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It has different names and different
varieties as well. Some call it the stone azure and the
others name it the blue stone. Yeah! You guess is right I am
talking about lapis lazuli. The history of lapis lazuli can
be traced even 5000 years back. It wouldn’t be wrong at all
to call it a stone as old as hills. It has been mined in
Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan for centuries. It got that
name from the Latin word ‘lapis’ which means stone and from
the Arabic word Azul which means blue or the color of the
sky. Lapis lazuli is basically a metamorphic rock that has a
bright blue color and it is consisted of many minerals like
calcite, lazurite, pyrite and sodalite. Lapis lazuli potent
dark blue shade is considered its best quality and because
of its attractive colors this semi-precious gemstone is
widely used in jewelry items, decorative items and
ointments. These days lapis lazuli tiles are also being used
in walls and other constructions to enhance the beauty of
some place.
Lapis lazuli is not a hard gemstone
like diamond or ruby, contrarily; it’s quite soft and has
the hardness of just 5.5 on the Moh’s scale. Its luster and
beauty greatly increase when it goes through different
treatments. Heating can fade its color so it is avoided with
excessive heat, similarly, different chemicals that are an
essential part of its composition can react with other
chemicals so it must also be avoided with chemical exposure.
However, its beauty increases manifold when it is polished
or used with different other shades and metals.
It is also considered a healer stone
that keeps the bad spirits away from the wearer and brings
good luck and success for the wearer. One must care of it a
lot while and keep it as much clean as possible. It is said
that if there is some dirt or other object on its surface,
they hamper the way of those rays that are emitted by the
stone and these rays are of different colors and cast
different impact on the users.
It is said that Cleopatra of Egypt
was quite habitual to use pulverized lapis lazuli as
eye-shade. Similarly, many other well-known spiritual
healers used that gemstone in their healings and treatments
for the different diseases that were of physical as well as
of spiritual kind.
Besides, Afghanistan, Iran and
Pakistan, Lapis lazuli is also found in Russia, Chile and
the US. But the qualities which are found in Iran,
Afghanistan and Pakistan are somewhat matchless as these
places serve as hub for quality lapis lazuli.
In past lapis lazuli was widely used
but its used began to decrease with the passage of time as
there were other precious gemstones that gained much
popularity in the world but now again they are getting in
and it’s becoming quite trendy to use lapis lazuli in
different items.
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