Know Your Stones: Fluorite

I would have to say that the reason I love fluorite is because it is purple. Actually, this mineral comes in many colors, including white, purple, blue, blue-green, green, yellow, brownish-yellow, pink or red. It can even be colorless. Fluorite is composed of calcium fluoride and has a hardness of 4 on the Moh’s scale. Its luster is vitreous, or glassy. The word fluorite comes from the Latin root fluo, which means “to flow”. It has a relatively low melting point, and is a soft mineral. Aside from its use in beads and jewelry, it is used in steel and aluminum production, and also to make telescope and camera lenses. Crystal healers consider fluorite to be one of Nature’s most powerful mental healers. Some of its mythical properties include bringing order to mental chaos, increasing objectivity, enhancing creativity, curing mental disorders, easing meditation and freeing one from bad habits. The beautiful slab of fluorite you see pictured above is from the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History. I would have loved to get my beady hands on it and the other rocks that I saw there!