Pearl is the moon's gem, the only one made by a living animal, and mother of pearl is the shell it grew in: the same iridescent nacre, sold by the shell instead of by the strand. Practitioners keep both for purity, patience, love, and calm, and the abalone shell under a sage bundle is the mother of pearl most of us already own. Read the full pearl meaning guide, or learn more below.
What Pearl and Mother of Pearl Are For
A pearl is nacre, layers of aragonite laid down by an oyster or a mussel around an irritation until it becomes a gem. It is soft, 2.5 to 4.5 on the Mohs scale, and it dissolves in vinegar, so it is worn against the skin and kept away from perfume, salt, and acid. Mother of pearl is the lining of that same shell, from pearl oysters, mussels, and the abalone whose shell flashes blue and green. Both belong to the Moon and to Water in the correspondence books, and both are worn or kept for a clean start, a long love, patience through a long wait, and protection on or near water.
The pearl here rides on the quartz, rainbow moonstone, and pearl bracelet, which strings the two June birthstones together. The mother of pearl is the abalone shell in its oldest working form: a bowl for the sage bundle or the incense cone, the sea holding the fire, in three sizes and with a stand. If you already burn sage in an abalone shell, you have been working with mother of pearl all along.
Caring for Pearl and Shell
Put pearls on last and take them off first, wipe them with a soft cloth after wearing, and never soak them, salt them, or clean them with vinegar or an ultrasonic cleaner. Charge them in moonlight or on a selenite plate. An abalone shell is tougher: rinse the ash out with lukewarm water, dry it, and rub a drop of oil into the nacre when it dulls. For the rest of the moon shelf, see our moonstone and selenite collections, and for June birthdays, our birthstones.
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