Chile and the US. But the qualities which are found in Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan are somewhat matchless as these places serve as hub for quality lapis lazuli.

In past lapis lazuli was widely used but its used began to decrease with the passage of time as there were other precious gemstones that gained much popularity in the world but now again they are getting in and it’s becoming quite trendy to use lapis lazuli in different items.

The author writes articles on Lapis Lazuli and Lapis Lazuli Handicrafts.

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