Dumortierite Properties, Facts and Photos

Dumortierite Healing Properties

Dumortierite enhances mental function and improves concentration. It encourages clear communication, intuition and insight.

It's beneficial for patience and slowing down aggravated and irritable energies.  It can also be used to calm excitable behaviour and stubbornness.

Dumortierite stimulates communication between the body's various systems and can help with the expression of spiritual ideas and the comprehension of hidden meanings.

It helps to resolve opposing points of view and when placed on the throat chakra encourages open communication and the desire to share advice.

Dumortierite facilitates effective problem-solving and the ability to think "outside of the box".

It encourages calmness and understanding especially when dealing with difficult situations.  Its soothing energy helps reduce stress, anxiety and tension.

This calming influence can be particularly beneficial during times of emotional turmoil or when seeking relief from overwhelming thoughts.

Holding or wearing dumortierite is said to promote a sense of tranquility and inner peace.  It allows the mind to relax and find a state of equilibrium.

It promotes cellular regeneration and supports natural healing processes.

It can be used to promote spiritual growth and can serve as a valuable ally. Dumortierite is considered to be a stone of self-discipline and self-mastery.  It assists in developing a strong sense of willpower and determination.

Its energy fosters a deeper connection with one's inner self, encouraging personal growth and the release of negative patterns of behaviour.

Using dumortierite for meditation can facilitate a deeper state of relaxation and inner exploration.

Stones placed in a living or workspace can create a harmonious and peaceful environment.

Dumortierite Quartz

From a geological perspective commercial grade dumortierite is correctly known as dumortierite quartz.

This blue stone was named after Eugène Dumortier.  It was not as some references state discovered by him.

Dumortier was a French palaeontologist and geologist [1803 - 1873].  This newly discovered mineral was named after him in 1881 to honour his work in the region where it was found.   

Dumortierite typically forms fine prismatic crystals.  Prismatic crystals have an elongated shape with flat parallel faces running along the length of the crystal.

Although dumortierite crystals are best known for being blue they can also be violet, bluish-violet, brown, red and pink.

Dumortierite is widely described as a boro-silicate mineral.  Boro-silicate minerals contain the chemical elements boron and silicon.

After oxygen silicon is the most common element in Earth's crust.

Tourmaline is the most abundant borosilicate mineral whilst dumortierite comes a close second.  Dumortierite however remains relatively understudied in comparison.

Dumortierite is sometimes mistaken for the mineral sodalite.  It has also been used to imitate lapis lazuli which is far more scarce.

Dumortierite quartz is quartz that's heavily included with crystals of dumortierite.  Although the host mineral is often described as blue quartz, the colour comes from the inclusions of dumortierite.

The abundance of dumortierite crystal inclusions within the quartz is the reason for the stone being opaque.

Dumortierite occurs in metamorphic rocks rich in aluminium.  The finest grade material which can be exceptionally beautiful often features a mass of long slender crystals embedded within the mineral quartz.

The crystals have a vitreous lustre, are generally quite small and may exhibit pleochroism with colours varying from red to blue to violet.

Since its discovery dumortierite has been found in more than forty countries around the world.

How to Pronounce Dumortierite

We've heard some interesting ways to pronounce the mineral dumortierite.  We recently heard it pronounced du~mor~cherite.  That got us thinking whether the way we have always pronounced it was correct.

With dumortierite being named after Frenchman Eugène Dumortier, we believe it should be pronounced "dumor~ti~air~rite".  This seems logical considering in line with the rules of French, his surname would have been pronounced dumor~ti-air. 

When minerals are named after a person or place the suffix "ite" is often used.  Examples include labradorite, unakite, mookaite and Englishite.

The  suffix "ite" was first used by ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle [384 BC - 322 BC] for the mineral hematite (Greek; haematitis) which he described as "dried and condensed blood".

Minerals are often pronounced incorrectly.  The mineral sugilite is often said with a soft g as in "genius" when it should be pronounced with a hard g as in "gun". 

This is because it was named after a Japanese professor whose name was "Sugi", pronounced with a hard g.

The pronunciation of dumortierite on Mindat which is the world's largest mineralogical database is probably the way most people say it.

Here's the recording.  Scroll down to "Pronunciation of Dumortierite".  

Article Pictures

The first photograph in this article is dumortierite in pyrophyllite.  Housed in London's Natural History Museum it comes from Namibia in south west Africa  (photo Stone Mania).

The second photo is dumortierite quartz tumbled stones from our collection.

The photo of the terminated quartz crystals with inclusions of dumortierite is courtesy of Stan Celestian.

The mineral in the final photo is on display in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C.

Most pictures are clickable and redirect to the original images.