Iolite or Cordierite - India - raw minerals 3.6 cm / 13g / BG804

Cordierite belongs to the tectosilicate group. It contains aluminum and magnesium, but also traces of iron, manganese, titanium, calcium, sodium, and potassium. Its color varies from blue to purple, hence its other name: Iolite, from the Greek iol, meaning purple. It can also be brownish.

IOLITE is a blue or violet variety of cordierite which owes its name to Louis Cordier, a French mineralogist who first described it in 1809 under the term dichroite.

Cordierite or Iolite has a very strong pleochroism and the lapidaries, by cutting this fine stone, bring out several shades of purple.

Iolite is said to have been used by the Vikings to navigate when the sky was overcast and to locate the position of the sun.