In the history of mankind, the sun and the moon are intriguing phenomena. Both have to do with light and life. Both are beautiful and the sun and the moon have been used for naming a gemstone: a moonstone and a sunstone.
The new trend in jewelry design is celestial jewelry. Using a moonstone, sunstone, but also the shape of stars and even angels in modern jewelry. In this blog, I give you information about how the sun- and moonstone are admired in a gemstone.
And since the moonstone is the birthstone of June, together with the pearl and Alexandrite, there is some special place for this beautiful gemstone in this blog.
The sun and the moon have a great impact on our weather and climate. Subjects that are ‘the talk of the town’ every day of the week. You see that too in all kinds of sayings and songs. Like ‘live by the sun, love by the moon’. Or ‘I miss you like the moon misses the sun’. And the last example is ‘The sun sees your body, the moon sees your soul’.
Jewelry designers search for themes and inspiration in nature and the environment. Knowing this lies in the reason for using the sun- and moonstone in modern jewelry designs.
When gemstones are named after celestial subjects, there must be some resemblance. And there is!
Moonstone has a kind of silvery light from within. A light that looks like moonlight. The sunstone is a feldspar with inclusions of red copper-like minute scales of sunbeams. In the middle, the color is darker than around the edges, just like the sun.
No wonder these gemstones are called a moonstone and a sunstone. Like most gemstones, these gemstones stand for things in life that are important to people of all times.
Moonstone is a talisman for fertility, love, and protection and you might have guessed… for sleep. The moon causes tides and water to fertilize the land. Love takes place at times protected by the night and the moon. After that, a good night’s sleep is possible under the protection of the moon when the ‘man of the moon’ blows sleep dust into the eyes of the lovers.
The gemstone has white reflections on the surface that are called ‘adularescence’, which means ‘good luck’. The white reflections suggest (according to the story) that a good spirit lives in a moonstone. Therefore it is in India a sacred stone that can only be displayed on a yellow (sacred color) piece of silk.
For ages, moonstone is considered a powerful and great gemstone to wear. More than 2000 years ago in the Far East, one thinks that this gemstone is a piece of petrified moonbeam. So a piece of this gemstone was used as an amulet. The moonstone gives you a long prosperous and healthy life. And it can be used to enhance fertility, financial luck, and happiness in marriage. To be sure that that happiness will get to you put a moonstone in the seam of your clothing.
In the Middle East, this stone is a typical feminine gemstone since it is supposed to get you fertility and devoted love to your husband. Exclusive handmade jewelry of moonstone is very popular with all the women of the Middle East in those days.
In the Greek and Roman Empires, this gem is considered one of the most important gemstones that can cure illnesses or protect you from diseases, including infertility. Plants and trees are decorated with pieces of moonstone to get a better profit from the fields.
So when you want to get pregnant or you are in your transition period. Or when you want a happy marriage and a prosperous and healthy life, you better wear exclusive handmade jewelry made of this stone. You never know, it could help you to get that all.
The moonstone consists of little layers of feldspar and the great brilliance is caused by the breaking of the light in the little layers. The smaller the layers the more brilliance. When the feldspar is combined with sodium, the stone gets bluer. Pollution in the stone (other minerals were naturally added to the feldspar) causes the different colors. For instance, when iron occurs the moonstone will be more reddish.
Moonstone is a soft gemstone (6 on the scale of Moh’s) and has a mother of pearl or glass brilliance over the stone. It is a bit watery opaque gemstone with a silvery-white reflection (chatoyancy). And moves as a line across the surface when the light varies. It occurs in shades of white, peach, gray, blue, and rainbow variety.
You will find it in Australia (not mixed up with opal or opalite), the Alpes in Europe, Mexico, Madagascar, Poland, India, Norway, and the United States.
Imagine… you are a woman and you live with your family in the Stone Age and your house is a cave. You depend totally on what nature will give you (food and shelter) and that same nature can be extremely violent in storms, floodings, and earthquakes. So you respect nature and you want to do everything to calm nature down. And hopefully, that nature will behave itself and don’t give you any problems.
For food and warmth, you depend on the sun, your light is coming from the fire. But also from the moon, which shines at night. And the funniest thing is that the light of the moon comes and goes and it comes and goes regularly. Next, to the sun, this must be a very strong power and you better respect that piece of nature too. In the Stone Age, people believed in the power of the sun and the moon and devoted themselves to those powers and they got some things back.
As already mentioned, women who have trouble getting pregnant pray to the moon. They think when they find the moonstone that this is a petrified piece of a moonbeam. And it comes as a gift to them and they make amulets of those stones. Everyone believes that when women wear those amulets they get pregnant. It is helpful to the women who had problems with their transition periods. You can imagine that wearing a handmade beaded necklace of moonstone is a very popular gift. More or less a necessity for some women.
Moonstones can do more for people, like curing blatter problems, problems with a short memory, problems with the change of the season, and asthma.
This gemstone is also regarded as a traveler’s stone, especially when you travel at night or on the water. It gives you protection from the dangers on the road. It can bring people together, who are looking for a partner, Wear a moonstone on top of your clothing and you open your heart to love. Wear peach moonstone to lose weight or to get rid of the reactions of an insect bite.
When you read about the power and the things that moonstone can do for you, I hope that you agree with me that it is a great gemstone for the ladies. You get help with pregnancy and transition. You can find your love and will be protected on the road at night. It helps you to lose weight and it will bring you happiness in marriage. And it takes away stress and tension. What do you want more?
Well… I do want a lot more. It might help when you wear your stone on a string around your neck. But I’d rather choose great exclusive designer jewelry, made of moonstone. The effect is the same, but I look more gorgeous. And I am sure that looking great and feeling happy with the right exclusive handmade jewelry. And getting noticed with beaded designer jewelry will do a lot for meeting the right people. And being happy in my marriage too. So why don’t take good things from both sides?
Sunstone was first discovered in the South of Norway, where a mass of these gemstones is embedded in a vein of quartz. And because the first discovery is in Norway this stone is linked with the history of the Vikings. The Vikings made Europe unsafe from the 8th until the 11th century. They conquered countries using sailboats starting from Scandinavia. The Vikings were excellent sailors (and fighters)
They are related to this gemstone due to the small particles of hematite in the sunstone. Hematite can be magnetic and magnets always point to the North. The Vikings know where to go using the sunstone as a kind of GPS (is the story). Others think that the Vikings used the rays of light from the sun, caught in the sunstone to know where they were and where to go.
Sunstone is getting more popular nowadays. The tiny particles of red copper (besides the hematite) give the sunstone a beautiful sunny color, something like orange and reddish vanilla. Exactly the color you need when you are a bit depressed.
The color of the sunstone is red and gold to brown or orange, it looks like the color of the sun. And this color gave the sunstone its name. The crystals of this gem have stunning inclusions disseminated all over the surface of the stone.
This gemstone has a variety that is transparent, but most of the time the sunstone is a little opaque, with sometimes traces of hematite.
It is also known as the goldstone or aventurine feldspar. You have mines of sunstone in India, Russia, Greece, Norway, the United States, and Canada.
The sunstone has some remarkable features, features that are useful for everybody, who believes in them. It is said that this gemstone gives you self-empowerment capacities, independence, and freedom. Who does not want to wear a piece of jewelry with a sunstone in it?
With this gemstone, you will be encouraged to fight for your dreams and work hard to reach your goals. It gives you also the attitude to be a leader, by giving you the strength of mind, the right abilities to be a leader, and the consciousness to know what you are doing and for whom you are doing it.
The sunstone found in Oregon is special. There is more copper in the gemstone and the darker the sone the more copper is in it. Besides that, the Oregon sunstone is special because the crystals can be large. The state of Oregon proclaimed the Oregon sunstone as its state gem.
Because jewelry designers choose the sky as their theme for this season the moonstone and the sunstone are back on the gemstone table again. And they deserve it. They are stunning and their ‘background’ makes them excellent gems to use in celestial jewelry.
Did you enjoy this blog? And do you love gemstones and jewelry? You are the lucky one. FlorenceJewelshop published a PDF full of stories about birthstones and other gemstones. Great information and funny stories. It is free of charge! Just let me know where I can send it to.
Since Moonstone is the birthstone of June I like to offer you my free e-book about birthstones. You find a lot of fun facts and information about the moonstone and the other birthstones of the year. And… it is not only great for you to read, but you can let your friend know that this e-book can be hers too (use the form under this text). And what about giving the right present to your friend, a personal present, like a piece of jewelry with her birthstone? Lots of reasons to ask for this free e-book.
You only have to let me know where I can send them to.
Florence from FlorenceJewelshop
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