As we settle into Virgo season and eagerly await Libra season, we can flow with these signs’ combined energy of detail-oriented balance in our own lives—and what better symbol of balance than the sun and the moon and their crystal counterparts, sunstone and moonstone.
Moonstone and Sunstone are both Feldspar crystals. Feldspar makes up roughly 60% of Earth’s crust and their mineral group also includes such popular stones as Labradorite, Amazonite, and Rainbow Moonstone.
Moonstone, not to be confused with the white and black Rainbow Moonstone, can range in colors, and is an excellent crystal choice for inner hormonal and emotional balancing, developing your intuition, personal discovery, and connecting with Goddess energies. All Moonstones help with meditation, uncovering hidden truths, and helping you to look inward and pay attention to the “cycles” at play in your life so you can take “the proper action at the proper time” when it comes to achieving your goals. Moonstones also aid in helping you attune to the Moon’s energies, phases, and cycles. As the Moon is our closest celestial body, it has a great impact on our lives here on Earth. It is easy to observe the impact the Moon has on the ocean’s tides and when we remember that human beings are composed of 50-75% water, it’s just as easy to see how the Moon can also have a great impact on how we feel and behave. If you have awareness of and can attune to her energies, however, you can flow with them instead of against them. Each color of Moonstone has slightly different properties, as explored by Robert Simmons in the Pocket Book of Stones:
Grey and Black Moonstone are associated with the New Moon and “perceiving beyond the veil.” They help you to meditate on and choose the best intentions to work towards as well as nurture an intention in its earliest stages of manifestation.
White Moonstone represents “the energy of the full moon at the height of its power” and enhances psychic ability and dream work. It also shines a light on one’s true emotions so you can process and express them in a healthy manner.
Peach Moonstone promotes positivity and soothes anxiety and worries, especially in those who are naturally more intuitive and sensitive.
Sunstone, also a feldspar, is named for its warm orange-red color palette and the way it reflects light like the sun. It contains tiny flecks of copper, hematite, and mica that display a glittery flash reflected when light enters the stone in a phenomenon called "aventurescence." Just as Moonstone connects you with water and lunar energies, Sunstone connects you with fire and solar energy. Its metaphysical properties are similar to those which we’d associate with the Sun and include: warmth, mental clarity, blessings, creativity, sexuality, self-expression, leadership (including finding the courage to lead and leading in a healthy way, free of ego), self-worth/overcoming feelings of unworthiness, prosperity, and manifesting a general sense of abundance.
Sunstone is often mined today in India, Canada, Norway, Russia, and the USA (Sunstone is the state mineral of Oregon). It is often formed in molten lava flows and can therefore be common to regions with a lot of volcanic activity, such as on the beaches of Sicily, Italy, where Sunstone washes up from the Ionian Sea more frequently than seashells.
Moonstone and Sunstone can also both display chatoyancy ( a silky luster/color that is changeable depending on which angle the light reflects off the mineral) and adularescence (the effect of light billowing across feldspar minerals giving it a glowing appearance).
Fun Fact: Sometimes, Moonstone and Sunstone can even grow TOGETHER and when this happens, the resulting mineral is called “Eclipse Stone” or “Solstice Stone.”
Comments