Lapis lazuli is a rock, not a single mineral — deep blue lazurite flecked with golden pyrite and white calcite, mined at Sar-i Sang in Afghanistan for six thousand years and traded along the same roads the whole time. Ground up, it was ultramarine: the pigment worth more than gold that Vermeer saved for the best blues.
What lapis lazuli is used for
This is the stone of kings and scribes — truth, self-expression, wisdom earned rather than granted. Tutankhamun's funeral mask is inlaid with it. The tradition sets it at the throat chakra: the stone for saying the true thing, and for the courage that takes.
Worn at the throat, fittingly — or kept on the desk of anyone whose work is words. The pyrite flecks mean no two pieces match.
How to care for it
Wipe with a dry cloth; avoid water. Often wax-stabilised, so keep it out of water and wipe with a dry cloth — water can lift the treatment and the colour with it.
Lapis Lazuli in the shop
Stones that keep it company
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