BLACK MOONSTONE
Specifications
Mineral Class: Feldspar
Crystal System: Monoclinic
Hardness: 6
Luster: Opalescent
Diaphaneity: Transparent to Translucent
Colors: Black, Grey, Brown, White, Yellow, and Orange
Birthstone: June
Symbolizes: New Beginnings
Source: Madagascar
Black Moonstone is a member of the moonstone family, which is a sodium potassium aluminum silicate of the feldspar group and is also known as hecatolite. Some of the defining characteristics of Black Moonstone are their black essence, silvery-green sheen, pearly-opalescent schiller, and peach veins. Along with the black colors, this stone can also contain gray, brown, white, yellow, and orange. Black Moonstone can sometimes be confused with labradorite and larvikite, however these are all different gemstones that show labradorescence. Black Moonstone is a newer discovery, only found in Madagascar.
Black Moonstone is often carved into a wide variety of shapes including spheres, hearts, pyramids, freeforms, and more. Although, Black Moonstone is a newer find, other types of Moonstone have been used in jewelry for thousands of years. Back in that time, native tribes associated moonstone with a new moon during the monthly lunar cycle. A new moon is the opposite of a full moon and occurs when the moon is between the Earth and the Sun, therefore the bright side of the Moon is facing away from the Earth and can not be seen in the night sky. As a new moon continues its rotation, you are able to see more and more of it and it finishes its cycle in the night sky. Like the moon, the stone is reflective and reminds you that everything is part of a cycle of change.