Labradorite Polished One Side, 1 lb

Polished on one side. A smooth face for the flash, with the natural rough left on the back.

A full pound, sold by weight. Piece count and size vary; this is working stock rather than a graded set.

From Madagascar. One of the principal sources for the material.

• Approximately 1 pound of labradorite, polished on one face; piece count and size vary
• Material: labradorite (a feldspar), sourced from Madagascar
• Note: labradorite chips along its cleavage planes; store it apart from harder stones
• Flash ranges from grey to blue and green, varying piece to piece
• SKU: GUPLABB

The flash is the whole story, and it is genuinely a physical thing: light entering the stone bounces between microscopic internal layers and comes back out as color that was never in the pigment. The mineral was named in the 1770s after Labrador, where Moravian missionaries first collected it, and an Inuit legend holds that the northern lights were once trapped in the rocks of that coast until a man struck them free with his spear, leaving some behind in the stone.

Labradorite has no entry in Cunningham or the older folk sources, so we leave its element and planet blank rather than inventing them. What modern crystal practice has made of it follows the flash: a stone kept for intuition and for what stays hidden until the light hits it right. Judy Hall places it at the third eye. The one-side polish suits a stone like this, since it gives you the flash on one face and the honest rock on the other.

1. Cleanse the batch on arrival with smoke or moonlight; skip salt and long soaking, since feldspar dislikes both.
2. Turn a piece in the light. The flash only appears at an angle, and the polished face is what shows it.
3. Set one where the light moves across it through the day.
4. Scatter pieces through a grid, or fill a bowl on a desk.
5. Handle them gently and store them apart from harder stones.

• Labradorite Tumbled Stones, 1 lb, 1-2": the same stone tumbled smooth all over.
• Labradorite Grade A Untumbled, 1 lb: the same stone raw.
• Labradorite Free Shape, 0.6 lb: a larger polished piece for the altar.
• Lemurian Mini Quartz Points, 1 lb: quartz points to amplify a grid.
• White Sage Smudge Stick: the arrival cleanse for a pound of stones.

What does polished on one side mean?

One face is smoothed and polished to show the flash; the back is left natural. You get the optical effect and the honest rock in the same piece.

What causes the flash?

Light bouncing between microscopic layers inside the stone, an optical effect called labradorescence. It is not pigment; the color is made by the structure.

What does practice keep it for?

Intuition, and for what stays hidden until the light hits it right. These are modern crystal attributions; labradorite has no entry in Cunningham, so we assign it no element or planet. Hall places it at the third eye.

How many pieces come in a pound?

It varies, since the stone is sold by weight rather than count.

How do I care for them?

Smoke or moonlight to cleanse. Skip salt and long soaking, and store them apart from harder crystals.