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It owes its name to its prismatic facies (from the Greek "skapos" rod and "lithos", stone) and designates an isomorphic series going from sodic marialite to calcic meionite.
The members of this series are the Wernerite, the Dipyre, the Meionite, the Marialite. The Wernerite, which is at the center of this series is named after Werner,professor of mineralogy at Freiberg in Germany in the late eighteenth century.
Petschite, the purple variety, is a discovery of the 1970s in Tanzania. It can also present a speckle effect "cat's eye" type.
The yellow variety, meionite, has refractive indices (up to 1,600), the birefringence (0.030 to 0.038), the density, the highest of his family.

Exploited sites

It is found in France : in Pouzac (Hautes Pyrenees), Seix (Ariège), Sri Lanka (the most famous), Mogok in Burma, Brazil, Canada, Madagascar, Tanzania, Pakistan, Afghanistan.

See pictures of the mines / other pictures

Use in jewelry

It is a stone sometimes used in jewelry but its brittleness limits its use. Varieties of a beautiful purplish or blue color are popular.

Daily care and precautions

wash with water and dish soap, rinse with clear water and dry

Looking alike stones

amblygonite , amethyst , beryl , chrysoberyl , rock crystal , orthoclase , phenakite , titanite , tourmaline

Historical healing properties

This yellow stone would help resolve problems and make decisions.
It would also help finding solutions for many orientation problems, both geographically and spiritually. It would strengthen the logical way of thinking, the ability to synthesize, the Cartesian thinking. It would help to solve puzzles.
Pink or purple varieties are rather active in the resolutions of relational, love and spiritual difficulties. Associated with the yellow variety in the third eye chakra or coronal, it would enhance spiritual understanding.

Imitations and treatments

It can be irradiated to obtain a purple or violet color starting from yellow or colorless crystals.
But the color is not stable over time.