Rainbow Moonstone Worry Stone

Rainbow Moonstone is non-toxic but relatively soft (Mohs 6 to 6.5), so it scratches and chips more easily than quartz. Avoid hard knocks, prolonged soaking, salt, and harsh chemicals. For spiritual support only; not medical advice.

Rainbow Moonstone is, mineralogically, a gem variety of white labradorite rather than true orthoclase moonstone. Its milky body is layered with microscopic intergrowths that scatter incoming light, producing the drifting blue and full-spectrum rainbow sheen known as adularescence. The finest material is mined in India and Madagascar, with additional sources in Sri Lanka. Though the rainbow moonstone trade name is modern, moonlit feldspars have been prized since antiquity.

Rainbow Moonstone is a gem variety of white labradorite, a member of the plagioclase feldspar series. It crystallizes in the triclinic system and owes its blue-to-rainbow flash to adularescence, the scattering of light across thin alternating layers within the stone. It rates 6 to 6.5 on the Mohs scale and shows a vitreous to pearly luster.

• Ancient Romans believed moonstone was solidified moonlight, a shard of the moon caught in stone.
• In Hindu tradition it was called chandrakanta, said to be born of moonbeams and carried as a sacred talisman for lovers.
• Greek and Roman cultures tied it to their lunar deities, wearing it for protection and prophetic dreams beneath the full moon.