Water and Stones

I'm sure this question has come up before, but it just happen to come to my mind. Anyway, does anyone happen to know what stones there are where it is really a bad idea to mix them with water? I mean, are there stones where washing them is a really bad idea for the stone, where real damage could be done? Thanks for any help.
Blessed be,
BlueManticore

Amber and Opal. Opal is fragile & can crack & disintegrate with heat and cold (one reason they were considered unlucky when worn as jewelry), and Amber is actually a resin, that won't benefit from being in water.

Sandstone & gypsem too, they get waterlogged.

The rest should be ok in water so long as there aren't any extremes in temperature. Anything crystal related could crack if exposed to heat or cold repeatedly, but mostly they'd be ok.

Selenite is actually a salt and will dissolve in water.

I thought opals were supposed to be kept in water - that drying out too much was bad for them. I've actually seen jewelers with their opals in little vials of pure water. I wonder where we could find out for sure?
But for sure, gypsum and selenite are *not* good in water. Also water is bad for Mica. Anything that is soft, flaky, salty or powdery should never touch water (I'm pretty sure, anyway).

Astraea said:

Selenite is actually a salt and will dissolve in water.

Click to expand...

This has been mentioned here before, and as a owner of selenite I have soaked mine over night on numerous occaisons, although now I just sit it out in the full moon....

It hasn't dissolved, but I do know that it's very brittle (that is before the water soaking???)...
XTAX

Opals are partially composed of water. It is a good idea to store them in distilled water.

I think chrysoprase is what happens to a certain type of opal when it dries out over a long period of time. It loses a certain amount of water and its opalescence disappears and it becomes apple-green. As it loses more water, its color pales to light green, then yellow.

I have never heard the recommendation that chrysoprase be stored in water, though. At rock fairs, I always see the opals stored in water when they are not set in jewelry.

Turquoise, lapis, and sodalite come to mind as stones that should not be placed in water. However, if a stone is tumble-polished, the tumbling process creates a barrier that keeps the actual mineral from contact with the water. Thus malachite, which has copper in it and is unsafe for elixir use in its raw form, may safely be used in its tumbled form.

Barrier or not, it still makes me a little nervous. I wouldn't subject them to anything more than a quick rinse. There are other ways of cleansing stones. That's usually the concern when the subject of water comes up.

The Amber is a 'no' for water, the Opal is a 'no' for heat & cold.

Does anyone know whether it is OK to cleanse labradorite in water or not??? I would like to cleanse it before my next attempt at sleeping with it....found it was just a LITTLE too powerful and kept my mind racing all last night...too much of a good thing?

Thanks for your help!
Luna

me too

lunakasha ~ as the moon was perfect and right for beginning this, I slept my first night with a bag containing only a dark firey labradorite stone last night.

I agree with you - very very powerful and, yes, overwhelming!

Hope someone knows some methods to clense and /or dedicate this stone...I would be very interested.

I do know that washing any stone really fast should be ok if you dry it carefully. But I would try to err on the conservative side.

Thanks All Is One!!!

I am going to try cleansing mine tonight under the light of the full moon...we'll see what happens!!!

Luna