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moonstone - goddess power
Moonstone's other name, adularia , which comes from an early mining site in the Adula Mountains (Reheinwaldhorn) in Switzerland, gives rise to the term adularescence to describe moonstone's beautiful white iridescent sheen.
Moonstone is a feldspar. As feldspars weather, they break down into kaolin , a clay mineral used in high quality ceramics and pottery.
The Galle district of Sri Lanka's southern coastal belt (in which Mitiyogoda sits) is famous for a variety of gems.
With a mining industry more than 2,500 years old, Sri Lanka has been known since antiquity as Ratna Deepa, the "Island of Gems." It is home to 40 gem varieties out of a total of 85 in the world. Providing income to nearly 150,000 people per mining season, 30,000-40,000 gem pits operate annually. Most labor is from low-income groups whose efforts make up nearly 90% of Sri Lanka's total income from mineral exports. In 2001, total gem and jewelry exports from Sri Lanka totaled $240M (US).
 moonstone mining
Moonstone, considered to be the most valuable variety of feldspar, is the opalescent variety of orthoclase (an opaque to transparent potassium feldspar). Its schiller or adularescence is caused by the intergrowth of two different types of feldspar, with different refractive indexes.

trays of 'finished' product, mitiyagoda
photo: adanor photography

Like labradorite, it has an opalescent quality, caused by the reflection of light from the internal structure. Moonstone is usually whitish-blue, but can be colorless, yellow, orange, gray, or even reddish.
Like many gems found in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) and Myanmar (formerly Burma), moonstone most often occurs as pebbles and irregular masses in gem-gravels and clay-deposits.

alluvial gem gravel mining, sri lanka
photo: fernizont

Mining moonstone is nearly always a manual process but there are several different ways in which stones can be collected:
  • In one method, miners dig deep narrow holes in the earth, lowering themselves by rope to the bottom. Filling their wicker baskets with loose dirt and gravel, they hoist the baskets back up to the surface where the gravels can be washed by hand to expose gem quality moonstones that can then be picked out of the gravel.
  • Another method, often referred to as "alluvial," is used in streams and rivers. In this process, natives use loosely-woven pans made from bamboo to 'wash' the river gravels, sands, and soils, allowing them to 'sift' the the water.
Moonstone is known as chandrakanthi stone in Sri Lanka.
Mitiyagoda villagers believe that since moonstones deliver a brightness comparable to moonlight, wearers of the stone will experience a magical brightness in their lives. Moonstones are also said to counteract any evil effects the moon may have on one�s life.
Although moonstone provides the most economic benefit to the villagers of Mitiyagoda, the earth from which moonstone is mined has also proven valuable: it contains minerals such as silica, carbon, calcium and phosphorous, all believed to have auspicious qualities. So, trinkets such as bangles and earrings are made from the soil, creating a secondary industry.
Like so many resources once considered plentiful, high quality moonstone is becoming rarer, due to increased demand � and limited deposits.
Sri Lanka's population is 74% Sinhalese, 18% Tamil, 8% other.
 mitiyagoda's moonstone
Occurring in colors ranging from misty whites to soft grays to pale oranges, Sri Lanka has produced the most desirable and enchanting specimens of moonstone for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

mitiyagoda, sri lanka

Described as "situated somewhat in the hinterland," Sri Lanka's tiny hamlet of Domanwila, in the village of Mitiyagoda (also known as Meetiyagoda), dominates the world's moonstone market.
The village is especially known for its "blue flash" moonstone, translucent white with brilliant flashes of a metallic shimmer-y bright blue. Providing steady employment (a rarity in Sri Lanka), the moonstone industry supports the village.

moonstone mining in a deep, narrow hole; mitiyagoda
photo: adanor photography

The orthoclase layer under the village is only about 20-30 feet down making manual, low cost access possible.
This is particularly beneficial in a culture dependent on the gem trade where men often have to leave home for many months at a time to mine in remote areas of the country, living under the most primitive conditions.
However, the advantage also comes at a cost: abandoned mines have turned into stagnant polluted water holes that breed ever more mosquitoes, making malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases a huge problem.

symbolic attributes

birthstones
modern June
traditional June
ayurvedic September
geographic
state gem Florida, New York
miscellaneous
anniversary 13th
metaphysical
planetary stone Cancer
energy receptive / yin
planet Moon
element water ('blue flash), fire/air (peach)