Stone Mania

Lapis lazuli shares with turquoise the distinction of being among the most prized of all gemstones of earlier civilizations.  Lapis lazuli also has one of the longest traditions of being recognized as a gemstone with a history stretching back to 5000BC.

In Babylonia, Ur and ancient Egypt, lapis lazuli was highly valued.  It was believed to cure melancholy and a particular kind of recurrent fever.

Egyptian burial sites dating back before 3000 B.C. contained thousands of jewellery items many of which were made from lapis lazuli.  This stone was also ground into a powder which was used extensively by Roman, Persian and Chinese women to paint their eyebrows.

In Rome, lapis lazuli was considered a powerful aphrodisiac.  In South America, the Chilean deposit was used by ancient civilizations at least 1500 years B.C. The ancient royal Sumerian tombs of Ur, located near the Euphrates river in Iraq, contained more than 6000 beautifully executed lapis lazuli statuettes of birds, deer and rodents as well as dishes, beads and cylinder seals. These carved artefacts undoubtedly came from material mined in Badakhshan in northern Afghanistan.  To this day, the finest gemstones still come from this same area and it is believed that this may be the oldest continually worked set of mines in the world.  These same mines supplied the lapis lazuli of the Pharaohs.

From the days of ancient Greece and Rome through to the renaissance, lapis lazuli was pulverized to make a durable pigment called ultramarine which was used extensively to produce the intense blue colour seen in many of the world's most famous oil paintings.  This pigment was used until the nineteenth century when another method to produce this colour was then found.

The first noted use of lapis lazuli as a pigment can be seen in the 6th and 7th century AD cave paintings in Afghanistani Zoroastrian and Buddhist temples, near the most famous source of the mineral.  Lapis lazuli has also been identified in Chinese paintings from the 10th and 11th centuries, in Indian mural paintings from the 11th, 12th, and 17th centuries and on Anglo-Saxon and Norman illuminated manuscripts from circa 1100.  Natural ultramarine is the most difficult pigment to grind by hand and for all except the highest quality of mineral,  sheer grinding and washing produces only a pale grayish blue powder.  At the beginning of the 13th century an improved method came into use. 

The earliest cultures valued lapis lazuli more highly than gold.  The Greeks spoke of an ancient sapphire which was included with gold and this is believed to be lapis lazuli.  The gold speckles in the stone are iron pyrite.  The speckles which are found in lapis lazuli are important in helping to identify it as being genuine and do not detract from its value.

In crystal healing, lapis lazuli is believed to organize and relax the mind and help with self expression.  It is 'a stone of total awareness' helping to expand awareness and intellectual capacity.  It can be used in conjunction with dream work as well as to aid writing and creativity.  It is also believed to assist in the organization of ones life and in the routine day to day activities in which one is involved.  Lapis lazuli brings happiness to the wearer and success in relationships and assists in balancing the yin yang energies. 

Lapis lazuli is a cooling gemstone hence it helps draw fevers out of the body.  It calms the nervous system, helps with anxiety and insomnia and is also believed to soothe autism.  Lapis lazuli can also help with speech and hearing difficulties. 

As well as Afghanistan, lapis lazuli is also mined in Chile, Siberia, Angola, Myanmar (formerley Burma), Pakistan, USA and Canada.

Lapis lazuli is the anniversary gemstone for the 9th year of marriage.  It is graded 5 to 5.5 on Mohs scale of mineral hardness.

The following links offer further reading on lapis lazuli

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapis_lazuli

http://www.gemstone.org/gem-by-gem/english/lapis.html

http://www.gemologyonline.com/lapis.html

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