14 Sep Sunstone: Meaning, Uses, & Healing Properties
Sunstone is a wonderful, joyful crystal brimming with sunshine energy and life-enhancing healing properties. Let’s take a closer look at the meaning of this crystal and how to use it in your everyday life.
In This Article
What Is Sunstone?
Named because of its golden and spangly appearance and its ability to hold warmth, Sunstone is a plagioclase feldspar that typically contains inclusions of hematite or goethitm. It is found all over the world, most famously in Southern Norway and Sweden, as well as Iceland, India, Canada, Australia, China, Africa, Russia, and others, including Oregon in the United States.
Also known as Heliolite; meaning God of the sun in Greek, Its color can vary from a golden pink to a translucent orange to a golden brown, but they all have a beautiful golden glow.
History Of Sunstone
The exact history of Sunstone is unclear, which is perhaps what makes it so mystical and magical. However, it is known quite famously for being a Viking stone, as it is mostly found in Southern Norway, Sweden, and Iceland.
According to Viking legend, marauding seafarers used Sunstone to help them find the sun and navigate their way through bad weather. In fact, the earliest evidence of Sunstone was found amongst the wreckage of the Alderney, an Elizabethan-era warship that sank near the Channel Islands in 1592.
In Greek Mythology, the Sunstone crystal is also a representation of Ra, The Sun God. In fact, the ancient Egyptians believed that this stone fell from the sun during a solar eclipse and was a gift from Ra. In Native American cultures, Sunstone was used to heal and promote positivity.
In the early 1900s, there were reports of the stone in ancient lava fields in a desert area called Warner Valley in the US state of Oregon. Oregon Sunstone is slightly different, as it contains inclusions of copper.
Nowadays, Sunstone is considered a semi-precious gemstone and it’s not rare, but not particularly abundant, either.
Types Of Sunstone
There are two types of Sunstone; oligoclase Sunstone; a feldspar mineral common in siliceous igneous rocks, consisting of a sodium-rich plagioclase with more calcium than albite, and orthoclase Sunstone; a common potassium-rich alkali feldspar rock-forming mineral occurring typically as white or pink crystals.
Sunstone Meaning
The Sunstone crystal is linked to the solar plexus chakra and the sacral chakra. It’s also associated with the element of fire, which represents passion, spontaneity, and intuition, as well as the Sun, which represents the soul in astrology, masculine energy, and the zodiac sign Leo.
Sunstone Benefits & Healing Properties
Let’s take a look at the main benefits and healing properties of using Sunstone.
Sunstone & The Solar Plexus Chakra
As mentioned above, Sunstone resonates the most with the solar plexus and sacral chakras. The solar plexus, otherwise known as the Manipura, is the third chakra in the body and it is located in the upper stomach area.
The solar plexus is responsible for our self-esteem and self-worth, our sense of optimism, and our happiness, as well as our purpose in life. It also supports healthy digestion and metabolism, as well as good energy and vitality.
If you have a well-balanced solar plexus, you will have a positive self-image and solid self-confidence, as well as a positive attitude to life, and a more outgoing personality socially. Spiritually, this chakra aligns us with our purpose in life and allows us to find and follow the right path to fulfilment.
The solar plexus chakra can become blocked when we stray from our purpose in life and engage in meaningless activities, leading to self-doubt, low self-esteem, and a lack of respect or belief in ourselves. A blocked solar plexus can also cause you to think negatively about life, behave irresponsibly, and experience feelings of despair, depression, and hopelessness.
Physical symptoms include digestive issues and a lack of appetite. It is also sometimes associated with eating disorders.
Sunstone & The Sacral Chakra
The sacral chakra, otherwise known as the Svadhisthana, is located in the pelvic region of the body and is the second chakra in the body. The sacral chakra governs our sexuality, sensuality, and creativity, as well as our charisma, passion, and pleasure.
It also supports strong fertility and reproductive health, as well as positive sexual energy and well-balanced sex hormones. A well-balanced sacral chakra makes us feel confident in our physical body and fuels our creative energy, our sense of adventure, and our general lust for life in all areas.
The sacral chakra is most often blocked by sexual trauma, repression of sexual desire or creativity, and obsession or addiction. This can result in low libido, a lack of creative inspiration, too much cautiousness, social isolation, and loneliness.
It is also linked to anemia, hypoglycemia, and pain in the lower back and pelvis, as well as problems with the spleen, bladder, and kidneys, and issues with reproductive health and fertility.
Sunstone & Health
When it comes to the physical body, Sunstone is said to help fight against chronic sore throats, bring relief to stomach ulcers, and calm stomach tension, as well as assist with spinal issues.
Sunstone & Wellbeing
Sunstone is an excellent stone for emotional health and well-being. It works to drastically improve the way that you see and think about yourself and increase your self-confidence, and attract joyful energy into your life.
Sunstone & Spirituality
Spiritually, Sunstone is a great stone for meditation and other spiritual rituals and practices, because it amplifies your energy, stimulates self-healing powers, dispels negative energy, and attract positive energy into your life.
Sunstone & Relationships
Sunstone also connects with the heart chakra and empowers us to only attract and allow people into our lives who bring equilibrium and healthy, meaningful bonds.
Sunstone & Success
As mentioned above, Sunstone helps to align us with our purpose in life and ignites the motivation and dedication to work towards it. It is especially great for artists and entrepreneurs because it ignites creative energy; bringing forth new ideas and inspiration.
That said, whatever your idea of success looks like, Sunstone will spark passion and joy for what you do and give you the confidence to go for it, injecting good energy into your endeavors.
Sunstone & Home
Sunstone is an ideal stone to keep around your living or work space because it radiates positive energy. It is great for anyone who feels that they are absorbent of negative energy or anyone who needs an overall boost of brightness in their family home.
Can You Use Sunstone With Water?
Water can be a great tool for spiritual work, including crystal healing, but not every crystal can be used with water. Whether or not a crystal is safe to use with water depends on how highly they score on the Mohs Hardness scale.
This scientific scale ranks the hardness of minerals out of ten by testing their resistance against others. Anything that scores above a 5 on the scale is generally safe to be used with water, but Sunstone scores a 6.5-7, so it’s generally safe for use with water.
How To Use Sunstone
There are several ways in which you can include these gemstones in your everyday life.
Meditate
One of the best ways that you can use your Sunstone gem is during meditation. You can hold it or place it over your solar plexus and sacral chakras during meditation for deep healing and chakra activation.
Manifestation
As mentioned above, Sunstone can help you to attract the things you truly want in life. To manifest with the stone, hold it or keep it close by when you practice your manifestation techniques, such as affirmations and visualization.
Wear It
You can also wear jewelry containing pretty Sunstone for deep healing of the physical body and mind. It’s also great for activating and removing blockages from the solar and sacral chakras.
Carry It
If you’re not into wearing Sunstone, another great way to use it is by carrying a small gemstone around with you in your pocket or purse to keep it close to you instead.
With Water
If you like the sound of absorbing your Sunstone’s metaphysical properties through your skin, why not take a crystal bath? Fill your tub up as usual and place the crystal at the bottom of it for a healing soak. Alternatively, leave it in a glass of water overnight and drink it after your morning meditation or spray it around your living space to liven up the atmosphere.
At Home
Keeping your Sunstone crystal somewhere central or significant in your home like your bedroom or living area, or even by the front door, will brighten up your home and the moods of everyone who enters it. You can also place it next to your bed for a healthy boost of sexual energy and fertility.
At Work
As mentioned above, Sunstone is a force of nature when it comes to creative energy. So, if you work in a creative field, or even if you don’t, place a piece of Sunstone in your office or workplace to attract new ideas and inspiration for work projects.
Who Should Use Sunstone?
Anyone can benefit from the joyful vibes of the Sunstone crystal, but we highly recommend it to anybody who is seeking to find the purpose of their life, or anyone who desperately needs a boost of joy in their everyday lives. We would also recommend it to anyone who needs a boost of confidence, creativity, or sexual energy.
Cleansing And Charging Your Sunstone
Cleansing and charging your crystals on a regular basis is crucial to keep them vibrating at a high frequency. We recommend cleansing and charging your Sunstone at least once a month to get rid of any negative energy that it’s absorbed and re-fill it with good healing energy. Let’s take a look at the best and easiest ways to cleanse and charge Sunstone.
Cleansing Sunstone
The most common way to cleanse Sunstone is under the light of the full moon. Lunar energy is spiritually and energetically purifying, so leave it in your backyard or on your windowsill on the night of the full moon for a full energy cleanse.
You can also put your Sunstone in water or salt-water before putting it out in the moonlight for a deep, water-based cleanse. Alternatively, you can smudge your Sunstone with sage, leave it in a bowl of salt or brown rice overnight, or place it on top of a crystal-cleansing Selenite plate.
Charging Your Sunstone
The best way to charge your Sunstone is with the sun! Leave it out in the sun for the day to leave it buzzing with bright and positive energy, or bury it in the Earth for 24 hours for an Earth-based charge. If you want to add water, bury it on a rainy day.
Are There Any Side Effects Of Using Sunstone?
You shouldn’t get any negative effects from using Sunstone specifically. However, any gemstone can cause bad side effects when your energies do not align. For example, if you’re carrying some evil eye energy, or your sacral and solar chakras are over-active.
If you’ve just recently got the stone, it can also have a bad effect on you if it has absorbed too much negative energy from its previous environment. This can cause nausea, headaches, stomach upsets, nightmares, and bad luck. In this event, you should cleanse and charge your Sunstone, and if that makes no difference, consider an alternative stone.
Alternative & Complimentary Crystals
Crystals with similar energies to Sunstone that you can try instead include Orange Calcite, Carnelian, Amber, and Citrine. These all carry solar energy and resonate with the same chakras.
Stones that compliment the energies of Sunstone include Black Tourmaline, Clear Quartz, Agate, Jasper, and Rose Quartz, for grounding, emotional balance, and spiritual connection.
Final Thoughts
Sunstone is a wonderful self-empowerment crystal that would make a brilliant addition to anybody’s collection. If you want more sunshine energy in your life or you’re looking to do some serious self-improvement, it’s a great choice for you!