Labradorite
labradorite (plagioclase feldspar series)
A grey plagioclase feldspar whose internal layering is spaced at exactly the wavelength of visible light, so it throws aurora colours from a stone that otherwise looks like driveway gravel. Named for the Labrador coast where the Inuit had long known it. People carry it for intuition, protection and transformation.
Seen · you don't have this one yet
Mineral facts
Hardness
6-6.5 Mohs
Formula
(Ca,Na)(Al,Si)4O8, An50–An70
Family
feldspar
Where it comes from
Madagascar, Canada (Labrador, Quebec), Finland, Russia, Mexico, Australia
What it is
A grey plagioclase feldspar whose internal layering is spaced at exactly the wavelength of visible light, so it throws aurora colours from a stone that otherwise looks like driveway gravel. Named for the Labrador coast where the Inuit had long known it. The best of it is indistinguishable from a bruise until it catches the light.
What it is confused with
spectrolite, rainbow-moonstone, moonstone, aura-quartz, larvikite, black-moonstone
A dull grey-to-khaki body that suddenly ignites in a sheet of electric blue or green when the light hits a specific angle, then goes dead again, labradorescence. The flash covers broad zones and switches on and off as a plane, not as scattered glitter, and it comes from inside the stone, beneath the surface. Look for straight, fine, parallel twinning striations on cleavage faces, and two cleavage directions meeting at roughly 90 degrees producing flat stepped facets. Raw material shows blocky cleavage fragments, never rounded grains.
How to tell
Rotate the stone slowly under a single light. Labradorescence appears and vanishes across a whole plane at one angle; aura coating is visible from every angle and covers even broken faces. Two cleavage directions at ~90° and a hardness of 6, 6.5 (does not scratch quartz, is scratched by quartz) confirm feldspar.
What it means for you
The Moon is at 1° Scorpio today. Labradorite 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.
Labradorite for every sign
Aries
It shows you nothing until the angle is right.
A grey plagioclase feldspar whose internal layering happens to be spaced at the wavelength of visible light, so it throws blue and green out of something that looks like driveway gravel. It has two clean cleavage directions and splits if dropped on an edge. It shows you nothing until the angle is right.
Taurus
Two cleavages mean it splits if dropped on an edge.
The internal layering is spaced at the wavelength of visible light, so a stone that looks like driveway gravel throws aurora colours. Inuit tradition holds that the northern lights were once trapped in the rock of the Labrador coast. Two cleavages mean it splits if dropped on an edge.
Gemini
Two appearances, one object, and the angle decides.
Rotate it slowly under one lamp. The flash arrives across a whole plane at one angle and then the stone goes back to looking like driveway gravel, because the colour is light interfering with itself inside the feldspar. Two appearances, one object, and the angle decides.
Cancer
Nothing on the surface tells you it is in there.
The grey body is the whole disguise. Light gets into the feldspar, meets layers spaced at the wavelength of visible light, and comes back out interfering with itself, which is why the blue exists only at one angle. Nothing on the surface tells you it is in there.
Leo
The performance requires a specific angle and specific lighting.
It looks like driveway gravel from every angle but one. Internal lamellae spaced at the wavelength of visible light throw a sheet of blue or green when the light finds them, then the whole stone goes dead again. The performance requires a specific angle and specific lighting.
Virgo
Layering spaced at the wavelength of visible light.
Two cleavage directions meet at close to ninety degrees, so it splits cleanly if you drop it on an edge. The flash comes from internal layering spaced at the wavelength of visible light, which is why driveway gravel throws aurora colours at exactly one angle. Rotate it slowly or you miss it.
Libra
The crystal grew as two orientations at once.
The flash comes from internal layering spaced at exactly the wavelength of visible light, and the cleavage faces carry fine parallel lines where the crystal grew as two orientations at once. Grey rock, then a sheet of blue, then grey again. It pays out at one angle only.
Scorpio
Nothing visible from outside predicts it.
A grey plagioclase whose internal layering is spaced at the wavelength of visible light, so it throws aurora colour out of something that otherwise looks like driveway gravel. Rotate it a few degrees and the whole plane goes dead again. Nothing visible from outside predicts it.
Sagittarius
Dead until the angle is right.
A grey feldspar whose internal layering is spaced at the wavelength of visible light, so it throws aurora colours from something that otherwise looks like driveway gravel. Named for the Labrador coast, though Madagascar supplies most of it now. Dead until the angle is right.
Capricorn
Driveway gravel until the light arrives at the correct angle.
Grey plagioclase whose internal layering is spaced at exactly the wavelength of visible light, so a rock that looks like driveway gravel throws aurora colours at one angle and goes dead at all the others. Two clean cleavage directions mean it splits if dropped on an edge. None of that is a metaphor.
Aquarius
The flash exists at certain angles and nowhere else.
The grey is the honest colour. The blue arrives only when light enters, strikes microscopic lamellae inside the feldspar and comes back out interfering with itself, so the flash exists at certain angles and nowhere else. Aquarius is legible under similar conditions.
Pisces
Light leaves it different from how it arrived.
Grey as driveway gravel until the angle is right, then a whole face lights at once. The colour comes from light entering the feldspar, striking internal layers spaced at the wavelength of visible light, and leaving different from how it arrived. Nothing on the surface is doing it.
Correspondences
What tradition attaches to this stone. Folklore, not chemistry.
Element
water
Planet
Uranus
Chakra
third-eye, throat, crown
Signs
scorpio, sagittarius, leo, aquarius
What tradition says
In crystal lore, labradorite is associated with the threshold between worlds, with protecting the aura and with concealing intention; Inuit tradition holds that the northern lights were once trapped in the rocks of the Labrador coast.
Care
- Water is fine. Dry it afterwards.
- Two good cleavage directions mean it splits cleanly if dropped on an edge. Water is fine; avoid knocks and ultrasonic cleaners.
Common questions
What does labradorite mean?
Labradorite is carried for intuition, protection and transformation. A grey plagioclase feldspar whose internal layering is spaced at exactly the wavelength of visible light, so it throws aurora colours from a stone that otherwise looks like driveway gravel.. Tradition links it to the third-eye, throat, crown chakra.
Is labradorite real or fake?
Labradorite is not faked often, but it is still worth checking. Rotate the stone slowly under a single light. Labradorescence appears and vanishes across a whole plane at one angle; aura coating is visible from every angle and covers even broken faces.
Can labradorite go in water?
A short rinse is fine for labradorite, then dry it.
Common · grey body with blue, green, gold, orange flash, smoky grey, dark khaki
Where this leads
This stone belongs to
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FOR ENTERTAINMENT AND REFLECTION. NOT MEDICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, FINANCIAL OR LEGAL ADVICE. How this works