Fluorite: meaning, properties and lore

The mineral

The Gems, jewelers' materials, and ornamental stones of California gives its composition as about 51 percent calcium and 48.9 percent fluorine. Fluorspar usually contains 85 percent or more of calcium fluoride, and metallurgical grade is specified as above 85 percent calcium fluoride, with up to 5 percent silica and up to 0.5 percent barium as sulphate.¹²³⁴⁵⁹

Fluorite has a Mohs hardness of 4 and a specific gravity of about 3.18. Its luster is vitreous, and it is transparent to translucent. The stone is fluorescent and phosphorescent, and it becomes fluorescent and phosphorescent when slightly heated.⁴⁵¹⁶³

Fluorite is a gemstone that comes in many colours. The Gems, jewelers' materials, and ornamental stones of California lists white, yellow, green, violet, sky-blue, amethystine blue, brown, wine, rose-red, crimson and pink. Illinois fluorspar is commonly colorless, white or grayish, while some is purple, pink, blue, green, yellow or tan. Purple fluorite samples contained streaks of light amethyst-coloured material.⁵¹¹⁰¹¹

Fluorite has a cubic crystal form, and a crystal can form as a perfect octahedron. The Fluorspar in Illinois entry notes that fluorite crystals characteristically have a cubic shape, though most fluorspar is massive. Fluorite, as a mineral with a natural cubic crystal configuration, is composed of calcium and fluorine.¹²⁷

Fluorite is found in several American localities. In Illinois, fluorspar occurs in Hardin and Pope Counties in extreme southern Illinois, within the Illinois portion of the Illinois-Kentucky fluorspar mining district, where it forms fissure fillings in faults and replacement bodies in limestone. In California, white cubes are found at Mount Diablo in Contra Costa County, and fluorite is found at Ferris Canon in the Sweetwater Mountains of Mono County.¹⁴⁵

Fluorite forms in several geological settings, including hydrothermal ore veins, sedimentary deposits, metamorphic environments and pegmatite dikes. Blue John is a banded purple and white, or purple and yellow, variety of fluorite. Yttrofluorite is a variety in which yttrium partially replaces the calcium in its chemical structure.³¹⁶¹²

History and lore

The mineral was named fluorite, and the name fluorspar is used for its commercial ore.¹

In homeopathy, fluorite is also called calcium fluoricum, a name recorded in The Healing Crystals First Aid Book in its account of the stone.⁷

Phosphorescent coated stones of this kind are commonly referred to by the misnomer night glowing pearl. The Gemological Institute of America uses this term for spheres of this kind, which it describes as a misnomer.¹³¹⁴

Birthstone and zodiac links

Practitioners link rainbow fluorite with the zodiac sign of Pisces, and this is a modern practitioner link rather than an ancient one.¹⁵

What crystal practitioners say

They also say rainbow fluorite enhances mental clarity, promotes emotional balance and supports spiritual growth. Practitioners describe fluorite as a working stone rather than a mood stone, for doing something.¹⁶¹⁵¹⁷

Judy Hall's The Crystal Bible calls fluorite highly protective, especially on a psychic level. Fluorite is described as a popular power crystal and known as the Genius Stone by practitioners.¹⁷¹⁸

Judy Hall says fluorite cleanses and stabilizes the aura and increases concentration. Practitioners say fluorite is used to recharge by the full moon, and to cleanse with rosemary smoke or running water.¹⁷¹⁶¹⁵

Crystal healers say that blue fluorite is associated with communication, truth and intuition, and harmonizes with the throat and third eye chakras.¹⁵

Crystal practitioners credit fluorite with drawing toxic energy and parasites out of the body, mind and spirit. In The Healing Crystals First Aid Book, fluorite is described as suited to all learning, helping people recognise unfinished tasks, and as aiding release from harmful habits and emotional burdens.¹⁶⁷

The Healing Crystals First Aid Book says fluorite is associated with relief for dry, irritable coughs and is considered very effective when mucous membranes are subject to fungal attack. It also says fluorite helps dissolve uric acid crystals in joints in cases of advanced gout problems, and suggests placing it on tender gout areas while taking gem essence.⁷

What testing has found

Ernst states that a scientific proof of any positive effect of crystal healing beyond a placebo effect does not exist. Rigorous scientific research into crystal therapy is lacking, and few studies have compared it to other therapies, so the scientific community remains skeptical.¹⁹²⁰

A 2001 study by British psychologist Christopher French tested crystal healing with 80 volunteers. Participants meditated with either a real quartz crystal or a fake glass crystal, and they could not tell the difference, which indicated only a placebo effect.¹⁹²¹²⁰

The French team concluded that crystals did not help people, and the power of suggestion did. The study's results have not been replicated in larger studies, and both groups reported similar impressions, suggesting the placebo effect could be at play.²⁰¹⁹

Some researchers say crystals likely do not directly act on physical and psychological woes, but may have indirect benefits explained by the placebo effect. Ernst attributes pleasant feelings or seeming successes of crystal healing to the strong placebo effect and believers' cognitive bias. Permutt says there is no proven link between crystals and the body.²⁰¹⁹