Tanzanite isn’t frequently encountered in metaphysical shops. Where the majority of offerings are rough or tumbled stones, spheres, or towers, it’s not often that you see specimens of this valuable violet-blue gem.
Nonetheless, its beautiful color and intriguing physical properties make it a favorite of crystal collectors, while healers and magic practitioners alike tap into its energetic properties.
About Tanzanite
Tanzanite is a really unique crystal. A type of epidote, it’s more specifically a variant of zoisite — a calcium aluminium hydroxyl sorosilicate with a blue-violet color courtesy of minute amounts of vanadium.
The most interesting physical property of this crystal is its trichroism. While stones like smoky quartz and citrine can exhibit pleochroism, appearing as two different colors depending on how they’re viewed, tanzanite is capable of displaying three colors.
Depending on how it’s oriented, it can appear blue, bright purple, or even a wine red color. Rarely, tanzanite might be green.
When tanzanite is “born,” it doesn’t yet have its typical coloration. It’s usually brownish, with shifts to blue and violet depending on orientation. It requires high temperatures to get it to the bluish purple color its known for.
This can happen either naturally, through geologic processes, or artificially, by heat treatment in a kiln. Most tanzanites on the market have been heat treated to improve their color.
As its name suggests, this stone is found primarily in Tanzania, in a small area near the Mererani Hills.
See also: Check out Tanzanite crystals here.
Tanzanite Healing Properties & Benefits
Emotionally, tanzanite is useful for people who exhibit type-A personality characteristics, or tend toward workaholism. It’s ideal for helping users slow down and avoid stress-related illnesses.
It also exhibits a balancing effect, helping smooth out extremes of personality, reduce distractability, alleviate anxiety and depression, and allow the user to focus on what’s really important.
Physically, this stone is purported to help with conditions typically related to or exacerbated by stress. This includes high blood pressure and tension headaches.
It also helps invigorate the body in a general sense, brighten the skin, reduce signs of aging, and give the user an inner “glow.”
See also: Check out Tanzanite jewelry here.
Tanzanite Magical Properties
Since tanzanite isn’t a widespread stone, it doesn’t have a long history of use in magic. Nonetheless, it’s a useful ally for meditation and enhancing one’s spiritual perception.
This stone is very helpful for journeying work that involves meeting spiritual or cultural ancestors. It also has a cleansing effect on the aura, dispelling negativity just as efficiently as it does stress.
This crystal is also helpful for diviners, especially the clairaudient. It increases psychic abilities in a general way, and so would be equally useful for tarot readers, rune readers, scryers, or bone throwers alike.
If you have a box or pouch for your divination tools, try keeping a small tanzanite inside. You could also try using a tanzanite gem essence before divining, either internally or by misting your aura with it.
Since it undergoes a trichroic shift, it would also be a helping hand in any working intended to bring about a transformation or illusion. All of its color shifts fall into the blue and purple family, so it’s useful for any spell that falls under blue or purple color magic.
In addition to the meditation and psychic work mentioned above, this includes healing, peace, success, and power. Since it can remove negativity, it may be a useful tool to add to any spell where there’s a chance of attracting malevolent energies or entities.
Those who work with chakras typically use tanzanite to open and align the crown chakra, Sahasrarah. This is the “bridge to the heavens,” and the chakra tied the most closely with the spiritual realm.
Because tanzanite is a powerful, high-energy stone, some use it to open all of the chakras, regardless of color.
How to Cleanse Tanzanite
Fortunately, tanzanite isn’t particularly delicate. It has a hardness of 6.5 on the Mohs scale, just slightly below clear quartz, and is stable in water.
Sources are divided as to whether or not it can fade in sunlight — to be on the safe side, it’s best to avoid leaving this crystal in bright sun for extended periods of time.
So, if you wish to cleanse your tanzanite, stick to one or more of the following methods.
Some methods for cleansing Tanzanite include:
- Projecting your own energy into the stone.
- Fumigating it with cleansing herbs or incense.
- Bathing it in fresh, running water. If possible, skip tap water — natural sources are best.
- Setting it in the light of the full moon.
- Playing music, chimes, bells, or singing bowls. If you do this, don’t set your crystal directly in the center of a singing bowl. The sonic frequency can cause it to crack or shatter.
- Setting it at the base of a plant.
- Burying it in soil. Tanzanite is a valuable stone, so be sure you either mark the area well, or use a pot of soil for this.
- Burying it in salt, dried cleansing herbs, or a mixture of the two.
Tanzanite is said to correspond to all elements, so it doesn’t have a particular preference for cleansing methods. Follow your intuition to choose the one that resonates the most with your particular stone.
Getting Started With Tanzanite
Getting a hold of tanzanite can be a bit of a challenge, because it isn’t as abundant as many other minerals. If you have the chance to obtain a specimen, take good care of it.
You should also be sure to acquire your stone from a supplier that sourced it from an ethical mining operation, since many mines rely on environmentally and socially irresponsible practices.
It’s best to select your tanzanite yourself, so you can choose the specimen that you resonate with the most. If this isn’t possible, or your tanzanite was a gift, that’s okay. The more you work with your stone, the more you can tap into its energy.
You’ll most likely want to cleanse your crystal once you have it in your possession. This helps remove the impact of mining, shipping, and handling from the stone’s energy field. Choose one or more of the methods above, and use them until it feels right to you.
After cleansing, you may wish to experiment with using your tanzanite. One useful technique is a violet flame meditation. The violet flame is the fire of transformation, used to cleanse, heal, and energize on an energetic level.
To do this, sit in a comfortable position with your hands on your lap, palm up, and your tanzanite in your non-dominant hand. Visualize a sphere of light at the center of your self. Notice how your breath causes it to grow and glow more brightly.
When this sphere has grown to encompass your entire body, picture a small violet flame at its center. Continue your breathwork until the violet flame encompasses your entire sphere of light. When you are ready, allow the flame to shrink back into the center of your being.
Tanzanite is a rare, beautiful stone that’s the envy of gem collectors. Even if its physical appearance and mysterious trichroism aren’t enough to draw you to it, its high energy and versatile healing properties will.
If you’re fortunate enough to have one of these crystals, treasure it. With time, it can become a powerful spiritual ally.
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