Malachite, the Natural Stone from South Africa

Bérangère Maniglier

Posted on June 12 2021

I'm starting this series of articles, with my favorite stone 😀, at least one of them...

I make jewelry, "I put on pearls!" 😅, for several decades already but I wear little, except the natural stone Malachite and Amethyst.

Malachite is a beautiful dark shaded green, brilliant with hypnotic spirals .

She mainly comes from South Africa (Congo, Zaire, Keynia...).

In lithotherapy ... it is the painkiller stone, for arthritis, osteoarthritis, bone disease ...

I didn't know its virtues when I adopted it... like what intuition is incredible, since it is precisely what I need the most...

For the stones, follow your intuition, listen to your little inner voice, don't intellectualize everything, don't read thirty-six thousand articles to choose... just let yourself be guided... It's often the best solution!

Discovered by man several thousand years ago, the Egyptians were the first to use it to protect pregnant women. To benefit from protection during their pregnancy, women used to wear them around their necks.

They associated the stone with Thouéris, hippopotamus goddess and protector of motherhood. To designate life after death, the Egyptians even spoke of the “domain of Malachite ”. In their beliefs, death is new life and this stone is its representation.

The green stones symbolized fertility, the rebirth of vegetation linked to the flooding of the Nile, the renewal of life. Malachite was mined in Sinai, east of Egypt, like Turquoise, whose symbolism is close.

The metallic pigment that composes it has a very high sensitivity to acids as well as to light. The predominance of green is due to the copper contained inside ( copper carbonate ).

As a result, the stone was reduced to powder and was exploited in various iconographic paintings during antiquity and in Russia, the tsars used it for decoration.

It is found in the columns of the iconostasis of Saint Isaac's Cathedral in Saint Petersburg.

In the Middle Ages, malachite was used as a shield to fight against the evil eye and all harmful energies.

It was particularly recommended to protect children against fatal diseases. According to their beliefs, the Romans believed that the malachite stone protected against lightning. Thus, the Romans strongly recommended that children acquire a talisman or a malachite pendant to be able to protect themselves from it.

Today, it is used in the manufacture of cosmetic products since it has detoxifying and antioxidant properties which are particularly beneficial for the skin.

Its hardness varies between 3.5 and 4 on the Mohs scale, which makes it a soft stone.

Translation , this means that it is fragile, sensitive to heat, scratches easily, so you will have to be careful.

The word “malachite” comes from the Greek “malakos” which means “soft”. This would be a reference to its lack of hardness or perhaps its “softening” properties on the character of man.

Another theory leans towards the etymology “malak”, “mauve” and “lithos”, “stone”.

In its natural state, it offers a sparkling and captivating relief.