Moonstone
Moonstone is a feldspar whose glow seems to move across it like moonlight. Hindu mythology holds it is made of solidified moonbeams, and Kunz recorded the belief in India that, held in the mouth at full moon, it let lovers read their future.
Meaning
Moonstone is a feldspar, GIA explains: thin alternating layers of orthoclase and albite scatter the light that falls between them, and the scattered light, called adularescence, seems to float across the stone. GIA notes that in Hindu mythology moonstone is made of solidified moonbeams, and George Frederick Kunz records it as a sacred stone in India, never shown for sale except on a yellow cloth. It is one of June’s birthstones (June birthstone).
Origin and history
Kunz’s chapter on the virtues of stones gives moonstone two kinds of lore. In India it brought good fortune and was the lovers’ stone above others: it was believed to awaken tender feeling and, held in the mouth at the full moon, to show lovers whether their future would be good or ill. In Europe the interest was in the moon itself. Antoine Mizauld, in Les secrets de la Lune (1571), told of a friend’s moonstone with a white mark that grew and shrank with the moon; Mizauld borrowed it for a lunar month to watch, and the owner said he had dedicated it to the young Edward VI.
Monday’s stone
Kunz lists moonstone as the phenomenal gem for Monday, and says that in the East stones with a moving light, moonstone, star sapphire and cat’s-eye among them, were believed lucky, each with a living spirit inside. He also lists moonstone among the stones a crystal-gazer might stare into (Clear quartz).
Adularia and Art Nouveau
GIA traces the old name adularia to Mount Adular in Switzerland (now the St Gotthard), one of the first sources of fine moonstone. Its later fashions came in waves: René Lalique and Louis Comfort Tiffany set it in Art Nouveau jewellery, the 1960s “flower children” wore it, and New Age designers of the 1990s took it up again, GIA notes.
Where you’ll see it today
whatdoesthissymbolmean.comJune birthstones: pearl, moonstone and alexandriteMoonstone is one of June's birthstonesRead next
- Next in Crystal and gemstone loreLabradoriteLabradorite is a grey feldspar that flashes blue, green and gold. An Inuit story from Labrador says the colours are northern lights trapped in the rock, partly freed when a hunter drove his harpoon into the stone.
- The same shape in Hindu deities and their symbolsSuryaSurya is the Hindu sun god, worshipped since the Vedas. He holds a lotus in each hand and rides a one-wheeled chariot drawn by seven horses, and Hindus honour him at dawn and at the harvest festivals of Pongal and Makar Sankranti.
See also
Amethyst, Rose quartz, Clear quartz, Citrine, Carnelian, Onyx.
Sources
- The Curious Lore of Precious Stones, by George Frederick Kunz, 1913, J. B. Lippincott (Project Gutenberg edition), ch. 2 (Moonstone); ch. 6 (crystal-gazing); ch. 11 (phenomenal gems for the days of the week); note 134
- Moonstone (GIA Gem Encyclopedia), Gemological Institute of America, About moonstone
- Moonstone History and Lore (GIA), Gemological Institute of America, History and lore
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols formed from circles.
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 9, 2026. How we research
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