Looking for some guidance on your spiritual journey? Or maybe some help strengthening spiritual abilities? Iolite should be a must-have on your shopping list with its ever lasting purple hues and the calming yet exciting energies it emits.
History and Lore
Iolite, which is also known as Cordierite, Dichroite, and Water Sapphire, is found in Brazil, Madagascar, Burma, and India. It was first reported in 1807 by A.G. Werner.
According to legend, Iolite is called the Viking Compass Stone. It’s said that thin slices of Iolite served as glare-reducers and polarizing filters that helped ancient Viking navigators locate the sun on cloudy days. This allowed the Nordic mariners to pinpoint their own location on the seas. The name iolite comes from the Greek word ios, meaning “violet.” Iolite has been known as multiple different names such as Cordierite, named after French geologist Louis Cordier, a founder of the French Geological Society. Iolite has also been called Dichroite, due to a property known as 'pleochroism', whereby the color changes depending on how the gemstone is viewed.
In ceremonies and rituals, shamans would use little pieces of iolite to help them have visions and communicate with the spiritual realms. Iolite is said to increase one’s ability to communicate clearly and get your message out into the world correctly. Shamanic ceremonies would vary from culture to culture, but the usage of Iolite did not, serving as a 'looking glass' for this world and beyond. While talismans of Iolite were used for centuries, Iolite became especially popular for jewelry purposes in Europe during the 18th Century. Iolite is also the 21st wedding anniversary stone.
Composition and Formation
Iolite is usually found in metamorphic rocks, which are assumed to be formed from the high pressure and temperature alteration of rocks composed of aluminosilicates such as clays, along with an abundance of magnesium rich sediments. Iolite is strongly pleochroic but appears colorless with a streak. It is a cyclosilicate mineral made up of magnesium, iron, and aluminum. Iolite is mined around the world and can be found across a myriad of continents and countries including India, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Madagascar, Myanmar, Namibia, Sri Lanka, Burma, Tanzania, and parts of the USA.
Physical Healing Properties
Regulates digestion
Enhances hair and nail growth
Strengthens the nerves
Helps with paralysis, numb limbs, and tolerating pain
Treats malaria and other fever-producing disorders
Assists in healing of the eyes, migraines and headaches, disorientation and dizziness, and Meniere’s disease
Stimulates memory, and prevents insomnia, nightmares or sleep disturbances
Provides powerful medicinal benefits
Assist you in quitting negative addictions
Supports detoxification and regeneration of the liver, while also killing off the bad bacteria
Emotional / Mental Healing Properties
Dissolves fear of the unknown or suppressed parts of the psyche
Increases the capacity to move forward, and helps with understanding that going into one’s wounds is the most direct path to healing
Helps to uncover the lost parts of oneself
Helps to provide solutions to seemingly insoluble problems
Promotes a calm, positive state of mind, instills hope, and assists in decisions on how to proceed
Gives the emotional distance needed for a clearer perspective
Balances the male/female aspects of one’s character and brings harmony within the self
Helps with overcoming codependency
Encourages you with independence
Spiritual Healing Properties
Activates and clears the Third Eye
Stimulates the Crown Chakra
Excellent crystal for shamanic journeying
Increases the vividness and detail of inner visions
Brings forward the symbols locked within the psyche
Strengthens the resonant link between the mind and the heart
Insures accuracy within the vision
Helps awaken and sustain one’s psychic gifts
Beneficial for those attempting to access information from past lives
Strengthens and aligns with the subtle bodies
Helps with interpreting our dreams
Brings wisdom, truth, dignity and spiritual mastery
Connects us to the natural world and improves our appreciation of others
Cleansing / Charging
Iolite is a pretty sensitive stone, better maintained if you avoid direct sunlight and water.
You can use:
Selenite
Moonlight
Sage or incense smoke
Burying it in the earth