Amazonite
microcline (potassium feldspar)
Green microcline, coloured by trace lead and structural water, and named after a river it has never actually been found in. The Pikes Peak pegmatites of Colorado produce the classic blocky crystals with smoky quartz. People carry it for communication, boundaries and calm. Tradition attaches it to the element earth, the heart, throat chakra, Uranus.
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Mineral facts
Hardness
6-6.5 Mohs
Formula
KAlSi3O8
Family
feldspar
Where it comes from
USA (Pikes Peak, Colorado), Russia (Ilmen Mountains), Madagascar, Brazil, Ethiopia, Mongolia
What it is
Green microcline, coloured by trace lead and structural water, and named after a river it has never actually been found in. The Pikes Peak pegmatites of Colorado produce the classic blocky crystals with smoky quartz. The white plaid streaking is exsolved albite, which is how you tell it from turquoise across a room.
What it is confused with
turquoise, chrysocolla, aquamarine, jadeite-jade, dyed-howlite, larimar
Opaque blue-green to mint with distinctive white or cream streaking and gridded patches, the white is exsolved albite, and it forms straight-edged lamellar streaks and a faint plaid or tartan pattern rather than random veining. Flat cleavage faces flash a bright pearly sheen when rotated, and two cleavages meet at close to 90°. Raw crystals are blocky prisms with stepped faces. Colour is often unevenly mottled with paler and deeper zones.
How to tell
Look for straight white lamellar streaks and mirror-flat cleavage flashes, turquoise has none of these and shows a matte, waxy, veined surface instead. Amazonite is scratched by quartz but not by a steel knife; howlite and magnesite are cut easily by a knife.
Untreated; the green comes from lead and water in the structure. Some pale material is dyed to deepen the colour, look for colour in fractures.
What it means for you
The Moon is at 1° Scorpio today. Amazonite is a feldspar, 6-6.5 on the Mohs scale, and it is the stone traditionally carried when the problem is proximity rather than intensity.
You know what this one would do for you. You just don't have it.
Amazonite for every sign
Aries
Keep it out of anything you plan to drink.
It contains structural lead, and a 2021 study found lead leaching out of it into acidic solution. Keep it out of anything you plan to drink. The white plaid streaking is exsolved albite, which is how you tell it from turquoise across a room without picking either of them up.
Taurus
Named after a river it has never been found in.
Green microcline, coloured by trace lead and structural water, named after a river it has never been found in. The white plaid streaking is exsolved albite and it is how you tell it from turquoise across a room. It contains structural lead, so keep it out of anything you drink.
Gemini
Named for a river it has never been found in.
Named for a river it has never been found in. The green is trace lead and structural water inside microcline, and the white plaid streaking is exsolved albite, which is how you pick it out against turquoise from across a shop. Lead leaches in acid, so keep it out of your glass.
Cancer
Named for a river it has never been found in.
Rinse it and dry it, and never soak it in anything you intend to drink, because a 2021 study found lead leaching out of amazonite into acid. The green comes from that lead and from water held in the microcline structure. Named for a river it has never been found in.
Leo
Named for a river it has never been found in.
Named for a river it has never once been found in. The green comes from trace lead and structural water in microcline, and the white plaid streaking is exsolved albite, which separates it from turquoise across a room. Lead leaches out in acid. Keep it out of anything you drink.
Virgo
Named for a river it has never once been found in.
Structural lead sits in the crystal, and a 2021 study found it leaching into acidic solution, so keep it out of anything you intend to drink. The white plaid streaking is exsolved albite in straight lamellae. It is named for a river it has never once been found in.
Libra
Feldspar separating out into a second feldspar, in plaid.
Green microcline named after a river it has never been found in. The white plaid streaking is exsolved albite, feldspar separating out into a second feldspar, and it is how you tell this from turquoise across a room. It also carries structural lead, so keep it out of drinking water.
Scorpio
Lead leaches out of it into acid. No water bottles.
Green microcline coloured by trace lead and structural water, named after a river it has never once been found in. A 2021 study measured lead leaching out of it into acidic solution. Solid polished pieces are safe to hold and none of it belongs in a water bottle.
Sagittarius
Named after a river it has never been found in.
Green microcline coloured by trace lead and structural water, named after a river it has never been found in. The classic blocky crystals come from the Pikes Peak pegmatites in Colorado, sitting next to smoky quartz. Never soak it in anything you plan to drink.
Capricorn
Named after a river it has never been found in.
Green microcline, coloured by trace lead and water locked into the structure, named after a river it has never once been found in. The white plaid streaking is exsolved albite, which separates it from turquoise across a room. Lead leaches out of it into acid, so keep it away from anything you drink.
Aquarius
Named after a river it has never been found in.
Named after a river it has never been found in. The green comes from trace lead and water sitting inside the microcline structure, and the white plaid streaking is albite that unmixed as the crystal cooled. Keep it out of anything you plan to drink.
Pisces
Water sits inside the structure and does part of the colouring.
Water sits inside the microcline structure and does part of the colouring, which is unusual and part of why the green never quite reads as solid. White albite streaks make a faint plaid across it. Never soak it in anything you intend to drink, because it contains structural lead.
Correspondences
What tradition attaches to this stone. Folklore, not chemistry.
Element
earth
Planet
Uranus
Chakra
heart, throat
Signs
virgo, aquarius, libra
What tradition says
In crystal lore, amazonite is associated with speaking honestly without cruelty and with filtering what is worth saying, a throat-chakra assignment made on colour grounds.
Care
- Water is fine. Dry it afterwards.
- Keep it out of direct sun. The colour goes and does not come back.
- Rinse and dry — brief water contact is fine, but never soak it in anything you intend to drink. The colour can pale with prolonged strong sunlight. Cleaves on impact.
Contains structural lead. Solid polished pieces are safe to handle, but a 2021 study found lead leaching from amazonite into acidic solution. Do not make elixirs, do not put it in drinking water, and wash hands after handling raw material.
Common questions
What does amazonite mean?
Amazonite is carried for communication, boundaries and calm. Green microcline, coloured by trace lead and structural water, and named after a river it has never actually been found in.. Tradition links it to the heart, throat chakra.
Is amazonite real or fake?
Amazonite is not faked often, but it is still worth checking. Look for straight white lamellar streaks and mirror-flat cleavage flashes, turquoise has none of these and shows a matte, waxy, veined surface instead. Amazonite is scratched by quartz but not by a steel knife; howlite and magnesite are cut easily by a knife.. Untreated; the green comes from lead and water in the structure.
Can amazonite go in water?
A short rinse is fine for amazonite, then dry it. Keep it out of direct sun, because the colour fades and does not come back.
Common · turquoise green, blue-green, mint, sage with white streaks
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This stone belongs to
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FOR ENTERTAINMENT AND REFLECTION. NOT MEDICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, FINANCIAL OR LEGAL ADVICE. How this works