What Is Moonstone? Gemstone Properties, Benefits, and More

This natural gemstone's adularescence gives off its signature glow

Moonstones are soft, milky-colored stones in the feldspar group of minerals from Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and India. Color and light shift within the gem's iridescence, making it appear as if the stone is fluid or watery and glowing from within. This ethereal appearance is called adularescence. Although moonstones are not rare, certain transparent specimens with a white or blue shimmer or large, good-quality stones are of higher value.

The apparent magical glow of the moonstone is called the adularescent effect, an optical phenomenon caused by its unique inner composition that refracts and scatters light. Feldspar minerals formed in layers as magma cooled around it. As light moves across the layers, it scatters, bends, picks up reflections, and appears to flow across the surface.

Moonstone Properties

Moonstone is thought to harvest the moon's energy, which embodies yin's passive and relaxing energy . Similarly, this stone promotes positive well-being and enhances your intuition.

• Colors: Opalescent, milky whites with variants of blue, gray, pink, or green, and black moonstone is also available

• Hardness:6.0 to 6.5 (Mohs)
  

• Chakra: Soma, third eye, solar plexus

• Number: Vibrates to 4

• Planet: Moon

• Zodiac: Rabbit, Cancer, Libra, and Scorpio

• Bagua areas: Relationships (kun), completion/children (dui)

• Elements: Water, metal, earth

• Origin: Sri Lanka, India, and Australia
  

What Does Moonstone Symbolize

The moon represents divine femininity in feng shui and many other spiritual traditions. Moonstone energy is yin, reflective, receptive, and connected to your subconscious. As the moon cycles connect you to nature, the spiritual meaning of moonstone also reminds you that your life also ebbs and flows. Other moonstone qualities:

• Moonstone cultivates compassion and empathy towards yourself and others.

• It helps you to tap into your intuition to help you see situations more clearly.

• Moonstone is good for activating your creative and intuitive power of feminine energy, which helps you get in tune with your true emotions.

• It can help balance and cool down your emotions and tension.

• The tranquil energy of the moonstone invites creativity, restoration, and motherly protection.

• The glow of the moonstone is thought to reflect your aura to help you gain important information and feedback about your health and other emotional issues.

Types of Moonstone

A moonstone's clarity ranges from transparent to translucent to opaque. The priciest moonstones have a blue sheen, perfect clarity, and colorless body color.

Moonstones can come in various colors, including white, gray, brown, pink, orange, green, yellow, and colorless. The adularescence is usually a white or silvery sheen. Some stones can have special effects such as the star effect or "four-ray asterism" or the cat-eye effect, also called "chatoyance," for appearing like the slit of a cat's eye.

• Blue moonstone:The most desirable moonstone is blue moonstone for its floating blue color with a transparent, crystal clear surface.

• Rainbow moonstone:This creamy, translucent white stone's layers and inclusions generate a rainbow effect when the light hits it; this stone is also called a labradorite.

• Green moonstone:A slightly white or transparent pale green-yellow stone usually has a starburst effect.

• Pink moonstone:Its color ranges from honey to beige to peach with a white shine. The shine can sometimes look like a shining star or cat's eye.
  

How and Where to Use Moonstone

There are ways to use moonstones to benefit your home's feng shui. A moonstone in a spherical shape is thought to be the most beneficial of any form because it emanates its glow in all directions. You can also carry the stone around as a tumbled piece of stone in your pocket. Try using moonstone in the following ways around your home:

• Place a piece of moonstone near the bed or under the heart (such as underneath the mattress) to balance or increase feminine emotions. Moonstone is also known as the "dream stone" in some cultures because it's believed that it can invite beautiful visions and dreams while you sleep.

• Find the bagua position for relationships (kun) in the bedroom. Locate a piece of moonstone here for balance, insight, restoration, and self-care.

• Use a piece of black moonstone (it is not rare and can easily be found) to boost fertility and pregnancy.

• Using the bagua, place a moonstone in the health area (center, tai qi) or kun area of your entire home to enhance balance and well-being and reduce tensions.

• Find a piece of iridescent rainbow moonstone and use it to help you envision ideas and insights. Hold it while you meditate, or keep it on your bedside table to promote clarity in your dreams. You can even put a piece of moonstone near your vision board to activate your goals and objectives.

• Moonstone in the office or workspace activates creativity in your career.

Cleansing and Charging Crystals

It's a good idea to regularly clean and charge moonstone like any of your other crystals and objects in your home. Moonstone is low on the Mohs hardness scale (it only rates a 6), so it must be treated carefully. Charge a moonstone under the moonlight on the full moon or new moon for the best results.

Here are recommendations on how to cleanse a crystal and a gemstone like a moonstone:

• Soak the crystal or stone in water with sea salt at least overnight. Use approximately 3 tablespoons of salt for every cup of water.

• Alternatively, you can carefully wash your stone under a nearby stream's clean, clear water.

• If you don't want to use salt to cleanse your stone, smudge the moonstone with sage , palo santo, or another smudge stick.

• Visualize white moonlight surrounding the crystal or stone, intending the moonstone to be cleared of negative energy.

• Once a stone is clean, hold it up to your third eye (your forehead) and ask it to give you clarity, intuition, love, and guidance.

Moonstone is a real gem, so if you have a shaped and polished cabochon that has dulled over the years, take it to a jeweler for polishing to get the shimmer back.