Properties:
All varieties of andalusite are highly protective, especially the opaque version known as chiastolite. The rarer, transparent gem-grade version has an energy that is warm, gentle and immediate, and not only protects, but is comforting and lifts the spirits as well. When used in connection with the Throat Chakra, it helps us to speak our truth. It aligns and “lights up” all the Chakras, and opens the Crown and Third Eye Chakras, encouraging both psychic and spiritual development and aiding deep meditation. Andalusite connects with the past, and can be used to work with not only the current lifetime, but past-life as well. Physically, it can repair structural damage to both bones and connective tissue, and when placed on the body it sends heat where it is needed.
Attributes:
- Chemical Formula: Al2(SiO4)O
- Group: Silicates – nesosilicates
- Crystal System: Orthorhombic
- Hardness: 6.5 – 7.5
- Birthstone: Secondary Birthstone for Virgo
- Chakra: Root and Sacral Chakras; balances and connects all Chakras
- Element: Root
Mineralogy:
Andalusite is found in low-grade and regional metamorphic rocks, rarely in granite pegmatites, and is associated with kyanite, corundum (ruby and sapphire), and cordierite (iolite). Crystals are usually prismatic, and display a square cross section. Gem grade crystals are strongly pleochroic, and can show yellow, green or red, depending on the angle at which it is viewed. Chiastolite (from the Greek chiastos, “cross”) is a variety of andalusite that contains included carbon that has a cruciform shape in cross section.
History and Tradition:
Named by Jean-Claude Delamétherie in 1798 for the supposed type locality, “Andalusia region”, Spain, although he seems to have been not very familiar with Spanish geography and the type locality is El Cardoso (Guadalajara), not in Andalusia.
