Lapis Lazuli Crystal and Uses
Once you have seen the beautiful lapis lazuli stone, you will never forget it. Lapis has been used since ancient times for healing, protection, and spiritual work.
The finest lapis stones are a rich, saturated blue gleaming with specks of gold. You can also find stones that are a paler blue with white highlights.
Besides variations in color, lapis lazuli is available in different forms. You may prefer raw stones, smooth, polished stones, or carved amulets and bowls.
As long as you choose the lapis lazuli that speaks to your spirit, it will be effective for you. This crystal offers healing, protection, and heightened self-awareness.
What is Lapis Lazuli?
Lapis lazuli is a semiprecious stone that’s mined primarily in Afghanistan and Pakistan. At one time it was known only to the people of that region, but it eventually made its way to Europe and the rest of the world.
Lapis lazuli consists mostly of a mineral called lazurite. It usually also has a white component called calcite and the golden pyrite that provides its characteristic sparkle.
Make sure to obtain genuine lapis lazuli if you intend to use it for healing or spiritual purposes. Synthetic stones are available, but they won’t have the power of the real thing.
What Does Lapis Lazuli Mean?
The name of this stone comes from deep in time, but it’s not mysterious. “Lapis” means “stone” in the Latin language, and “lazuli” means “blue” in Persian.
Although its name means simply “blue stone,” what lapis lazuli means to you is personal and unique. It represents the healing and self-discovery that you seek.
Lapis Lazuli Healing Properties
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Lapis has been used by cultures around the world for physical, emotional, and spiritual healing. Different traditions find different values in the stone, but you might want to explore some of the following, depending on your needs.
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Physical Healing
Lapis lazuli is recommended for the relief of a variety of ailments. As always, please consult your doctor if you’re experiencing serious or life-threatening symptoms.
Lapis is often used to treat disorders of the head and neck. You might want to try it for treatment of impaired hearing, vertigo, or other disorders of the ear.
If you have an eye infection, you might try warming a piece of lapis lazuli and holding it over the eye. This can increase blood flow to the area and bring white blood cells to fight the infection.
Some migraine sufferers find that lapis can relieve their headache pain. Its ability to bring a feeling of calm and decreased stress can be very soothing.
Lapis is also credited with being able to improve the rhythm of the heart. If you have problems with an irregular heartbeat or poor circulation, the stone may be a useful adjunct to more standard treatments.
Through its effect on the endocrine system, lapis lazuli may help ease menstrual cramps. Some people also find that it helps with pain in the lower back and headaches that are due to the monthly cycle.
Many people use lapis lazuli as an effective treatment for insomnia. Not only can you use it to fall asleep more easily, but you may find that you have clearer, more meaningful access to your dreams.
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Emotional Healing
Some holistic practitioners have found lapis to be a powerful agent in relieving the pain of emotional trauma. This effect seems to be strongest if you are suffering from a specific traumatic event.
Perhaps this relief from emotional pain is the result of the general feeling of calm and peace that lapis lazuli brings.
Perhaps it’s due to the way that lapis can bring deep insights and draw them to the surface, so you can confront and process them.
Lapis also enhances your emotional maturity. It helps you become more compassionate and more in tune with the needs of others.
The more you grow emotionally, the more you will be able to deal with others with kindness, empathy, and an awareness of the motivations underlying your behavior.
If you use the power of lapis wisely, it can enhance your relationships with everyone you encounter.
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Spiritual Healing
Ever since ancient Egypt, lapis lazuli has been used for spiritual protection. It’s believed to be a strong defense against the evil eye.
You can take advantage of the protective properties of lapis lazuli by wearing an amulet or meditating with the stone. Whether the threat is short-term and known or just a strong “bad feeling,” slip a lapis stone in your pocket as you go on your way.
If you’re seeking spiritual healing through self-awareness and personal growth, lapis can help you with dream work and vision quests. You may experience more vivid dreams or just gain a deeper understanding of the messages in them.
Some people believe that lapis helps them connect to a spirit guide. You may find this guide when you enter your dreams, or you may experience it as a guardian angel that is always with you.
The stone leads you toward honesty with yourself and an understanding of your motivations. As you come to know yourself more deeply, you may find that you are becoming more patient and more thoughtful in your responses to life events.
Lapis Lazuli Uses
Many cultures throughout history have found uses for this beautiful stone. Besides the spiritual and medicinal, many uses were simply practical.
Artisans throughout history have made jewelry out of lapis lazuli. It can be polished to a high shine for beads and pendants.
Lapis has also been popular for sculpture. It has added a bright pop of blue to everything from small carvings to the eyes of statues.
Lapis lazuli can be ground to produce a powdered pigment. This pigment can be used as eye shadow, ultramarine paint, and dye.
Paint made from lapis lazuli provided painters and fresco artists of the Renaissance with their most brilliant blues. Michelangelo and Vermeer are just two of the famous painters that used this pigment in their works.
Societies that used lapis lazuli for dye produced rich, deep blue cloth. Only if you were among the highest ranking citizens would you have been allowed to wear garments dyed with this pigment.
Egyptian artisans used lapis lazuli, gold, and other treasures to create the stunningly ornate mask of Tutankhamen. They associated the blue stone with the sky goddess Nuit, and believed its colors represented the stars twinkling in the night sky.
Besides Nuit, lapis lazuli was also believed to be favored by the goddesses Isis, Venus, Athena, and Hera. Followers of these deities might wear lapis jewelry or place the stones on dedicated altars.
Alchemists put their faith in lapis to cause the transmutation of one substance to another, and often wore the stone. Other magical practitioners believed that using it in rituals would bring riches and prosperity.
On a more contemporary note, modern Wiccans may use lapis lazuli to symbolize the West in their sacred circle. This point on the circle represents water, so the blue of lapis is a natural fit.
Devotees of Feng Shui also use lapis lazuli as a representation of water. They believe that placing the stones in the northern areas of the home helps balance the flow of energy through the space.
Meditation and Lapis Lazuli
Lapis lazuli is a wonderful stone to use in your meditations. It has the potential to provide you with both visual and spiritual points of focus.
If you like to use a visual focus point such as a candle flame when you meditate, try a session with lapis instead. You may find that the golden specks on the field of blue merge and separate in soothing patterns as you clear your thoughts.
Since lapis lazuli encourages feelings of calm and safety, you can use it for meditation that doesn’t have a specific focus. It can help you lower your overall stress levels and bring you to a deep state of relaxation.
Lapis lazuli is an excellent choice if you want to focus your meditation on honesty, self-awareness, or wisdom. The stone is particularly powerful for encouraging spiritual growth on these paths.
You might also keep lapis in mind if you have a tricky communications task ahead of you. Whether it’s a professional presentation or a heart-to-heart with a loved one, lapis lazuli can enhance your ability to reach others.
If you’re interested in past life regression, meditating with lapis lazuli may be able to help you access memories from a past life.
If you’re successful, you will not only unearth the memories, but you will more fully understand the lessons you are here to learn in this life.
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Lapis Lazuli as a Birthstone
As gorgeous as lapis lazuli is, it’s not one of the traditional birthstones assigned to a particular month. It is, however, considered one of the natural birthstones.
Natural birthstones are designated primarily by the spiritual properties of their colors. The blue of lapis lazuli is associated with the fresh newness of spring that occurs during the sign of Pisces.
During the time of year when Pisces reigns, which is from February 19 through March 20, you may find that lapis lazuli has a strong attraction for you. It may bring the abundance and vigor of new spring growth to your spiritual explorations.
Lapis Lazuli and the Zodiac
Depending on the spiritual tradition you follow, lapis lazuli may be associated with the astrological signs of either Aquarius or Sagittarius. If you weren’t born under either of these signs, choose the one that seems right for the spiritual work you’re doing.
The association with Aquarius is perhaps based on the beautiful blue color of the lapis stone. It naturally calls to mind the deep blue of calm waters with golden flashes of sunlight dancing along the surface.
Aquarians have as their symbol the water bearer. If you are of this astrological sign, you have a natural tendency toward many of the characteristics that are enhanced by lapis lazuli.
Wearing lapis or using it in your spiritual work as an Aquarian will help you develop the compassion and sensitivity to others that is characteristic of this sign. You are also likely to value honesty, intelligence, and clear communication, all traits that are made stronger with lapis lazuli.
If your tradition pairs lapis lazuli with Sagittarius, it may speak to you of faraway places. If you plan to travel to lands beyond your own and immerse yourself in unfamiliar cultures, take a bit of lapis with you.
As someone born under the sign of Sagittarius, you may also find that lapis lazuli helps you in your quest for truth. It may show you the way to a stronger connection to your emotions, which the typical Sagittarius all too often keeps hidden.
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Lapis Lazuli and Chakra Work
Lapis has an effect on both the third eye and the throat chakra. It activates the first and balances the second.
The third eye is located in the center of your forehead. As its name suggests, it is the seat of your conscious perception.
Your third eye looks both inward and outward. It helps you truthfully interpret what you perceive in the outside world.
You count on your third eye to help you focus on the most important information that is coming in to you. It allows you to thoughtfully consider your perceptions and reflect on the impact they may be having upon you.
The third eye also aids your internal communications. When it is healthy and balanced, you can access and more accurately interpret your dreams.
Your throat chakra is the seat of your body’s expression. It allows the energy flow from all the chakras in your body to have an outlet for communication of your thoughts and feelings.
Using lapis lazuli in chakra work can facilitate accurate perception, awareness, and expression. Simply placing a stone or amulet on the third eye or throat chakra will bring the power of the stone into play.
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