Lapis Lazuli Sphere 58mm to 80mm | Choose Your Sphere

Description

A lapis lazuli sphere, cut and polished from natural lapis and sent with a clear stand. There are two to choose from, one large statement sphere at 80mm and one smaller sphere at 58mm. Each is photographed on its own from several sides, and the letter in the dropdown matches the photos, so the sphere you see is the sphere you receive.

Choose your lapis lazuli sphere

• A, 80mm, 890g, £78. A large, weighty sphere with broad bands of bright cobalt blue sweeping through soft grey and white calcite. Fine gold pyrite is scattered through the grey, and one side carries a vivid blue patch that looks almost like a map. Lighter and more marbled in character, with plenty of contrast.
• B, 58mm, 324g, £45. Deep royal blue across most of the sphere, threaded with gold pyrite and cream calcite stripes. The pyrite glitters in bands and clusters as the sphere turns. The richer, darker blue of the pair.

Both spheres are photographed under ordinary light, without lifting the blue. The calcite and pyrite are part of what lapis is, so they are shown clearly.

What lapis lazuli is

Lapis lazuli is a rock rather than a single mineral. The blue comes from lazurite, the white and grey from calcite, and the gold from pyrite, with smaller amounts of other minerals mixed through. A sphere shows off that mix better than any other shape, because you see every part of the stone as you turn it.

Lapis lazuli under UV light

Under a longwave UV torch, the common 365nm kind, the deep blue stays dark while some of the paler areas can glow. Orange is the colour lapis is best known for, appearing as patches or tiny sparks, and some pieces show yellow too. Because every sphere is made up a little differently, the glow changes from piece to piece. Use any UV torch with care and never shine it towards anyone’s eyes.

Traditional correspondences

Lapis lazuli is one of the oldest worked stones there is. It was carved into jewellery and seals in the ancient world, and later ground into the ultramarine pigment painters used for their deepest blues.

Its traditional associations are truth, clear speech, wisdom and insight. It is usually worked with at the throat and the brow chakras. A lapis lazuli sphere makes a lovely focus for meditation, journalling or study, or the centre of a grid. Its deep starry blue also suits night sky and moon work, and the long nights around Samhain.

Correspondences are traditional and are offered as part of a practice, not as a substitute for medical or professional advice.

Caring for your lapis lazuli sphere

Lapis is softer than quartz, around 5 to 5.5 on the Mohs scale, so it can scratch or chip if it rolls off a shelf or knocks against harder stones. Keep it in its stand.

Keep it away from water and anything acidic. The calcite reacts to acid, and the pyrite can mark if it stays damp. A dry soft cloth is all it needs. To cleanse, use sound, breath or moonlight.

What you receive

One lapis lazuli sphere, the piece you choose from the dropdown, with a clear stand, wrapped for the post and sent by Royal Mail Tracked.

Browse the rest of the crystal spheres, or see everything in lapis lazuli.

For the mineralogy behind the stone, Mindat holds the reference data on lapis lazuli.