Sponge Coral
Sponge coral is an organism that lives in the sea, It has been called the ‘garden of the sea’.
Color-: Strong orangey red, pink, white, blue, yellow and black.
Streaks-: Yellow or brownish in red and grey in blue sponge coral.
Hardness-: 3.5 on the Mohs scale.
Zodiac Sign-: Aries, Taurus, Libra (ancient).
Birthstone-: January, April, October, November (Ancient).
Occurrence-: Mediterranean Sea and in the Pacific Ocean near Japan and Taiwan, off the coast of Australia, the South Pacific, and Africa.
Metaphysical Properties-:
- Good aid for meditation or visualization.
- Symbolizes life and blood force energy.
- Dark red coral is used for heating and stimulating the bloodstream.
- Pink shades restore harmony to the heart.
- It is used as an aid to depression, lethargy or deficient nutrition.
Care & Handling-:
- Due to its softness and its porous nature, never let vinegar or any other alkaline cleaner touch your coral since they attack the surface (calcium carbonate).
- It may be washed regularly with light soapy water.
Note-: Some sponge coral also has to be dyed to enhance the natural color. Natural, untreated sponge coral is always rough.
Tourmaline
Origin-: From the Sinhalese word “Thuramali” or “Thoramalli” applied to different gemstones found in Sri Lanka.
Color-: Most commonly black, but can range from brown, violet, green, pink, or in dual coloured pink and green.
Varieties-:
- Dravite: Dark yellow to brownish black.
- Schorl: Bluish or brownish black to black.
- Rubellite( from Ruby): Red or pinkish-red.
- Brazilian indicolite: Light blue to bluish green.
- Brazilian Emerald: Green.
- Achroite: Colorless.
- Watermelon tourmalines are pink in the centre and green on the rim, or vice-versa.
- Yellow Tourmaline or yellow green is often simply called by its color.
Mohs Hardness-: 7-7.5 with the trigonal crystal structure.
Zodiac Sign-: Libra, Gemini, Virgo, Taurus, Capricorn.
Birthstone-: October.
Luster-: Vitreous.
Occurrence-: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia, Burma(Myanmar), Srilanka, The United States, and the African countries( Madagascar, Namibia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Nigeria and Malawi).
Metaphysical Properties-:
- Aids in understanding oneself and others.
- It promotes self-confidence and diminishes fear.
- Attracts inspiration, compassion and tolerance and prosperity.
- It balances the right-left sides of the brain.
- Helps treat paranoia, overcomes dyslexia and improve hand-eye coordination.
- Tourmaline releases tension, making it helpful for spinal adjustments.
- It balances male-female energy within the body.
- Enhances energy and removes blockages.
Treatment and Enhancements-:
- Heat treatment can enhance the colour of some Tourmalines.
- Some greenish stones can be made deep green, some brownish-red stones can be made red, and some light pink stones can be made colorless through heating.
- The color of some light color stones can also be made into deeper hue, and dark, transparent dravite can be made lighter.
Rainbow Moonstone
Origin-: Moonstone was named the state gemstone of Florida in 1970 after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s historic landing on the moon. It owes its name to the striking play of light on its surface which changes when the stone is moved.
Other Names-: Water Opal, Fish-eye and wolf’s-eye, “selenite”, “adularia”.
Color-: Colourless, white, yellow, green, pink or grey, but it always has a white or blue sheen. The coloured varieties mainly comes from India.
Hardness-: 6 on the Mohs scale with the monoclinic crystal structure.
Birthstone-: June and July.
Zodiac Sign-: Gemini, Cancer, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Aquarius and Pisces.
Occurrence-: Pennsylvania and Virginia, USA ,Brazil, the Europe Alps, India, Madagascar, Mexico, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania, with highest quality Moonstone found in Sri Lanka.
Metaphysical Properties-:
- Gentle and calming energy.
- Strengthen intuition and psychic perception.
- Enhance creativity and compensation and enliven inner confidence.
- Brings balance and harmony into your life.
- The rainbow effect draws in a spectrum of light, and can help with bringing in uplifting energy.
- It is said to enhance feminine energies.
- Rainbow Moonstone has been said to have power to grant wishes.
- Brings good fortune.
- Assist in foretelling the future.
- Promotes inspiration.
- Brings success in love as well as business matters.
- Offers protection on land and at sea.
- It can reunite lovers who have quarrelled.
- Moonstone is also considered a good luck stone.
- Moonstone is an excellent stone used in meditation to understand oneself.
Peridot
Peridot is from 13th century English word peridote. Derivates from the French term peritot which means vogue.
Color-: Yellow-green, olive-green, to brownish, sometimes a lime green, to emeraldish hue.
Varieties-:
- Bottle green colour is called Peridot.
- Yellowish green is called chrysolite.
- Olive green is olivine.
Mohs hardness-: 6.5 to 7 with an orthorhombic crystal structure.
Transparency-: Transparent to translucent.
Astrological sign-: Leo, Virgo and Scorpio, Gemini and Sagittarius.
Birthstone-: August.
Luster-: Vitreous (glassy).
Streak-: White or colourless.
Occurrence-: Saint John’s Island (Egypt), United States( Arizona and Hawaii), Myanmar, Burma, Australia, Norway, Pakistan, China, South Africa and Brazil.
Metaphysical properties-:
- Peridot should only be used by clear minded or spiritual people.
- Peridot is a gemstone of lightness and beauty.
- Peridot can be a protector against negative emotions.
- Peridot can be useful to find things that are lost.
- Peridot helps with speech.
- Peridot can help heart feeling and bruised egos.
- Peridot can help to release emotional tension when placed on the solar plexus.
Care and Treatment-:
- As with all gems, protect peridot from scratches and sharp blows.
- Also avoid drastic temperature changes.
- Do not clean peridot in home ultrasonic cleaner
Tanzanite
Tanzanite is known as gem Zoisite or blue/purple Zoisite.
Origin-: Discovered in 1967 when Tiffany Jewelers introduced it to the market in the Mererani Hills of Northern Tanzania near the city of Arusha and Mount Kilimanjaro.
Color-: Purple to blue, Bronze.
Hardness-: 6.5 on the Mohs scale with an orthorhombic crystal structure.
Birthstone-: December.
Zodiac sign-: Virgo and Sagittarius.
Luster-: Vitreous, pearly on cleavage surfaces.
Streak-: White or colorless.
Occurrence-: East African state of Tanzania in a volcanic basin called Merlani.
Metaphysical Properties-:
- “Stone of magic” that helps with spiritual awareness and psychic insight.
- “Workaholic’s stone” because it helps you slow down and take it easy, brings success in more areas of life.
- It relieves stress, depression and enhances composure, poise and harmony.
- To transmute negativity.
- Physically it is said in healing folklore and crystal healing to be beneficial for stress related illnesses and high blood pressure in particular.
- Tanzanite is related primarily to the throat and third eye chakras.
Handling-:
- Ultrasonic: Unsafe; never clean tanzanite with ultrasonic cleaners.
- Steamer: Not safe.
- The best way to care for tanzanite is to clean it with warm, soapy water.
- Acids: Attacked by hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acids.
- Heat: Fuses under jeweler’s torch; sudden temperature changes may cause cracking.
Enhancements-: Virtually all tanzanite is heat treated (approx. 500°C), which converts the brown pleochroic color blue.
