Cinnabar is a deep red mercury sulphide mineral that provides much of the world’s elemental mercury. Despite the brilliant color and history of use in trading and as a coloring agent, Cinnabar is deadly. Mercury is toxic to humans and was a source of death from many mines around the world.

Geologic Occurrence of Cinnabar Cinnabar is a hydrothermal mineral that precipitates from ascending hot waters and vapors as they move through fractured rocks. It usually forms in rocks surrounding geologically recent volcanic activity but can also form near hot springs and fumaroles.

In its original form, cinnabar is crystallized red mercuric sulphide (HgS), the main ore bearing mercury. It can also be manufactured by treating a mixture of liquid mercury and sulfur with potassium hydroxide. Cinnabar is the primary pigment in colors commonly referred to as vermillion and Chinese red.

Cinnabar is the naturally occurring mineral with mercury in combination with sulfur, and is red in color so called red mercury sulfide, Zhu Sha or China Red. Cinnabar ores are the major source for metallic mercury production.

Cinnabar has been found in locations worldwide, usually near the earth’s surface in areas of moderate volcanic activity. It tends to be associated with hot springs, deposited by superheated water laden with elements like sulfur and mercury. It has been found in areas from China to South America to Italy.

Celestine (the IMA-accepted name) or celestite is a mineral consisting of strontium sulfate (SrSO4). The mineral is named for its occasional delicate blue color. Celestine and the carbonate mineral strontianite are the principal sources of the element strontium, commonly used in fireworks and in various metal alloys.

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Calcite – Can fade and get brittle in the sun. Celestite – The blue will turn to white in the sun and get brittle and possibly break.

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Celestite – This stone is soft and may dissolve if used in the normal method of preparation of an elixir. “Poisonous (copper).” (Jentoft) This mineral should only be used in an elixir prepared via the alternative method of preparation.

Blue Calcite is a beautiful soft blue colour, and looks very dreamy when polished into sphere, palmstones, freeforms and tumbles. This exact same material is being labelled as polished Celestite – beware it’s not!

The easiest way to tell the difference is the weight. If you hold both stones, they have to be about the same size, celestite is the heavier one. On average, a celestite sphere weighs 1.5 times more than a blue calcite sphere.

Blue Kyanite is an aluminum silicate mineral that crystallizes in the forms of elongated bladed structures, as well as fibrous and mass formations. Blue Kyanite was first discovered in 1789 by A.G. Werner and was named after the Greek word “kuanos”, meaning “blue”.