Sodalite
sodalite (feldspathoid)
A feldspathoid, mined in quantity in Ontario after a 1901 find was used to decorate Marlborough House for Princess Margaret of Connaught, hence 'princess blue'. It is the cheap workhorse blue of the trade and the stone most often sold as lapis lazuli. People carry it for communication, clarity and intuition.
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Mineral facts
Hardness
5.5-6 Mohs
Formula
Na8(Al6Si6O24)Cl2
Family
silicate
Where it comes from
Brazil (Bahia), Canada (Bancroft, Ontario), Namibia, Russia (Kola), Afghanistan, Bolivia
What it is
A feldspathoid, mined in quantity in Ontario after a 1901 find was used to decorate Marlborough House for Princess Margaret of Connaught, hence 'princess blue'. It is the cheap workhorse blue of the trade and the stone most often sold as lapis lazuli. The absence of pyrite is the whole test.
What it is confused with
lapis-lazuli, dumortierite, azurite, dyed-howlite, lazurite, blue-aventurine
Opaque royal blue, a flat, slightly greyish navy rather than lapis's ultramarine, mottled and streaked with white calcite or nepheline in broad irregular patches and veins. Critically, sodalite contains no pyrite: if there are brassy metallic flecks, it is lapis. Streak is white, not blue. Vitreous-to-greasy luster with a slightly waxy polish. Many specimens fluoresce orange under longwave UV. Hackmanite darkens from white to violet-pink in sunlight and fades back in the dark.
How to tell
Two tells against lapis: no pyrite flecks, and a white streak on unglazed tile (lapis streaks blue). Sodalite's blue is greyer and its white patches are larger and blockier than lapis's calcite. A UV torch often shows orange fluorescence in the white veins.
Usually untreated, though pale material is sometimes dyed. Dyed howlite and dyed jasper are sold as sodalite and as lapis.
What it means for you
The Moon is at 1° Scorpio today. Sodalite is a silicate, 5.5-6 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.
Sodalite for every sign
Aries
Sodalite contains no pyrite.
Sodalite contains no pyrite. That absence is the whole test against lapis lazuli, and it streaks white on unglazed tile where lapis streaks blue. Ontario has been supplying it as the cheap workhorse blue since 1901, and it is the stone most often sold as something more expensive.
Taurus
No pyrite anywhere, which is the whole test.
Ontario mined it in quantity after a 1901 find decorated Marlborough House for Princess Margaret of Connaught, which is where princess blue comes from. It is the cheap workhorse blue of the trade and the stone most often sold as lapis. No pyrite anywhere, which is the whole test.
Gemini
Brassy flecks mean lapis, and there are none here.
No pyrite, no lapis. Sodalite is the cheap workhorse blue of the trade and the stone most often sold as lapis lazuli, and the separation takes one look plus a streak on unglazed tile, where sodalite writes white. Ontario has been calling its material princess blue since 1901.
Cancer
No pyrite anywhere, which is the whole separation from lapis.
A 1901 Ontario find was shipped over to decorate Marlborough House for Princess Margaret of Connaught, and the trade has said princess blue ever since. It carries no pyrite, which is the whole separation from lapis, and it streaks white where lapis streaks blue. The calcite veins dissolve in acid.
Leo
The test is pyrite. Sodalite has none of it.
A 1901 Ontario find was used to decorate Marlborough House for Princess Margaret of Connaught, which is where princess blue came from. It is the cheap workhorse blue of the trade and the stone most often sold as lapis. The test is pyrite, and sodalite has none.
Virgo
The absence of pyrite is the whole test.
The absence of pyrite is the whole test. Sodalite streaks white on unglazed tile where lapis streaks blue, and its navy runs greyer with blockier white patches. A 1901 Ontario find decorated Marlborough House and got it called princess blue. It is the stone most often sold as lapis.
Libra
The test is the absence of pyrite.
The test is the absence of pyrite. Sodalite is a flat greyish navy streaked with white calcite and carries no brassy flecks anywhere, which is what separates it from lapis across a counter. Ontario material decorated Marlborough House in 1901 and picked up the name princess blue.
Scorpio
No pyrite anywhere in it. That is the whole test.
Royal blue with no pyrite anywhere in it, and that absence is the whole test and the reason it keeps getting sold as lapis. Ontario produced it in quantity after a 1901 find was used to decorate Marlborough House for a princess, hence princess blue. The workhorse blue of the trade.
Sagittarius
It contains no pyrite, and that absence is the whole test.
Mined in quantity at Bancroft in Ontario after a 1901 find was used to decorate Marlborough House for a visiting princess, which is where princess blue comes from. It contains no pyrite, and that absence is the whole test against lapis. It is the cheap workhorse blue of the trade.
Capricorn
The absence of pyrite is the entire test.
Mined in quantity in Ontario after a 1901 find was used to decorate Marlborough House for a visiting princess, which is where princess blue came from. The absence of pyrite is the entire test against lapis. Hackmanite is the same mineral, and it darkens in sunlight then fades back in the dark.
Aquarius
The absence of pyrite is the entire test.
If there are brassy metallic flecks it is lapis, and if there are none it is this. Sodalite is a feldspathoid, a flat greyish navy mottled with white, mined in quantity in Ontario after a 1901 find decorated Marlborough House. The absence of pyrite is the entire test.
Pisces
That absence is the whole test.
Flat greyish navy rather than lapis ultramarine, mottled with white calcite, and carrying no pyrite whatsoever. That absence is the whole test. It is the reason so much sodalite gets sold as lapis to people who never checked, and Ontario supplies most of it.
Correspondences
What tradition attaches to this stone. Folklore, not chemistry.
Element
air
Planet
Jupiter
Chakra
throat, third-eye
Signs
sagittarius, aquarius, virgo
What tradition says
In crystal lore, sodalite is associated with rational thought, objectivity and saying what one actually means; the attributions are twentieth-century and colour-based.
Care
- Water is fine. Dry it afterwards.
- Reasonably durable but the calcite veins are soft and dissolve in acid. Brief water contact is fine; avoid soaking, salt and acidic cleaners. Hackmanite's colour change is reversible and harmless.
Common questions
What does sodalite mean?
Sodalite is carried for communication, clarity and intuition. A feldspathoid, mined in quantity in Ontario after a 1901 find was used to decorate Marlborough House for Princess Margaret of Connaught, hence 'princess blue'.. Tradition links it to the throat, third-eye chakra.
Is sodalite real or fake?
Sodalite is not faked often, but it is still worth checking. Two tells against lapis: no pyrite flecks, and a white streak on unglazed tile (lapis streaks blue). Sodalite's blue is greyer and its white patches are larger and blockier than lapis's calcite.. Usually untreated, though pale material is sometimes dyed.
Can sodalite go in water?
A short rinse is fine for sodalite, then dry it.
Common · royal blue, navy, blue-grey with white, occasionally pink or grey
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