A-Z Blog Challenge 2015–Crystal Fix–Lapis Lazuli

 Is For Lapis Lazuli

Lapis Lazuli—peace, courage, gentleness

• Place the stone on your skin or hold in your hand to produce a peaceful, tranquil state in mind, body, and spirit.
• When used in spells, it focuses energy on the outcome.
• Use it to heal and protect children, to strengthen bonds between lovers, and to increase psychic awareness.
• Helpful in divination.
• Can alleviate the pain of migraine headaches and overcome depression.
• Benefits the throat, larynx, thyroid, and hearing loss.
• Place it on the throat or third eye or above the diaphragm between the sternum and the top of the head.
• Lapis Lazuli recognizes and protects against spiritual attacks, sending the energy back to the sender.

I carried my little lapis lazuli around for a few days to get the feel of it.  I love the sound of it—LAP-is LAZ-oo-lee or LAP-is LAZ-oo-li  with a long i.  Either way, the name sounds like a spell.

On the second day, I lost it.  I looked everywhere.  Since I had not been outside, I knew it was in the house so I retraced my steps; I patted myself down; I dust mopped the floor and turned over couch cushions. No stone.  Finally, as I gave up I said out loud—just talking to the air—“Lapis Lazuli, where are you.” From the left leg of my warm-ups, the stone popped out and landed on the wooden floor with a clatter that sounded a lot like “Ta Da!”  No holes in my pocket so I have no explanation for how it got there and why twenty minutes of stomping around the house looking for it didn’t dislodge it sooner. So I will add playful to the list of tendencies.

More interesting stuff:

Lapis is Latin for stone and azula is Arabic in origin and means blue.  The word Azure has the same source. Lapis lazuli is a rock, often composed of 3 minerals: lazurite which gives it the blue color, calcite which adds white dots, pyrite which adds gold flecks. It was formed by a process  called contact metamorphism.  One way this happens if when magma heats rocks to a high temperature far underground.  The heat of the nearby magma added to the pressure of being deep beneath the earth’s surface changes the chemical composition of the surrounding materials. When different minerals come in contact with each other under these conditions, they bond.

Lapis Lazuli is mined in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan, to the west of Lake Baikal in Russia, and in the Chilean Andes.

Before the mid 1800s, Lapis Lazuli was ground, mixed with binding agents, and used as a paint. The Ultramarine of the Old Masters is lapis lazuli.  The eyebrows of the fantastic funeral mask of King Tutankhamen were made of lapis lazuli. Beads and scarabs made of this stone date back more than 5000 years.  It produces a distinctive smell when ground or tumbled.

Tarot cards associated with this stone are the Hierophant, the World, and the Wheel of Fortune.

• Lapis lazuli stones are sensitive to acid and should not be kept in direct sunlight. The stone is a Silicate
• Subclass: Tectosilicates
• Group:Both the Sodalite and Feldspathoid groups.
• Hardness 5-5.5

Tomorrow’s Crystal Fix: Moonstone

 Bonus--Last year for the A-Z Blog challenge, my theme was Magic. See the L is for Lunar post HERE.

Just Like Gravity is about past lives and karma.   Get a copy of Just Like Gravity HERE or HERE

Do you love witches and crystals and romance and danger?  Make a note on your Calendar: Zoraida Grey and the Family Stones will be released by Oghma Creative Media in September.  Go HERE to find out more!