Yesterday, we talked about illumination. Today, I thought it would be apt to explore a stone that, for all practical purposes, is the light.
Today’s gemstone is a jewel of ethereal beauty, one whose perception depends wholly upon the interplay of light and shadow: Labradorite.
Labradorite is a feldspar mineral, a member of what is known as the plagioclase series. Plagioclase minerals are a subset of feldspar, all related, all composed of the same constituent elements, but with varying amounts of calcium and sodium, giving them discrete chemical formulae. In the case of labradorite, it is a sodium calcium aluminum silicate, with a chemical formula expressed as (Ca,Na)(Si,Al)4O8.
Some experts consider labradorite to be not an independent mineral, but rather, a subset of anorthite, a plagioclase feldspar mineral at the low-sodium end of the plagioclase spectrum. To be classified as anorthite, the stone must contain virtually no sodium. At the other end of the plagioclase spectrum is albite, which contains virtually no calcium. Between the two lie intermediary minerals in the same family that contain both elements in more than mere trace quantities: andesine, bytownite, labradorite, and oligoclase. My own reaction is that, given the fact that labradorite and its fellow intermediary minerals contain more than trace amounts of sodium and calcium, and given that those elements and their proportions are significant to these minerals’ essential character, the better approach is to regard them as discrete minerals within the same “family.”
Labradorite occurs in metamorphic and igneous environments, particularly in those known as “mafic” — i.e., with a high magnesium and iron content (the term is a contraction of the words “magnesium” and “ferric,” and is distinguished from “felsic”) — such as gabbro or basalt. One such environment is the source for which the mineral is named, an area off the eastern coast of Labrador (of Canada’s Newfoundland and Labrador), on St. Paul’s Island near the town of Nain. It is, of course, the area popularly described as the locale where labradorite was “first discovered,” which is, of course, absurd; it’s merely the place where, in contemporary terms, that which was found there was first widely described and disseminated in the scientific and scholarly literature.
The chief characteristic of labradorite is one that takes it name from the stone itself: labradorescence. The terms is said to have been coined in 1924 by Danish mineralogist Ove Balthasar Bøggild, reportedly building upon work published the previous year by the 3rd Baron Rayleigh, an English physicist born John William Strutt, known for his work on theories of light and color. The term refers to a specific form of iridescence, sometimes known in mineralogical and gemological communities by the German word schiller, in which light that is invisible under direct microscopy is visible via reflection from two planes oriented in the same direction. In other words, the angle of the light reflects off the surface of the sheet-like planes (layers and inclusions) in the stone, making them visible in a spectrum of iridescent shades. Think of a sheet of mica, its layers sitting atop one another; now visualize what that mica would look like were each layer as translucent as a pane of glass, rather than an opaque silvery surface. But, because it manifests in layers, the lines would remain visible within the chunk of stone, and the light would catch each layer (and its edges) somewhat differently.
You can see the optical phenomenon clearly in the cabochon immediately above, in which the stone appears to be bisected into two vertical planes running parallel to each other, with both planes transected horizontally by multiple sheet-like layers, again, running parallel to each other. The angle of the light and the length of its wave alter the perceptible colors along specific spectra, so that what appears in this particular cabochon ranges from clear to frosty white to gray-blue, accented here and there with glowing and glittering gold inclusions.
It is precisely this phenomenon that makes labradorite so special, and so valued as a gemstone and jewelry accent. You can see another variation in the photo below:
Here, the planes seem to run on a diagonal (although if the cabochon were turned slightly rightward, they would appear horizontal; leftward, vertical). Again, they sit parallel to each other, and the light changes their color from plane to plane: bronze, gold, gray-blue, silver white, clear.
These are, perhaps, the most common colors of labradorite: clear, white, gray, blue, often with slightly metallic-looking shimmery effects. Shades of green are also sometimes found. But not all labradorite is so muted in color; some of it manifests in brilliant emerald green and sapphire blues criss-crossed with webbed bits of black. It’s also possible to “change” the colors in the stone by placing it in water, or by changing the type of light used to look at it.
The more brilliantly-hued forms of labradorite tend to come from specific geographic regions, and are sometimes known by another name: Spectrolite. Spectrolite is simply a variant of labradorite, but it refers only to intensely-hued labradorite from one geographic source, because the feldspar there that forms its crystal base is black. Some labradorite that manifests in brilliant shades may be found in the Nain Complex mentioned above, off the coast of the Canadian province from which the stone draws its common name. That which bears the spectrolite name comes from Finland, although labradorite generally is also found elsewhere in Scandinavia, including Greenland, Norway, and Sweden. Another source of labradorite that appears in intense jewel tones is, seemingly predictably, Madagascar.
However, the more common shades are found in deposits nearly world-wide. Here in North America, sources exist across several New England states; in New York State; in Quebec, in Canada; in the desert Southwest, including Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and California; and in Hawai’i) perhaps not surprisingly, given the amount of volcanic rock present). In Central America, there are deposits in El Salvador; in South America, in Paraguay. In Africa, besides Madagascar, deposits exist in Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Democratic Republic of Congo. It’s found in several sites in Australia, as well as in Asia, China and Japan specifically. In Europe, it appears in England and Cornwall, in Germany, and in various parts of Russia.
When it comes to symbolic “meaning,” of course, there are, so far as we know, no “Native” connotations beyond beauty. It’s entirely possible that for the peoples indigenous to the area of Labrador from which it comes (as well as for indigenous peoples in other parts of the world where it is found), it may have once had cultural or spiritual significance beyond adornment. Today however, that sort of symbolism is, as far as we can tell, strictly the province of New Age “crystal” practitioners, who consider it a stone of magic, of mysticism, or psychic powers and prophecies, of dreams and visions. Some impute all manner of other qualities to it, as well: strength, protection, vision, clarity, energy, luck, and “automatic writing”; for healing, it supposedly relives stress, stimulates mental abilities, helps heal colds and respiratory disorders, and balances hormones.
When Wings uses it, it means none of those things, of course. He strips it down to its purest, most essential form, using it not to project all sorts of human wishes and desires onto it, but rather, for the one quality that most defines it: to catch the light.
~ Aji
Note: Wings has worked with this stone in the past, but it’s been eight or nine years since he created a piece with it. At the moment, the two small cabochons shown here are all that remain in his inventory of stones. If either of them speaks to you, simply inquire via the Contact form at left; he can create a custom piece uniquely your own, to catch and hold the light for you.
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2015; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owners.
