Benefits of Lapis Lazuli Along With Other Interesting Notes and Useful Information About This Vivid Blue Prized Gemstone

 
Benefits of Lapis Lazuli
Along With Other Interesting Notes and Useful Information About This Vivid Blue Prized Gemstone

A Multifaceted Preface on the History, Artistic Use, Metaphysical and Spiritual
Benefits of Lapis Lazuli

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Perhaps you are learning about shamanism and light-working and are beginning your work with the chakras.  Maybe you are holding your new strand of lapis lazuli beads and thought you would look up their history.  Maybe you are an artist, and you would like to know more about the pigment ultramarine or how to make your own. 

Whatever the reason you landed here, keep reading to learn more about lapis lazuli.  It is a very versatile mineral-composite rock and has a rich history and wealth of uses: metaphysically, spiritually, artistically, and so much more.  It’s one cool rock!

Lapis Lazuli is one of the Oldest & Most Sought after Rocks

It is no wonder as to why lapis lazuli is so loved.  You can’t beat that gorgeous saturated blue color!    The occurrence of lapis lazuli (sometimes simply shortened to “lapis”) was first intensively mined over 6,000 years ago in northeastern Afghanistan where it is still mined today.  This mining operation is still the largest locality for large deposits of lapis lazuli.  That’s a lot of lapis!  Later, it was discovered in large deposits in Russia and Chile and smaller deposits in the United States, Canada, Italy and Mongolia.  The demand for lapis lazuli has generated large mining operations in all of these countries.

Lapis Lazuli and its Intriguing History

·      Lapis lazuli has kept its ancient Middle Ages etymology and literally translates to “stone of azure,” coming from the Latin word lapis, meaning “stone” and the Latin word lazuli, meaning just that, “lazuli.”  Lazuli comes from the earlier Arabic word lazuward, and means “azure.” 

·      Now, close your eyes and picture a bust of an Egyptian pharaoh.  Do you see it?  Yes! Blue and gold.  Lapis lazuli was a top precious stone reserved for Egyptian royalty.  The well-known sarcophagus of King Tutankhamun was heavily inlaid with lapis lazuli.  It was also the stone that was inlaid as his eyebrows for his funeral mask.  Other burial materials for royalty were made of gold and lapis too. 

·      Lapis lazuli is also referred to numerous times in the Egyptian Book of the Dead.

Today’s Metaphysical Benefits of Lapis Lazuli

Lapis Lazuli has a very calming color and can benefit us mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically. 

Mental, Emotional and Spiritual Applications

·      Lapis lazuli is a calming stone, as many of the blue colored rocks and minerals are. It is most frequently utilized for various benefits in inducing serenity and clarity.

·      It symbolizes and is physically used on the 5th body energy point, the throat chakra. Placing a small lapis lazuli gemstone on your throat during meditation or wearing a strand of beads around your neck throughout the day unblocks the 5th chakra energy center and aides in helping better self-expression. It works in opening communication to a more positive light.  It benefits us by allowing us to share and communicate with others with words that are kinder, more polite, and all truthful.

·      Lapis lazuli is also used with the 6th chakra, the third-eye chakra.  It is said to open your third-eye and work as a bridge between the physical and spiritual worlds.  It is, therefore, one of the more common stones used to unlock memories and recall past lives. 

·      It is also used as a healing gemstone that helps us work through our emotions and positively assists in times of depression, anxiousness and general protection of overall mental health.

Physical Benefits of Lapis Lazuli

·      Lapis lazuli promotes restful and peaceful sleep.  Try putting a piece under your pillow at night. 

·      Because of its affiliation with the throat chakra and communication, it can help physically heal the respiratory system or any other systems and organs related to communication and the throat.

·      Lapis lazuli can help with speech impediments and clarity of voice.

·      As with most safe-to-use rocks and minerals, gem tinctures and elixirs have been made by placing a small piece of lapis in a bottle and combining with alcohol (or spring water in the case of gemstones) as a means to extract the lapis lazuli essence from the stone into the liquid over time.  

Religious and More Esoteric Interesting Notes

·      In new age religions, lapis lazuli is one of the gemstones connected to the water element, and therefore, exhibits an overall symbol of emotion and communication.

·      The most famous paintings you have seen of the Virgin Mary in Christianity are those where Mary is clothed in blue and white.  The blue colored cloth was made from a pigment ground from lapis lazuli and intentionally worn by the artists’ models for the paintings, again showing its relation to royalty.  The Virgin Mary is viewed and esteemed for her innocence, purity, and gentle mothering (communication with child).

Other Interesting Facets 

 ·      Lapis lazuli is a rock.  It is not a mineral.  Minerals have a uniform chemical composition throughout their structural matrix.  Rocks are aggregates of minerals.  Lapis lazuli is composed mostly of the minerals lazurite, sodalite, calcite and pyrite.  Other minerals can be present, just in lower concentrations.  The primary mineral component is lazurite.  Lazurite, sodalite, and another mineral, azurite, are often confusing to differentiate by the novice collector. 

·      Especially for beads and cabochons, some lapis lazuli is ground down and then reconstituted.  One way, although not a guarantee every time, to differentiate between reconstituted lapis and authentic untouched rock is to look for pyrite flecks in the grain of the rock.

·      Lapis lazuli is the traditional gemstone to give as a wedding gift during the 7th and 9th year anniversaries.

·      The pigment, ultramarine, is made from lapis lazuli.  The rock is crushed, micronized as much as possible, and then oil is added, producing the ultramarine paint.  Using a mortar and pestle,  lapis lazuli is ground into a fine powder, linseed oil is added and mixed well and that's it!

·      Lapis lazuli ranges from intense vivid sea blue to slightly greenish-blue to sometimes purplish-blue.  The coloring is dependent on the overall mineral composition of the rock.  The lighter colored lapis lazuli that has a slight washed-out look is called “denim lapis” in the gem and jewelry trades.

With its rich history and so many interesting points and benefits, whole books for each topic could easily be dedicated to lapis lazuli.  Use this article as introductory guide, and please feel free to bookmark this page and share it with your friends.

•   The overall western medical community does not recognize the benefits of gemstones.  Please do not replace the listed uses with your health practitioner’s recommendations.