Crystals
Labradorite is plagioclase feldspar, Mohs 6 to 6.5, used for intuition, transition, protection. The mineralogy, whether it is safe in water and sunlight, what gets substituted for it, and what a stone can honestly do.
Start with the mineralogy, because most of the bad advice about this stone follows from not knowing it. Labradorite is plagioclase feldspar. On colour: No pigment at all. The blue and gold flash is light interfering between microscopic layers inside the stone, the same effect as oil on water. Turn it a few degrees and it goes grey.
Where it comes from: Labrador in Canada, which is where it is named for, plus Madagascar and Finland.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Mineral species | Plagioclase feldspar |
| Chemical formula | (Ca,Na)(Al,Si)4O8 |
| Mohs hardness | 6 to 6.5 |
| Crystal system | Triclinic |
| Chakra | Third Eye |
| Usually linked to | Scorpio and Leo, and to Uranus |
Hardness matters more than it sounds. The Mohs scale runs from talc at 1 to diamond at 10, and anything below about 5.5 can be scratched by ordinary window glass or by the quartz dust in everyday grit. At 6 to 6.5, labradorite is hard enough to handle daily wear without much trouble, though it will still scratch a softer stone it is stored against.
The stone for periods when something is changing and has not resolved. Used for intuition, and particularly by people doing any kind of reading or intuitive work, on the reasoning that it hides what it is until the light hits it right.
In the shorthand most shops and books use, it is a Third Eye stone, and the three words attached to it most often are intuition, transition, protection.
This is the section that matters, and the one most pages get wrong. Cleansing advice is handed around as though every stone were the same mineral, and it is not. Here is what labradorite will actually survive.
| Method | Safe? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Water | Briefly | Brief contact only. Dry it straight away rather than leaving it to sit wet. |
| Direct sunlight | Yes | Direct sunlight does no damage. |
| Salt or salt water | No | No salt, dry or dissolved. It is abrasive and it attacks softer and porous stones. |
| Moonlight | Yes | Harmless to every stone on this list, which is most of why it is the method that suits everything. |
| Smoke, sound or breath | Yes | Nothing physical touches the stone, so nothing can be damaged by it. |
The flash is directional. Ask to turn the piece under the light before you buy, because a slab cut at the wrong angle to the layering will show almost nothing and shops photograph them from the one angle that works.
Two general rules that hold across the whole shop. If the price is far below everything else on the shelf of that size, something has been substituted or treated. And a stone sold with no locality at all is usually one the seller cannot trace, which in this trade often means tumbled, dyed and bagged somewhere a long way from where it came out of the ground.
Labradorite is usually linked to Scorpio and Leo, and to Uranus. Worth being straight about this: crystal and zodiac pairings are modern, they are not consistent between sources, and two reputable books will give you two different signs for the same stone. They are a useful organising idea rather than a tradition with a single lineage behind it.
If you want the part of this that does have a fixed method behind it, the Sun in Scorpio sets out what that sign actually describes, and it is calculated from a date rather than assigned by a writer.
Every piece of labradorite in the shop is the same stone with the same associations, which is both the appeal and the limit of it. A birth chart is the opposite: it is calculated from your date, time and place and it describes one person. If you do not know your birth time, this covers how to find it.
Briefly, and dry it immediately. It is not a stone to leave soaking or to rinse often.
No. Sunlight does not damage it.
Intuition, transition, protection. It is associated with the Third Eye chakra.
Mohs 6 to 6.5. That is hard enough for daily handling.
The flash is directional.
RubyAstro writes about astrology for reflection and self-understanding. Nothing here is medical, legal or financial advice, and none of it is a prediction of events. Read our full disclaimer.
Finding Your Birth TimeIf you were born in the US between 1945 and 1991, there is a real chance your birth time was recorded under a daylight saving rule your chart calculator does not know about. Here is how to check.
Astrology CalendarNine retrogrades, five eclipses, twenty-five lunations and exactly one planet changing sign. Every date and degree below was computed from an ephemeris rather than copied, and this page says when.
Astrology CalendarThree windows in 2027, with stations to the minute and the degrees each one covers. Computed from an ephemeris, not copied, and dated so you can tell.
CrystalsAmethyst is quartz, Mohs 7, used for calm, sleep, clear thinking. The mineralogy, whether it is safe in water and sunlight, what gets substituted for it, and what a stone can honestly do.
CrystalsRose Quartz is quartz, Mohs 7, used for self-kindness, grief, love. The mineralogy, whether it is safe in water and sunlight, what gets substituted for it, and what a stone can honestly do.
CrystalsCitrine is quartz, Mohs 7, used for confidence, money, drive. The mineralogy, whether it is safe in water and sunlight, what gets substituted for it, and what a stone can honestly do.