Satin Spar
gypsum (fibrous variety)
The white silky towers everyone owns and everyone calls selenite. It is fibrous gypsum, same mineral, different habit, mined mostly in Morocco and carved by the container-load. People carry it for clarity, calm and protection. Tradition attaches it to the element spirit, the crown chakra, Moon.
Seen · you don't have this one yet
This one does not go in water. It dissolves.
Mineral facts
Hardness
2 Mohs
Formula
CaSO4·2H2O
Family
sulfate
Where it comes from
Morocco, Mexico, USA (Oklahoma, New Mexico), Spain, Turkey
What it is
The white silky towers everyone owns and everyone calls selenite. It is fibrous gypsum, same mineral, different habit, mined mostly in Morocco and carved by the container-load. It has the useful property of being ruined by exactly the two cleansing methods most often recommended for it.
What it is confused with
selenite, milky-quartz, howlite, marble, fibre-optic-glass, moonstone
Milky-white with a strong silky, fibrous sheen that runs as a single bright band along the length of the fibres and moves as you tilt it, cat's-eye chatoyancy from parallel gypsum fibres. Almost every carved 'selenite' tower, wand, lamp and charging plate on the market is this material. Fibres are visible as fine parallel lines on the surface. Softer than a fingernail scratch, fibrous fracture, will fray at the ends into silky threads. Never transparent.
How to tell
Fingernail scratches it (2). Parallel silky fibres with a moving sheen along one axis. Does not fizz in vinegar (unlike marble). Dissolves and clouds in water, unlike quartz or glass.
Untreated, but almost universally mislabelled: this is satin spar gypsum, not selenite. Both are gypsum, so the error is varietal rather than a fake, and the app should say so plainly.
What it means for you
The Moon is at 1° Scorpio today. Satin Spar is a sulfate, 2 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.
Satin Spar for every sign
Aries
Your selenite tower is satin spar.
Your selenite tower is satin spar. Same mineral, different habit, fibrous gypsum carved by the container-load in Morocco. It has the useful property of being destroyed by exactly the two cleansing methods most often recommended for it, so keep it off the bathroom shelf.
Taurus
Your tower is satin spar.
Your tower is satin spar. Both are gypsum, so the error is varietal rather than a fake, and Morocco carves the fibrous kind by the container-load. It is destroyed by exactly the two cleansing methods most often recommended for it, which is worth knowing before the next damp shelf.
Gemini
Your selenite tower has been satin spar the whole time.
Your selenite tower is satin spar. Same mineral, fibrous habit, mined by the container-load in Morocco and carved into every lamp and charging plate in the shop. The error is varietal rather than fraudulent, and it is still the wrong word.
Cancer
The recommended cleansings are exactly what ruin it.
Nearly every selenite tower and charging plate in existence is satin spar, the fibrous habit of the same gypsum, cut by the container-load in Morocco. It is the most damaged stone in the trade, because the two cleansing methods most often recommended for it are water and salt.
Leo
Your selenite tower is satin spar, and always was.
Your selenite tower is satin spar. Same mineral, fibrous habit, carved by the container-load in Morocco, and the silky cat's-eye band running down its length is the giveaway. It is destroyed by exactly the two cleansing methods most often recommended for it, water and salt.
Virgo
Ruined by exactly the two methods recommended for it.
Your selenite tower is satin spar. Same mineral, fibrous habit, carved by the container-load in Morocco, and it goes chalky and pitted the moment it meets water or salt. Those happen to be the two cleansing methods most often recommended for it. Dry brush, and keep it off the bathroom shelf.
Libra
Same mineral, different habit, wrong label.
Keep it away from water and salt, which are the two cleansing methods most often recommended for it. Almost every white tower, wand and charging plate sold as selenite is satin spar, a fibrous gypsum with a silky cat's-eye band running the length of the fibres. Same mineral, wrong name.
Scorpio
The two recommended cleansings are the two that ruin it.
Do not wash it. This is fibrous gypsum rather than selenite, and the two cleansing methods most often recommended for it, water and salt, are precisely the two that ruin it. Almost every white tower and charging plate on the market is this material, carved by the container-load in Morocco.
Sagittarius
The recommended cleansings are the two things that destroy it.
Almost every white tower sold as selenite is satin spar, a fibrous habit of the same gypsum, carved by the container-load in Morocco. Water and salt both dissolve the surface into chalk. The recommended cleansings are the two things that destroy it.
Capricorn
Ruined by the two cleansing methods everybody recommends for it.
The white silky tower on your shelf is not selenite. It is satin spar, the fibrous habit of the same gypsum, quarried in Morocco and carved by the container-load. Water and salt both destroy it, and those are the two cleansing methods everybody recommends for it.
Aquarius
It is ruined by the two cleansing methods recommended for it.
Never wash it. Almost every white tower or charging plate sold as selenite is this instead: fibrous gypsum, same mineral, different habit, carved in Morocco by the container-load. It is ruined by the two cleansing methods most often recommended for it.
Pisces
The two recommended cleansing methods both dissolve it.
Never wash it. The white silky tower on your shelf is fibrous gypsum rather than selenite, and the two most commonly recommended cleansing methods both dissolve its surface into chalk. Morocco carves it by the container-load and the trade has never once corrected the name.
Correspondences
What tradition attaches to this stone. Folklore, not chemistry.
Element
spirit
Planet
Moon
Chakra
crown
Signs
cancer, taurus, pisces
What tradition says
In crystal lore, satin spar inherits selenite's attributions of clearing and calm and is commonly used as a charging plate for other stones; the practice is a late-twentieth-century Western invention.
Care
- Do not put this one in water. It dissolves or spalls. Dust it dry.
- Salt scratches it. Do not bury it in salt.
- The single most-damaged stone in the trade. Water dissolves the surface, leaving it chalky, rough and dull; salt does the same. Dry brush only. Keep off wet bathroom surfaces and away from humid rooms.
Common questions
What does satin spar mean?
Satin Spar is carried for clarity, calm and protection. The white silky towers everyone owns and everyone calls selenite.. Tradition links it to the crown chakra.
Is satin spar real or fake?
Satin Spar is not faked often, but it is still worth checking. Fingernail scratches it (2). Parallel silky fibres with a moving sheen along one axis.. Untreated, but almost universally mislabelled: this is satin spar gypsum, not selenite.
Can satin spar go in water?
No. Satin Spar dissolves or spalls in water. Dust it dry instead of soaking it, and keep it out of salt.
Common · milky white, pearl, cream, pale peach
Where this leads
This stone belongs to
Related crystals
FOR ENTERTAINMENT AND REFLECTION. NOT MEDICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, FINANCIAL OR LEGAL ADVICE. How this works